The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-08
Germania Park Was the Scene ofChief Labor Day Events
 
EVERY PARK IN DISTRICT
 WAS CROWDED TO LIMITS
Streets All Day and Late Last Night Made Things Look Like the Bir-
 mingham of Old-No Acci-
 dents to Mar Happiness.

l A beautiful day greeted the workmen of | the Birmingham district when they threw
 aside their work for one day and pre- l pared to enjoy themselves yesterday. It
 was Labor Day of live doings, and, 1 while there was no parade nor any great | sneakings, the men who use their hands 1 spent one of the busiest days in pleasure
 seeking that they have had a chance to 1 do in many months.
 Every park in the vicinity of Birming-
 ham was the scene of a large and happy | throng from the early morning hours until after midnight. Germana park was
 the main blvouac and here it was that thousands of union men assembled with
 their families to celebrate the day. Ath- | letlc contests of every kind were the rule 1 Of the day, this particular part of the 1 programme beginning at 1 D. m. and last
 ing until Il o'clock. Some 40 or 50 prizes 1 were awarded to the various winners. 1 There were races for fat men. old maids. i skinny fellows and other Imaginable events. l Out at the fair grounds a large crowd i gathered to witness the automobile. mo-
 torcycle and bicycle races, which proved
 exceptionally interesting, splendid time 1 being made In all of the events. Robert
 Stubbs again proved himself a winner on
 motorcycle
 The first event was a five-mile open
 race for single-cylinder motorcycles, this i, being won by E. House in 6:H. A. M.
 Middlebrooks came in a close second. | Next was the five-mile open double
 cylinder motorcycle race, Robert Stubbs fllr ritao |, In, E.En
 pushing him hard.
 | Roderick Beddow proved himself a speedy bicyclist in the next race, which
 was a ten-mile motor-paced affair. Bed dow crossed the line first in 19I1, his
 pace-maker, Ped Hickman, setting him a splendid pace. Patton, paced by Vena ble.
 came in second.
 In the five-mile motorcycle match race
 Robert Stubbs again came in first, making the five miles in 6:04. E. J. Bates took
 second place.
 The automobile race was the next event, the runabouts entered putting up
 an exciting race. J. H. Moncrief came in first with Charles Denegre second. Perhaps the most exciting race of the afternoon was pulled off after the auto
 mobile race, this being the 2S~nile handi-
 cap motorcycle race. Robert Stubbs. while starting from the scratch and be-
 ing compelled to stop his machine on
 the 20th mile to oil it, came in first
 His time for the 25 miles was :2s26. Mid
 dlebrooks who had a handicap, came in second, his time being 3206
 The last race was the five-me open bi-
 cycle race, this one also being won by
 Roderick Beddow, his time being :14:26. Every other amusement around Bir- | mngham reaped benefit from Labor Day. The dozen picture theatres were packed to the doors from early morning to late
 at night, while the regular theatres sold
 out at both matinee and night perform
 ances. A game of baseball in the morn- ing and another in the afternoon drew
 several thousand people, while East Lake
 park was also the Mecca for great con-
 course of people.
 The day was just hot enough to make
 everyone thirsty and the soft drink and soda fountain places were worked to | the limit all day long in an effort to quench the thirst of 'the many happy thousands.
 It seemed like Birmingham of old to see the hustling crowds. Even midnight found the streets in the heart of town humming with humanity and all evil dences of setback caused by the panic
 and strike had disappeared. It gave Birmingham the appearance of having
 come into its own again.