The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-25
WAS NO ROWDYISM
But THERE WAS PLENTY OF NOISE
ON BROUGHTON STREET.
FEW ARRESTS WERE MADE.
CROWD GOOD NATURED AND WAS
A RECORD BREAKER.


Dynamite Sticks Made "a Racket
That Was Heard as Far South as
Forsyth Place--POIice Only Pre-
vented Shooting of Fireworks in
Retail District-Few Tin Horns
and Cow Bells on the Streets.
Little Drunkenness During the
Night-LarGest Sale of Fireworks
ON Record.
Much more noise!
Many more people!
Less drunkenness and rowdyism!
This describes the condition of
Broughton street on Christmas Eve
night, 1908. No one can remember hav-
ing heard so much noise on the street
before, 1t was like the rattle of mus
kerry. Yet it was not a rowdy crowd,
and comparatively very few arrests
were made on the street.
Everybody was out for good time,
but everybody was good natured AL
most every funmaker carried "dyna-
mite cane" and there was not a second
that scores of them were not being
exploded. The noise was heard in For
syth Park, but no damage was done,
and the police made no effort to stop
the use of the canes, A regiment of
soldiers could not have stopped it.
SO Uniformed Men on the Street.
There were thirty-five uniformed men
on the street, and nothing bordering
on viciousness was tolerated. Early in
the evening three arrests were made for
shooting the sticks at the feet of wom-
en- and the work of the police had the
! desired result. The entire force, Off
| GERS and detectives included, was on
duty. Not a man reported sick, and
for the first time in the history of
the department every man on the pay
roll was on duty.
The noise, the crowds and the lack
of rowdyism are not the only things
that figure in the record breaking col
umn this Christmas Eve, however.
Those who sell fireworks declare that
not in the history of the city have sales
been so large. Thousands Of the dyna-
mite canes were sold, and this fact
accounts for the great amount of noise
that was made. Roman candles and
| skyrockets were sold, in, large quanti-
4 ties, but the dynamite cane was the
popular explosive.
RUsy Dny on the Street.
The merchants were all kept busy
and large sales were reported during
the day. The crowd on the street at
night was out for fun and but few had
shopping in mind. The fact that there
| was no roWdyism and that people
could do their shopping without being
interfered with was largely respon-
sible for the heavy cash sales.
Oranges and turkeys. too. were in de-
mand and it was reported by the mer-
chants that more oranges had been
sold than ever beforelu Many boxes of
oranges were shipped from the city as
Christmas presents and the orange
sale was without precedent. 1.t.
Little Horn blowing.
AS compared with sother Christmas
Eve nights there were very few horns
and COW bells in evidence. The people
seemed to have gotten on to the fact
that the dynamite canes would make
very much more noise than the tin
horns and they made their purchases
accordingly. But the, more modern
type of dynamite cane the sort dis
played to City Council by Mr.. ]. w.
0dChSOH,r was not dllOWeQ on BrOugh-
| ton street by the uniformed men. The
| superintendent of police ruled that
these sticks were dangerous and that
they would not be permitted. Large
numbers went on Broughton street
who had never before Joined in the
Christmas Eve carnival of fun. 1t was
a new experience to these folks
Negro Fought Police.
| Joe Walker, a negro who was arrest
ed on Broughton street, between
Whitaker and Barnard, fought Patrol
man Lady and had to be knocked
down before he would submit to ar
rest. He is charged with resisting the
officer as we'll as shooting fireworks on
the street. @si
The crowds on the streets had thin
ned out by 10 o'clock and fine shower
of rain before IL O'clock caused Others
to make their way home. After II
o'clock there were only a few scatter
ing DRINKS in evidence and there were
no signs Of approaching disorder of a
serious nature. The entire police force.
however, remained on duty until j
| o'clock.
|