Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-23

United States and foreign war vessels in
the harbor and the great river pageant, in
which more than 500 vessels will partici-
pate.
The evening feature will be a parade Of
1900 uniformed members OF the order Of
Red Men. with historical floats, and a dis
play OF fireworks on the Delaware river.
On Friday the Italians of Philadelphia
will unveil a monument to the memory OF
Verdi in West Fairmont park. The aft
ernoon will see the climax OF the weeks
celebration in the historical pageant, de-
scriptive of the history OF the city from
the time of the first Swedish and Dutch
settlements. About forty floats and 5000
characters will be shown. This pageant
will be the first OF its kind presented in
any American city.
Saturday will be athletic day.; interns-
tional automobile races, foot ball, horse
racing and contests of strength, skill and
endurance in sports will take up the fore
noon. In the afternoon the knights Tenn
plar will parade. The knights Templar
also will parade late in the evening and
formally close the celebration by extln-
gushing the Nominations on the city hall,
On the six evenings of the week there
will be a magnificent drama or pageant
on Franklin field, University of Pennsyl-
vania, which will show the history Of
Philadelphia acted. Plans for this drama,
which will be known as philadelphia, 3"
have been in the course of preparation for
five months and it will show in minute de-
tail the history and growth Of the city.
1t will be presented in four acts. The
first will show Philadelphia from the time
of the settlement by the Indians, the
Dutch and the Swedes to the arrival of
William Penn and the laying out of the
city. About ten scenes will be necessary to
portray this. The second act will show
the colonial and revolutionary periods, and
about fourteen scenes will be necessary to
fully portray the history of those times.
In these various scenes will be shown the
part Franklin took in the early revolu-
tionary arrangements, Washington taking
command of the patriots, the occupation Of
Philadelphia by the British, the work Of
the Continental congress. and terminating
with the meeting of congress on July 4,
lT6, when the Declaration OF independence
was agreed to. The third act will portray
all the leading events of the nineteenth
century, and the fourth and last act will
show for the first time the part Phila-
delphia. took with the United States and the
several states troops in the close OF the
Spanish-American war.
Fully 1000 characters and 200 musicians
have been engaged for this great perform
ance, and 1t is safe to say that between
%, 600 and 10000 people will witness it every
night. The entire field will be used for the
production. while on three stages will be
various tableaux depicting leading events of
each period. A number of grand opera stars
and numerous societies will participate in
all the performances.
Philadelphia will be lavlshly decorated
for the great celebration, and on the city
hall, the largest municipal building in the
world, will be the most extensive illumina-
tions ever attempted on any single building.
No less than 10000 incandescent lights,
forming set figures, etc. will be used in
this one piece OF decoration. All the lead
ing stores, manufacturing plants and build
ings Of the city will be decorated for the
week.