Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-01
Pioneers Were Splendidly En-
tertalned at Virginia.
MEETING WAS A SUCCESS
WalSWOrth'S After Dinner Speech
Law For Later COmerS--
Future Meetings.

Pioneers who attended the Virginia
City reunion of the society will long cher
ish the memory of the meeting on the
banks of Alder creek. 1t was a ire
mendous success from every standpoint.
The hospitality of the residents of Nir-
ginia was lavish, and every home was
filled. With the wives and children OF the
visitors there We're nearly $50 pioneer
visitors, to say nothing of the many not
in the pioneer class who went to the Old
; town to rejoice and make merry with the
trail blazers. A feature Of the entertain
; ment was the social session given by the
local Elk lodge Monday evening. Mayor
| A. J.. Bennett presided, and Co. w. r..
| Sanders, ex-Mayor William Thompson of
this city and many others talked inter-
| estingly of old timers, and told of the
! lays when Montana was young.
Another feature was the banquet given
to the pioneers Wednesday afternoon by
| the Knights Templar, Elks and Royal
! Arch Masons. Six or seven hundred peo-
| pie We're Wined and fed S~umptuOuSly. no
little task for a small town like Virginia.
But the arrangements were perfect. The
banquet was given in the Masonic and
| Elk halls, Colonel Sander presiding as
POSTMASTER at one hall and Hon. George
! w. Irwin at the other. 1t is needless to
! say tina the gentlemen presided with the
| grace and dignity that is characteristic
Of both.
1t remained for Mr.. Irwin to remove the
bushel from q modest OratOrical candle,
which the people of Butte have long
overlooked. He called upon w w. Walls
worth Of the Anaconda Standard to re-
| spond to the toast, The Press" Mr..
! Walsworth was totally u~nprepared. But
! the talented president of the Press assoc
| citation had been in Virginia City several
days, the recipient of much hospitality
at the hands of a most hOspitable people,
and he appreciated it and was enthusiasts
tic because of it. The theme had been
overlooked by the speakers who had pre-
coded him, and "Wally" did it ample JUS
tice. Eloquently and in language apropos
he banked the people of Virginia for the
splendid and open handed manner in
which they had entertained their visit
ors. He did not overdo it, nor did he
leave anything unsaid, and his talk was
the hit of the two banquets.
Another speech that caused much COM
ment was the address Of Colonel w. F.
Sanders Wednesday afternoon. 1t was
the splendid effort of the splendid old
orator, inspired by the historic ground on
which he stood, and encouraged by the
} presence of the comrades of famous days
when the colonel did those things which
left no doubt as to his lion-hearted cour-
age. The colonel's theme was of a his
torical nature, and he paid an eloquent
tribute to the pioneer men and women OF
Montana. The address was taken ver-
batim by a stenograDher and will be
placed in the archives of the historical
society.
The success of the meeting at Virginia
City pOpularized the idea of holding the
annual reunions in the pioneer towns,
and when the time arrived for the selec-
ton of next years meeting place BoZe-
man was a hot favorite, distancing Butte
Helena and Dillon easily. The talk at the
meeting was that in 1901 it should be held
in Missoula, and the year following in
Dillon or BannOck.
BY it's action in making eligible tt
membership all who came to Montana
prior to the admission of the state into
!, the Union. providing that the applicant
had resided in the state 33 years, the SO.
ciety will receive a large increase OF
membership of deserving pioneers Wht
came to the state during the sos, ant
have been material factors in it's up
building. The fight against this new Law
was a bitter one. and was led by Doc
Steele and Hon. John ShOber of Helena
and supported by a number of Helena
members. However,, Colonel Sanders
Hon. George Irwin and others put up &
good fight for the new law and won. By
this action Judge A. H. Barrel, Joseph X
Clark, Levi Wild, Carlos Warfield, join
II. Curtis and a number of others here
tofore debarred by the "a law, and only
in the "old timer class were officially
recognized as pioneers" The gentle
men mentioned were all present ant
watched the fight with interest, making
application for membership immediatel!
after the passage of the new law.
Of course n large number of visitor!
We're in Virginia who were not pioneers
s Among them were Albert Hawkins, tn
bright city editor of the Independent
: known among his friends as Bill Nye'
Hawkins, and who was there in the in
~terests of his paper; w. w. Walswortl
of the Standard, who secured a mass o
historical matter for the forthcoming an
/ niyersary number of the Standard: Mis-
Kate Hammond of the public library
who is writing a history Of Montana
Editor Moves of the Pony Sentinel, VIII
left Neihart a short time ago because, a
he said editorially, he objected to "snOy
balls and mountain scenery the Onl,
support his newspaper was receiving
Frank Bowman, the editor of the TWii
Bridges Monitor: Deputy Revenue Col
lector Charles French, and others too nu
= merous to mention.
The election of Major w. W. Alderso
e of Bozeman as president of the soclet
was apropos. inasmuch as the society
s to meet in the majors home next yea
and hDnOred not only a deserving ira