The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-10-22
DELEGATION PLAINLY LABELED
NO CHANCE FOR MISTANE.
PERSONNEL OF THE PARTY
Mercedes Objects To Paying for Tn
ordered PuIlman-Large Crowds
Witness Parade-Valley Repre-
resentatiOn Largest of All.
BY +. +. RORKE.

[ (
of Brownsville, usually deserted at
that time, were noisy with the voic-
es and hurrying feet of people NOV
ing in the direction of the railroad
station One accustomed to the
quietude of Brownsville inthe hours
preceding daylight could have found
much to marvel at in the unwonted
noises. From a vantage point above
the street, could be heard the voices,
joyous, complaining, energetic, or
tired, of the advancing crowd; then,
of a sudden came the sharp, quick
tramp of marching men as the Rifles
swung round a corner into hear
ing, and to drive home the convic-
ton that something out of the ordi-
nary was occurring, what was left
of the morning quiet was shattered
into small pieces by a sudden erup-
ton from many brass instruments
coming from the direction of the
ferry. These divers noises simply
signified the gathering at the sta
ton the Brownsville Rifles, the Mil
litary Band from Matamoros, and
some hundred and fifty men women
and children. the various increments
that were to make up Brownsvine's
delegation to the Inland Waterways
Convention at Corpus Christi.
From the arrival of the band I'M
til the excursion pulled out. the scene
at the station was not lacking in
animation. The crowd, a distinctly
neighborhood gathering, in which
each one seemed to know everybody
else, kept growing and growing,
gradually filling up the train which
occupied the entire stretch of track
from Levee street to a point some dis
tance beyond the first curve 1t was
made up of nine cars. two tour
ist sleepers, five day coaches, one
combination and one baggage car
The sleepeTs were brought in on
Wednesday nights train and were
placed at the disposal of those wish
ing to use them that night but
very few took advantage of the Op-
portunity.
Before leaving, a sign stretching
the entire length of the car and
bearing the inscription Lower RIO
GTande Valley Delegation" wa
nailed on the first sleeper.
Despite the early hour of startint
the majority of the crowd arrived
in good time and about 4:50, a
there seemed to be no objection,
Conductor Koran sounded a cherry
all aboard" and the convention spe-
cial pulled out with the band play
ing madly and the strains of a pa
thetic goodbye chorus to somebody's
sweetheart floating out of the car
occupied by the Rifles.
Harrington Adds Quota
AT Harrington. a sleeper contain
ing the Mercedes delegation with
an added few from other towns up
the river was coupled to the rear Of
the train while the crowd in the day
coaches was considerably augment
ed by a number of people from Har-
lingen and other towns, who had
staid there over night
From Harrington to Raymondville
nothing more exciting happened
than a delay of q quarter of an hour
near TuTcOtte. caused by trouble
with the air brakes and the distribu-
rion of badges, sugar cane, flags
and sombreros, the latter at Soc
per The badges, cane and flags
were snapped up quickly, but the
sOmbTerOs lagged-nOt more than
one hundred being sold.
At RaymOndvilIe, a mad rush for
food took place, which strange to
say, had been anticipated by the
erection OF two counters in the
rooms off the minute dining room.
to take care of the overflow from
the latter All the hungry were fed,
more or less acceptably, and in good
time. An example of close selling
was given by the hotel proprietor
who, when asked by a well known
citizen of Brownsville desiring to
treat the Rifles. how many cigars
of a certain brand he would give
for a dollar consented after deep
thought to part with twenty.
Mercedes -. Conductor.
The trip from Brownsville to
Corpus was relieved from monotony
by a dispute between the Mercedes
delegation and the conductor in
charge of the sleepers. Instead of
sending the tourist sleeper which
had been ordered. a standard sIeeD-
er was forwarded TO Mercedes, for
which when the time came the con-
ductor endeayOred to charge $40
per day instead of $25 per day, the
price of tourist car, Naturally
the Mercedes people were unwilling
10 stand the raise and nAnn the CON