The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-24

AS early as 7:36 o'clock people began
going out to the flat near the track,
where, according to the programme, the
troops were to disembark before march
| ing to the race track, and from that
hour until ITO o'clock they arrived
there in a steady stream.
The Gathering Crowd.
The street car line was unable to ham
die the people and hundreds walked all
the way from the city distance of
several miles. 1t had originally been
announced that the soldiers would ar
rive at $3.50 in the morning, and many
people did not see the later announce
| ment of delays, and so went out sew
eral hours too soon. 1t was positively
stated at one time that the last of the
three sections of the soldiers train had
left Dillon at $50 and would surely be
In Butte by II o'clock. Upon that state
ment from the railroad people, members
of the reception committee, the mayor.
speakers and officers proceeded to the
place where the soldiers were to land.
and there waited several hours longer
The weather was cold cheerless and
damp. A number of bands did their
best to warm up the crowd by playing
lively airs and patriotic medleys and
the crowds cheered, but many people
had to run about to keep warm. When
it became too cold for comfort bonfires
were built, around which the women
and children gathered, while the men
looked about for something warmer, but
found very little of it, and they We're
two miles from town. A raid was made
on a road house near by, but the stock
lasted only about two minutes.
1t is estimated that at IL O'Clock
there were from 10000 to 10000 people
on the ground, and they were constant
ly coming and going. The uncertainty
as to the time of the arrival of the
trains finally caused the crowd to dis
perse, and an hour later only a few
hundred people remained. The others
had gone to the race track to seek shell
ter in the buildings there and behind
the high fence. The bands. too, after
they had vainly tried to warm things
up by playing "A Hot Time" Coon
Town Picnic" and other warm num-
bers also disappeared, and about that
time the sulphur smoke from the smell
ters began to settle over the fiat, which
caused many to remark that the boys
would feel at home sure enough when
they struck the fumes The sun made
several pitiful and fruitless attempts
to break through the cold, dense, gray
clouds.
In Sight at Last.
About 1890 o'clock the wind came up
and blew the smoke away and about
Is minutes later the whistles in the
city and at the mines and smelters
about Butte began blowing giving the
first signal of the arrival of the troops
in the city. The people on the fiat be-
gan to cheer, and those who had sought
shelter in the race track came back.
BY the time the first section of the SOL
d,ers' train came in sight along the
lower part of the city the ground at
the sidetrack was again q great black
mass Of humanity and when the train
rounded the curve and came in full
view of the crowd, cheers went up from
more than $1,000 throats. Along the
west side of the railroad track for a
distance of 4 mile people craned their
necks for a view of the precious-laden
trains. Men and women cheered them
selves hoarse; thousands Of handker-
chiefs and flags were waving, and as
the train came to stop soldiers
streamed from II coaches. The major
ity of them were from companies be-
longing to the eastern part of the state,
but nearly all of them found relatives
and friends there to receive and en-
brace them. 1t was about five minutes
later when the second section pulled
in, and about 10 minutes after that
when the third and last section arrived
The two latter carried nearly all the
Butte volunteers. and as they alight-
ed there were arms around every sol
dier's neck and embraces and kisses
for all.
Scenes of Enthusiasm.
A mother, who during many anxious