Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-24
HAVE MARDI GRAS AT HONE
Annual kssqus Ball Of the Ellis Brings Out
Wealth Of Costume.
ToPsY AND SPANISH DUKE PRIZE WINNERS
Affair Proves one Of tbe Most En-
joyabIe Ever Held In BuiIdinE
which Has Been the scene of
Many brilliant Affairs.

There was q frolic Of the folies a. the
Ak-sar-Ben den last niEht-the pollter
folies, either Elks themselves or the in
vited friends Of Elks. Three or four hun
dred were on the hoor end more than 1000
others looked on from the amphitheater
above. II was the masquerade ball and
annual entertainment Of Omaha lodge No.
-. and while it may not have been as
highly remunerative tor the order as some
previous Entertainments. fl was rich in its
reward for those who attended.
To begin with. the historic old ball room
was a feast OF electrical beauty. with a
great chime clock at its front, an elk
mounted there among greens and another
elk surmounting q small knoll Of foliage
in the center Of the room: with smilax and
other vines trailed about all the pillars.
with the f~raternity's purple and white
looped from arch TO arch; with the amphi-
theater draped with Elks' bunting, a white
cloth figured with elks' heads and clocks
showing the approach OF the eleventh hour,
with elk heads on banners everywhere, and
with the stage a profusion of green.
Awarding the Prizes.
On this stage sat thirty-hve instru-
mentalists. with Prof. Dimmick as their
conductor. Their melody timed the feet
of the hundreds OF dancers in costumes
gay or somber, beautiful or ridiculous, ac-
cording to the whim Of the wearer. The
whims were many and the judges commits
STONED to select the best Of the number
spent nan anxious minutes deciding.
When they did decide, H. c. Richmond an
nounced for them hat among the women
Mrs. George W. Shields as 'Topsy" had
won first prize; Mrs. r. v. Dunn as q
Chinese grand dame second prize; Miss
Wayne Boerne as q Gypsy queen third
prize; ard Miss Ella Higgins as consort Of
the grand duke OF Spain fourth prize.
Among the men, Adolph Storz as grand
duke OF Spain won first honors; Earl Z.
Kiplinger as a cowboy second; lie Roy
Lucas as Chief Afraid f-the-FirewNter
third. and W. @. Colling as a toreador
fourth. The women received as their prizes
dainty cut glass pieces and the men UNI
brellas, boxes Of cigars and other such
necessaries Of life.
Among those seriously considered by the
Judges were Stanhope Fleming as Silly
Tom; Miss Mile Ryan as one Of Anna
Held's fencing girls; H. II. Helmick and
Miss Belle Knowlton as the Ghost and
the Folly; Berchie Dunn as Happy Hooli-
gan: Mrs. Edward Chapman as the High
land Lass; Mr.. and Mrs. Carney as Romeo
and the Mexican senoritR; A r. LermAkers
as an Irishman from ireland; a pair Of
visiting nurses, a bevy Of tea girls and a
number Of elegantly costumed lords, mailed
knights and grand ladies.
Opening of the Hall.
The ball opened at s:45 with a party
dance by three dozen young pupils from
Prof. W. z. Chambers academy, who ex-
ecuted dificult figures with IN ease and
grace that surprised ana delighted the older
folk. At 9:15 followed the grand march,
participated in by all the eostumed mas
queraders and several who were merely
masked.
From It there was developed the ever
changing minuet, danced by twelve couples
Of young people, all in powdered hair and
the rich robing Of the court Of King Henry
VIII.
At it's conclusion those on the floor were
wooed into the delights Of the first waltz
and the fun began. Sw~ashbucklers in fancy
tights and gorgeous hats danced with quaint
little Japs; Topsy in sackcloth and charcoal
danced with a man Of quality in a swell
dress suit; the girl in the black dress with
the silvery constellation thereon danced
with a man who never sighted a telescope il
his whole life; Spanish girls danced witt
Americanos who never got nearer Spair
than a cigarette store; American bellei
danced with foreign beaux-in fact, every
body in every kind OF garb danced witt
everybody else in every other kind o.
garb, and kept IT up, through various
dances, until 10:45, when the names of the
winning competitors were announced ant
all hidden TO unmask. Exalted Ruler Franz
Crawford. just TO show that he was q surf
enough good fellow, wore four different
costumes at various times and didn't wiz
a prize. Most of the other ohicers were
busy with the management Of the AFFAIR and
either could not mask at all or could veal
only the false face necessary to gaia space
on the dancing floor. At the stroke OF Il
all rose and gave the Elks' salute to tn,
hour.
Because Of Illness Judge C. T. Dickinson
Of the district bench was not able to re-
hearse for the minuet. which he was slated
the once, Nine. LADoueeur leading the
women. The other women were Mrs. W. e
Chambers, Misses Ethel J. Stephenson
Edytbe Stevens, Lulu Gamer, Dolly Cou-
duray, SILVER ParrOtte, Ada N. Wrenn
Florence Morden, EugeniA Hustes. Ethel
Wrenn~ and Hazel Beard. The men
were H. II. Putnam, Fred H. Baurmeister
l. c. salveter, Clarence J. Parrotte, MAJ
Nippell. G. T.. Engler, b. H. Kennedy. G.
z, Locke. G. R. Guild. W. Dickinson. C. z
LRngsdorfer.
Those in the children's dance were Misses
Klein. Hungate. Allen, s%nowden, Cold
smith, Becker, Mccain. Becker, Patterson,
Vireling. Halter. Encell. Horn. Campbell,
Perkin, Putnam, White and Kinney, and
Masters Rogers. Klein, Hungate, Bamford,
] Whitaker. Lamar, CAvanaugh, Robinson.
Livingston, Irwin. Reynolds. Heyn, Whita'
ker. Boyles and AinscoW.
The floor COMMITTEES compriseds o. d
Klplinger, chairman; Judge d. NJ. VinsOn-
haler, George W. Shields. Z. NJ. Bartlett
H. C. Richmond. Thomas Swift. Clinton
Miller, Al King. Byron Reed. W. B. Taylor
Frank Crawford. Robert Hacker. Lulun c
Gibson, John Brennes. W. A. Watson. Wilii
Todd.
Visiting Elks from Council Bluffs werl
L Zurmuehlen, jr-, William COppOck
Thomas D.. Metcalf. Fred d. Enpkde, Z. L
Empkie, H. z. Haas. c. D.. Blaine. Z. o
Anis, J. D. Clark. n. F. Rohrer. l. B
Rohrer and Fred Pedlar.
The entertainment committee comprises
Arthur H. Briggs. chairman, L. r. Cot
treIl. Willis Todd. william LampmAnn. W
"a Cole- q u KiulinRer- d J. OFBieu