The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-02-21
KeptGueSIs Roaring With Laugh
 ter While in Bohemia
MANY LOCAL HITS MADE
A Monograph Reproduced Speeches Made In the Past and In the Flu ture-Commercia Club Holds
 an Interesting Meeting.

an Interesting Meeting.
 The local skits put on the "Press Club in Bohemia last night went off with a whirl and many of tue honorary members who are selected from the prominent men of the city went home sore from laughter
 Jokes political and otherwise were sprung at random and many members who thought themselves secure were hit hard and made the brunt of some of the best burlesdues of the season.
 Last nights performance was the sec ond public entertainment given by the Birmingham Press club and though the attendance was not quite so large as at the annual banquet the run was livelier and the men who are before the public eye were made to feel that they were present >by a large majority.
 The banquet hall al the Metropolitan hotel was fitted out like typical eastern beer garden and no wine and little whisky was served The main drink was beer and in quantity it seemed unlimited.
 The fun began by the introduction of 8 marvellous" phonograph that chronicled events of the past as well as the future. Bozeman c. Bulger of the Age-Herald explained his marvellous machine in de- tail to. the assemblage, telling of the re- markable feats it had performed c. F. Bailey of the Ray Monograph company operated the invention and 1t did it's work perfectly. The machine was one of 1afp nh rlhip devices and the Ray company of this city joined in with the newspaper men to make a night of fun. Mir Bailey "primed and cooked the cylinders. and when the ma chine went off something happened.
 Mir Bulger explained in full what won derful things the apparatus hard accom- pllshed and the length of time over which its records extended.
 Speech By cuIpepper Exum.
 The first sample was speech deliver cd by the Honorable Culpepper Exuin at a banuuet rendered Admiral Sehley in 1s99 9a In this address MT. Exum told of his love for the smell of gunpowder and what he and Winfield Scott' had done when boys This address threw the crowd in an uproar of laughter and the spieler from the Age-Herald announced that he would further test the machine, since the crowd liked it. He gave re- production of q speech delivered by the Honorable George B. Ward at his ln- aug1lration as mayor of Birmingham Tn 1923. At that time MT. Ward had starteu "A departmeht store and was selllng oress goods at marked down prices. lie hau also stopped his fight on the street car companies. and had aceepleu iiee pass from MT. Jemison.
 The next and last was a reproductloh of an address by B. Steiner at meetiHs of the Joseph F. Johnston campaign committee several years ago and an ex- citing colloduy at the end with hls brother Sig about 5000 contribution to the fund.
 Mock Meeting of Commercial Club.
 Probably the funniest thing of the evening was mock meeting of the Com mereial club In this the merry makers had all the opportunity desired for springing local hits and they did not faii to take advantage of the occasion. Ell P. Smith of the News appeared as Pres ident B. F. Roden, and his rulings on all questions were source of much amusement. His annual address, which covered S57 pages was listened to very closely. As Secretary Gibson John k. Hornady made a hit. MT. Hornady IS a natural wit and his annual report and suggestions to the president at crucial moments caused a tumult of laughter. As G. H. Estes MT. Babb of the News was irresistible. He objected to every thing that was proposed and frequently referred to the fact that he was a can didate for alderman. Mir. Friedman al- ways caused an uproar of laughter when he took the floor and addressed the club as B. Steiner, the banker. In this role Mir Friedman was immense, and he had lust the kind of a house to appreciate his fun. MT. Bulger appeared as N. F.. Thompson and introduced sundried reso- lutions pertaining to affairs in the orient and other matters of great interest to Birmingham. MT. Ewing of the News started on speech of 1544 pages by Col. T. G. Bush but was cut off before he had fairly started. MT. Green took the part of John w. Tomllnson, who had come to the club accompanied by John w. ONeill from the Board of Trade, This caused a lot f-fun. He frequently referred to Mir Bryan and the crime of '7S.
 Collector Breaks Up Meeting.
 Ricf.ar r. Johnston of the Ledger sud- denly appeared as David Grace, the col- lector for the club, and when he an- nouneed that he had come for the pur- pose of collecting dues the meeting broke up in wild disorder. He and Secretary Gibson then engaged in a heated debate as to what should be done with the money.
 Walter Blackman. cartoonist of The Age-Herald brought down the house with lot of imitation of country school children, barnyard scenes. and so forth. He wound up with a mimic of the phono- graph. which was indeed rich.
 Fred Wynne of the Ledger enlivened the crowd with several songs in which the entire assemblage sang the chorus
 As the performance was beginning to wane MT. Crawford, a vaudeville artist playing at the Bijou theatre, was intro duced and sang two or three songs which captured the club. He was forced to keep it up until he was completely worn out.
 Honorary Members Speak.
 When the members of the Press club had tired of making merry the honorary members were forced to deliver a few after dinner addresses and many a laugh followed George B. Ward spoke on may orality possibilities and related the har- rowing experiences of candidate. MT. Ward showed great talent at repartee with Mr. Babb. the president. c. s. Sim- mons and Ed Smith followed and kept the crowd laughing
 Promptly at F o'clock the affair went into history and the members went