Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-11
LILLEY COMES BOMB
Bls Reception Was BoIslsrsd UD
 But Fell Very. Very FIsi.

| N"S 'SPuoiAS"h iOuuoIp iu thib CIty
 have not much cause to feel elated
 at the enthusiasm displayed during
 the celebration held last evening on
 the homecoming of George L. Lillsy
 the republican nominee for governor.
 There was very little cheering along
 the line and although there was
 liberal amount of red fire at the sta-
 ton, loads of this can be purchased,
 the celebration as a whole was
 rather tame affair and was far from
 meeting expectations.
 As for that Taft Marching club of
 which so much has been heard why
 there was scarcely half dozen real republicans in line. Such collection
 of men has not been seen in many a
 day and the larger part of them must
 have recently come into this city.
 They all looked to be strangers. As
 for their uniforms they were joke
 and the person who selected them
 must have very artistic eye. AL though few of the henchmen en-
 deayored to whoop 1t up occasional- ly there was no warmth in the eel ebration and it had the appearance Of a forced march before the end came. Some of the marchers are said to be the kind that arc republi- cans for revenue tor beer) only. The most conspicuous feature of
 the evening was the absence of a goodly number of good old repub- licans. A few of them were seen on the street but the large majority of them were missing from the hall
 Not only republicans that at one time were prominent in the party but men who always were to be found in celebrations of this kind. Why were they missing last evening? If it were not for "Bill' Gillette who every now and then started to whoop It up the celebration would have seemed like funeral procession be- fore the auditorium was reached. As the marchers were going along Grand street few in the rear ranks made mighty effort to rent the air but "Bill" was not there so the cheer did not materialize.
 Candidate Lilley arrived in the city on the S:54 train from New Haven and was met at the station by Lallier's Military band, three or four carriages with prominent repub- licans and the Taft Marching club. A squad of policemen was also on hand. MT Lilley was escorted from
 the train to the carriage. Judge John H. Light of South Norwalk, M. J. Byrne and Benjamin Grist, president of the republican club rode with the congressman. The horses were taken from the Lilley carriage and men were substituted. When the horses were removed, the car riage started forward of its own weight, and few of those nearby were sent sprawling in the dirt.
 John P. Kellogg who has the superior court bee in his bonnet, Colonel Burpee, Thomas D. Bradstreet, state comp troller and Frank B. Brandegee of New London, United States senator rode in the second vehicle. Abner Hayes, Chairman Church of the re- publican town committee, Benjamin R. Kelsey and E. L. Bronson were in the third carriage. City Clerk w. H. Sandland, L. l.. Williams, F. D. Pagan and Joseph Baril were in the fourth carriage. There were couple Of other carriages with few less prominent members of that grand old party. Imagine it, only five car riages! It must have made Hugh Thomas F. Lunny feel a pang of sor- Tn yrfa Nf fx, his yard was decorated for the oc- casion. Toms house and office were the big noise on the line of march. A large flag was suspended from one of the trees while the yard simply glowed with red fire.
 The parade moved into Bank, up North Main as far as The Elton where Mrs Lilley was seated in window. She was loudly cheered by those in line. The procession countermarched and proceeded to the Auditorium. There the custom- ary speeches which republican speak CTS are always willing to hand out was liberally distributed to an audi ence hardly half of whom were re- publicans. There were some demo- crats who were on hand for curiosity sake while the remainder were the people who attend every celebration no matter what it is for. They fol- low the band no matter where it's going.
 MT Lilley was given cheer when he was introduced by Chairman Grist and as usual he smiled his sweetest as he prepared to talk. He thanked the audience for the ova- tion rendered him and declared that if elected governor he would give all his ability to properly perform the duties of his office. He would be governor of all the people no mat ter what the nationality or what the creed. There was no need to time the length of the cheering after MT Lilley finished.
 1. Senator Brandegee, who had not word to say at Washington when Lilley was being roasted because of the submarine investigation which put an awful dent in the congress- mans hopes for fame in national was next introduced. Mir could not get away from "the grand and magnificent outpour- ingv and used the term again and again. He lauded the senate which with the house really lambasted Lilley. He discussed very little politics.
 Other speakers were Judge Light.