The record-union., 1896-09-02
Fifty Thousand People Listen to an Ld-
dress by the Democratic Candidate.
Greatest Gathering in the History of
the Capital City.

vide His Speech Into Four Seq
ments, One Delivered from Eac!,
Side of the Stand, in Order to
Reach His Hearers.
COLUMBUS (O), Sept. lin all his
| career, wonderful as it has been. and
| fllied during the past week with remark
! able demonstrations in his honor. Will
| lam j. Bryan never addressed an au-
dlence so large and so enthusiastic as
| that gathered in the State House
grounds tonight. Under the shadow Of
| the big structure where the Ohio Legis-
lature holds its sessions the Democratic
nominee saw before him a concourse Of
Major McKinley's fellow States people
that cannot be compared to any polit-
ical assemblage except that Of the thou
sands of people who gathered in front OF
the Capitol at Washington to hear q
! new magistrate make his salutatory
Nearly every foot of the great space in
| front of the Capitol was choked with
human beings, each pressed so closely
| to his fellows that view was impossi-
| Die. The steps of the Capitol building
presented one mass of perspiring but
| patient humanity, who stood in relief
against the packed and jammed thou
sands of their fellows on the grassy
lawn and cemented pathways.
| People who have witnessed the in
! auguratiOns of Ohio Governors in re-
cent years say that the crowds on those
| occasions never numbered more than
10000. But tonight everybody was
| saying that the inaugural assemblies
| did not compare in point of numbers
with the magnificent congregation that
came to hear the young Democratic
candidate on the issues of the cam
paign. AS Mr.. Bryan himself said: TT
! filled all outdoors and so far beyond
the reach of his voice did the solid hu-
| man mass extend that Mr.. Bryan was
obliged to divide his speech into four
segments, one delivered from each side
of the caopied stand that had been
erected for the occasion. Fifty thou
sand is a conservative estimate Of
| those who were present
People had bees- pouring into Colum-
bus all day from the surrounding coun-
| try. This is the second day of the State
Fair, and that, with the additional at
traction of candidate Bryans presence,
| filled the city with strangers. Then a
\
whom the fair had no interest, but
whose sole object was to do honor to
the Democratic standard bearer,
| helped to swell the crowds in the streets
and lend to the enthusiasm which was
/ everywhere prevalent. Two thousand
miners came from the Hooking Valley.
From Newark several organizations,
numbering 1900, put in an appearance.
Two thousand more composing silver
| clubs came from Mount Vernon and
| places to the west of Columbus fur
gave unusually low rates, and thou
sands of people took advantage of them.
Mr.. and Mrs. Bryan reached Column
bus over the Big Four at 3:30 o'clock
| this afternoon in a special car chartered
| by the members of the Columbus Recep-
tion Committee, who accompanied them
| from Cleveland The candidate was
cheered by thousands at the railway
station, and by thousands more along
! the mile or more of streets through
which he was taken, escorted by the
| Franklin County Silver League, the
| Jackson Club and other local and visit
| ing Bryan and Sewall organizations.
| There was tremendous jam at the
| Chittenden Hotel, where apartments
| had been secured for Mr.. Bryan and his
wife, but way was forced through the
wildly excited enthusiasts gathered
there in the hope of getting a look at
the Democratic standard bearer, and
the rest of the procession passed on.
| Prior to the evenings great demon
stration in front of the State House
there was another parade, in which, OF
course, Mr.. Bryan was the central fig
! ure, seated in a carriage drawn by four
1c-,Jx al, ,I,S-n
others, many with bands of music at
their heads, marched behind the car
riage along streets thronged with inter
ested and cheering spectators. num-
ber of buildings were decorated, the IL
luminations of the permanent arches
maintained by Columbus business men
We're handsome, and the display of fire.
| works was extremely fine. BY good po-
lice arrangements far better than that
Of any city visited by the candidate, a
way was kept clear from the outskirts
| of the park to the stand in front of the
Capitol building, and through this Mr..
and Mrs. Bryan and those accompany
ing them were enabled to reach as
signed positions without difficulty.
Just before they arrived the stand,
hitherto darkened burst into a flood of
light given from scores of electric
globes which studded the supports of
the canvas ceiling. The stand was
spacious, and occupied not only 4
number of prominent Democrats and
| their wives, but the members of a brass
band and the Democratic Glee Club.
Nearly every person in the stupendous
audience, packed over ten acres of
ground, could see the Democratic can
| didate as he mounted the steps of the
rostrum and stood before them. And
| then the cheering began. The initial
shouts came from those who were the
first to see the young Nebraskan, and
then it was spread through the crowd
until it seemed as if every man and
| woman there was testing the capacity Of
his or her pulmonary organs. "Bry-
an! Bryant Bryant" was the cry, and
| the cheering rose in volume until It
reached the final limit of enthusiastic
potency.
| James Ross, Chairman of the Franklin
| County Democratic Committee, at
| tempted to call the large assemblage to
order in his capacity as temporary
| Chairman, but the buzz of voices was
| so great in volume that it drowned his
words, and nobody knew what he was