The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-10-15
THE BIGGEST PARADE EVER
SEEN IN CHICAGO TOOK
PLACE YESTERDAY.
TIE S|LVER|IES PARADE At NIGHT
And Their Demonstration Was No
Small Affar-ltcpublcan Hold
Big Rally in Augusta, Ga.
Other Political Notes.

Chicago. Oct. 9-Four years ago today
the greatest parade the west had ever
seen passed through the streets of Chi
cago as II portion of the celebration of
the dedication Of the buildings of the
Columbian exposition. That parade
was, however, surpassed today by the
purely partisan march of the men who
uphold the gold standard in questions OF
finance and politics. The estimates OF
the different parties vary widely as TO
the hummer of men in line, but 10000
is just half way between the number
claimed by the republicans and the count
given ont by the national committee
headquarters of the democratic party.
Putting aside all questions of numcri-
cal strength the parade rs parade was
IA distinct success. 1t started on its
march exactly on the minute scheduled,
it moved swiftly and without one halt
or break from start to finish, and in I'LL
respects it was handled with Il skill and
thoroughncss of detail that would have
been highly crcdtablc to the conduct OF
Il procession of onc-tcnth its size. The
polIcc arrangements were perfect, and
they were carried out to the letter. After
o o'clock in the morning not Il single car,
not "A single wagon, save those carrying
the United States mail and the police
ambulance. were allowed to cross the
river from the west and north sides, and
all those coming from the south were
turned back ut Van Buren, street Every
street between Van Buren, ON the SOUTH
the river on the north. the lake on the
east and the river on the west was abso-
lutcly free from all impeachment to the
marching columns. Eighteen hundred
policemen guarded the line of parade and
the dense lh!ong of tie people who pack
ed the MalAs was kept firmly back to
the curb. The entire street belonged to
the marchcrs. and they tramped over the
route from first to last with steady
pace.
For five hours the parade swept the
street from curb to curb, we'll closed up
and marching rapidly. The day was
all that could he desired. \ crisp wind
blew off Lake Michigan in just sufficient
force to keep the thousands of flags Ill
the parade and the tens of thousands that
hung from the buildings along the line i'll
Il lively tluttcr.
Mark Hanna, Senator Cullom. and the
various members of the republican ma
tionnl committee reviewed the parade ut
the Union League club on Jackson street.
From II stand erected on level with the
entrance of the Palmer. House Gen. John
VI. Palmer and Gen. :. Is. Buckner re-
viewed the parade. The two whlte-hair-
ed veterans, rs they stood side by side.
l., hnr
by marchcrS and were constantly cheer
ed. As the column came up thousands
of hats came off in homage to the veneer
able men, and all through the parade the
cheering was constant. There were
III floats in the parade, many OF them
exceedingly handsome and all lavlShIy
decorated.
4 UNIQUE feature of the parade was the
use made by the long distance telephone
to carry the sound of cheers that rose
from the parade to the other large cities
of the country. In many places along
the route great muuth-peccS fixed above
the street concentrated the sound waves
upon the diaphragms and sent the cheers
to Maj. Mckinley and Candidate liopar'
at their respective homes.
The crowd that witnessed the parade
was tremendous. 1t filled every side
walk from tne Wallis ~ tHt WI "''u"''
and every window that possessed II view
of the line of march was damned lnll
of heads. On the roofs of the buildings
large crowds were gathered, and the
many stands erected by spectators were
filled to the limit and frequently beyond
it. All the trains from out of the city
were loaded with cXcursioniStS. The To-
tai number of people who saw the parade,
based ON the statements of railway and
street ear companies, was 9oo,OUo,
Considering the size of the crowd there
were very few accidents. One man
named 4. c. Walker. who had enthused
on whisky created panic for few
minutes nj Randolph and Dearborn
streets by firing several shots in the
crowd. Fortunately he hit nothing hut
a brick wall. and he was suppressed with
such vigor that il took Il doctor thirty
minutes To bring him to again.