The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1901-04-25
THE FAIR.
Over Five Hundred People in At
tendance Friday Evening.

There was great crowd in attend
ance at the Rathbone- Band Fair Fri
day evening. 1t was packed house
from the beginning of the evening
until the midnight hour. The in
creased interest was on account OF
the number of popularity contests
that closed, and in addition there
were almost innumerable presents
given away. The people of the city
were out in force, and the attendance
and the patronage extended should
be taken as high compliment to the
ladies of the lodge organization and
to the boys of the Iowa Brigade Band.
The crowds began coming early
and the fun commenced equally early.
H. B. Chapman was given the half
dozen fancy shirts that were donated
through the solicitation of Mr.. A. A,
Watts.
! Q, L. Johnson received a box of
cigars and Louis Smith was given a
pair of fancy hose, lady's hose.
The contest over the most popular
lady clerk in store or office waxed
warm and was won by Gail Hellings
Of the o. L. & 7. Co.'S. office. There
were three new entries in the race last
evening, Misses Abbie Parkhurst,
Maine Sbackleton and Agnes Ryan.
The prize was handsome silk UNI
brella.
H. G. Wilcox found a fine smoked
ham to his credit.
G. w. Shockley for a newspaper
man was indeed fortunate. He was
given fine rocking chair and hand
some pen sketch.
Mrs. Tom Neagle received fine
comfort.
The contest of the ministers was
decided in favor of Rev. Frost, of the
Episcopal church, and he was made
the recipient of handsome easy
chair.
F. A. Roberts secured a shoe re-
ceptacle.
The handsome parlor lamp for the
most popular wife of railroad man
was presented to Mrs. Bride Maxwell.
The favorite young lady of Oska-
loosa High school was voted to be
Miss Helen McCurdy, and she was
given handsome rug.
Miss Nell Porter was voted the
prettiest girl in Oskaloosa, and will
wear a handsome set ring in con-
sequence.
The evening was hard one for the
management but the returns justified
the efforts expended.
This is the last evening of the fair
and great time may be looked for.
Saturday night witnessed the finish
| of the Rathbone-Band fair that had
been in progress at the Armory Hall
for the entire week. The manage
ment of the fair had great task on
their shoulders and none of them re-
GREETED the fact that the show was
over. The same might be said of the
people who have been insregular at
tendance during the week. There
was another great crowd present Sat
urday evening, the largest of the en-
tire week. Dancing was INDUCED in
for couple of hours in small space
in the center of the hall when it was
possible to push back the crowd for
short space of time. The greater
part of the evening was given to
making disposition of the presents
that had been on display during the
week and to auctioning off the goods
that had been on sale. The method
of auctioneering was unique and
caught great number of nickles and
furnished considerable amusement
for the crowd.
Chas. Walling and Chris Winter
were the auctioneers and they dis
posed of the goods in short order.
Tnere were all sorts of stuff sold from
sofa pillow and suit of clothes to
coil of garden hose and bottle of
perfumery. The manner of bidding
was to accept bid of five cents on
an article, cash to accompany bid and
no bid to be above five cents. Thus
the last bidder might get an article
worth several dollars for five cents.
Several articles in this manner
brought several times their cost.
Perphaps the present that the most
interest was conferred in was the fine
sideboard, valued at $50, that was
disposed of at the last moment.
Every admission ticket had been a
lien upon the property in question
until the final clearing of the title by
the disposition of the same to some
person in the hall. Mrs. Herman
Schmitt was the lucky one.
The business mems contest was
settled in favor of Chas. Howar. The
voting at the end became somewhat
animated and there were number
| of new entries.
Walter Burrell was in evidence in
the hall again during the evening and
he captured number of presents
and was given the beautiful gold
medal for being the luckiest man in
the city.
Miss Margaret Worth received the
handsome doll that had been so much
admired by the little ones who had