Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-18
DETAILED STORY OF THE
CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

Policemen at every corner, at every
door and in every aisle were the distin-
gushing feature Of the scene at the Coll
scum In the early hours before the doors
we're opened TO ticket holders.
The nervous tension due to general ex-
pectation of tumultuous scenes from the
drop Of the hat at the opening OF the
convention was very apparent on all
sides. The police were as nervous as
ANYBODY else 1t was difficult even for
people with proper tickets. including
newspaper men, to get into the hall. As
sistant sergeant-at-arms. doorkeepers.
ushers and other subordinate officials
were SO keenly alive to the possibilities
that their hands trembled as they took
tickets. and ushers showed people to their
seats with furtive giances about them. as
il there were something explosive just
under their feet.
Along the front row, between the body
Of delegate seats and the platform, a
solid row of uniformed police, as early as
$50 am, sat waiting for-nobody knew
what.
Last touches by the carpenters min
gfed with an obligato of hammers and a
buzz of conversation, forerunnerS OF the
heavier hammering promised when the
convention began.
The band was in its place by $50 a m.
far up in Its aerie above the gallery at
the north end OF the hall, opposite the
platform. The first notes of its music
echoed nmong the steel girders in the
great hall.
Throng Waiting for Doors to Open.
BY the time the doors were opened at
10 O'Clock. two hours before the conven-
tion was to come to order the crowd
outside had become dense. but the police
kept the people moving.
No kind Of efoQuence. no argument, no
plausible story Of imperative business on
that side of the street was of any avail.
Every policeman had to be shown" a
ticket, the right kind OF a ticket at the
ticians who had not been able to get tick
cts, but who thought they had pull +.
No sort of pull-no sort of local pull. at
any rate-was OF any use.
IL hardly seemed possible that the hall.
huge as it looked. could hold nearly 14.oOo
people. Yet that is only few more than
the total-other published figures TO the
contrary notwithstanding-that the Coli
scum will hold. The seats, platform.
press benches aisles, runways, etc, are
figured TO hold a total of 1910 persons.
This total includes 11.2J0 In the body of
the hall. 1890 on the platform. 1O SER
gedntS-at-armS, 80 poilcemen and 3UU
messengers. ushers and pages.
Officials Pounced On by Police.
Five minutes later a thin procession of
men In plain clothes came In at one OF the
entrances. Assistant sergeants- at arms
they were. but the police pounced upon
them as n they were a hostile army.
= Col. William F. Stone. sergeant at arms
<of the convention, who was on tip-toe all
morning with solicitude for the mainte-
nance of peace and smooth fulfillment of
orders, had his assistants quickly or
dered out of the aislesan seats
The soft click of the secret saunders
of the newspaper telegraph operators be-
gan TO be audible near the platform about
10 o'clock the press section. with its up
ward of 100 seats. was filling up; the
convention hall STORY" OF the momentous
republican convention OF 1912 was stream
ing out to the newspapers OF the c&filized
world.
At exactly 1915 the band broke in with
"My Country, 'Tis OF Thee A few
people recognized the tune and stood ur
with heads barred. To most of the people
however, a band is band and tune ia
a tune and they paid no attention to tho
matter A bit later. when after Souss
march II played The Star Spangle6
Banner" many more people caught thu