The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-10
WOMAN LED BIC
demonstration
FOR ROOSEVELT
enthusiasm Ran Wild in the
Coliseum Galleries.
But Gland Picked" Delegates
Could Not Be Stampeded.
MAJORITY REMAINED SEATED
Harding FrOwned Upon the
~Hysteria of Visitors"
Decorations of Building Torn
DOWn-POIicemen POwerless.
But "Hand Picked" Delegates
Could Not Be Stampeded.
MAJORITY REMAINED SEATED
Decorations of Building Torn
DOwn-POIicemen POwerless.
Ry DAMON RUNYON.)

Chicago.
,nsv have missed fire at the Repubh-
can national convention Thursday. put
FRIDAY it almost blew the roof of the
Coliseum. ,..--..,
Senator A. b. Fall of New Mexico,
Who nominated Mr.. Roosevelt, never
raaI1.- cot the full name of his candi-
Gate before the house. ,,
u offer for your consideration,
said the gray old legislator from the
far west, aiming a long, lean ringer
at his audience, the name OF Iheo-
dore-"
A woman up in the gallery screamed
historically. There was a masculine
gasp and gurgle, and after that TOT
space of AZ minutes the place was
given over to a wild uproar.
1t was an uproar that was furnished
largely Ey the spectators, however. A
couple of legations-North Carolina,
Tennessee and New Mexico-grapoeo
IN their standards and went stream
ing up and down the aisles, but most
of the delegates-the men who have
the votes in the conventional i'm
passive and watched the rio- OF
racket.
Hughes had been placed in nominal
ton So had Root, and Burton, and
Sherman, and Fairbanks, and several
others, and after each nomination
there had been demonstrations, but
nothing like this in point of noise and
genuine enthusiasm. At times 1t
amounted to mania.
Woman Led Them.
gray haired, pink checked woman
in black, with a bunch of pink posies
at her belt, climbed up and assumed
leadership of the outburSt. She was
Kate Rutherford of Chicago. it was
said, we'll known in local politics.
Someone handed her a little pen
nant bearing the name of Roosevelt
and she spread this out between her
hands and held it aloft for all to see.
Someone handed her small flag
and someone else passed her larger
flag. Presently she had each hand
filled with flags, which she waved
over her head. as she melted the noise
makers to additional effort.
Up in the galleries men and women
began tearing off the flags which
drape the walls and the gallery rails,
to wave them over the heads of the
delegates. Policemen rushed up to
stop the destruction of the decorations.
One excited woman pushed a burly
copper aside and told him to mind his
own business.
In the Massachusetts, delegation,
three or four men were standing up
taking part in the demonstration while
the rest of the crowd from the old bay
state sat watching them with cynical
smiles. They were the delegates in
structed for Roosevelt.
Few Delegates on Street.
shouting and waving flags. They, too,
were instructed for Roosevelt.
A black man in the New Jersey del
egation waved his arms and yelled all
through the turmoil. There was some
activity in the Maine section. and AL
ALBANIA was astir, but the rest of the
house sat silently. The galleries raved
on.
North Cardinals delegation seemed
but n mere handful as it bravely pa
ralPd around the hall.
ferously cheered by the spectators.
New Mexico got a roar of applause
when its standard was seen bobbing
down the aisIes held high above the
heads of the delegates.
The people in the gallery began
throwing flags down in the different
delegations. Hats were stuck on UNI
brellas and walking sticks and hoisted
high in air. Groups in various corners
of the hall Joined their vocal organs
in continued sound, such as I'VE Want
Teddy We want Teddy" repeated
over and over again.
For the first five minutes of the dem
onstration the band, stationed in the
tiny loft at the far north end of the
building, so far away that the figures
of the bandmen looked like manilxins,
mad not done any playing. although it
had been very profuSe in tbs music
during all the other demonstrations.
Band Not Heard.
Now it struck up an air but no one
could hear anything more than a dis
tant humping. for all this time there
was steady cheering, whistling and
shrieking.
The woman in black hurled her hat
high in the air. in an excess OF emo
ton. and it fell in the Michigan dele
cation. Someone handed it to her
She was smiling sweetly and main
tanning perfect poise as she played her
Joan dare role.
The band played AUD Lang syne"
and that started a fresh wave OF
cheering. There was a burst of sun
light through the skylights and that
called for renewed cheering The
band played America" and the crowd
sang the words.
After thirty-nine minutes haC
elapsed, Chairman Harding began rap.
ping for order Miss Rutherford lef
her table, and started down an aisle
her arms filled with flags. A police
man tried to stop her, but was brush
ed aside young man sought to dis
suade her but failed. She passed
down the aisle between the delega-
tons, still waving her flags and still
smiling sweetly. but the outburst hat
commenced to die away.
The delegates had sat through i
all without manifesting any emotion
Some of them would get upon theil
chairs to watch the show, but Their,
was no such thing as a stampede, OIL
anything that looked like a stampede
They Wouldn't Stampede.
There are 400 lawyers and 800 ex
officeholders in that convention" re
marked an onlooker. How could 70,
stampede them ?''
There were still some raucou
echoes of the demonstration floatinj
around the hall when Chairman Hard