El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-05-15

with Jim Longwell as drum major.
Then came the McGinty Light Guards:
then the plug hat brigrade and after
them followed the visiting firemen, and
in this order the procession moved off
down Chihuahua sire ct, where they
were Joined by the fiambeau club, and
then the plug hat brigade were moved
to the front and given red, blue and
green lights to carry. The procession
turned on Second street to Ell Paso, and
as it swung into Ell Paso, the multitude
of people that lined both sides OF the
street from Second to the little plaza,
sent up shout OF admiration at the
beauty and grandeur of the display.
1t was pretty and it was grand as it
was coming up the street. Just as
soon as the procession reached FL Paso
street the red fires on the sidewalks
were touched Of and the strings OF fire
crackers hanging from the wires were
started and it then made one of the
mostbeautiful pictures imaginable Out
of the blaze OF fire, smoke and noise
the procession emerged and made sew
eral turns in the little plaza where at
least 4, ZOO people had gathered. The
streets, the balconies, the poles and
every available space was taken by the
were craning their necks to get a good
view of the parade. From a pretty
scene at distance the scene was
changed to one of the horrors of war
and through it all came Mephisto with
forked prong and flowing robes of red
dancing through carnage. The
flying rockies and spouting Roman
candles gave the proce 'sion the appear
ance of some terrible carnage on the
battle field with men fitting here and
there to take advantage of situations.
The ladies on the walks fell back at
the sight and were ready to scream
from fright at the reality OF the APP
pearance. From the little plaza the
procession went to Mesa avenue, down
Mesa avenue to San Antonio, west on
San Antonio to FL Paso, up Ell Paso to
San Francisco and west on San
Francisco TO an attack on Fort Nc
Ginty.
The HERALD reporter with the
artist got to the fort before the process
sion and watched the bombardment
from the top OF McGinty hill. The rock
cts and bombs were ready for'the attack
and commenced just as soon as the
procession reached the Schultz build
ing, and as long as the ammunition last
ed the attack and defense of Fort Nc
Ginty was realistic in every respect.
A large bon fire had been built back
of the hill that lighted up the whole
scene, and the activity in the fort in
sending up the large rockets and
bombs was something once seen would
never be forgotten. The fort was un-
der command of Ed Watts, while Lew
Gasser acted chief Of the artillery and
everything went off smoothly with
the exception of one rocket that man
tried to send up by holding it in his
hand and it tore away and went straight
for San Francisco street and fell in
Lawrence'S store. The explosion of
the magazine was the signal for the
firing of the fort and soon it was all a
blaze and burned to the ground. The
numerous amount of fireworks on the
hill made it dangerous there and i t
took cool head and good management
to carry it through without accident,
but no one was injured. As the fort
was burning Mephisto appeared on the
scene and danced on the.smolder, ne en-
bers, presenting a weird appearance as
the attacking party retired down the
hill. VIM. Mccoy acted the part of
Mephisto and played his role we'll.
The McGinty Light Guard led the