Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-03
BRYAN'S LAST SPEECH MADE
His Wild Flight Across Nebraska Ends an
Exciting stumping Tour,
OMAHA HEARS HIM IN SIX PLACES
Curious Crowds jun Halls 10 See the
hoy orator nnd Return to Watch
the Great Mckinley
Parade.

In comparison with the grand and un-
| riyaled Mckinley demonstration that kept
the city in blaze Of light and a roar OF
enthusiasm from the early evening hours
until nearly II o'clock last night, the re-
| ception to Candidate William ]. Bryan was
a literal and unauthorized frest. To be
sure, there were between 5000 and 1000
! thousand people assembled at the depot
when his special train arrived, and there
was an interesting scene presented when he
undertook to alght. Among the throng Of
people however. were hundreds and hun
ddreds who will today cast their ballots in
| favor Of sound money and the nations
! honor as was attested by the myrads of
! yellow badges which, depending from coat
lapel or streaming from hat bands, resem-
! bled the mazes OF a maple woods in the
| golden autumn time and the grand diapasan
! OF shouts and cheers which swelled upon
| the crisp air as Nebraskas illustrous son
| emerged from the car, were attuned about
| equally to the musical name of Mckinley
and that OF Mr.. Bryan. Curiosity was the
magnet which attracted third of the very
| ordinary crowd. This was made evident by
| tho dullness that pervadcd the atmosphere
| by the lack Of hurrah and warmth might
| expect:
| awaited the Boy Orators appearance, and
! when the four black horses and the open
| carriage, with its fluttering emblems and
! colors did appear up the steep boarded in
| cline, another burst of cheers followed and
| then to the inspiring strains of the Twenty
| second Regiment band. the line of march
| was taken up for Boyd's theater, via Tenth
and FIrnam streets thence across Seven
| teenth to the Thespian temple, where the
gentleman made his principal speech Of the
! evening
HIS WAY TO BoYD's.
The mounted marshals and the band
| showed the way. Then came the convey
| ance of honor. in which were Mr.. Bryan
| Judge Doane. DR.. Mercer Dr. Link, and
! Jim Dahlman, followed by the carriages con
| tanning the state citizens and JaCksonian
reception committees; the alleged Old Vet
| eran Bryan club, and long, Heterogeneous
and struggling procession Of torch and color
! bearers. horn blowers and women and chill
| dron. The old vets who are driving them
selves into the night sweats over their en-
thusiasm and spirit in Bryan's behalf, and
| who composed the club before mentioned
| numbered exactly thirty-sx souls. instead
! OF s'alwart column Of $50, as we have
| been led to believe would be seen In escort
| of the youthful elocutionst of the gurgling
| Platte. The drive through Farnam street
| with it's solid walls Of shouting Mckinley
| men, assembled and in waiting for the gorg
eOus parade which shortly followed, was
| both picturesque and enjoyable, but the gen
| cral Mckinley pandemonum that filled the
| air must have fallen with an omnibus thud
| upon Bryan's strained auriculars.
| Boyd's CnCe reached, and II looked in
! deed as If there were a few silver freaks
! in the city. The palatial structure was
| packed from pit to dome, and the Stree:
| in front for n distance OF hundred yards
either way a seething sea Of struggling. and
| yelling humanity. Policemen were power
| less. and for a time it looked as If Mr..
| Bryan's carriage would be picked up bodily
| and carried away so tremendous and ire
sistble the mad rush 10 see him. BY
| the greatest exertion entrance to the the
ater was obtained for the candidate and
| his immediate retinue But that was all.
| Not another soul could have found breath
| ing space within those terra Gotta walls.
thunderous wave vibrated through the
house when Governor Holcomb strode for
| ward on the stage and introduced Mr..
J Bryan. and II was several moments before
| a sufficient subsistence Ct the uproar was
obtained to allow the gentleman's name to
be heard. In the bright glare CT the cleo
| trio light Mr.. Bryan looked badly. His
| handsome and classical face was pale and
! haggard, his usually cleaning eyes were
| next to lusterless, and he looked generally
as II he had passed through a hard win
| ter. He said:
HIS LAST WORDS TO OMAIANS.
| Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 1t
! gives me great pleasure 10 greet the citl-
Zens of my own state on this, the last
| night before the election. and to find an
| enthusiasm here which indicates what they
Will do tomorrow | am glad to be vita
| you for while the enthusiasm which you
manifest here has been seen all the way
| between the Missouri and the Atlantic
| coast, yet 1t is always gratifying to one TO
| bors and the people who have lived with him
and knCT him best. lCAeersD | want
| to those of the opposition who have on
| many occasions taken occasion to answer
false charges, made; and. though they. could
not vote with US, have, tried to do justice
when others have circulated rumors which
were not true. And If there are some who
! have in this campaign circulated charges
which they knew not TO be true ! snail
| leave them TO their own consciences and to
| their nelghbors, because ! believe, my
friends that, in spite of all the desperate
things that they have done, the conscience
of the American people will bNmore potent
i believe the American people are coming
to realize what this contest means. When
we started out in the campaign, declaring
the money question TO be the paramount
issue, we expressed our Willingness to set
tie that question now and leave other ques-
tions for determination hereafter. But we
found that. when we attacked the money
changers, we attacked all those associated
corporations which live together and act
together as one man In any hour of danges
and we found that, in this campaign, every
man who has used the instrumentalities of
government for private gain, every man
who seeks to use government for private
plunder, recognizes that in our victory
there Is menace to his business of living
upon some one else rather than working
for his own living, has contributed TO an
enormous campaign fund. with which they
expect to corrupt 7O,0OOGoO of people.
(Chcors.)
This struggle has to be made every ger.-
Grafton. In times of quiet people become
Indifferent to their political duties, and
when the masses are Indifferent then are
these great and powerful agencies most
active. They send their representatives
around legislative halls they secure legis-
lation; they intrench themselves behind spe-
cial privileges and the masses bear ii until
patience ceases to be a virtue and then
they rise, they are rising in this cam
paign. to take government back into their
own hands, and place it again upon the
foundations laid by the fathers. (Cheers)
1t Is not strange that party lines have
been disturbed. We have simply been ex-
changing prisoners, my friends. We have
peeh having in our party persons VINO
under the guise of democrats. have been
aiding plutocracy; and there, have been
IN the republican party those who have
earnestly striven to make tina: party repre-
sentative of the popular" viii, but the
Gratis TO them and they send their common
people 10 us. Applause) z, ,f
APPEALS TO PASSION
The issue Is drawn, and when this contest
sshall be determined; wheu Jhes vote shall
people voting as they understand this |
question. on the one side YOU viii find
the capitaistic classes, from whom no |
reform ever came in the history OF the |
world. (Cries of That's right" and ap- |
plause) You will find the trusts and the !