Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-12-25

psnERED IN AMID STIRRING
SCENES ON BROAD STREET.
HsPPINESS REIGNS SUPREME
1nousnuds of Men. Women, and
forc. and Fire Crackers and ToOt
Horus to Their Hearts Content.
CHRISTMAS is herel

CHRISTMAS is herel
The great day Of days. the great ami
y,rsary which all-rich or poor. old or
voanc. high OF low. white or black, OF
vhatever nationality or condition in life
ur.te In celebrating. mas dawned upon us
once again.
no was ushcred in in Richmond. as is
Tie custom with each recurrent year. mid
the blowing OF horns. the firing of pop
crackers. and the reports Of guns and
cannon. and for many hours after mid
richt the noise continued with but little
abatement Especially was this true on
rroad street. This thoroughfare has for
years been the rendezvous OF Christmas
purchasers. and naturally those who have
made their purchases and are out for a
little fun turn their steps i'm that direc-
ton. Last night was no exception to the
rale. The street. from Ninth to Adams,
WAS alive with people. and the noise they
u le was enough to drive one distracted.
Yong men and young ladies'. children OF
l1'h sexes. and IN some cases old men
and older ladies. perambulated the streets
with tin-hOrns stuck to their mouths. ana
the way they footed would have put a
professional trombone player 10 shame
There were small horns and large horns
GONE that had not gotten their growth.
and others that had grown too much. and
required the combined efforts of three
men 90 carry them up the street: some
made shrill noises. others made deeper
noises and the overgrown ones resem-
llei nothing so much as a fog-horn at
s.a Am blended together though and
while the result was not harmony. it was
pleasant 10 those who were doing the
blowing. and it mattered not 10 them
whether the other folks enjoyed il or not.
THE FIREWORKS. TOO
The horn-blowing was not the most OBJ
tecronable of the noises on the street
iy any means. The pop-cracker fiend got
ir his work i'm great order and he made
tle houses fairly tremble at times as he
fred on big baby-wakers and occasion
ally set off a dynamite bomb or a small
fizei howitzer Sky-rocke;s were very
much in evidence, too, and sionaly
one would get away from the artist
who was attempting to send il heaven
ward and instead of taking a course
such as was intended It would wend
i's flight down or up the street as the
case might be. and scatter fire and brim-
stone among the pedestrians. who would
scamger for the various store doors
Uke rats running 10 a hole. No one was
hurl though. and no one seemed To mind
the fireworks. All were out for good
time. and no one had on their best
clothes. so what mattered it TO them If
O. garment was torn, or a hole was
burned in them. 1t was fun for the boys;
let it be death to the clothes.
The crowd was not so large, perhaps.
Gs on last Christuas-Eve. though there
were enough on the street, goodness.
knows. But what they lacked i'm numbers
they made up for in enthus iasm. and they
celebrated at great rate There were
lots OF shoppers out. too, and the stores
were literally patronized. All Of the large
Cry-sC1-s dal tCy stores were flied to
orerfiOwing until late in the night. and
their delivery-wagOns were kept busy
until almost daylight. The wagons did
not convey one third OF the purchases
made last night though. for almost every
person on Broad street, except those
am.abie individuals whose only object in
l.f- seemed 10 be 20 make noise. had a
bundle and some had several packages.
Nearly every lady. whether accompanied
ly gentleman or not mad package
lf some sort in her arms, and If she had
man with her. the almost invariable
rule was that he had as much as he
could carry
sANTA's AGENTS AT WORK.
None Of the Broad-street stores closed
before Midnight. and many OF them re-
NAMED open until after that hour. All
1f the departments were paTonizcd Ii
baally. but the toys and candies We're
sold 10 greater extent than anything
else. Old Santa Caus had his sleigh
On the outskirts OF the town from about
o'clock until after midnight wnen he
began his rounds of the chimncys. and
he had his agents hard at work buying
presents for the thousands Of good lit
te boys and girls in the G. ty.
Santa used 20 get his TOYS up North
and bring them here in his sleigh. but
this he decided was not treating our
nome merchants right: ard then. too,
DO was a hard tax on his reindeer TO
haul ali the TOYS way down here 10
Richmond for there are so many good
children in this city that it takes any
quantity OF good things to pay them for
their good conduct throughout the year.
The merchants, OF course. sold old
Sauta's agents much cheaper than any
body else. but then they sold everything
go cheap that it would have been ex-
ceedirgly bad taste for anybody 10 COM
J l.idiI. -Ah Il matter OF ldci, prices on
everything seemed TO be more than rea-
s0nable and some classes Of goods were
almost given away. All who made pur-
clases last night wore smiles OF satisfac-
ton as they moved up and down the
street, looking for further bargains. or
orifted aimlessly with the horn-blowing
crowd, and all were full Of that good
cheer which only the Christmas sea-
son inspires.
POLICE HAD PLENTY TO DO.
The police Of the. Second District had
an they wanted 10 do 10 maintain order
ON Broad street last night. but they did
their work good-naturedly, and permitted
everybody 20 enjoy themselves to the
iuIl limit Of the law. frequently winklng
40 ordinance violations. They performed
their duty well. and the crowd. consider
ing the great enthusiasm which was evil
cent among them, behaved well, too, as
ln almost every case Of an ordinance
violation 10 which attention was called
ly the police the infractor showed his
willingness 10 either stop the violation
or remedy the damage II any done.
a lot Of trash in rear Of the Cohen
Company's store. which was densely
crowded at the time. caught fire about
q o'clock, but a still alarm was turned in.
and No. 8 engine responded and extin-
Iished the blaze so quickly that the Gus
toners in the store were not even aware
oi what was going on. The damage was !