The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-05-09
Greatest Pageant the City Has
Ever Witnessed,
FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE
Stood Upon Streets to Welcome
the King.
LARGEST CROWDS EVER KNOWN
Parade of Mythical Floats Came First
Then Floral Parade.
THE FEATURE OF THE DAY
Vehicles Transformed Into Veritable
Moving Bowers Received Cheer AT
ter Cheer-Floral Ball and That
of Turn Verein Last Night Il
THE FEATURE OF THE DAY

Birmingham's great carnival is a marvel
Gus success. qe
The largest crowd ever assembled in
Alabama witnessed yesterday the most
splendid parades in the states history.
The floral parade alone was worth hum
dred miles journey to see. 1t has perhaps
never been equaled in this country. 1T Is
doubtful if in point of superb beauty and
great good taste it has been surpassed in
any land. 1t was a sermon in flowers and
beautiful women.
Rex's parade of wonderful floats was
splendid, the scenes represented and the
grandeur of their presentation being in
tensely and absorbingly entertaining and
instructive. thrilling the vast crowd as a
magnificent pageant
Never Such Large Crowd
There was never before seen on the
streets of Birmingham such an enormous
crowd. Fully fifty thousand people saw
and cheered the parades. The capacity of
every railroad entering the city was taxed.
Train followed train into the union station
and poured out it's hundreds of visitors. s
The wide sidewalks in the business dis
trct soon became packed with struggling,
laughing, jolly humanity and the surging
masses filled the roadways, so that vehicu-
lar and street car traffic was carried ON
with the greatest difficulty. AT o'clock 1t
was estimated that there were ten thousand
people at the intersection of Twentieth
street and First avenue. Twentieth street
for six blocks was jammed. So also was
First avenue for four squares; Second ave-
nue. for four squares. and Nineteenth
street for five squares, not to mention the
various streets touched by the procession
on the Southside And throughout all that
space every window was filed with
sightseers.
The escort of mounted police and cavalry.
which led the procession of Rex, was
cheered repeatedly as 1t came abreast of
the crowd along the route of the march;
but the loudest, longest-continued and
heartiest shouts were reserved for His
Majesty; and there was capping of hands
as each great float passed by with it's rich
ly and romantically costumed occupants.
Four bands of music accompanied the
procession.
After Rex and his procession passed the
crowd once more overfiowed the road
ways, and thronged every possible place of
refreshment. They watched and waited
for the most wonderfully beautiful specta-
Gle most of them are ever to see in the
world.
The Greatest of All
Once more the music and the mounted
escort called the vast crowds to order up
on the wide pavements; and at regular in
tervals there wheeled into line the flower
decked carriages, bearing the most beau
tiful women in the world, and that crowd
saw pageant of unexampled beauty and
indescribably thrilling splendor.
All in all, it was great day-the great
est Birmingham has ever had in all its
remarkable record for great and memora-
BILE days. All the world seemed to be here,
and all the world laughing away a glori-
Gus day. The weather was perfect, and a
better-natured. jollier happier half a hum
dred thousand mortals never jostled each
other in friendly spirit and wished that
night might not come