The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1896-07-09

Inside Of the great convention
] building everything was on the nam
moth order, even the decorations.
From the lobby the crowd entered an
enclosure, free OF seats and serving as
a common ground for delegations to
greet each other before entering the
convention hall beyond This outer
enclosure is a third of the building,
which was too large in its entirety for
the convention. On one side ran rows
| Of offices for the newspapers and on
the other was restaurant stretching
100 feet. Even the details Of "a post
office had not been forgotten and
Postmaster lleslng had in operation a
well equipped branch Office to handle
| mail for delegates.
Michigan had drawn the point of
vantage on the front seats, immedi-
ately before the chairman's desk.
Back of 70 came Minnesota and then
Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New
Jersey and others New York was TO
the left and in the rear. 1t was not a
choice location, from which the ex-
pected protests of the gold forces
could be made effectively. Massachu-
setts occupied the front seats to the
right and Pennsylvania TO the left
Indiana was far in the rear The To-
cations had been made alphabetically
and with strict Impair tiality, and
Alaska was better off than New York
DECORATIONS OF THE HALL
The only decoration in the outer
hall was an American flag, which Mr.
Martin spoke of with pride as the
largest flag any country had ever
made. Itis 100XG0 feet, and i've men
were needed 10 hoist IT, Within the
main hall the decorations were urtis
TIC and effective. The hail is square,
with the seats on all sides. IL Is twice
the size of the Madison square garden
interior, with :wo galleries stretching
1000 feet, or almost half mile each,
and with $500 square feet OF floor
room. The most striking feature of
the decorations was pictures of heroic
size of the seven Democratic presi-
dents-Jctierson, jackson, Van Buren.
Polk, Tyler, buchanan and Cleveland
arranged above the desk of the
chairman, looking down on the dele
gates. That Of Mr.. Cleveland was in
the middle, with the fathers of Dem.
ocracy on either side. Above these
rose "A mammoth representation of the
AlAtIl1Ah tAB it Wlllt the NlltlQ OF the
United States in its talons Further
up the great steel girders which span
the building were wound with bunt-
ing, and from between them hung
myuads of flags and semi-cireular ro-
settes
TIE pI ArFORM AND INTERIOR
The platform and presiding officers
desk were tastefully decorated with
bunting and festoons of evergreen,
with a backing Of large palm trees.
Flanking the chairman on either side
ran the press seats, four deep. en-
circling the entire front and sides of
the area reserved for the delegates
Back OF the chairman We're tiers Of
comfortable thcater chairs reserved
for the distinguished guests, about
400 In number, and for the honorary
vice presidents and secretaries At
either end OF the han rose tier above
tier of seats for the spectators, and
above these the two galleries
As the delegates entered the hall
they were not greeted by the usual
pennants bearing the names of states,
to locate the seats of delegations In
stead, each states location was
marked by an upright staff, with the
name of the state arranged perpeu-
dicularly on each OF its three faces, SO
as to be seen from an directions and
yet not 10 obstruct the view