The Topeka state journal., 1898-08-01
ALLIS READY
For the Production of the "Batt1e OF
Manilan Tonight

At noon today everything was in
readiness for the reproduction Of the
Battle of Manila.
Within "a hours the quarterstretch
in front of the grand stand at the fair
| grounds had been transformed into a
miniature Manila bay. Directly in front
of the center of the grand stand, nest
ling in the cliffs, is the fort of Cavite
with its bristling guns. On the west
side of the bay are the ships of Ad-
miral DeWey'S Asiatic squadron con-
sisting of his flagship the Olympia, the
Baltimore, Raleigh, Boston and Con-
cord. The Raleigh, Boston and Con-
cord pass in front of the fort firing as
they go at the massive Spanish strong
hold while the Baltimore and Olympia.
shell the Spanish ships from their posi-
/ tiOn on the west side of the bay. Ad-
miral MOntijO'S fleet, the Asiatic squad
ron of Spain, is on the east side of the
bay consisting of the flagship Reina
Christina, Castillo, Don Juan de Aus
tria and the Isla de Cuba Two of
the Spanish ships dash across the bay
ana are repulsed by the American Heet
over 1000 feet of scenery is used in
the production of the battle. The
highest point is the fort of Cavite
which is 80 feet high. The ships and
scenery are so arranged as to give the
proper idea of distance. The ships
range from 40 to so feet in length.
The display is under the supervision
of Mr.. James Cunliffe, who is pro-
in the world. He has had charge of
large displays in Sidney and Melbourne,
Australia; London, Manchester, Leeds
and other large cities in England: Chi
cagO. New York, Boston, San Francis
co and other large cities in this coun-
try. He was in charge of the spectac-
ular production, that has just closed
in Chicago. called Cuba" The seem
cry and explosives were shipped here
in two large baggage cars. Mr.. Cum
life brings with him IA experts and en-
plOys 25 men to assist them.
This is the finest exhibition that is
put on by the Pain company" said Mr..
Cunliffe. ''The scenery is new, having
never been used before. It was built
especially for this production and
comes direct from Chicago. The Bay
of Manila is 300 feet wide. In all there
are nine ships beside the land batteries.
After the production is given here we
make several stops on our way to San
Francisco where we give the production
for several weeks
The entertainment will commence at
8 o'clock with a concert by MarshaIl's
band and at $50 the fireworks display
will commence. The Battle of Manila
is the close of the performance The
battle commences with a few shots
from the ships and the fort. When the
battle reaches its fiercest point the fir
ing is terrific and lasts, without a sec
ond of quiet, for ten minutes. The en-
tire programme lasts an hour.
The scenery has been so ar
ranged that everything can be
seen without obstruction from
all points in the grand stand ex-
cept the two top rows of the seats The
bombs and rockets will be fired from
the south side OF the race track and
will explode so they can be seen by
everyone in the grand stand. The frame
of the picture of Admiral Dewey stands
to- the west of the center of the grand
stand and IS twenty feet square. The
judges stand will be removed so that
nothing can obstruct the view.