The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-05-24
EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD.
Bespangled Aggregation of Political
Indescribables ut sioux Falls.
New York Evening 81

New York Evening Sun.
a circus tent is the meeting place Of the
Populist convention al Sioux Falls. Moth
ing could be more appropriate. Consider
the exhibits. Pettgrew should have the
head OF the list. There is only one Petit
grew living. 1t is impossible to classify
him. No party claims him, although he
now calls himself Populist. The opinions
expressed about him by his colleagues in
the senate would burn the ears OF the
average man. but in temperament and In
tellect Pettigrew is a freak. He rejoices
in the odium which makes the air he
breathes. He is the Carl Brown OF the
senate, and has the reputation Of being the
best friend the Filipinos have in the
United States; and yet it is doubtful
whether they would trust him round the
corner. With a mental twist that excites
commseration Pettigrew has cantanker-
BUSINESS OF temper that makes him appear
dangerous sometimes. But no one is more
harmless. He is bark and no bite. Like
all odd individuals, statesmen who have
lost their trolley. and philosophers bereft
of the sense of humor. Pettigrew is well
come at the Sioux Falls circus, When
there was no business before the conven-
ton last evening and the delegates must
be amused there we're cries for music"
but the volume of sound was for Petit
grew" 1t was an illuminating incident.
IL Is invidious to name a second to Pet
tigrew In the circus tent. The honor lies
between Cyclone" Davis. of Texas. the
picturesque statesman with the calliope
voice, the bold political raider and the
peerless delegate tanner who can keep
three rings going at the same time; Sock
less Jerry Simpson, who needs no intro
duction or eulogy, and whom the Popu-
lists when he dies will apotheosizc with
monument; Col. Matt Fitzgerald, who has
won immortal fnme by carrying a boom
for Adai Stevenson for vice president In
his carpet bag-Adlai. the fountain of eter-
nal political youth; Marion Butler, the
youngest man in the senate and its
Adonis; and. last but not least, Mrs. Anna
Diggs. the indomitable high priestess Of
Populism, who is a match for Cyclone"
Davis, Jerry Simpson or any of them In
sublimated repartee, and whom no guile
can overcome like a summer cloud.
Was there ever such a convention for
color and incidentals? Exhibits with band
music and peanuts and song inside
"Rageola, the Stage Girl of Sulu" was a
solo at the evening performance yesterday
and on the outside tents and booths al
which ginger-pop. lemonade, horses col
lars" hard-boiled eggs. ham sandwiches.
pies, badges. American nags, photographs
and toy balloons can he bought by the del
egates and their friends-not to mention
the monographs, weighing machines and
photograph galleries, where amusement
can be had for the superfiuous nickel be-
tween sessions. And the bevy Of fair
women on the floor of the convention!
who would not be a delegate when he
could see: Mrs. l.. Harrington. Of At
wood, Kan. who wore a gray skirt and
pink and white waist Mrs. c. X. Kibbe,
OF Usage City, Kan. who wore a wine-
colored dress with black vest and a his
hat trimmed with feathers that shook as
she emphasized whatever she had TO say;
Olive n. Bacon, of Aspen. Col, the best
looking delegate, who wore a pink waist
and a brown skirt with a pale blue polka
dot belt and necktie; Lena D. Bloom, in
bewildering purple and white checked shirt
waist and a gray skirt; and Mary A.
Wright. of Rathdrum, Idaho. who wore a
black silk vest"
1t doesn't count a straw what the con-
vention does. Its fame IL assured and will
endure. From the human and sociological
point of view there never was such an in
terestng political gathering. fig for its
patforml Let 1t nominate the bespec-
tacled and ascetic Towne for vice presi-
dent or not, as 1t pleases-the Sioux Falls
Pop convention IL the greatest circus the
world has ever seen. and no creator OF bill
poster literature has teeming ina gina
lion that would do II Justice.