The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-09-23
DID HER PART.
OWOSSO FURNISHED THE
SUCCESSFUL SHOW SHE
ADVERTISED.
The First Annual Free Street Fair
a Great Success.
SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS FULLY
UP TO ALL THAT WAS
CLAIMED.
Fascinating Games of Chance
Found the Usual GuIlible
Victims.
A Success up to Last Night.-Broken
Up Completely by the Rain Today.

Although at the time of going to press
the First Annual Free Street Fair of Owos-
so seems destined to come to a wet and
muddy end, 1t does not 60 down in history,
or in mud, without flying colOrs.
Even with the threatening weather of
light showers, the attendance was remark
ably large, the streets being almost impass'
ible much of the day owing to the size of
the crowd and while today's weather has
been most unfortunate, the fair has never
the less been success, as never before has
such an array of attractions been offered
absolutely tree to the people of Shiawassee
county nor has an invitation to be present
ever been more generally accepted.
Great credit is due to the managers of
the enterprise and to every merchant who
made an exhibit or who gave dollar either
directly or indirectly for the accomplish
ment of the success which has been attain
ed. Especial credit is due to the efforts of
Mr.. w. E. Hall, president of the association,
who has put much time into the work, but
the greatest must fall On Sec'y Geo. B. Nc
Caughna and General Manager w. ID.
Royce, upon whom the bulk of the work
fell and to whose efforts are due the special
attractions which were secured only at heavy
cost and after time taking investigation.
The order maintained throughout the fair
has been In general good. In fact. when 1t
is considered that the show was advertised
as a carnival of fun and no two persons
ideas of fun are quite alike, the behavior Of
the crowd has been good. Marshal Barres-
ford and our two regular night watchmen,
Cady and Hammond, have been untiring
secured reasonably efficient work from the
special officers under them. Police head
quarters were established on east Main
street, near Washington, where telephone
was put In and some one kept on duty
nearly every moment The first arrest was
made Wednesday afternoon, when pick
pocket was landed In the tolls.
The games of chance of various kinds
started in with full swing aud no effort was
apparently made to keep such of from the
street. BY Wednesday, however, those
who were operating the most bare faced
swindling devices had been warned of, the
police discriminating, apparently, between
those games In which player had some
chance of getting returns for his risk and
those where the deal was absolutely one
sided. The amount of interest In this class
Of games Is, however, quite remarkable and
shows how strong the gambling instinct Is
In the average mortal. There were num-
ber Of heavy losers at these games, one
Owosso business man parting with over
forty dollars as swiftly and easily as child
could have done.
The special attractions have been fully up
to what was claimed for them, the perform
ance Of Achille Philion, with his big ball
and bis spiral tower, being exceptionally
fine. In fact, the advertising matter he has
put out quite fails to prepare the public for
his performance, because he looks Just as
his pictures show him and the public Is
used to seeing pictures showing things a
little more difficult than Is possible to be
accomplished. The night performance, ex-
cept that 1t was given too late, ten o'clock
standard time, was great success with Its
pyrotechnic display. The other special free
attractions, while not SO novel, were strictly
first class, the tight rope performance Of the
boy Blondin, the balloon ascenslons and
parachute drops and the exhibition by Ma,
Wixom's trained dogs, ponys and monkeys
being all that each could be.
The wedding took place as advertised on
the Eiffel tower Thursday afternoon at hall
past one, when Mr.. Lee Chaplin and Minnie
Pearsoll, Of Venice, were united in marri.
age by Rev. G. V. Northrop. The pail
were attended by Mr.. and Mrs. VIM. Brott
of Caledonia, and besides these, the officer:
of the associations were present on the
platform. The party went to McNally's
cafe after the ceremony and enjoyed
sumptuous wedding dinner served In Chez
McNally's most elegant style. Mr.. and
Mrs. Chaplin received the fine steel range
offered by the Dodge Quitting Co.
Ifthere is any class which did not come
fully up to what was reasonably expected
of 1t 1t was along the lines of farm displays
and here 1t might be suggested that the vas
majority of farmers missed an opportunity
to show their public spiritedness. The dis