El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-02-13

! | am not much given to celebrating
on events that do not apply locally to
FL Paso. but Mrs. Bradley-Martin' =
| bal masque calls for some attention on
account of its sumptuousness and cost
1926, 900. That's large sum Of money
to spend on one ball and it will be a
long time before Ell Paso's society
took place in Hotel Waldorf last
| Wednesday night and is described as
| follows:
Beautiful beyond description was the
| bal masque of Mrs. Bradley Martin,
SAYS a writer who saw it. Columns have
been written about the affair and pic
lures have been drawn, but the fancy
of the reporter and the artist did not
picture scenes .oue-half as lovely
as were presented in the Waldorf
For weeks Mrs. Martin has worked in
the preparation of the sumptuous
affair Her efforts were richly re-
warded. The bitter criticisms hurled
at her were forgotten and the hundreds
who were present We'd in making her
the happiest woman in America.
The decoration throughout the Wal
ties, lilies and the rarest of imported
blossoms with vines and palms were
intertwined in a marvellous, beautiful
scheme Never in New York has
greater floral display been made at a
ball. Tiny electric lights and mirrors
were used in a bewildering and artistic
manner, all comb ming to transform the
already beautiful hotel into an en-
chauted fairy house.
The arrangements for the ball were
tested to their fullest, but with excel
lent good fortune they were equal to
every emergency. Thousands of men
and women crowded the streets around
the hotel, but the police kept them
moving, and no conflicts or excitement
of any kind resulted. Detectives
swarmed in and around the house to
prevent trouble, but their presence was
not needed.
The costumes were exquisite. All
the great men and women of the last
three centuries were represented. Ar
rayed with costliness beyond the
dream of the originals were the men
and women who appeared as
ladies and gentlemen Of the olden
periods.
Ae.midnight the ball was at.its height.
All society was there, gathered to
portray the regal spendor of past
centuries. The great ballroom of the
Waldorf, beautiful with a wealth of
roses and fragrant flowers, was then a
scene of grandeur never before equal
ed in this country. Courtiers OF old
of every cline mingled with grand
danes and ladies, kings and queens,
princes and princesses, but here and
| there the old spirit of loyalty had mar
ifested itself in the presence of colon
NAL men and women of the old and
| quaint days in Am erica, Great social
| functions OF the past in this town were
| eclipsed, even the memorable Wander
| bilt ball of 1898, with which since then
all other affairs have seemed to suffer
| in comparison.
Arrangements for receiving the
guests as they arrived were as nearly
perfect as could be. The guests alight-
| ed from the carriages at ID West
Thirty-third street, which is the pri-
vate residence of Manager Bolat of the
| hotel, and went directly to the second
| floor of the hotel, where sixty apart
ments had been set aside as dressing
| rooms. The guests were received by
! Mrs. Martin in the small ball room.
The scheme Of decorations in this room
was that of the time of Louis XIV and
| before the dais passed the counterfeit
| presentments of all the prominent PEG
pie of that time to mingle in pictur-
esque confusion with characters OF
other dais. After being received by
his hostess, who stood upon raised
days under a canopy of rare tapestry,
| the guests passed through a flower
lined corridor directly into the large
| ballroom.
| In the early part of the evening dane
| ing in the main ballroom on the first
floor was general, but it was not until
all the guests had paid their respects
to Mrs. Bradley Martin and she had
been escorted to the ballroom proper
that the fancy dress ball was declared
| formally opened.
In the small gallery, where were the
| hers Of the fWPDtV-SppOp6 n
band and the Hungarian band, the
music suddenly stopped for just mo
ment, to be broken by flourish O
trumpets as Mrs Bradley Martin ant
her escort, Mr.. John Jacob Astor, en-
tered the room.
A moment later they had taken their