The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1896-08-15
The Unparalleled Welcome Given Mr..
Bryan.

It must be confessed that the follow
ing notice Of the enthusiastic welcome
accorded w. j. Bryan at Chicago on
Saturday night is most generous one,
coming as it does from one of the lead :
ing opposition papers, the Inter Ocean /:
He stopped here for day ON his
journey to New York, where he will
receive the formal notification of the
honors conferred on him, and 90, 900 of
his admirers gave to him a reception
that might have befitted the triumph of
some Roman consul on his way to the
imperial city after victorious
campaign.
Seldom, indeed, If ever, has there
been seen in this city so tremendous an
outpouring of the populaee in honor of
one man.
Just one month ago William J. Bryan
came to Chicago His coming was
announced in brief paragraphs in the
daily press. No crowds of thousands
met him at the railway station. No
enthusiastic multitudes gathered in
front of his hotel and fought for places
where glimpse of his features could be
seen. No blaring bands, no waving
banners heralded his approach. No
calcium lights illuminated his progress
through the streets. In the brief
intervening time has this wonder been
wrought.
Strange phaze of American politics.
Dramatic episode in the hitherto rather
uneventful career of man of 36.
Bryan's triumph came last night
and it was evidens that the devotion
the multitude offered him touched him,
as what man, that was man, would it
not2
Looking down from the balcony of
the Clifton house into Monroe street in
front of him, the young Nebraskan
saw 30 900 or more of fellow citizens
whose shouts and cries indicated an
intensity of emotion bordering on
frenzy.
In all that vast assemblage there was
but one thought-Bryan. From all
lips came but one name-Bryan.
Among all those myriads of faces that
great crowd saw only one-that of its
ideal-Bryan. TO the voice of one man
only would those thousands give heed
that of Bryan. For those men who
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blistering night there was for the time
being but one idea-Bryan.
FASCINATING SPECTACLE.
When the crowd saw him it yelled
like multitude possessed by demons
of noise. When he raised his hand
silence came upon the assemblage at his
will. When he spoke those men in
front of him listened with their souls.
1t was a fascinating spectacle, that
complete power over the hearts and
minds of men possessed by one man.
The crowd had followed his carriage
from the Rock Island station, where he
arrived about AS o. clock in the eve
ming. 1t poured after him like a
tulnultuous food whose barriers have
been broken away. 1t surged around
the vehicle conveying him. and it beat
in dark waves where the faces seemed
like phosphorescent flashes against the
escorting organizations. 1t encompassed
him about, and it was with difficulty
that he succeeded in making his way
into the hotel.
The crowd seemed wild. Had it had
its way Bryan would have been carried
on men s shoulders from place to place
Had it had its will he would have stood
on the hotel balcony and talked for
hours, and still the crowd would have
listened. Nay, it would have been con
tent to have him stand there silent, that
it might gaze on him merely. IAN /
want TO do is to look at him, ex-
claimed a gray haired man who had
waited for more than an hour for the
red fire lit procession to approach.