The Indianapolis journal., 1897-08-26

soon as the staff had assembled on Eagle
street. In front of the Niagara the staff
drew up in line and General CIarkson
waited on President Mckinley to escort
him to the head of the column. At 10
o'clock the President left the Niagara ac-
companied by the escort. Along the way
to the point of formation the President was
cheered to the echo. AT 1890 o'clock the
command TO march was given and
the procession moved. Amid the
roll of innumerable drums and
the blare of trumpets the Grand
Army of the Republic, headed by the
President of the United States, took its
triumphant way through the cheering hu-
manity. The sidewalks on each side of Main
street as far as the eye could reach. were
filled with solid mass of people. From
every window faces beamed out and the
roofs had a population equal if not great
er, than that of the windows.
In the great square in front of the Erie
County Bank the first glimpse was caught
OF the real immensity of the procession,
for here the close walls of the houses
opened out on either hand and the great
tide of humanity poured out from the mar
row street as from a funnel and swept in a
solid mass of blue and gold beneath the
the arch was displayed Hail to the Chief
as the Presidents carriage passed below.
The people on the grand stand gave a
mighty cheer. which was taken up and
echoed back by the hundreds in the plot to
the west president Mckinley 'C0mrade
Mckinley" The Grand Army" could be
heard in the roaring tumult of voices.
AGAIN the column plunged in between con-
applause echoed back from wall to wall
-, Inc imposing Department of Illinois on
IN one rlght OF the line, received an ovation
as 1t passed along Columbia Post, of Chi
cdgO, was wildly applauded, but the white
haired veterans Of the. small posts from
remote corners of the State were not for
gotten by the generous crowd. AS the vet
eran color guard. the old battle flag battal-
ION passed heads were uncovered. There
We're thirty battle-WOrn shOt-torn flags car
rled In the parade by Camp /, Buffalo Sons
OF Veterans, in company with Meade Post,
of Philadelphia. The old color guard was
under command of Captain Morgan and
Edward Curtis.
On came the procession post after post,
IN columns Of platoons eight files front at
half distance, while the head of the pageant
wheeled into Chippewa street and passed
under the gaily decorated arch erected by
the colored people of Buffalo Once clear
from this arch the President saw before
him a great living shield and caught the
music OF two thousand young voices lifted
up IN the national anthem As the columns
moved on nearer and nearer to the shield
the first platoons wheeling up Delaware
avenue, the human sympathy that had been
in one tumultuous climax of enthusiasm.
At the large grand stand erected by the
friends of the Fresh Air Mission, for the
benefit of charity, on Delaware avenue,
near the shield, hundreds of spectators
waited from an early hour. The bands,
President Mckinley and the marching men
came closer and closer, the children Of the
shield sang. and men and women, boys
and girls, young and old, rose and waved
and cheered for the Grand Army of the
Republic.
At North street the last wheel in the
rtumphal march was made. A few blocks
more of great mansions and cropped lawns,
and the mon could see the national colOrs
that marked the reviewing stand at the
circle. AS soon as the Department of Ill-
nois had moved from its place of formation
on lower Main street and taken up the
march the Department of Wisconsin fell
in and brought up the rear of the first di-
vision. The other divisions made up of
posts or individuals from all the States
then fell in line Some of the representa-
tives were very small, Alaska, New Mexico
and Mississippi having but one man each
in line, Oklahoma but two, Alabama and
Arkansas three each and Montana and
Texas five each. 1t was 347 when the last
post of the ninth, or last division moved.
and 4:30 when It passed the reviewing stand
and the presidential party left the stand
and took carriages for their homes.