Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-07-06
WatervilIe Observes Day
in Fitting Manner.
Large Crowd Of People CeIe-
brate Nations Birthday.
Horse Racing and Other Events At
Central Maine Park Features Of the
Fourth-Fireworks Wind Up Festi.
vities.

Watcrvillc, Me, July 5.-(SpeciaD.-
The 12%th anniversary of the signing
of the Declaration of Independence bv
our doughty fOrcfathcrs was not oh
served III Waterville III just the man
ner that had been planned by the com
mittcc, ana several thousand ucopl,
who had come into the city from sur
rounding towns were considerably dis
appointed thereby. True there was
plenty Of noise, for the small boy ANA
the cannon-crackcr and dynamite-cau,
Were inseparable and omnipresent
The noise began early sunday evening.
but as for the rest of the celebration
it is set to De seen and continued with
few breathing spells until nearly
midnight on Monday. The people be
gan 10 arrive III the city OH the first
trains, Monday morning, and they
thrCn%cd the streets all the forenoon
waiting patiently for the parade to
start. The sports on Elm street fur
nishc;l Il litti" diversion and the parad,
of "horriblcS" was enjoyed but ali
were waiting for the big parade, ana
i'll that they were disappointed.
tn" parade OF "horriblcs'' was u
short one. but some of the teams Were
very good and the crowd greatly ell
ioycd the exhibition. The sports al,
Elm street were run off we'll and a bis
crowd enjoyed them. Eut the Grove
WAS waiting along Main street for thu
big parade to form. 1t WIS here that
the people were disappointed. The au-
tomohilrs did their part to make it Il
success, ana th"y We're the one re
lc"ming feature. The biz; Winton ma
chime driven by G. Fred Terry was Il
mass of beautiful roses and other Gu:
flowers. ana presented :; most attrac-
tive sight. The Knox car owned by Or
Albeit was Il marvel oi artistic auto
mobile decoration. The idea was
petty one. Il great swans neck OF
whit chrEsHnthrrnumS being attaches.
to tn" front Of the machine. ana over
tn" seats of the car were arches o.
whit" pinks. with strcamcrs of thu
same InWcrs. The car WAS driven h,
H. my Abbott. ami The effect was r,n-
d"rrl n;orc striking by the five pretty
young ladies who occupied the ma
Il in".
only on these two machines had any
marked attempt ut decorating beer
made the decorations of the others be-
ing for the most part the dspl;jy OF
I'll" American flag. Tn" big Knox ma
chino owned hy Frank Wehb"r anC
driven Ly George Hnynton ana oc-
! cu;,i"l by tn" Misses Wcbbcr. and tn,
| machine driven by Harold Davis, boil
| carried the American flag ANA were !;
! hitr addition to tn. parade. 4. q. LON
I bard with his Stanley had Il very IF
| fcctiy" decoration, displaying th
| American flag ami Uncle Sam on tn
front Of the machine. The other ma
crime all looked we'll ana the parad,
| WIS Il good one.
Owing to some mistake the big pa
radc proceeded OVER the course in sec
tinn%. il l,inG hard to distinguish WheI
it had ended or whether or not it hai
all passed, AMI the crowd waited
around the streets for q couple Of
hour:: hoping to see it all together.
After having satisfied thcms"lve:
that tho, had seen everything to b
seen in The city the crowds turned
toward the Central Maine Fai:
grounds, where Il big celebration wa
PLANNED for the afternoon. All the cars
Of the Watcrvilic Il Oakland Road were
in commission but they We're unequal
to the task Of carrying all the people
and hundreds walked to the park
livery morScl of food ut the park was
soon eaten UP and then the hungry
ones began to forage for more. but l.
was not to be found. The management
had done everything possible to sc;
caterers to feed the crowd, but all wcl'
afraid to attempt the task, thinking
the crowd would not be large enough
to pay them for their trouble. For this
reason many went hungry, unless they
were able to satisfy their appeit"s on
fruit.
Between 5000 and COCO people were at
the park in the afternoon and they mao
a good time even If many of them
were hungry. There was something do