The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-01
DRIFrWooD IN FIFTH AVENUE.
Boses, Tabs, Baskets. I.uncheons. ana
wreckaue OF All sorts Bestrew II.


Imagine a food rising in Washington square
and surring up Fifth avenue. Imagine its
waves overwhelming q hundred cooper shops
and a thousand rubbish heaps and carrying the
wrecRage pell NELL along with II. Imagine the
waters falling away and leaving the rubbish
~strewnfrom the place whore the avenue begins
for nearly two miles up, hero u crazy scattering
OF boxes. bales. and loose papers, there u Fan
tastic pyramid ready to topple at n touch Into
ruin. Picture to yourself hundreds OF banners
aud flags waving In beauty over this scene. So
you may gain something of an !dea OF how New
York's proudest thoroughfare looked Mt the
close of the great procession yesterday evening.
To the spectacle-lovinR public the parade was
an all day affair; so the public prepared to pic
mic. With this end In view. 1t brought baskets,
small boxes, and paper parcels with it contain
ing lunch. For purposes of celebration 1t
brought flags and banners OF the hand variety.
simultaneously with the public who desired to
see everything. there arrived upon the scene
certain persons whose design 1t was to assist
tho public to see everything. collecting n price
for such assistance. These brought boxes. bar
rels, tubs. frkins. cases, buckets. crates, creels.
boards. rails, palings. ladders, and anything
by virtue of which man might DO empowered to
lift himself above the level of his fellow meh
and peer over The heads thereof. For such
prlNlltEc tlc pupllS pNu '"ikSiSs NV S"h'o
the end of the procession and the ensuing rush
for homo or restaurant. II is easier to drop
things than to carry them. Tho public dropped
everything IL had no further use for and de-
parted In great haste.
Near Tenth street two enterprising youths
had made q stand from two step ladders and a
stout board. When the rush came n small man
sat up on the top OF ono ladder. The ladder
wavered. The man shrieked. The ladder top
pied. The man slipped.
LOOK out. he's coming!" yelled one Of the
proprietors,
The man came. He lit fair ana square upon
several Of the pushing. scrouging crowd which
had caused his disaster. All concerned rubbed
themselves violently.
Cant che look where yer fallin' 2" demand
ed the ones landed on. Indignantly.
"Oh. wbatcher waDter push me OF fer 2" re-
torted the fallen one. and that was all there was
to 1t. except that the two ladders fell over pres
entity and many hundreds OF people became
entanGled therein. several at a time, to the peril
OF their immortal souls If their language is
recorded against them.
Further up tho avenue several rival business
geniuses had brought loads OF boxes, tubs. &c.
to the market in wagons. distributed the boxes
through young agents, and rented out the seat
ing capacity OF the vehicles. When IL came
time TO collect the TEMPORARY grand stands"
the agents all set out at once, and the result was
that there were fights on every corner between
small boys claiming the same crste or keg.
All. watts ter matter wit yer p Is the argu-
ment The SuN reporter heard one urohin use.
" marked all mine wit a pencil"
Then he pointed triumphantly to the mark.
Su bsea uently he was discovered running swiftly
from heap to heap. marking every box and keS
and crate and barrel which was in good con
dition. But the carrying capacity OF the
wagons seemed TO be entirely Inadequate to the
number of the various receptacles used for
grand stands. SO many Of them were left until
late in the evening. Moreover. hundreds were
smashed and weren't worth taking away unless
for frewood. The result was that when dark
meas began to fall the appearance of the avenue
was something to remember. A Sun man
mtnatos after the parade had passed, and
already tho crowd had left. excepting a few
.tregyiers, but the collectors we-o busy with a
At the corner OF Ninth street ten or twelve
small boys under the leadership Of an Italian
smsIl truck. seversl big boxes standing near
the curb had formed u sort OF collecting spot
boxes. pieces Of newspapers, remnants OF flags.
the ruins OF q derby hat, bits Of cloth. q splln-
Giles of rubbish such as make up any refuse heap;
Near Eleventh street was a pile of boxes aud
barrels that would have made a beautiful cleo
ton bonfire; with no more trouble of prepara-
ton than the lighting of q match. and a fire
there. would have run over the whole
street for u block, 30 bestrewn with odds and
ends was the roadway.
From Fourteenth street up to Twenth-third
one corner the reporter waded though papers
and card board boxes up above his ankles. A
little further along some artistic soul had
had outsorn their usefulness. Another evi-
denee OF unused luncheon was a spot, near
eggs had been trampled upon the pavement
with an effect OF golden sunlight. Up beyond
burrowIng 10 the CUTTERS, sorting out the loose
rubbish /, the hope of finding something OF
on her dress. and carried u handful OF more or
less wrecked days.
driver of = decorated wagon in a side street.
"Go ahead: help yourself" said the driver
Ills wagon OF all its frills until he made them
stop.
work. and u little later thore were Italian women
about collecting hrewood and saving the Street
Co s a tha P Il ccl. Wsr f1@ sn MG sasn Fiji FIJI 1t n Is sHis
At . o'clock he would have had the nightmare
cradle of the rubbish of humanity left after the
parade. Men who wanted to argue stayed and
there was a fight. AT the end OF the stand. near
the Worth monument, a silver crank gathered a
time several wornout patriot. slept peacefully
under tn. benches OF the stand. On n stoop in
io omIv FIR fd,h. avenue mG, tho reporter SAY SAY a whole
dressed. respect9b!e-lookinE folk. too. Another
which was obviously closed.
Most OF the spectators who didn't go homo or
make for the nearest restaurant went TO Broad
way and wandered, waiting for the theatres to
OPEN ,
and too early" complained II young woman. "If
IL had been earlier we could get home and get
back again for the theatre, or IL IL had been
later we'd have been just in time for the
theatres; but now We've got an hour to waste.
Consequently broadway was very crowded,
butt was a singularly good natured. orderly, and
sober crowd. considering the circumstances.
The reporter saw comparatively little drunken
ness. and what there WAS was mainly Oh the
part OF eXpOunders who assured everybody in
sight that they had been trying to overcome the
~fatigues o! the day. During the entire day the
reporter saw hut three fights. Two of these
arose from the well-known political argument
You're a liar" The other was the outcome OF
a debate on that much, discussed theme: Re
solved, That you're drunker'n am"