New-York tribune., 1906-11-07
CITY SEES THE NEWS.
BROADWAY Il HUMAN SEA.
CarniUal Spirit Reigns Supreme
Noise and More Noise.

artery Of the city. Broadway from 42d street TO
Trinity, medley of sounds went up last night
that IL It could have been collected at the
mouthpiecs OF some Gargantuan megaphone.
would even have shouted the good news TO
Mars. jubllant whisper would have reached
the uttermost OF the PIeiades. Never before IN
the history OF the city has such a crowd filled
Broadway Never before has such babel Of
noise gone up from Manhattan.
From above the Victoria, the one oasis OF quiet
in the turmoil. to the Hotel Astor the newspapers
had put up their stereopticons and spread great
white sheets. Searchlights on the roof sent
great pencils OF light straight up in the air or
flashed down and UP Broadway. showing after
nightfan q great mass of black dotted with
white faces. Before the polls were closed and
the counting had begun little knots of men and
women collected in front Of the extemportzed
bulletin boards. Between the groups the curb
was lined with hawkers who were selling con-
fetti left over from the Coney Island carnival
great blatant horns, rattIes and feather tick
lers." Called him an animated feather duster,
did he? Biff." said one purchaser of the lat
ter. Then there were others selling other noise
making devices. and cards 10 be stuck IN the
hatbands bearing such legends as:
Il told you so".
we gave him a lemon"
The feather duster' has swept clean"
There were other cards which bore on one
side the inscription Hughes wins" and on the
other. Hearst wins" Before the returns got
coming in the dealers displayed both sides in
discrtmtnately. but about o'clock the Hughes
side was the only one to be seen.
II was the kind Of a crowd that has become
typical Of New York. Big, uuwieldy, restless
and excitement seeking, it still had the patience
born OF experience with bridge jams and subway
packing that made 1t tolerate hoodIums smash
ing their way through. elbows stuck in ribs
ear splitting blasts from horns. language that
needed disinfecting badly. and trodden corns.
By s O'Clock movement in Broadway between
the Flatiron buildings at 23d and 42d streets
was practically impossible. The police on their
daintily stepping horses slowly made way
through the mob for the trolley cars, packed far
beyond the sardineIIke Jams on the Coney Island
cars on an August Sunday The mounted men
had little to do in handling the crowds their
horses herding the masses Of people and driving
them TO one side wherever It was possible to
move them. as a collie drives sheep. The horses
would plant their hoofs in about two square
inches of space in some strange manner with
out treading on any ones toes, and then squeeze
the crowd in tighter by the weight OF their
bodies
/ The crowd overfowed into the theatres the
hotels and the restaurants. From O'Clock last
-
to get seat. let alone table. at any OF the
places where "OId Man Manhattan dimes. At
the Astor and Fifth Avenue hotels from the
Gotham and the St Regis down to Martins
every table had been engaged IN advance for
days the demand exceeding that of New Years
In all the Tenderloin restaurants the tables had
been taken much longer in advance
The greatest crowd. OF course. was out Of
doors. Election night has come to be New
pleasant weather yesterday brought people in
from far above The Bronx and the trans
pontine regions OF New Jersey and Long Island.
In the crowd that swirled IN the centre OF
Broadway like q sea, the crowds IN front OF the
stereopttcon bulletins OF the returns seemed like
rocks IN the surf. Every now and then
individual on the edge would be swept away
from the crowd. doomed not TO find Judgement
again until three or four bulletins had been
passed but the masses kept and held their posi-
tions from the time the first ballot box was
opened until It that Charles z. Hughes
had triumphed. Then they, too. wandered aim
lessly up and down Broadway, from the beer
sign to the north TO the mineral water sign that
marks the southern limit OF the Tenderlon.
Then there was a sparsely crowded gap down
! through the wholesale district although
there the sidewalks crowded. until City
| Hall Park vas reached.
There the downtown crowd gathered TO Waron
the bulletins OF the -four big downtown papers.
Mr Hearst's bulletins held the only partisan
crowd OF watchers IN the city. but these late
| In the evening rorsook The American" bulletins
| to watch the others chief among them The
| Tribune, because OF their desire to find out how
the returns really stood. This particularly was
| true when the closeness Of the upstate battle
| became apparent. From the "Staats-zeitung"
| Building TO past the old Times Building. and
! from the curb OF Park Row 10 the buildings in
| Broadway. the park and the adjacent strests
were OF bowling. horn blowing. cheer
| ing humanity. The Tribune kept thousands OF
| them in high good humor by It's prompt bull
| Ietlus, its timely cartoons and the pictures OF
| the various candidates.
! The only time that the poles did not have
any difficulty in clearing a passage through the
| surgfng eddying mass OF humanity was about
! $50 o'clock. when fire engines, IN answer to an
alarm dashed into Park Row from Broadway
| and careened down past Newspaper Row and
| the City Hall Park 10 New Chambers street at
! fun speed. the crowd opening as If automat-
| icaIly before the gaIlopng horses and closing in
like manner behind them without single cas-
| uaty.
| Aside from the fire engines ana the electric
| cars no traffic was allowed PasA Row save
| the mail wagons. which held TO their privi-
| legged course. Even the 4th street AND Madison
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