The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-12-03

Nearly one thousand Shriners gath
cred In the Game Cock City Thursday
morning i'm the annual fall pilgrimage
OF the Mobiles OF the Temple OF Omar
OF the Ancient Arabic order Of the
Mystic Shrine, and throughout the
day and night they were loud in
their praises of the reception which
they were accorded by the hospitable
people OF Sumter. The day was a day
of festivities and the city for the time
was converted into carnival ground.
with Main Street the gaily decked
midway. where thousands of people
came and went all day long and into
the small hours of the night.
Never before has Sumter had such
n gathering OF people and never be-
fore have the people from all over
the State and from other States met
with such cordiality at the hands of
their hosts Noble /. c. Strauss, who
was in charge of the official registry
during the afternoon. reports that
there were practically one thousand
Mobiles In the city for the day. Be-
sides them came hundreds of wives,
daughters. sweethearts and friends,
all gathered with the purpose of max
Ing things merry and OF keeping the
merriment going at full speed oil
day long. The city was in accord
with the mood OF the visitors and did
everything possible to make every
thing pleasant for everybody, home
folks and visitors.
The festivities OF the Shriners
began with the arrival of the Adluh
Drum Corps from Columbia on We'd
nesday afternoon. The drum corps
was in fine condition and when 1t
paraded the street 1t furnished kind
OF music which was termed as "clas-
sy." The drum corps played until
late Wednesday night and all day
Thursday IL did its part to keep the
festival I'm full swing. 1t was in all
OF the parades. paraded by itself and
gave concerts on corners and on the
streets everywhere for the pleasure
OF the Shriners and OF the public
Many complimentary things were said
about the organization and its music
and many more about Its unique and
handsome uniforms OF green jackets
with much gold lace and braid, knee
breeches and white leggins.
While many OF the Shriners came
on Wednesday morning and after
noon. II was not until Thursday
morning that the big bodies of them
began to arrive. Those came i'm on
special trains over the Southern from
Columbia. bringing delegations from
Columbia and nearly every city i'm the
Piedmont and northern and western
sections OF the State. from Charleston,
bringing in Shriners from there and
from the lower sections OF the state
with bunch of members OF Alec
Temple from Savannah. Georgia. The
third special train came in over the
Atlantic Coast Line from Florence
and brought In it's representatives
from the cities OF the Pee Dee sec
tion and from the eastern part Of
the State. Besides these others came
In on the regular trains and steadily
poured into the city up To past noon.
With the Shriners came their ladies,
Outnumbering the Shriners two to
one. and probably making the num-
ber OF visitors i'm the city during the
day about three thousand from
throughout the state. without count
ing those who came i'm from the inn
mediate surrounding towns.
The fun commenced early Every
city upon its arrival visited the I'm
perial Hotel. was registered and given
an Official programme and u sOuve-
mir badge from the Sumter Shrine
CUB. With the fresh meat" i'm the
van. the Mobiles then paraded up ana
down the streets. meeting many old
acquaintances and hearty welcome
from all. Handshaking and salutcs
were being continuously exchanged
on all sides by the Mobiles. Every
where the visitors met with a hearty
welcome from the local members oi
Shrinedom and from the good people
of Sumter. The fresh meat" parad..
was made continuous from it's arrival
until the big fresh meat" pa 1dc al
noon. There were clowns bears ana
their keepers. organ grinders. pea
nut venders. monks, policemen and
plenty Of lust fresh meat" SO la
belled. Tho signs worn by many of
the candidates caused no little amusc-
ment and much fun was had by the