Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-25
ON BROAD STREET,
A Noisy Demonstration on This
ThoToughfare Last Night
THOUSANDS ON THE MARCH.
All Are Armed With NOiSe-PrOduClng
Instruments.
TIN HORNS LARGELY II EVIDENCE
Rich and Poor. Old ard Young, Men
and Boys, Women and Children
JostIe Each Other In Good Humor-
ed Manner-Au Enjoy Themselves.

Christmas is mere. III was uSHeieu III O.
midnight with an exceedingly noisy de-
monstration, small cannon being fired
popcrackers decorating, and skyrockets'
like winged messengers to heaven, as
cending aloft in profusion. All told, Rich
mond presented a scene Of great re-
,oicing last night and the demonstration
was probably the most spontaneous and
elaborate ever held here.
Broad street was, Of course, the avenue
on which the largest crowd promenaded
and from early in the evening until after
Christmas was here the sidewalk on the
south side the street was almost impas
sable, while that on the north side, usual
" almost deserted, was thronged. The
crowd was, perhaps no larger than that
which has been in evidence on other
Christmas Eve nights but it was a more
demonstrative one and an exceedingly
happy one.
RICH AND POOR TOGETHER.
Everybody appeared to be there, and
the ladies from the higher walks OF life
were jostled by the humble citizen, and
all were happy and none seemed to be
i'll at ease. The ladies were largely In
evidence, and though there were some
drunken men on the street, hey seemed
not to be afraid of these victims of over
indulgence and strolled here and there
ENJOYING themselves TO the limit. Nearly
all of the fair ones had horns, and judg-
ing from the noise they made they had
hidden beneath their furs and furblows
good stout lungs There were pretty
girls and some that were otherwise; there
were young girls and sope that were
well, the old girls were there, too, and
they enjoyed themselves.
All kinds of men and boys were to be
seen, from the pampered pet Of society
TO the man who has just been released
from the city jail for a Christmas gift.
All were on hand and each contributed
his quota to the noise that was being
made. Firecrackers. baby-wakers. dyna-
mite bombs. fire screechers, whistling
bombs. and all the other inventions Of
the Chinese powder fenus were in evil
dence as noise producers, but the favOrlte
method Of SCATTERING the drums of the
many ears on the street was the dOleful
sounding tin horn. There were horns
and horns. Long horns and short horns.
mixed in a conglomeTation, and sang
their pean CD and the most discordant
notes were produced. though i'm their dis
cord lay their virtue, if virtue ii can be
called.
THOSE HORNS.
The largest men had the smallest horns
while it appeared that the smalles, boys
on the street carr ed the longest. one
tin instrument. evidently constructed es-
pecially for the occasion, measured mora
than seven feet in length and was carried
! b. small army Of youths, who
seemed to derive great pleasure from
their overgrown tooter 1t took "A grown
man 10 blow II. but the gentleman who
performed this duty was well equipped for
/ the occasion, and with bellows-like
! lungs he made To emanate from the horn
notes that would have caused the largest
! ocean liner to imagine that a fog OF
dense proportions was at hand.
Altogether. there was more noise on
Broad street than has ever been heard
there at any one time before, an every
body enjoyed themselves 10 the limit
While as already stated. the street was
crowded TO a degree Of density seldom
equaled. the stores were also packed
with belated purchasers and were all
doing a land-ohice business The stores
| remained open until midnight. or. al
least a majority of them did, and many
kept open even after the bells had tolled
the wtchng hour.
NO DISORDER.
Notwithstanding tie great crowd and
the demonstration that was had, there
was but little disorder. The police were
on hand TO look out for the belligerents
| and the lawbreakers, but they had little
| cause for interfering as only one or two
| fights occurred. and they amounted t
! naught, only one or two blows being
! passed ere the fighters We're separated.
There were two or three alarms Of fire
| during the night but none Of these
! amounted 20 much.