Evening star., 1896-01-27
THE. .GRIDIRoN CLUB
Its Eleventh Annual Dinner Was Perhaps
Its Greatest Success.
Witty and Eloquent Speeches and
Lots of Fun Many Distin-
gufshed Guests Present.

The eleventh annual dinner of the Grid
iron Club at the Arlington Saturday even
ing was perhaps the greatest success of all
the dinners given by this famous organiza-
tfon. The decorations, the menu and the
menu cards were all on a most elaborate
scale, but these, attractive as they were,
constituted but small part Of the reasons
for the evenings enjoyment.
There were speeches, witty and eloquent,
which. were it not for the rule of the club
that forbids their being made public, would
be well worth recording in full, and there
were all sorts Of amusing incidents carried
out by bright members of the club for the
delectation of the guests. For instance, the
Schomburgk line was discovered and car
ried into the banquet hall on the shoulders
of two of the senior members of the club.
When 1t was found that the line was an
enormous piece of silk elastic, such as is
used by ladies to keep their hosiery in
place, and was consequently anything but
fixed boundary and capable of being
twisted and stretched at pleasure the point
OF the joke was evident, and fun ran fast
and furious. There were fake dispatches
from the Secretary of War and the Secre-
tary of the Treasury anent the possibilities
of war and the condition of the gold re-
serve.
New Members Initiated.
Mr.. William E. Amin was formally in
stalled as the president of the club, and
two new members were initiated with
amusing ceremonies, Mr.. Frank A. Rich
ardson of the Baltimore Sun and Mr.. Jas.
Henry of the Pittsburg Dispatch. The ini-
tiation took the form of contest between
two make-believe representativeS-elect, and
after lot of funny speeches, which
brought out the qualifications of the two
candidates and their many defects, it was
decided that Mr.. Richardson was entitled
to Mr. Henry's seat, and MIR. Henry to Mr..
Richardson's. So the fun went until mid
hight broke up the party.
Yet all was not mirth, for during the
year two of the clubs best beloved men,
bers have passed away, Mr.. E. b. Wight
and Mr.. George II. Apperson. A tender
and beautiful tribute to their memory was
paid in speech by Maor John NJ. Carson.
The pleasure Of the evening was greatly
enhanced by the music, which was furnish
Mr.. Herndon Morsell, Mr.. j. H. Kaiser and
Mr. A. j. Stofer. Mr.. Chauncey NJ. Depew
came on from New York to be present at
the dinner and 1t is only necessary to state
that he was called upon twice during the
evening to speak as only "Cnauncey de
peach" can speak, in order that one may
know that there was plenty of wit and
eloquence. But he was not the only good
speaker, for bright remarks were also had
from Mr.. Frank Thompson Paymaster
General Stanton, Gen. Nelson A. Miles,
Rear Admiral Benham, Justice Brown,
Postmaster General Wilson, Gen. Felix
secretary of the Fellowship Club of Chica-
go; ex-Gov. Alexander r. Shepherd, Chas.
Emory Smith, Col. William G. Moore, Sen
ator Thurston and others.
Mr.. Amin, the new president of the club,
proved his capacity to take the front rank in
the long line of brilliant and capable oc-
cupants of the Gridiron chair. Among the
bright incidents of the evening was the
fn1t taff s,,.,,
president, Mr.. Walter B: Stevens, intro
iucins his successor, and the exceedingly
happy response of MIR. Amin.
Present Organization and Member
ship.
The clubs present organization and mcm-
bership is as follows:
President. William E. Amin; vice presi-
dent, S. E. Johnson; secretary, P. V. De
Graw; treasurer. George H. Walker.
Executive committee-William Z. Amin,
5. E. johnson. P. V. De Graw, George H.
Walker, Henry l.. West, William Z. Curtis
and X. NJ. Larner.
Resident members-Walter E. Adams,
Bosto7. Herald: William Z. Amin, Salt
Lake Tribune; E. w. Barrett Atlanta Con-
, Henry ". Boynton, Cincinnati Commercial
Gazette; F. G. Carpenter, Carpenters syn
die ate; John NJ. Carson. Philadelphia
Ledger; S. N. Clark, New York Tribune;
II. C. Clarke, the United Press; L. A.
Coolidge, New York Recorder; William L.
Curtis Chicago Record; p. V. De Graw,
the United Press; Arthur W. Dunn the AS
sociated Press; E. G. Dunnell, New York
Times; Richard Lee Fearn, the United
Press; Louis Garthe, Baltimore American;
e. J. Gibson, Philadelphia Press; F. A. G.
Handy, James S. Henry. Pittsburg Dis
patch; Frank H. Hosford Detroit Free
Press; S. E. johnson, Cincinnati Enquirer;
r. E. Larner, Charleston News and Cour-
ier; Frances u. Leupp, New York Evening
Post; r. B. Matthews, New Orleans Plea
yune; d. r. Mckee, ]. ]. Noah, Denver
News; Crosby S. Noyes, Washington Even
ing Star; c. c. Randolph, New York Times;
F. A. Richardson, Baltimore Sun; Reginald
Schroeder, New York Stats Zeitung; NJ. G.
Seckendorff, New York Tribune: j. s.
Shriver, New York Mail and Express; o. o.
Stealey, Louisville Courier Journal; w. b.
Stevens, St. Louis Globe-Democrat; A. !.
Stofer, jr., Cleveland Press; George H.
Walker, San Francisco Chronicle; Henry
L. West, the Washington Post; Beriah Will
kins, the Washington Post, and r. ].
Wynne, New York Press.
Nonresident members-John Corwin Chi
cago, ILL.,; F. A. Dupuy New York city; NJ
p. Handy, Chicago, Ill.,; Perry S. Heath,
Cincinnati, Ohio; c. w. Knapp, st. Louis,
Mo-; C. 7. Murray, New York city; Fred.
brey, New York city; Fred. Perry Powers,
New York city; John Philip Sousa. New
York city, and James r. Young, Philadel-
phia, Pa.
shall Gushing, George Y. Coffin, e. B. Hay,
w. d. Hoover. J. Henry Kaiser, Herndon
Morsell, Alexander Mosher and Henry Kan
der.
The committees in charge of the various
details of the dinner. and whose work con-
tributed so largely to the success of the
occasion, were:
Reception-Crosby S. Noyes, chairman:
Henry V. Boynton, NJ G. Seckendorff, Be
riah Wilkins, d. r. Mckee, S. N. Clark
J. ]. Noah, Frank A. Richardson, F. G.
Carpenter, H. c. Clarke. E. ]. Gibson, E.
w. Barrett, Louis Garthe, L. A. Coolidge
and George Y. Coffin.
Entertainment-Frank H Hosford, chair
man; John NJ. Carson, S. E. johnson, d. s.
Barry, c. C.. Randolph, P. V. De Graw,
Reginald Schroeder, Richard Lee Fearn and
James S. Henry.
Manu-H. l.. West, chairman; E. G. Dun
nell, Q. O.. Stealey and w. E. Curtis.
Music-Herndon Morsell, chairman; A j.
Stofer, F. E. Leupp. Walter E. Adams, J.
Henry Kaiser, Alexander Mosher, E. b.
Hay, w. D. Hoover Henry Xander, Mar
shall Gushing and Harvey L. Page
Initiation-Robert j. Wynne, chairman;
Walter B. Stevens. George H. Walker, r. NJ
Larner, Frank V. Bennett, r. B. Matthews,
F. A. G. Handy, John 8. Shriver, Arthur
w. Dunn.
Guests Who Were Present.