The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-11
Nothing So Gorgeous Even in the Days
of Louis the Grand. or His Many
French NamesaLes.
ALL NEW YORK'S 400 THERE
WEARING COSTUMES THAT COST
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.
Waldorf Hotel AgIOw with Electric
Lights and the Rooms Banked
with Wealth of Flowers.

NEW YORK, Feb. 1O.-Beautiful beyond
| description was the ball masque of Mrs.
| Bradley-Martin tonight. Columns have
| been written about the affair and pictures
have been drawn. but the fancy of the re-
] porter and the artist did not picture scenes
| one-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 rewarded.
| The bitter criticisms hurled at her were
| forgotten and the hundreds who were pres
| ent We'd with making her the happiest wo-
| man in America.
The decorations throughout the Waldorf
We're exquisite. American beauties, lilies
| and the rarest of imported blossoms with
vines and palms were intertwined in mar
| velously beautiful scheme. Never in New
| York has greater floral display been made
at ball. Tiny electric lights and mirrors
| were used in a bewildering and artistic
manner. all combining to transform the al
| ready beautiful hotel into an enchanting
| fairy house. The arrangements for the bali
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 con-
| hicts 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. Arrayed, cost
! ly beyond the dream of the originals were
| the men and women who appeared tonight
as ladies and gentlemen of the olden
periods At midnight the great ball was
at its height. All society was there gath
| cred to portray the regal splendor of past
! centuries. The great ballroom of the Wal
| dorf beautiful with wealth of roses and
| fragrant flowers, was then scene or
| grandeur never before equaled 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 manifested itself in the presence of
! colonial men and women or the old ana
| quaint days of America
| ALL PREVIOUS BALLS ECLIPSED.
/ Great social functions of the past in this
town were eclipsed-even the memorable
| Vanderbilt ball of 1888, with which since
| then all other affairs have seemed to suffer
| in comparison. For lavish expenditure. for
| artistic decorations and surroundings, for
| reflection of the most picturesque episodes
| in old world history. and gathering of the
| fairest and the richest in the new world
| life the ball tonight marked an epoch. 1t
| was more than mile post in New York's
history it was the event of decade.
| Months of preparations and the outlay
| Of hundreds of thousand of dollars were
| exhausted in five hours. 1t was very fash
| ionable Men and women Travelled across
| the continent for the honor of being pres
| ent For one night the gorgeous and pro-
sale hotel was transformed into 'beauti-
| full Arunda palace" where the inmates live
| enchanted lives, Tapped in soft music of
adulation, waited on by the splendors of the
| world. New York society was seemingly
| picked up and deposited in Versailles amid
| the glory of the court of Louis XIV.
AS many as fifty dinners preceded the
| BALL Every cotere that makes up swell
dom had a dinner. Those who were going
| to the ball appeared in their fancy gowns
| that cost thousands of dollars. and which
| they will wear but once, and in their jew
els After the dinner their friends were
| invited in to admire. After the friends
came the Photographer, in order that the
| beauty and gorgeousness of it all should not
| be lost to future generations.
Arrangements for receiving the guests as
| they arrived were as nearly perfect as could
| be. The guests alighted from the carriages
| at No. l3 West Thirty-third street which
| is the private residence of Manager Bolat,
| of the hotel, and went directly to the Sec
| ond 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 ballroom. The scheme of decora-
| tions in this room was that of the time OF
Louis XIV, and before the dais passed the
| counterfeit presentments of all the promi-
| nent people of that time. to mingle in pic
| turesque confusion with characters of other
days After being received by the hostess,
| who stood upon a raised dais under a can
opy of rare tapestry, the guests passed
| through a hower-lined corridor directly
| into the large ballroom.
| QUADRILLE D'HONNEUR
| In the early portion of the evening dane
| ing in the main ballroom on the first floor
was general, but il 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 members of
| the Twenty-second Regiment Band and the
Hungarian band. the music suddenly
stopped for just moment. to be broken
by a flourish of trumpets as Mrs Bradley
| Martin and her escort. Mr.. John Jacob
| Astor, entered the room. moment later.
| when they had taken their places at the
| head of the room there was another flour
! ish of the trumpets which told that the
| Quadrille dHonneur, arranged by Mrs.
| William Astor. was about TO Open
The forming for the first figure. ''the
| salute was like the turning of pages OF
history The characters gathered from all
| sections of the room. There Mrs.
| Bradley Martin, wearing a Marie Stuart
| costume, copied from an old plate of that
| Queens time; Mrs. John Jacob Astor in a
| Louis VI court costume: Mr.. j. Townsend
| Martin, as a cavalier of the court of Louis
| XIII. and Mrs. Henry Lohrin in Louis XIV
| court costume. From another section of
| the room came Mrs. Orme Wilson. looking
| picturesque i'm a Louis XVI court dress of
| white and silver brocade, which followed
| the elaborate designs of the period. and
| Mrs. Whitney Warren, wearing a costume
of pale blue brocade and silk. after the
| style OF the time of Louis XIV. Mr.. Lis
penard Stewart closely followed his part
| ner. Mrs. Whitney Warren. dressed as a
| cavalier of the court of Louis XIII. The
| others of the sixteen who took their places
| i'm this quadrille were: Mrs. Lee Trailer,
Mr.. Craig Wadsworth. Miss Gerry, Mr..
Confer Hitchcock, Miss Lena Morton, Mr..
| Il. B. Van Allen, Miss Madeline Cutting