The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-07-05
FOURTH AS
| IT USED TO Be
r. A. WARDWELL PENS PICTURE
OF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
IN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. WERE
FAR MORE WONDERFUL THAN
ANYTHING SEEN SINCE.

The Fourth of July as it used to be
is described by. F. A. Wardwell in The
Pembina Pioneer Express in the fol-
lowing story:
It is thirty-seven years ago this
Fourth of July, in 1876, that Pembina
made it's first formal celebration of the
glorious Fourth which was then it's
centennial anniversary. {
Pembina was then several hundred
miles from the frontiers of civilization
and was a hamlet of perhaps a couple
of hundred people. But they were a
loyal crowd and sent away for the
necessaries of a grand celebration,
which came by boat down the Red riv-
er, and contained in sundry boxes and
barrels which not sun-dry.
The boxes were full of fireworks and
the barrels were full of f1rewater.
Whether in the after history Of events
which follows these dangerous ele-
ments got mixed will always be a
matter Of conjecture only.
At that time the United States had
a regular signal service station here
with an official in charge. An elevated
platform some twelve or fifteen feet
high had been built on which to locate
various weather instruments, which
was about twelve or fourteen feet
square. 1t was on the lot now occu-
pied by King & Booker's furniture
store.
1t was decided that this elevated
platform would be the best place pos
sible from which to display the eve
ming fireworks. AS a beginning, how
ever, of a most eventful day, one of the
citizens shot himself-for no other APP
parent reason than that it was the
Fourth.
What went on during the day after
wards is not on record, perhaps, be-
cause of being oyershadowed by the
tragic event of the early morning and
the s~erio-comedy of the evening.
When the shades of evening were
drawing on, all of the male population
of the little village except one or two
climbed the posts that supported the
platform and hauled UP the boxes con-
tanning fireworks and commenced
shooting them off. Someway, some
how, some fire got into the boxes, and
for about five minutes there was one
of the grandest displays of pyrotech-
MICS ever seen in this great northwest.
The fireworks all vent off at once
and SO did the men, some twenty or
thirty in number. The rockets and
candles shot skyward and otherward,
and the men spread their wings and
sailed as gracefully and as rapidly as
possible some twelve or fourteen feet
to the ground below. When the smoke
cleared away 1t was found that no
further tragedies had occurred to mar
the day, but it was stated that one
man in his excitement had climbed the
staff on which the signal service
weather vane was supported. to its
very tip, and it was found necessary
to get a long ladder up to him before
he could be Induced to come down.
Some of the survivors said they
thought the aerial acrobat was later
known as Hon. Jud LaMoure. hut the
writer knows that was a mistake. be-
cause Mr.. LaMoure himself so inform
ed this writer.
It was the following year when the
writer came to Pe1nbina and he heard
the story of the fireworks of the pre-
vious ear from at least twenty Of the
survivors, but while each of them
agreed that all the townsnan were on
the scaffold except one or two, yet
somehow each of those telling the
story was one of the two remaining on
the ground.
For the truth OF the above we refer
to Frank Myrfck and Andrew Nelson,
who are about the. only residents left
of the crowd that celebrated that CEN
tenrlial Fourth in Pembina-and OF
course they were really the only two
that Were not on the platform.