The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-04-29
WILD OVER TILLMAN.
COLORADO PEOPLE GIVE HlMA GRAND
OVATION.

A Spontaneous Greeting by Members Q
All Parties to the Distinguished Carroll
nlan-Eicht Thousand People Press For
ward to Grasp His Hand.
All the world loves hero In thes
days of; rapid mutations when the va
rious sections Of the country are tori
nv division of sentiment on one of tn
most vital problems of the republic
Il requires a man of strong force o
character, with lndomitable will, irol
nerve and uptlinching honesty, t.
break away from the time honored as
sociations and traditions of party ant
step boldly to the front as champion
of the masses. 1t requires man who
has the courage of his convictions tt
throw party affiliations to The WIND:
and fight the battle of the people
against the odds of political force:
long intrenched in power and pres
tige. Such man is made of the stufl
of which heroes are made. He stands
out in bold relief against the back
ground of demagogues, political trim
mers and fawning subservients.
A man, who has displayed these
qualities of a hero arrived in the city
Yesterday, and is an honored guest OF
the people of Denver. He has been
received with open hands and gener-
Gus praise. Although hailing from a
distant State on the Atlantic coast, he
has proved that he has the true ring
of the true metal, and it has 16 to l
melody that runs through sentiments
of silvery eloquence. This man of
honest heart and noble bearing is the
great apostle of genuine bimetallism-
Senator Benjamin 4. Tlllman, OF
South Carolina.
While the people of the West need
no introduction to this man in order
to become acquainted with his intel
lectual and political honesty, yet they
do enjoy the opportunity to meet him
face to face, grasp his hand and give
him brother y greeting. The people
of Denver demonstrated this fact last
evening. The coming of Senator Till
man had been beraldtd by the press
for days, and the public was intense
ly eager to do him honor. So, when
a public reception was arranged for
last evening at the Brown Palace
Hotel, all loyalists in the silver cause
turned out in force. They wanted
to see this hero from the Palmetto
State-a State whose people are noted
for their courage, for they are light
ers from way back"
The opening hour was 8 o'clock for
the reception, but as early as Z o'clock
the people began tramping across the
tiled floors of the Brown. They came
by the hundreds upon hundreds, and
soon filled every square foot OF the
great rotunda. In front of the grand
stairway a small platform, draped in
red, white and blue bunting, had been
erected for the guest of honor and the
reception committee. Suspended above
it was a massive silken flag of the
Union. A small Gordon of police, in
charge of graceful Drill Captain Helm.
ig, was on hand to keep the crowd
back in comfortable distance from the
platform. Still the hundreds of peo-
pie beseiged the doors for admittance,
and the police made an opening for
them to pass up the stairs to the gale
ries above. For one hour stream of
people passed up the grand stairway
beneath the folds of the great flag,
and sought places of sight seeing in
the galleries above. This crowd was
conspicuous by the large number OF
ladies, both from the ranks of fashion
and from the stations of honest humil-
ity. Bankers, merchants, men who
follow the various pursuits OF COM
mercial life, elbowed each other on
that stairway, alongside the men who
toll in the mines and those who own
tbs mines. It was crowd that rep
resented every avocation in Western
life.
These component elements of the so.
cial and business world came as If
drawn by some strange magnetic force.
They knew perfectly we'll the charac.
ter of the man they came to see. His
fame had long since brushed against
the Rockies. They had not forgotten
that only little while ago this man
Tillman had bounded into the Sena-
torial arena at Washington and in a
speech which lifted him to fame, had
sprinkled corrosive sublimate over the
floor of the upper chamber. They
knew that his tongue was as sharp as
a serpent's tooth. The people well re-
menbered how every sentence OF that
great speech boiled over with scorch;
ing sarcasm, and how the speaker had
uncorked a bottle of vitriol for every
period. They knew how he had
brought forth old skeletons to tae
glaring light of day, and had roasted
the Wall street goldbugs and their
White House chief to brown turn.
And when he had finished that re-
markable speech. it was remembered,
Senator Hoar aud other Yankee fos-
sils OF his kidney crouched on their
seats and in suppressed whispering,
said: Senatorial courtesy has been
ruined"
But all the while that Senator Till
man was shaking up the dry bones
and uncovering the "whited sepul-
chres" in that speech, he was talking
fearlessly for free silver. The people
last night had not forgotten that fact.
Is it any wonder, then, that thousands
hocked to the Brown Palace to do him
reverence9
1t was a magnificent audience that
greeted the Senator. 1t was patient
in its waiting for his arrival. A brass
band stationed in the third gallery
made the hour fly swiftly by with its
D. -