The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-11
NEW YORK ACOC.
Republicans as Well as Demo-
Gratis Curious to See
Bryan, the Orator From the
Western Prairies.
Fifty Thousand Requests For
Seats at the Meeting
AT MADISON SQUARE
Garden, While It Holds But
Twenty Thousand.
Two Meetings PrOpOsed-One
Outside the Garden
And Another Inside Both to Be
Addressed By Bryan.
AT MADISON SQUARE
Two Meetings PrOpOsed-One
Outside the Garden
And Another Inside Both to Be
Addressed By Bryan.

New York. Aug. 1.-THE Bryan nOt1-
fication meeting at Madison Square
Garden on Wednesday night will be
the biggest political gathering ever
seen in this country. Twenty thou
sand people will crowd Madison
Square Garden, and that many more
viii gather on the outside. hoping to
catch a glimpse of the Democratic can
didate. Among them will be many
prominent Republicans.
So many applications for seats are in
and more are coming so rapidly by
mail that it is impossible to keep &C
count of them. At headquarters they
say $4,000 is a low estimate of the re-
quests.
Yesterday all the tickets with the ex-
ceptiOn of platform, press and special
chair tickets were delivered to the
headquarters of the silver party in the
BarthOldi hotel and many were given
out to applicants. The tickets filed
two large boxes, more than 1000 of
them being in the delivery.
They are of different cOlors, and re-
semble the ordinary theater ticket ex-
cept that no coupon is attached. The
number and section of the seat is
stamped upon each end of the paste
board.
Every precaution has been taken to
prevent the tickets from being coun-
terfeited. Each section has a different
color, of which a record has been kept
In addition, the tickets are backed by
a steel plate print of the Madison
Square Garden, so that it would take
a very large printing establishment
to be able to make cOunterfeits in any
quantity Admission will be free.
treasurer ST John put in the entire
day at headquarters filling requests
for tickets. The applications increase
with every mail. When Mr.. st. John,
assisted by corps of clerks, separated
requests for seats, it was found that
in the pile marked by Mr.. st. John
as must" II, 600 applications had been
placed. The work OF asserting from
this pile those applications that could
be refused or cut down was then com
menced. At 1 o'clock the force had
managed to so arrange the seats and
applications that every society Organi-
zation and political club desiring seats
should receive recognition.
While they were busy attending to
the requests a crowd collected in the
rooms of the headquarters, anxious to
know the result of their applications.
Many of them had written letters, and,
receiving no reply, had called for per-
sonaI replies.
IF we had 100, 900 tickets we could
dispose of every one of them" said
the man in charge. f'I never saw so
many applications for seats to any
thing. Tammany has insisted on more
and gets 5000 seats. It is impossible
to estimate just how many applica-
tons we have received, but not more
than one-quarter of those that come in
can possibly be filed. We are trying
to be fair and see that the political
club that asks for fifty tickets gets
proportiOnately the same representa-
ton that other clubs receive.
I'VE do not know just what we will
do by next Wednesday. The national
committee will be here, and many
seats will have to be held awaiting
their disposition
THE trouble is that people have put
off their requests until the last minute.
I do not see how Mr.. Bryan will get
out of making an address from the bal
cony. There is room for 10. 900 people
to stand on the floor, and 80 600 or 49,
900 people will, from all indications,
try to get in. Those who fail will not
go home without hearing Bryan, as
many of them will be from out of
town. An Open-air address is the only
way out of it,
The Garden will not be decorated to
any extent. as the decorations would
interfere with a view from the upper
galleries. The speakers stand will
however, be draped with American
flags, and above it win be a shield
made of flags.
on each side. nailed to the pillars,
viii be pictures of Bryan and of Sc
wall. The platform will be about sew
en- feet above the ground floor, on a
level with the arena boxes. In front of
it will be the seats for 300 newspaper