The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1904-07-07
A GLORIOUS FOURTH.
The Celebration at Leon was a Grand
Success in Every Particular
Immense Crowd Present.


a grander success than the one held al
Leon on Monday. The crowd was h, re
by thousands, the weather was perfect
and there was fun and amusement for
| all from early in the morning until
everyone was tired out and ready to GO
home late in the evening. The heavy
rain on Sunday made it impossible for
the farmers to work in the field so all
took a holiday and came to Leon.
Bright and early Monday morning the
sun came out and in a few hours the
mud had dried up SO that the crowd
could walk anywhere in the streets, and
there was no dust to bother the people.
There have been many wild guesses as
to how many thousand people there
were here during the day, but it was a
crowd that was mighty hard to estimate
for they were scattered all over the city
the three platforms at which the prizes
were awarded being located a couple of
blocks apart and this gave the crowd an
opportunity to split up SO that all could
see.
The Harvey band, of Bethany. Mo-
arrived Sunday afternoon and were
early on the scene the morning of the
Fourth with plenty of lively and up-to-
date music. The boys composing this
band are all good musicians and were
not at all backward about playing so
that all during the day there was plenty
of music to entertain the crowd when
there was nothing else going on.
One of the best features of the days
program was the appearance Of Co. L.
55th l. N. g., the Osceola company,
which arrived on the X. & w. train at
1880, bringing with them four coach
loads of people from Osceola, Decatur
City and Van Vert, and every one of
the coaches were crowded until they
would lnot hold another person. 1t is
reported that at Van Vert there were a
large number of people who wanted to
come to Leon, but could not even get on
theStrain. When the train arrived at
Leon the visitors were met by the
Bethany band and the 111th Alaskas,
who made neat appearance in their
nobby red and white caps, and it was a
fine looking parade which marched up
town to the park. Before going to
dinner the Osceola soldiers gave fine
exhibition of drill work which was
greatly admired by the large crowd.
The boys are fine fellows and made a
splendid appearance giving exhibition
drills whenever place could be found
on the big program, and in the evening
they gave an exhibition sham battle
and drill something which many Of the
people living in this vicinity had never
seen before. During the time the
soldier boys were at ease they had a
bushel of fun with their tossing blanket,
into which some luckless soldier or citi-
zen would be caught and with ten strong
fellows holding the blanket the victim
would be tossed high in the air and
allowed to fall in the blanket only to be
tossed up again. Wherever the tossing
squad went there was big crowd fol-
lowing, and it made all kinds of fun for
everyone except the fellow in the
blanket.
The speech by Hon. v. r. McGinnis
at the court house park just before din
ner was one of the finest orations ever
heard in this city. Mr.. McGinnis is a
fluent speaker and on this occasion he
fairly outdid all previous efforts and
many were the complimentary remarks
passed by those in the audience. 1t is
generally difficult thing for Fourth
of July speaker to hold the attention Of
his hearers, especially when there are
numerous other things going on and the
din occasioned by the incessant firing
of fire crackers, but it was noticeable
that all who were fortunate to get near
enough the speakers stand to hear Mr..
McGinnis remained until he finished
speaking. 1t was fortunate thing
i
when the speaker committee selected
I Mr.. McGinnis as the orator of the day,
for no man in the whole state of Iowa
could have given better satisfaction.
| After the conclusion of the morning
exercises everybody hustled for dinner
and it took considerable hustling by
many visitors who did not bring Their
baskets, the hotels and restaurants be
ling crowded to their utmost capacity
For several hours free coffee was dis,
pensed to all in the court house parl
and this was a little courtesy,that seem
ed to be greatly appreciated by the
people from the country who brought
their lunch baskets with them. The
fact that the coffee was free to every
one made it taste uncommonly good.
Az quick as dinner was over th.
lcrowds gathered around the three plat
forms to witness the many contests TO
the numerous prizes offered by the bust