The Florence daily tribune., 1902-08-11
FRISCO GA|LY
ILLUMINATED
Eclipses All Former Displays
in Honor of Pythians.
The City is Crowded with the Brave
Knights--Twenty-Five Thous-
and More are Expected
to Arrive Today.

San Francisco, CAL, Aug. IL
Twenty five thousand members of the
order of the knights of pythias, about
half of whom are members of .he uni
form rank, have arrived to attend the
biennial meeting of the various
branches of the order. 1t is estimated
that before the gathering is regularly
opened tomorrow 80, representa-
tiyes of the order will be in the city.
The week is to be crowded with events
of special interest to members The
Union Ferry depot has been converted
into great exhibition hall filed with
the choicest fruits, flowers and other
products of California Every county
of the state has an exhibit and here
the visitors congregate in tksongs to
receive boxes of seedless raisins, pieces
of quartz and other free souvenirs of
the gathering.
Members of the order who have at.
| tended all or most of the previous
national gatherings declare with en-
thusiasm that the decorations of San
Francisco eclipse all former displays.
On Market street alone there are fif-
teen courts of honor. Each of these
courts is brilliantly illuminated at
night with hundreds of colored cleo
trio lamps, the central feature of the
design being an immense illuminated
emblem of the order. such as the
knight ON horseback, the shield, he'll
met or battle-ax. The grand court of
honor, at the intersection of Market,
Third, Kearny and Geary streets, is
masterpiece of electrical art and forms
the most brilliant display of the kind
ever seen on the coast Other notable
features of the decorations are the
city hall dome, the dome of the ferry
building and the Claus Spreckels
building
Today the camp of the uniform
rank, with its 1000 tents, was formal
ly turned over to James r. Carnahan,
major general of the order. The uni
formed members of the order appeared
by brigades before the headquarters of
the major general and saluted the
commanding officer Another feature
of the day was the opening meeting
of the Imperial Palace of the knights
of Khorassan, the spectacular branch
of the order There was costume
parade of the members, after which
the Imperial palace went into session
behind closed doors, the presiding Off
Ger being Imperial Prince Frank II.
Clarke of Detroit
Governor Gage will formally wei
come the members of the order to the
state at the opening of the supreme
lodge. An unusual amount of bust
ness is to come before the legislative
body, which is expected to be>in ses-
sion several days after the uniform
rank has gone home The annual re-
ports of the officers show the orders
affairs in general TO be in satisfactory
condition. The question of revenue,
the officers say, is one of the most i'm
portant to come before the convention.
A number of changes proposed in the
| laws of the order will also be dis
cussed Among them is II proposition
to have the officers oft he subordinate
lodges chosen annually instead of
semi annually; to make the maximum
low the supreme assembly of the uni
formed rank TO nominate its own
major general, the supreme lodge to
| confirm the choice and to allow the
grand lodges to lower the initiation
fees at their discretion.
In addition to these things an i'm
portant matter will be the report of
the board of control of the insurance
branch of the order, 1t is asserted