Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-04-13

Great Was Their Anxiety to
Give Him Hearty Greeting
That Even a Platoon of Police
Were Inefficient in Making Pas
sage-At the State Department,
Discipline Was Relaxed, and
Everybody Turned Into the Cor
ridOrs to Cheer the Havana Hero
as He Went to Secretary Sher-
mans Office - Closeted for an
Hour With the President
Washington, April 12-The ovation
that has 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 remark
able demonstrations the city has ever
seen. From the moment he alighted
in the railroad station in the afternoon
he was surrounded by cheering
crowd that followed him to the State
Department, and the spectacle of army
and navy officers and government en-
plOyes cheering outside the very door
OF the Secretary of State was wholly
unprecedented in the history Of that
stald department. At night the city
turned cut in thousands, when sere-
made was given General Lee at his no.
tel and stood for hours in the street
oil Of him
The night demonstration was almost
as quick and unprecedented as that
which had greeted General Lee at the
depot and State Department. The Uni
ted States Marine band had been Sc
cured from the barracks and the Sew
entyfrst Regiment Band under direc
ton of Prof. Fanciulli, formerly con-
ductor of the Marine Band, came over
from New York on an afternoon train.
The crowd assembled without calling,
and by o'clock 5000 strong were in
the streets about the Shoreham Hotel,
where General Lee was Quartered. Be-
fore the close
1T WAS TWICE THAT SIZE.
1t was after nine before he appeared
On one of the small corner balconies,
accompanied by a committee of the
Union Veteran Legion, and the Con-
federate Veterans Association, which
were jointly in charge of the affair The
bands struck up Star Spangled Ban
ner,' and there was burst Of fire
works from the neighboring houses,
while mounds of red, white and blue
lights famed at intervals along the
street, throwing the crowd on the bal
cOny in sharp relief against a back
ground of flags. The crowd yelled it
self hoarse, calling for General Lee by
name 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. General Lee said:
After all the speeches I have been
forced to make in the past two days,
can hardly hope to make myself heard
over this great gathering. | can only
assure you that such a great demonstra-
ton seems to me out of all proportion
to the simple fact of my humble pres
ence here and l am frank to say | do
not see that | deserve it, having only
tried to do my duty as an American
where circumstances placed me-"
The crowd broke out afresh and there
were yells of that's it" that's what
you did,
GEN. LEE CONTINUED:
II have to thank you most heartily
for this splendid endorsement of my
course. It is a thing that can hardly
come to a man more than once in a life
time. and it moves me more than | can
put in words"
You can act pretty quick" cried a
man in the crowd, and then some one
yelled WAR. fight" and the cheering
drowned everything else.
Il have not come to talk Of war"
continued Gen. Lee, but if war comes,
in few days or in a few years, the
present crisis has proved that it will
find us a united people and the only
contest will be as TO who can carry the
flag fartheSt and fastest.
There is one thing in conclusion.
| want to thank my good New York
friends who have come so promptly to
the front tonight. 1t 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, | can
assure you all that Virginia will be
IOuuu StdHuluS ollouiuCi " ohOuioNl
with New York
The speaking and music was followed
by a very brief reception to which d
few score gained atmittance, in the
rooms of Representative Council, of
Pennsylvania, from whose balcony Gen.
Lee had made his address.
Prof. Fanciulli was recognized by the
crowd among who he was popular as
an enthusiastic reception.
Washington, April 12.-Consul Cen
eral Fitzhugh Lee arrived here from
Havana at 80 o'clock this afternoon.
A large crowd of enthusiastic admirers
had gathered at the Pennsylvania sta
ton and when the General stepped from
the train he was greeted With tre-