The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-01-28
Cuba for a Second Time Is To-
day Celebrating the Birth
Of Independent Government
Happy Crowds.
WREATHES PLACED ON
WRECK OF THE MAINE
President Gomez Takes the
Oath of Office at High Noon
Today Amid Delighted
Cheers of People.

Havana. Jan. cS.-President Gomez
was inaugurated At IL O'Clock today.
The oath of ONCE was administered by
the chief justice of the supreme court
In the palace In the presence of Gov.
Magoon. diplomatists, Cuban ofncials
and others.
with happy. shouting. cheering people,
All principal streets and parks were
brilliantly illuminated. Prado. the
Fifth avenue of Havana, was a blaze
of light. Flower beds have been ar
ranged In the center OF this beautiful
promenade. and form the coat Of arms
of Cuba and varicolored stars. Laurel
trees along its length were studded
with thousands Of electric lights.
A magnificent triumphal arch has
been erected near Central Park, sur.
mounting which is the figure of . wo-
man Of heroic size in the act OF break
ing chains from her wrists. emblema;ic
of Cuba.
City q vsritab,s Fairyland.
AuC humiuatiOuS dIC QbOU8U1y INC
most elaborate ever seen here. The
money provided for the purpose was
subscribed unstintedly and the parks
and the principal thoroughfares Of the
city are transformed into q veritablo
fairy!and.
Today the streets are crowded with
q holiday thr0ng. among which are
hundreds Of American tourists.
Crowds around the triumphal arch
for which thousands OF dollars have
teen spent. are so large that they &C.
;ously interfere with the wOrkmen.
The Cubans seem just awakening to
the fact that their second period Of In
dependence is at hand. and for the
first time are showing popular interest
In the trend Of AFFAIRS.
Gov. Magoon last night gave . din
ner In honor of the special envoys sent
here from the various Latin-American
countries and from Washington to At
tend the Inauguration.
Farewell 0aii otSssst Event.
The biggest event Of the evening,
however, was the farewell ball given
by the municipality to the outgoing
American onncials. II was held In the
ball room in Center de Dependisntes.
a tremendous building owned by au
organization of $1,000 CLERKS
It was the most brilliant AFFAIR seen
her for years. Gov. Maeoon. diplomat
lists. army and navy olhceu. and many
prominent Cubans attended. Two
bands furnished the music. At late
hour bombs and other forms of flre-
works were sent mp from all the pub
lie parks and from the roofs of the
police stations.
The frst event this morning was the
placing Of . wreath upon the tablet
marking the birthplace Of Marti. the
apostle OF Cuban liberty, the anniver-
sary Of whose birth It wnl be. At 4
o'clock this afternoon . feast win b
given the prisoners in the city fail.
There win be fve military parAdes.
and at 7:3O there will be fireworks,
etc. The inaugural festivities Will last
until Sunday night. On Monday night
the regular winter carnival season
opens.
Flowers For the eunsssn Maine.
A notable ceremony Of yesterday was
the decorating Of the old battleship
Maine with elaborate wreaths Of gar
lands and hosting at half mast ON the
protruding military top . new Amer1-
can nag This idea originated among
tie crew of the new batfieship Maine.
which now is in the harbor. who SUBJ
scribed $50 for the flowers and the
greens.
Gov. Magoon sailed for home IT
O'Clock today Immediately following
the tuning over Of the government to
President Gomez. He goes on . war
ship to knights Key. the transport
Mcclellan following. There are still
several thousand American soldiers
here. most of whom will leave in Feb
ruary.
There. is q feeling OF optimism ev-
erywhere and for the time being poll
ticians are putting aside their differ
ences In the general rejoicing at hay-
ing their own government again. The
newspapers joyfully predict success
| for the new regime. and most Of them
thank the American ofhcials for what
they have done for the island
Masoon Issues Last oeereee
Gov. Magoon issued decree during
ing the day declaring all his various
acts. DEGREES, and orders shall contin-
ue in force until otherwise ordered by
the regularly constituted government.
This was done for fear somefhtng
might be considered ineffective WITH
the end Of the provisional government.