The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-20
Washington, although e great crowd
had assembled to greet him.
Thousands wild with Excitement.

Washington, April 12.-The va
tion that followed Consul General Lee.
since he set foot on American soil, on
his return from Havana, eliminated
tonight in Washington in what was in
many ways one of the most remarka-
BILE demonstrations the city has ever
seen. From tho moment he alighted
in the railroad station in the afternoon
he was surrounded by a cheering
crowd that followed him to the State
Department, and the spectacle of army
and navy officers and government en-
ployees cheering outside the very door
Of the office of the Secretary Of State
was wholly unprecedented in the his
tory Of that staid department. At
night the city turned out in thousands
when a sercnadc was given Gen. Lee
at his hotel and stood for hours in the
street waiting q glimpse of him.
The night demonstration was almost
as quick and unprecedented as that
which had greeted Gen. Lee at the
depot and State department. The
United States marine band had been
secured from the barracks and the
Seventy-irst regiment band, under the
leadership of Prof. Fanciulli, formerly
conductor OF the marine band, came
over from New York on an afternoon
train. The crowd assembled without
calling and by s o'clock was 5000
strong in the streets about the Shore
ham hotel where Gen. Lee is quarter
ed. Before the close it was twice that
size. It was after 8 o'clock before he
appeared on one Of the small corner
balconies, accompanied by a commit
tee of the Union Veterans Legion and
the Confederate Veterans Association,
which was jointly in charge Of the
affair. The bands struck up the ''Star
/ Spangled Banner" and there was a
burst Of fireworks from the neighbor-
ing houses while mounds Of red, white
and blue lights famed at intervals
along the street. throwing the crowd
on the balcony into shorn relief against
a background Of flags. The crowd
yelled itself hoarse, calling for Lee and
demanding a speech. The speech was
brief and so much broken by applause
that the crowd caught probably little
more than its general drift. Gen.
Lee said:
"After all the speeches 1 have been
forced to make in the past few days 1
can hardly hope to make myself>h heard
Over this great gathering. I can only
assure you that such a great demon
stration seems to me out of all pro-
portion to the simple fact Of my hum
bic presence here. and l am frank to
say / don't see that l deserve it, hav-
ing only tried to do my duty as an
American, whose circumstances placed
me-"
The crowd broke out afresll and
there were yelis: ""That's it," "That's
what you did
Gen. Ice continued
81 have to thank you heartily for
this splendid endorsement of my
course. It is a thing that can hardly
come to a man :more than oncc in q
life time and it moves me more than I
can put in words
'You can act pretty quick" cried /.
maa "a the crowd, aud then some one
yelled WAR, fight and the cheering
drowned everything else.
II have not come to talk war; con-
tinued Gen. Lee, ''but if war comes,
in a few days or a few years, the pres
ent crisis has proved that it will find
us a united people and only the con-
test will be as to who can carry the
flag farthest and fastest"
"There is one thing in conclusion.
I want to thank my good Now York
friends who have come so promptly to
the front tonight. Il IS only another
evidence that New York is ready as
she has been in the past to stand by
Virginia, and if the trial comes I can
assure you all that Virginia will be
found standing shoulder to shoulder
with New York"
The speaking and music was follow
ed by a very brief reception to which
a few score gained admittance in the
rooms of Representative Cornell, of
Pennsylvania, from whose balcony
Gen. Lee had made his address.
Washington, April 12.-Consul
General Fitzhugh Lee arrived here
from Havana at 2.3O o'clock this after
noon. A large crowd Of enthusiastic