New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-01-01
i GREETING FOR &c.
,1v LARGE CROWDS AROUND
OLD TRINITY.

o,,e FOR A TINE. But The
,,vp WHILE THE CHIMES RING
-,no,rs Of many bells and the too''ns Oh
i"' ds Of discordant horns nade
.u.u 70 the ola Year in this Guy last '"e"'
,,sr at the stroke Of L. the he" yeas
.,o,,,ad with the customary tumuit'
-, steam whistles joined IN the
.sor,,s OF ringing bells and 'oo''"e "o' No.
-. and tinpans and other Instruments o'
Wrought into play. and reckless per-
H0''' from reyolvers from one end
Of the city to the other
rho central point Of the din was ola
r.,.,,v Church in front of which a crowa Oh
,,an 20 900 people gathered about IL O'CLOCK.
Hio'e .ber crowds at Grace Church, at
Inc. o,a Tenth-st and at st. Andrews
-, 1Iorlam and in the steeple OF eacn
..o chimes were rung for half an hour
e"u ,,,bt There were also watch meet
pe'o'N n,,,,her of other churches in the city
ms ,N'u,., however. the people who love noise
~ .,.oa IN the greatest numbers. and most OF
e"'"0 80 ,,n horns which they blew with all
800 ~ their command. A few thousands
of the people co"'e ~
,ake part in the fun
BEDLAM LET LOOSE.
r,. crowd in lower Broadway below the Fed
-, building was larger than usual all through
~. .vsring but about 10 o'clock 1t notceably In
oraosed Tin horns had been heard since early IN
.,a svsning. but when the crowd really began
.. Gather for their annual festival OF noise the
Ain seemed TO be too great and discordant 10
como from such insignificant -looking Instruments
pondemonium let loose could never have been
worse.
The crowd in Broadway was a curious one
y xas composed Of all classes OF humanity. Early
=, the evening the hoodlums were in the ascend
.rcv and any respectable member Of society who
hanpened TO come into their path was obliged to
,,ok ont for himself. But the hoodlums at this
time Of the evening were only walking about
smlessly. They had no particular destination
They were only painting the town red in
mild and reformed way.
About 1880 o'clock the people who wanted to
hear the chimes of Trinity began to come.
There were men alone and men who were not
alone Men who with other men and
rnen who were with women AS for the women
there were old women and young women.
women without tin horns and women with tin
horns. And the women without them some
times made quite as much useless noise as
those who had them. The street was curious
melee Of people. There the man who had
come out with his girl" for a quiet walk and
had inadvertently walked into anything but
quiet place. and the man who had walked
with a purpose into what he knew would
be noisy place. 10 enjoy few moments OF
quiet.
Besides those who walked in pairs. there
we're numbers Of men and boys who walked In
gangs" imbued with New Years eve Spirits.
and whose horns. blown in unison were
source OF anguish to all who heard them. The
streets. when they passed. were worse than
nail factories and any brain effort was thrown
away. The nerves of any without the spirits
were simply paralyzed. The sons OF sunny
Italy who were selling horns did
good Business until the gangs" began 10 come
Then their troubles began One brown-faced
black haired fellow who was selling big tin
horns for bargain" at Park Row and Broad
way fell a victim TO an urchn who slipped out
from a crowd and 'pinched" one Of his treas
ures Imbued with sudden spirit of personal
rights. the Italian started in pursuit. his box
O. horns dragging behind him. He didn't
catch the thief. He couldn't even catch sight
OF him after a blocks run, but when he looked
around and started to gather in the rest Of
his wares 70 start in at business again-lo and
behold, there wasn't 4 horn left. He probably
believes that an American New Years
eve is even worse than an American April Fools
Day.
But the crowd, although 1t was large at 1890
kept moving up and down the street About II
o'clock they all began TO strike for Trinity
Church. and the good places In Broadway, be-
tween Rector and Pine SITS. At first the sta
tionary crowd was small, but II grew con-
SANITY. All Of the side streets-Wall. Pine
and all the rest. up to Fulton st.-were in full
possession OF the gamns who held high jinks"
lnmolested by the police The horns that were
blown on Broadway beat them in their vol
lme Of sound only because they were out
'ageously beaten in numbers For their num-
Der they did remarkably we'll
AN "OLD-TIMER's" LECTURE.
At one Of the corners below Trinity, on the
what the worse for wear. was delivering a
lecture to a circle of admirers and-"others."
who had nothing else to do. After close in
vesugation 1t was found that the subject Of his
lecture was when a man tells o lie and gets
found out he's sucker. Never tell one unless
you're pretty d--n sure you won't get dis
covered. Then tell It," The moral Of the lect-
ure seemed to strike every one who heard it
as something new and good.
At Il o'clock hun ired policemen. fifty from the
Seventeenth Precinct and fifty from the Thirty
seventh Precinct. took charge OF the sidewalks
directly in front Of Trinity. The horns had been
blown with impunity until their arrival, but
tak bei noise
gan 10 diminish. When 1880 o'clock struck
and the chimes OF Trinity began to ring out their
welcome 10 the New Year the sidewalks for
Tour blocks IN each direction Broadway were
packed with people. The horns were still. and
those who wanted 10 listen to the chimes got
a good chance. Clear and still the night air
they rang out over the people. and the music and
foemnty ~ the bells seemed in a measure 10
4 IL