The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-08-30
IT'S ALMOST A PANIC.
Twelve thousand People Crowd Into
q Hall to Hear Bryan.
HANGING ON THE RAFTERS


CLING Mob-Women ShrIek. still
the Crush Goes On-he Finally
speaks. and FL. auently. Too.
Jamestown. N. Y. Aug. 2s.-Will-
lam ]. Bryan spoke tonight In the
convention hall at Celeron. on Lake
Chatauqua, two miles from this city.
The determination Of twice as many
people as the hall could hold to hear
the presidential candidate resulted In
a crush which would have ended In
great loss of life IL a panic which for
half an hour seemed imminent had
not been prevented The hall con-
tains seats for 5000 people. but fully
IL, 900 were packed into its frail walls,
fighting for more standing room an
hour before the speech making be-
gan. Mr.. Bryan, Mrs. Bryan. Mr..
and Mrs. Joseph C. Sibley and MEM
bers OF the local committee pushed
their way through a crush on rhe
platform to chairs reserved for them
at O'Clock. The candidate was In
stantly recognized and the cheer
which his entrance kindled was one
more intense and shrill than any
which he has heard since the Chi
cago convention All the people stood
on their chairs, filling the Auditorium
with q storm Of applause. They did
not give orderly cheers. but sent up
a continual cheer, which lasted for
several minutes. A choir on the stage
started to sing "The Star Spangled
Banner and before the end of the
first sentence II was reinforced by
thousands of voices. making a great
chorus.
When Bryan was introduced the
trouble began. The audience climbed
upon their chairs to cheer and did
not climb down. Bryan appealed to
them to be seated, and his appeals
were entirely inenective. He stood
for five minutes making this en-
deavor and all the time more people
crowded into the doors and climbed
In the windows. There We're thou
sands outside and few policemen to
keep them back. Viewed from the
platform. the whole Auditorium was
a struggling mob. while overhead
men chung like monkeys to the raft
ers. There were 500 people in the
center aisle, and those in front were
in danger of being crushed to death.
Women were shrieking on the plat
form, a few ladies sitting In their
seats with pale faces. Mrs. Bryan
smiled nervously. for It looked as
though the people pelow would be
pushed on the stage. Bryan, Slbley
and several committeeman took turns
in appealing to those In the aisles
and back of the hall to go out. but
they could not. although many tried.
One man in the gallery got a hearing
and yelled: For Gods sake, go out;
there will be panic; people will be
killed" Another in the pit called out:
Don't speak, Bryan; go home. This
Is dangerous" Bryan said he would
not speak and started to leave. Sib-
ley made the announcement that the
meeting would have to be abandoned
unless part of the audience could be
driven out.
Half a dozen policemen struggled
to clear the middle aisle. Word was
finally shouted that Sibley would
make an outdoor speech. Thirty-fve
minutes after Mr. Bryan had made
his first attempt to speak he made
the second beginning, and the speech
accident. In the crowds outside,
iiONtNti. lfttsptiS WCTt
squeezed until they tainted before
Mr.. Sibley created a diversion by
speaking from a stand some distance
from the hall. The enthusiasm of the
night. apart from Its troubles, was
greater than Bryan has seen since
the Chicago convention. His speech
was devoted to the financial ques-
tion, and in the beginning he said
that IL the people crowded so to hear
about free silver In a banner repub-
lican county. he would not dare to
bring them out in a democratic
county.
Bryan, by way Of introduction, ex
planned that he believed that II wa.
| the duty of public speakers to hel,
their audiences to understand the mer
| its Of questions at issue in the cam
paign-to come out to the light ant
make everything clear. Continuing, h,
| said: When / find a man talkiny
| about an honest dollar, / am afrait
| he loves darkness rather than light, be
| cause his purposes are evil. and f1nt
that our opponents are taking their ar
| guments from people who have n,
| names. / am afraid there Is a pur
pose in obscurity. Let me call you
| attention to something which you will
find at the top of the first column O
the first page of a Buffalo paper, un
| der great big black headlines. 1 fin,
this in It: Ready to unload Indial
bankers hope that Bryan will win
great hordes of silver They are cage
to dump II by the shipload in the Uni
ted States mint at double Its presen
price And then find a special cabl
from that great city from whence com
most OF the arguments of our enemies
London, England. And here is tn
cablegram: In the course of an inter
view to-day leading Indian merchan
| just from Calcutta said to me: 4
leading Indian merchant name un
known. daughter and applause)
This Indian merchant said: 'Ameri
can politics just now is Of absorbin,
1 interest TO Hindu and Parsee banker
and financiers as well as native DO
| tentates.'
Yes, my friends, for once America,
politics is permeating all of the ma
tions. Why? Because we are goin
/ to govern ourselves. Therefore the
are becoming interested. All Of these
possessing enormous boards of silver
eagerly desire Bryan's election and
l chance Is thereby afforded them [