The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-02-11
AFTER THE BALL.
1t Was Five O'Clock Before the
Bradley Martin Ball
Ended, and 1t Was the Greatest
in American History.
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
Gathered Outside the Waldorf
During the Evening
But They Were Kept Moving by
the Police.

New York, Feb. 11.-Months of prep
aration and the outlay of hundreds OF
thousands of dollars was exhausted in
five hours at the Bradley Martin ball
last night. 1t was very fashionable.
Men and women Travelled across the
continent for the honor of being pres
ent.
For one night the gorgeous and
prosaic hotel was transformed into
beautiful palace. where the inmates liv-
ed enchanted lives, Tapped in soft music
of aduatiOn. New YOrk's society was
picked up and deposited in Versailles
amid the glory of the court of Louis
XIV.
AS many as so dinners preceded the
ball. Every coterie that makes up
swelldOm had a dinner Those who were
going to the ball appeared in their fan
cy gowns, that cost thousands of dol
lars. and which they will wear but
once, and in their jewels. After the
dinner their friends were invited in to
admire. After the friends came the
photographer, in order that the beauty
and the gorgeousness of 1t all should
not be lost to future generations.
Beautiful beyond description was the
bail itself. Columns have been written
about the affair and pictures have been
draw but the fancy of the reporter
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 prepare ton of the sumpt-
nous affair. Her efforts were richly re-
warded. The bitter criticisms hurled at
her were forgotten and the hundreds
VINO were present We'd in making her
the happiest woman in America.
The decorations throughout the Wal
dorf were exquisite. American beauties,
lilies and the rarest of imported bios
SONS, with vines and palms, were inter
iwined in marvelously beautiful
scheme.
Never in New York has a greater
floral diSDlaV hARr N19dn at The
electric lights and mirrors were used
in a bewildering and artistic manner, all
combining to transform the beautiful
hotel to an enchanting fairy house The
arrangements for the ball were tested to
their fullest, but with excellent good
fortune. they were equal to every en-
Thousands of men and women crowd
ed the streets around the hotel, but the
police kept them moving and no con-
flctS or excitement of any kind result
ed 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 in
Taiment costly beyond the dream of the
originals, were the men and women
who appeared last night as ladies and
gentlemen of the Olden periods.
Al midnight the great ball was at it's
height. All society was there gath
cred to portray the regal splendor of
past centuries. The great ball room of
the Waldorf, beautiful with a wealth
of roses and fragrant flowers. was then
a scene of grandeur never before
equalled 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 man
1teSted itself in the presence of colonial
men and women of the old and quaint
days in America. Great social fl1nc-
7ions of the past in this city were
eclipsed, even the memorable Wander
bilt ball of 1882 since which all other
affairs have served to suffer in COM
par1son- For lavish expenditures. for
artistic decorations and SURROUNDINGS
for reflection of the most picturesque
episodes in old world history, and as a
gathering of the fairest and richest in
the new world life the ball marked an
epoch 1t was more than a mile post
IN New YOrk's history. 1t was the
event of a decade.
Arrangements for receiving the guests
as they arrived were as nearly perfect
as could be. The guests alighted from
their carriages at IS West Thirty-third
street, which is the private residence of
Manager Bolat of the hotel, and went
directly to the second floor of the hotel
where sixty apartments had been set
aside as dressing rooms. The guests
were received by Mrs. Martin in the
small ball room. The scheme of dec
Grafton in this room was that of the
time of Louis XIV and before the dais
passed the counterfeit presentments of
all the prominent people of that time
to mingle in picturesque confusion with
characters of other days.
After being received by the hostess
who stood upon a raised dais under a
canopy of rare tapestry, the guests
passed through flower lined corridor
directly into the large ball room In
the early portion of the evening dane
ing in the main ball room 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 ball room proper
that the fancy dress ball was formally
opened.
> In the small gallery were the Twenty
second Regiment band and the Hungar-
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.
A moment later they had taken their
places at the head of the room. and
pets which told that the quadriIle
d honneur 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 was
Mrs. Bradley Martin wearing a Marie
Stuart costume, copied from an old plate
of that queens time; Mrs. John Jacob
AStor in Louis vi court costume Mr.
J Townsend Martin as a caviIier of the
court of Louis XIII, and Mrs Henry
Lohr in Louis XIV. costume.
From another section of the room
came Mrs. Orme Wilson. looking pic
Guresque in a Louis XVI court dress
of white and silver brocade, which fol-
lowed the ella borate designs of the per-
Tod and Mrs. Whitney Warren wearing
q costume of pale blue brocade and silk