The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-05
FOURTH QUIETLY CELEBRATED
SAVANNAH OBSERVED THE DAY IN
PROPER STYLE.

Remained
Chatham Artillery Opened the Day
with n Salute OF FOrty-seVen Gums
and MIR. John ROurke Held His
Annual CeIebration-Tybee, Isle of
Hope, ThunderboIt and Lincoln
Park All Had Big CrOwds-Fire-
works New Feature of the Day
in Savannah.
THE Glorious Fourth" was celebrated
in proper style in Savannah yesterday
that is. if everybody's turning loose bust
ness and seeking recreation and cooling
breezes can be called a proper celebration.
AT least it was very sensible way to eel
citrate the Fourth, with the thermometer
above 30, and there was a sufficient amount
of gunpowder burned to save the people of
Savannah from the charge of any lack
of patriotism.
The Chatham Artillery began the DAY
shortly after 6 o'clock, by firing forty
seven guns one for each state. in the
military parade ground. There was very
crediteble turnout of the battery for the
early morning hour, and the salute was
fired in good style. The forty-seven res
ports sounded at the rate of one every
fifteen seconds. and as this is the regula>
zion time. Capt Walker had reason 20
feel satisfied with the work of his men
The salute was fired with the old WASH
sngton guns, the valued possessions of tae
Galatians, and part of the spoil from the
British at the surrender of Yorktown
Next year Capt. Walker hopes that the
Battery will be able to fire the salute with
the latest modern guns for light artillery
and application having been made to Gov.
Gambler for the guns of which the bat
sery has long stood in need.
Mr. John Rourke maintained the tradl-
lions of the past, and celebrated the DAY
sn his usual style at his foundry. at Bay
and East Broad streets. Arrayed as Un>
Gle Sam, whom he is said to closely reeem-
BILE Mr. Rourke read the Declaration OF
Independence and followed this with Il
short speech to his employees. telling them
what a great and glorious country this
is. He then fired salute from his canon,
after which the employees and their
friends joined in refreshments.
The Fourth of July appearance of the
city was unmistakable. MOI only were all
the public buildings closed but pretty
nearly all private business houses were
closed also. The large wholesalers and
retailers all closed, and gave their en-
ployes a holiday. A few of the small
dealers kept open a portion of the day,
but business was so light that they soon
closed up also. The saloons were about
the only business places which remained
open the entire day, with the exception
of the drug stores, and their patronage
was not heavy, the thirsty people being
mostly at the resorts.
The patronage of the suburban resorts
was something remarkable, even for Sa-
all. r1l,a .lNtIn ne rG.1
by the railroads were freely taken adj
vantage of. Tybee drew one of the larg-
est crowds in its history, nearly 1900 peo
pie going down on the $3.50 train, which
was run in two sections. At 10 o'clock
last night there were stil 1000 people on
the island 10 come up on the last two
trains. Isle of Hope was next in line to
Tybee, and is estimated to have had in
the neighborhood of 1000 people. Thun-
derbolt had no attractions TO offer but
the ten-minute schedule furnished by the
car lines was freely taken advantage of
during the afternoon.
The colored people were not behind in
celebrating the day. With baseball games
at the Bolton street park, a military affair
on the parade ground in the afternoon,
and sports at Lincoln Park. they had suffi-
cient attractions of their own. The popu-
1arity of Lincoln Park with the colored
people was never more fully evidenced and
the street railway facilities on the West
End Line were taxed TO their utmost.
A feature that deserves mention was the
greatly increased use of fireworks, es-
pecially cannon crackers. While the ex-
plosion of fireworks was nothing like a
Christmas Day in Savannah or a Fourth
of July at the North, there was a rafting
fire of the peppers during the day and I'M
all 10 or IL O'Clock last night. Fireworks
and Christmas have been so closely as
Cd - ha ba
explosion of q cannon cracker upon the
sultry air of July day has something of
an uncanny sound and arouses some thing
like a feeling of resentment in those who
feel that all the conditions of the atnos-
phere dispose the auditory nerves to pre-
fer soothing sounds. Burning gunpowder
In cannon and cannon crackers is a part
of the regulation Fourth of July celebra-
ton, however, and Savannah is getting in
line in this as in other matters.
The most remarkable feature of the day
was the peaceful and quiet manner in
which it passed off. The police had a
very quiet day, with very few arrests and
good order was preserved at the resorts
1t was too hot to quarrel and everybody
was in too good humor anyway Doubt
less there were some minor mishaps but
they wrere not of sufficient Importance to
attract attention.
Those who thought of the matter will
generally agree that General Manager
Lotion of the street railway company de-
serves a vote Of thanks for the service
which he rendered the public. with de-
mands from every portion of the system
apd special service required for every out
of town line the situation was so well
met that there could be no ground of
complaint in any quarter. The travel TO
Tybee, Thunderbolt, Isle of Hope and
Lincoln Park all demanded extra service
and all the demands were fully met Cars
were kept running until an carly hour this
morning in order to accommodate the
late sojourners from Tybee.
The courts were all practically closed.
though the officers of some of them were
on hand for part of the day. Clerk Carr
of the Superior Court. and Clerk Russell
OF the City Court, both sp mt few hours
ia their Offices. Judge Falligant opened
court in the morning and, too, spent some
time in his Office, so that he might at
tend to any orders that might require his
signature. Generally, however, the day
was a holiday with the court officials and
other repre- senta ives Of the county in the
Court House.