The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-30

tempted to crowd the line of march
But the peagant back of this power-
full vanguard was not limited to a sim
gle nor sextuple line of ships. 1t
was a sinuous marine monster half a
mile wide, whose verta brae We're the
ships of the white squadron and whose
ribs were rows upon rows of every
sort of floating thing that had ever
run by steam in New York harbor.
Thousands viewed this procession as
1t moved up past Staten Island thou
sands more watched it from the an
chored craft that crowded the Erie
basin and whose spars rose in for
est about the foot of Liberty street
but they were forgotten in the mass of
humanity that crowded the water
front of Manhattan island and filed
every point of vantage along the Jer-
sey shore.
This feature of the scene first broke
on the view as Castle William roared
an admirafs salute to the Olympia
off the battery. BY the time the an
swer and smoke had died away from
the wake of the flagship. the immens-
ity of the watching crowd dawned on
the crews of the squadron. Every foot
of the. oily water front was a mass of
humanity The wharves, the ferry
slips. the roofs of ferry and ware
house rose one above another in solid
blocks of people. Above the tower
structure of the water front every roof
bore its living freight. Stores old Of
fee buildings and modern scrapers
were crowded with stands, tiers upon
tiers of seats like an immense theater
whose roof was the sky, whose walls
were the surrounding hills and whose
back drop was the horizon of lower
bay.
AS the pageant moved maiestically
into the Hudson it was seen that the
crowd still lined the water front and
house tops, thicker if possible, than
ever, and stretching up the river along
the whole line of the parade. The
heights of the Jersey side were also
crowded with parti-colored masses of
people. They We're not such an un-
broken rank as along the wharves of
the New York side. but wherever the
wooded slopes broke into a clearing
the spot was blackened with people
from the crest to water line. There
was no possible way of estimating the
crowd. The morning papers declared
that there were 100000 visitors in the
city. The impression conveyed by the
crowded shores was that it would have
taken that many in addition to the
total population to form the concourse
that watched the water pageant. The
spectators might have been computed
in army corps, certainly not by indi-
viduals
Pandemonium Reigned.
Up the Hudson pandemonium reigned
supreme. Aerial bombs broke at inter-
walls overhead in puffs of white smoke,
and feathery canopy of steam hung
over the advancing fleet as hundreds Of
steam whistles screamed continually.
The narrowing throat of the river
crowded the advancing vessels together
in an almost compact mass. The broad
arrow formation stil drove the head of
the column forward unmolested through
the ranks of the waiting vessels.
An Arch of Triumph.
Storm clouds that had gathered down
the bay followed close in the pageant's
wake. A sharp wind bred whitecaps
even in the narrow river, and a few
rain drops pattered on the decks. The
glare of an angry sky turned the har-
Dor behind the warships to molten lead,
upon which the gigantic figure Of Lib
erty seemed to stand for time, and
was soon swallowed in a bank of gray
haze. Then the threatening sky relent-
ed The sun broke out ahead and
painted across the sullen clouds a rain
bow arch that stretched from the
mountain to the Jersey shore. 1t SEEM
ed a bit of natures art work, spread
by q kingly miracle at the opportune
moment, beggaring mans more humble
efforts on shore, but forming fitting
arch of triumph, beneath which the vic
torious admiral sailed to his triumphal
anchorage.
The old Portsmouth crew manned the
rigging as the Olympia passed, and off
Grants tomb the naval reserve on the
st. Marys did the same, Round The
stake boat the Olympia turned smart
ly, her guns throbbing deep-throated
salute to the resting place of another
national hero.
ron swung around the ST. Marys, in
at the head of the line the sound of fur
ther guns was lost in the roar of steam
whistles. The turn of the parade broke
the formation of the police boats beyond
repair. The warships, doubling back
into the mass of advancing boats,
threatened, for a time. serious conse-
quences, but the Olympia and her con-
sorts safely dropped anchor at last IN
reversed column, and the water pageant
passed the admiral in review. The po-
lice boats reapppeared as individuals
and unceremoniously shouldered in
truding vessels out of the line of march
The official procession and its varied
following of tugs, launches, steam
dredges and excursion boats rounded
about and came down the river in an
aquatic mob that was still passing long
after the night illumination began.
From the time the British yacht Erin
started she certainly was the chief at
traction along the river front after the
Olympia had gone by, and Sir Thomas