The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1908-07-08
LAMAR CELEBRATES.
Biggest Time Ever Known in the
Arkansas Valley.
Whoop-la! Bing-bang!

have no idea what real noise is or
may be.
A whirling, seething mass of sew
eral thousand people animated with
one ambition and that to burn up
all the other fireworks in the town
before big display began, firecrack-
ers, canon crackers, roman candles.
rockets, volcanoes. thingamadoodles
dingwaddles. and everything else
that would make a noise or a dis
turbance. and everybody yelling at
the same time, is about what was
taking place just before 500 o'clock
on the Fourth in Lamar. 1t made up
a scene that is hard to picture in
words, and very much harder to pass
through without being infected with
the insanity of the occasion. If any
Britisher had happened on the street
at that moment he would have turn
ed tail and run at once, and thanked
Providence that his country had es-
capped the job of managing this race
of wild men.
1t was a great day, great crowd.
and glorious time. The thermom
eter did about all that could reason
ably be expected of 1t even for mid
summer, but no one seemed to care
for that very much. The day was
bright and clear and everything calm
and peaceful except the people. 1t
was probably the largest crowd ev-
er assembled in Lamar. over five
thousand in all. and everybody seem
ed bent on having a splendid time
and succeeding most admirably.
The streets were jammed with peo-
pie when the procession started to
the grounds at $3.50 in the morning,
and it was only short time later
that the crowd had most all assem-
bled at the beautiful fair grounds and
were enjoying the shade and the va
rious amusements there.
Hon. ]. c. Horn furnished the pa
triotic oratory for the occasion, and
the music all day long by the Lamar
band was one of the specially pleas
ing features and enjoyed by all. The
band is now one of the best ever or
ganized in the valley and any town
could well be proud to possess such
an organization.
At 10: 80 the famous base ball con-
test between the married and single
men was called. The former were
shy q pitcher and had To run the
risk of choosing a spit ball artist
from among the single men. which Of
course was dangerous; however. they
expected to even this up by securing
the umpire from their own ranks in
NADIA banker. He fooled them. how
ever. and decided the points on their
merits, whereupon all the benedicts
in the crowd yelled traitor and rob-
Der Just as Justify as a crowd of Den
yer fans when their home team is
losing. At times the old ducks show
ed signs of their old time form. when
they were really ball players. but like
Mr.. Cans they had seen better days
and got theirs on July Fourth. The
score was Z to 2 in favor of the sin
gle jacks, and might easily have been
worse. Both pitchers were batted
hard at times, but Goodale for the
youngsters always braced up when
in the hole bad. and with the aid of
some first class fielding. pulled out
of seral tight places very nicely. For
the married men Hagerman was not
quite so effective, but this was prob
ably because he was busy wishing
that he really belonged in that class.
Even as it was the game was close
except for the fourth inning when
two of the singles got on bases and
some mean man up in the bleachers
yelled twins" when before the mar
natural panic four runs had crossed
the plate.
After the ball game everyone made
preparations for dinner, and the big
barbecue of beef and lamb prepared
by Frank Means was the center of
attraction for the next hour by the
hungry multitude. Everybody was
taken care of, and Frank was voted
all kinds of medals and blue ribbons
for his part in the program, nothing
but praise being heard in the com
ments on his work. The park was
filled with camping parties, large and
small, mad dinner was really the best
part of the day to many Of these.
When the racing program began
in the afternoon the grand stand,
bleachers, and quarter stretch were
literally packed with people. no such
crowd ever having been on the fair
grounds before. The races furnished
amusement for several hours and a
will be found below.
The battle between the Indians and
Captain Koontz's band Of cowboys
was the real thing in western life
The victory was with the cowboys
although the Indians put up a game
fight and succeeding in capturing and