Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-08
Bears Looking for the Presi-
dent at Gridiron Dinner.
MANY HAPPY FEATURES
TOUCH AT THE CLOSE
OF THE AFFAIRS.
Ex-Speaker Reeds Death Announced
Prominent officials and Others
Present Saturday Night.


Present Saturday Night.
/ President Roosevelt lately went bear hunt
ing with bad luck On Saturday evening
at the Gridiron Club dinner, at the Airing
ton Hotel two bears came hunting him.
They did not find him. but their appearance
was the event of the evening. The bears
stalked in under the escort OF Professor
Winscherman. the well-known bear
trainer. who appeared as Bob Bobo Of Bobo
Station, Miss, who came to guide the bears
to Washington. The bears came in dancing
a cakewalk. One of the bears did the talk
ing. He announced that they had hunted
all over Mississippi for the President with
out finding him. They had heard that he
was in the habit Of coming to Gridiron Club
dinners, and they hoped to find him there.
He often comes here" said the president
Of the club but he's not here now. You'll
have to go to the White House to find
President Roosevelt"
"All right" said the talkative bear, 81
reckon that's safe place for bears!"
This brought down the house. But there
was better fun coming. The president OF
the club invited the guests to have little
refreshment before leaving. They grunted
their acceptance The two bears and Pro-
fessor Winscherman sat down at a small
table in plain view of the presiding officer
and company. They did ample Justice to
twin bottles of champagne. Each bear
played his part we'll, and the club and Its
guests heartily enjoyed the skit, which up
to that point they presumed was a mas
querade by three members Of the club. But
when it dawned on the large and distin-
guished company that one Of the bears was
a sure enough hruin, who had stalked in
and dined with them. the laugh was on
them" and the laughter great, guests leav-
Ing the tables to gather about the two
bears.
This skit was the most entertaining Of the
gridiron evening. The real bear was the
performing animal which has so excellenuy
entertained the audiences at Chase's dur
ing the week. The fake bear was an active
member Of the Gridiron Club, of whose per-
Torrance 1t can at least be said that he IL
a good imitation Of beast. But the inter-
ence Of the real thing-a big. black bear
at banquet. one Of the most novel things
ever done at a Gridiron Club dinner.
Amusing Features.
Those dinners are never lacking in new
features. Nor was the one last evening.
The menu card was one Of the peculiar
grtdiron creations. containing cartoons Of
leading members of Congress, executed by
Cunningham, all accompanied by semi
satirical observations. The plan was to
parody the well-known advertisements, like
Use in Town, Honey" ''Heinze's Pickles"
and whisky which claims to be That's
all" Each one of these popular advertising
concerns was pictured in the person Of q
leading member Of Congress.
During the evening, the gridirons worked
off several of the laughable little political
theatrical skits for which the club is noted
In the course Of these events the club made
merry with several very prominent guests
Generals Corbin and Wood were ordered to
stand up and tell the stories they told to
the emperor and King Edward but when
they started to perform this duty they were
ordered to quit. until the stories were
properly Guaranteed and fumigated
Running all through the dinner, various
persons were nominated for president on
the STAND Patters 7" ticket and finally
William A. Turk Of the Southern railroad
was selected, to the great satisfaction Of
all present. Many other novelties enlvened
the evening. Ex-Prsident s. E. Johnson Of
the Gridiron Club made capital and cap
tivating speech, In which he named all the
late candidates for Speaker and wound I'D
deciding that Uncle Joe" Cannon was a
winner
There was good laugh when James 8.
Henry offered resolution of censure on
Senator Allison for talking too much and
giving too many things away to the news
paper men, a heinous offense against which
he was vigorously and successfully defended
by Senator Hanna.
The various antitrust bills were care
fully dissected and discovered to consist Of
only one small and very aged chestnut
A breezy satire on strangers seeing Wash
ington afforded a vehicle for many good
natured rOasts on guests, public men, and
national affairs generally. The party was
conducted around Washington by means of
series Of cartoons Of well-known public
buildings and public men. Mr.. r. L.
O'Brien of the Boston Transcript operated
the megaphone, and his lecture was fire.
quently interrupted by sarcastic comments
from other members Of the club Some of
the places visited were very interesting.
District Commissioner Harry L. West,
who Is an ex-president of the club, was a
prominent figure in an amusing country
grocery act, which closed the clubs con-
tribution to the entertainment. With sew
eral other members Of the club, all arrayed
as Reubens, he gathered about typical
country grocery store and proceeded to
tartly talk politics. A Hebrew pedler &C.
C. Randolph comes in and the colloQuy that
ensued began:
Hello, Nose; what's the news In town."
Joe Cannon Is elected speaker"
That's bully. We like farmers in~ofice,
and there never was such a farmer in the
speakers chair as Joe Cannon"
How did you find business in town.
Mose?"
well, I sold out my stock of Payne's
$50 did the New York state delegation"
What did you do with your Babcocks
extinguisherr
"oh, Joe Cannon's got dat"
Dramatic Ending.
The dinner was entertaining throughout.
but It had dramatic ending. At midnight
President wynne announced that one Of the
greatest OF Americans. many times guest
of the club, and always Its friend, was
passing away In the hotel. John M. Carson.
FOR the club and Joseph G. Cannon, for the
guests, both made touchingly eloquent ref
erences to the great man passing, and then
the dinner was closed with Herndon Nor
sells ''Song That Reached My Heart" And
while he was rendering this beautiful song
the news reached the banquet hall that
Thomas q. Reed was dead. Thus ended one
of the most notable dinners in the history
of the club.
The Guests.
The guests of the evening were as fol-
lows:
Milton e. Allies. Ohio; Fred M. Alger.
Detroit; Russell A. Alger. senator from
Michigan; Frederick I. Allen. New York;
william B. Allison. senator from Iowa; Jo-
tot y9c-