The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26
DAZZLING DISPLAY MADE
 BY GREAT EMPHASIZES
Spectacle Presented on the Hudson River and in New York City Sur passes Anything Ever Before
 Attempted Anywhere.
BY c. E. VAN LOAN.

 New York, September 25.-(special. J. Three hundred years ago Hendrix Hud- son. Dutch sailor, entered an unknown harbor and sailed his ship up a great river to which his name has been given.
 Today another Dutch mariner sailed sn- other Half-Moon up the same river to make spectacle for new world ! Three hundred years ago Hendrix Hud- | son anchored after nightfa1l. and tte skies were the only lights shining on that unexplored river; the steep bluffs on either side were black with virgin for ests.
 Tonight the other Half-Moon lay at an chor on river of fire and on which swarm ! mighty ships of fire and fingers of e-a reached out across the sky. while iron, the olufls on either bank a million lights twlpkled and 5.Ooo.0e0 Of people looked on The Hudsor- Fulton celebration opened under q blue sky. the first day ended in dazzling blaze of llghts-an electrical display which reached 15 miles along the Hudson river and set a mark for spec- tacles which eclipsed anything of the sort ever attempted in America.
 Great as the daylight displav was inc night Illumination eclipsed it. sThe parade or the ships in the afternoon lasted uhtiI 1t seemed that all the fleets in the worr-, were plonghing up and down the Hudson passing in review before the naval fleets.
 Lights on the Shore.
 fhen the dusk came down and with the dusk eane the first lights on the shore.
 The big ships swinging with the ttse remained dark save for their r4ding lights One by one the lights on the shore began to twinkle and glow and the vast panorama unfolded Some of the vessels of the merchant marine. at l anchor outside the line of parade. turned on their eleetrics dressed for the review. The searchlights began to flicker from the heights; eight of them fell on Grants tomb and made that gray marble struc- ture the most prominent feature of the | Manhattan shore
 Still the battlesbips remained dark. 1 Down in front of the water gate lay the Clermont and Half-Moon rocking in the swell raised by the passing vessels They, too, were dark and on the hill above hundreds of people gathered for the promised spectacle l The big bells on the warships struclx seven and lights began to shine from the bridges; the vessels were talking to each 1 other.
 1 Birmingham in Lead | The fleet seemed to be preparing for something but still the big black hulls were dark and only the red lights at | the masthead told of the positions of the men-o'-war. Suddenly there came blazs of light and the cruiser Birmingham leaped out of the darkness, every foot of her outlined in fire. It was the signal. 1 On 50 waiting ships buttons were pressed and up from the dark river sprang the | ships. those near at hand blazing, thoso far away twinkling faint as stars, but | each ship, separate and distinct and | complete in every particular, written in l fire. M 1 As the ships appeared a powerful bat | tery of "A searchlights, stationed on 1 Washington Heights, shot out fan-wise l into the sky, the white lights changing to red and then to blue and at last l throwing great flag across the heavens l It was the signal for the beginning of l the night illumination. | On either shore the mortars began to l crash and at each dull report there cams | the sharp explosion from the sky and thu
 
 l form. Balloons of red, white and blue | foated away in the glare of the search l lights fiery serpents hissed their way 1 overhead, rockets by the thousands ex- | ploded into cascades of color Where Words Fall. To attempt detailed description of the | illuminations attending the night parade on river would be impossibility. Be- ginning at Battery and looking northward the Brooklyn bridge stood out in all it's outlines. Back of this rose the stately lines of the new Manhattan bridge and beyond that the Williamsburg structure. Far up the ast river, twinkling in tho distance, were the spans of the new l Greensboro bridge
 Beginning at the Battery there was first and foremost the famous skyline of Man haitian. every building, illuminated with | thousands of electric lights and every l window blazing. Above all rose the tower of the Singer building it's eight search | lights pointing to the sky and bringing out the American flag at the tip of ths l staff
 The docks of the transatlantic liners were illuminated on both sides of the | !. river; even the big ships which took no part in the parade were illuminated tn the same manner as the battleships, tho big Lusitania standing out above all the others under her four tunnels, each one | outlined in tiny electric lights. Not the l least of the shore decorations were the ad-s | vertsng. signs and the one which at tracted most attention the reproduc- .ion o1 the Half Moon with the Dutch laS waving at her stern.
 Back over the city rose the Metropoli- tan tower Q solid shaft of flame. Lights on Palisades. The Palisades were lined with strings fl,.ta f,1~ ] it seemed that the whole slope was cov- l cred with irr. On the other side of tha river ana just back of the water gate at