The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-05-14
Southeast Missouri D|uNHp|S Association
Hold Their Annual Meeting at Pennington This
Week, Beginning Today and Continuing
Until Saturday Noon.


The Southeast Missouri Drum
mcrs SsOclation meets in Farm.
lngton to. day Thursday for
a three days bout with pleasure
and a remuneration for the time of
all brsucss care. Our town Is
prepared to give them most
cheerful greeting and welcome, 10
banquet them and extend them rs
most gracious hospitality aud
they IN turn promise 90 furnish the
town no mean entertainment, from
the program Of events - which
they have arranged The nature
aud purpose OF tins assuciutluu il
clcatly expressed and explained IN
the following letter from W L
Leach. the first pre- Sideut of the
association, published in the Enter
prise Of Charleston on the occasion
Of the meeting in that city II year
ago:
This association, in which all the
travelling men who make this terri
tory are now Interested, is Of purely
accidental origin
Just about six years ago about thirty
Of the royal knights of the grip hap
pened by the mrrest chance, To- meet al
Cape Glrardcau on their usual round Of
business. Suggestion was made that
they cougregatc annually, as all pro
fessional men do, at some town in
Southeast Missouri, and. a~ the boys
say, take day oil
All present agreed
The Soathrast Missouri Drummcrs
Association then and there became
an established institution and the fol
lowing officers were elected
W + Leach president Geo Stein
niger vice president ! II Lyons sec
rctary There being no funds in sight
il was unnecessary to elect n treasurer
Shorty nitrrwarl meeting Of the
association was called al the Cap" aud
base bali game was mad" thr feature
of the day the Drummcrs playing
against the Merchants of Cap" Girnr
deau Baseball has likewise been
feature Of each succeeding meeting
Thirty travelling men were in attend
ancr ut the first meeting. aud they, as
only those Jolly fellows can made It
memorable Occasion
When May again rolled around the
drummrr4 like the -wpllnw- returned
once more to the little rlty ou III" banks
of the Mississippi This Inn" they took
the cape 10y storm Instead Of the
registered thirty. seventy strong march
ed in.
AT the ball game which took place at
this time, the Merchants surrendered tn
the Drumners all the honor- of victory.
and at the official banquet which pre-
ceded the game it was decided that II
change Of meeting place would be- bcnc.
fetal, so the business center Of South
east Missouri was selected a- the scene
of conflict for the following two years
Poplar Bluff The number of attend
ants largely increased from seventy t.
ninety from ninety 10 over one hundred
The good people Of the Bluff extended
TO the drummers their hands the drum
mcr4 broad smile aud glad shake
spoke volumes of appreciation and
thanks
For the celebration of its fifth ami.
yersary the officers then Joe Lynch
president and 10y Myers vice presi
dent voiced the expression Of the mn
! iority aud asked the beautiful, husting
city of Charleston for accommodations
Charleston opened wide its doors a
welcome most royal was given, Atten-
ton, kindness and devotion were
| hHoNtlfu' iut b'lN l'lt ar u ln' NIiN
was theirs, for everything was at their
will and disposal When time for sep
aration arrived, the pains Of separation
were somewhat lcssencd. for they had
decided to return to this same happy
spot for the next Mayday.
The object of this organization il to
bring together the travelling men.
They meet for a Jolly good time, there
fore grips are laid to rest competition
forgotten Like schoolboys on vaca
tion, they are bent ON reyclng in the
pleasures of the moment.
The drummers have strong feeling
of friendship for the merchants, and
they wish for their friendship in more
than a business way. So, at the earn
est request of the drummers the mer
chants too don the holiday mood and
contend with the drummers in n big
ball game This ball game is generally
the feature of the day, and the pro
lceeds arising from IL are expended II
charity. Drummers are proverbially
charitably inclined and free hearted
and are ever willing to give aid and MS
sistance in a COOL cause. Thus the as
sociation has high andworthy object.
PROGRAM THURSDAY 3 TO T.. NJ.
"A match game Of Ten Pins-South.
east Missouri Drummers VS.. Farm
ington. Three prizes. lst--l0(
Mercantile Cigars; 2nd--50 Expo.
sition Cigars, for highest individua
score; Srd--50 cigars, ("shor,y'
Collins selection), for second high
est score Drummers: John A
| Schultz, G. l.. Scblueter, I. +
Witch. Hy. Schroeder, Adam
Joerder.
IL EVENING.
Grand Reception.
Band Concerl-Wcber's Third En-
gineers' band