Omaha daily bee., 1898-10-02

Total Admissions Yesterday 21,255
Total for the Week ........ 12S,sS4
Total to Date ............. 1,7O0,635
True to It's promise and its well known
hustlng ability Chicago came to the ex-
position yesterday and made its visit the
biggest, liveliest and most enthusiastic mu-
nicipal celebration in the history OF the ex-
position. And incidentally Chicago day will
be remembered as the date on which the
Transmisslssippi Exposition made good Its
promise that it would be the biggest ex-
position since the Worlds fair. Last night
the total attendance passed the record of the
total attendance of the Nashville expo
sition with several thousands to spare. In
its six months of existence 1,703.22S people
passed through the gates OF the Nashville
show. At the end of the fourth month the
Omaha record was within $4,000 OF the total
Nashville attendance, and yesterday added
this and thousands more. The total at
tendance at the Atlanta exposition, which
was also six months show, was 1,2S7,s63,
and that at the Midwinter fair was also
decidedly less than that at Nashville
The radiant sunshine tnat welcomed the
representatives of the Sunny South was per-
tinently succeeded by lowering skies and
damp, misty winds when Chicago
came to pay her respects to the only
exposition that has rivaled her own mar
velous achievement. 1t was as nearly coun-
terpart of the brand OF weather for which
the Windy City is famed as nature could
suggest and the visitors unpacked their
mackintoshes and umbrellas and felt entirely
at home. The clouds were draped in that
slaty shade Of gray that distinguishes the
heavy canopy Of mist that stiff east wind
blows up from Lake Michigan. The rain
drizzled at intervals, with the same chilly
persistence that it falls on Michigan avenue
on several days OF the 365, the southeast
wind was damply suggestive Of journey
over miles of angry water, and the Chica-
goans had only to close their eyes and
imagine that they could hear the
mufiled pounding OF the insistent biilows
on the sturdy riprapping of the Lake Front.
They had every reason to feel at home and
they did. They showed their appreciation
OF the cordial sincerity of their welcome
by simply taking possession OF the grounds
and lavishing their admiration on the show
as enthusiastically as though they had not
had a slightly bigger one of their own. They
had come with the announced intention OF
making Chicago day one of the great events
OF the transmississippi show and the at
mospherlc inconvenences of the morning
did not prevent them from carrying 1t into
execution
Make Their Presence Manifest.
The delegations that were brought by the
various railroads included some of the most
notable figures in Chicago citizenship
Many OF them were accompanied by their
families and together they formed the big
gest and most enthusiastic crowd
that has visited the exposition
They swarmed into the Illinois
building all through the morning and KEPT
the pretty rotunda full of animation ant
pretty costumes. AS the excurslonist!
whose trains had been switched directly tC
the grounds joined those who came up from
their down town quarters the pretty ret
badges were conspicuous all over tn,
grounds and by II o'clock there were enough
of them to fairly fill the Auditorium ant
still leave a representation in every othe
quarter.
During the afternoon the clouds scat
tered and the drizzling rain of the morn
ing was succeeded by occasional bursts o
sunshine that were suggestive Of real Ne
braska weather. This gave the visitors al
opportunity to see the show under the mos
favorable conditions, and they made tn
most of II. They furnished big crowd a
the sham battle, and the Cook county demo
Gratis were so thoroughly enthused with tn
scrappy tactics of the aboriginal contestant
that they wanted to colonize them for dele
gates to the next county convention. Th
band concert and the special fireworks dis
play in the evening caught the fancy c
the visitors, and then they proceeded
give the Midway. little the warmest turn
ing over 1t has had yet Most Of them wi
remain over Sunday, and the Innes ban
will play two exceptionally attractive pre-
grams The feature Of the afternoon con
cert in the Auditorium will be the rer
dition OF Handels Largo by the band an
the Auditorium organ manipulated by d
rector Kelly.
officials Finally Arrive.
The official party was belated but in II
meantime the crowd was pleasantly ente
tanned by the Omaha Concert band and VIZ
not perceptibly restless. The speakers al
official guests arrived at 1850 and were e
corted to the stage by President Wattles al
Mayor Moores and accompanied by near
all the Omaha city officials. After an carr
est invocation by Rev. T. ]. Mackay, Chai
man William II. Harper OF the executi'
committee Of the Illionis commission CALI
the meeting to order and introduced Pres
dent Clark L. Carr of the Illino
commission as the presiding officer. Pres
dent carr sald 10 MS chicago hearers tht
proud as they are OF the splendor OF the
imperial city, they were now in the mid
OF that which had made that splendor. 4
great northwest He introduced May
Frank E. .Moores, who welcomed the vi
ttors in behalf OF the city OF Omaha. !
declared that every citizen OF the west
proud OF Chicago. He regards It as the ce
ter, around which the universe revolves a
feels n personal interest in its triumpl
But omaha is to the transmississT
west what Chicago is 10
whole country, and he expressed the /
lief that when his hearers had inspect
the magnificent enterprise that they q
here TO visit they would be as proud
Omaha as Omaha is OF Chicago In co
clusion he presented Mayor Harrison WI
the keys to the city and invited the v
itors 10 take the fullest advantage OF I
liberties afforded.
In behalf OF the exposition managemS