Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-10-01
SPECTACULAR
LAND FEATURE
Twenty Thousand People and
Fitty-FOur Floats In Pageant
DEVOID OF MILITARY DISPLAY


Lines to Witness Scenes Represent
Ing American History-Notabie For
Its Democratic and Cosmopolitan
charaeter-Represents Supreme Ef.
fort OF Hudson-F Fulton Commission
New York, Sept. 29.-Through
streets ablazs with bunting and lined
with the greatest crowd ever gath
cred in New York thoroughfares, one
of the most elaborate pageants ever
witnessed in New York passed before
the ENJOYS of t~wenty-one nations par
~ticipating in the Fulton cele-
bration. And in its passing, which
occupied two hours time, the epoch
making scenes of three centuries,
represented in gigantic figures OF
wood, plaster, paint and tinsel, were
reviewed.
For a distance of over five miles, 1t
is estimated hat more than two mil
lion persons gathered. On roofs,
towers, poles, at windows and from
grandstands erected for almost the
entire length of the route, the more
fortunate thousands viewed the spec
tacle, while an crowd
surged against the police lines drawn
at the curb.
AS a parade. 1t was as democratic
as it was historic; as cosmopolitan
as it was democratic. Mayor Nc
Clellan and Herman Ridder, vice
president of the Hudson-Fulton cele-
bration commission, headed the line
and covered the entire distance
afoot. There was no military show,
no distinguished personages in vehi-
cles-all, with the exception of the
platoons Of police mounted on their
~shiny-coated bay horses, were afoot.
The four main divisions summar-
lied the history Of the country. First
came the Indian period, with floats
depicting The five nations with their
totems, the legend of Hiawatha,
the first sachem OF the Iroquois ,,
clothed in Kissing snakes, and then a
succession of allegories.
II DuISu pcllOu lOllOW6u, WITH
floats representing the discovery of
the Hudson river; the fate of Henry
Hudson, who was set adrift by his
mutinous crew in Hudson bay in 1911,
and v recovered; the reception to
Peter S~tuyvesant, most famous of
the Dutch governors general; the first
ship built on Manhattan island. and
other matters of like typical signif-
canoe.
The third division, colonial, was
treated with greater amplitude than
any of the others. Twenty-one floats
depicted as many Ger and legends,
from the reception of Schuyler's In
dams to the pursuit of Ichabod Crane
by the headless horseman of Sleepy
Hollow.
Last came the modern period, led by
the title car United States" but even
here the general tone was retrospect
i've. \ float representing the first
Erie canal boat, a reproduction of a
hand engine in use before the intro
duction of Croton water, and another
of an old Broadway sleigh. before the
days OF subways, trolleys, elevated
or even ~horsecars, were typical.
A number of the patriotic scenes
were wildly cheered.
1t was before a distinguished gath
ering seated in a court of honor on
the grounds of the new public library
at Forty-second street and Fifth i've
nue. that the %paraders passed.
Tammany, with a thousand stalwart
members in Prince Alberts" and high
hats. made a picturesque showing.
Squads of school children, New York
university, Columbia, City college
and Rutgers college students: mem
bers of Irish, Italian, French, Scotch.
Swedish and other cosmopolitan So
cieties followed, and behind them
came Others seemingly without end.
The democracy evident in the pa
rade was reflected in the court of
honor, where gold braided admirals
chatted with sub lieutenants and mid
shipmen, and foreign ENJOYS, grown
gray in the service of diplomacy, dis
cussed politics with local aldermen
and members of the assembly. The
naval officers of the various nations
fraternized and listened t the one
here and there who knew enough OF
American history to explain the
floats. Everyone wore a holiday
humor.
The pageant really represented the
supreme effort of the commission. For
several months 800 artists, carpen-
tiers and papier mache manipulators
worked in immense barnlike struc-
lures preparing the wood and plaster
figures which, bright in paint and
tiusel, decorated the fifty-four floats
In the procession. Nearly twenty
thousand persons, most of them In
costume, representing every national
and patriotic society in the city, posed
as historic personages.
The cost of the whole spectacle was
$500 900. The sums expended to en-
aAlA aAxro. L.-L--I