The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-06-30
HAVING A GRAND TIME
Terrific Heat Causing Anxiety
and Two Union Soldiers
Have Already Died
as a Result.

GETTYSBURG, Pa, June 3d.
Flanked on three sides by booths oc-
cupied by enterprlsing show men
who presented almost every conceiv-
able proposition to conjure the nick
les from the pockets OF the blue and
gray soldiers, the big "tent city, that
has sprung up on the site of the de-
cisive battle of the civil war was a
picturesque sight today. Over the
brick-hard, sun baked roads the war
riors OF fifty years ago tramped,
seeking enjoyment and renewing old
acquaintanceships. Tomorrow the
formal celebration of the fiftieth an.
niversary of the battle OF Gettysburg
will begin to last until Friday when
1t will culminate In patriotic rally
eclipsing anything ever before ar
ranged in this country and marked
by the presence of the president OF
the United States But today Is one
of enjoyment and blue and gray clad
soldiers of past generation fratern
allied over bottles OF pop, and tramp
/ led from booth to booth, reviewed
1 the two. headed COW, the elephantin'
t.fat woman and the hundred odd al
fractions familiar to the human mid
way. The sun was visible among tn
fiat lands, lying to the eastward
/ there was a warm thin air that caus
ed apprehension in the breast of th'
| medical officers on whose shoulder
the care OF $4,000 aged veteran
rests. There are no clouds to TEN
per the torridity of the midsumnie
sun but the veterans accepted the SUI
without complaint. AS a matter Q
fact most of them congratulate
themselves on the fact that It was no
near 80 hot as fifty years ago toda
and that there was not the necessit
for haste that there was then. Dc
spite the exhortations of "the firs
aid men" to refrain from drinkin
any Of the fearful and wonderful cor
1 cotions sold 80 freely outside tn
camp reservation, the visiting hos
simply suited their own convenienc
and drank when they we're thirsty.
And the drinks seemed to do littl
harm.
The commander in chief Of the {
4 A. r., General Beers of Bridgepor
4 Conn, is already on the ground an
, for the remainder of the week wit
, two ranking officers will be the mo:
prominent figures in the celebration
: Only two hours each day will be d
? voted to formal exercises In the bi
| tent which has been erected just o
, Emmetsburg road They realize tn;
! on account of the extreme age
) most Of them present it would be
!. hardship to lengthen the program,
u for the greater time the veterans wi
i be permitted to go as they please ar
!. fight the war over again" in the
/ own picturesque manner. The fir
j. formal function OF the week can
this afternoon. The few remainiT
n survivors of Joe" Wheeler's cavall
8 division and of the Buford cayalrymt
4 gathered in the square tent for Il
:. veterans OF Gettysburg and a prese
1 from the town of which they a
(. guests. It was a reception as b
Y lated Acknowledgement of courtesi
k extended by the townspeople wh'
e the troopers came into Gettysbu
half a century ago.
g The fact that two veterans ha
Il died since the camp was opened al
t. that the prostrations number near
fifty has not lessened the spirit
enthusiasm Of the veterans. 1t Is
part of the fortunes Of war It
] dead are honored of course The
e is no calousness in the veterans at
X tude but there is hardly survivor
i. the great conflict here who does r
g feel that at their present age, dea
is is to be expected and that conf
s. here, surrounded by the friends a
d. comrades of fifty years ago 1t Is r.
TO bed of much of its terror. The t
le veterans to die were A, D. Brown
of I.ivermore Falls, Maine, and J.
e. Reynolds Of Port Chester, n. Y, bc
,r- union veterans. In both cases
re intense heat was contribut
- 4 yr,t.