The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-10-11
FIFTY THOUSANDS

IT'LL lnUUOANUO
began to sink behind tho grandstaud
and the lights began to brighten the
grounds. making them look as bright
as day. Az Superintendent Thompson
said they would, the crowds began 10
thin out appreciably and the la man
lad more room for expansion and bet
ter opportunities for moving around.
Thousands of those who had spent
the day at the fair, taking in every
thing possible in one day, started on
the homeward trip, along about 8
o o'clock, to make room for the already
gathering crowd for the night PER
Torrance ard the fireworks. AS fast
as the street cars dumped their loads
other loads filed the places, and the
lot of a street car man was far the
time being not happy one.
Negro jazz Band.
Among ;he points of special at;rac-
ton was the booth of the Old Virginia
cheroot factory Upon a faaciiui4y
tei"ckeG stage sat an elder ly old back
Joe, and several younger negroes,
forming 'Jazz" hand. The old fell
low picked contentedly on his banjo,
another pulled away on his fiddle. d
third banged on piano and fourth
vigorously banged upon Il bass drum.
The sounds were erratic If nothing
else; they were doleful If not distress
ing, but the Jazz air ran through the
noise and set the feet OF the thou
sands going upon the floor while the
toots of hundreds OF auto horns add
ed to the din and the fun OF It all
In contradiction to this was the dig
niffed booth of the suffragettes. where
Gnf and lniynpn6 nj hap re he
ing advocates of their cause. gentle
and kindly, and smiling peacefully up
on the whole aggregation of light
hearted merryma kcrs
Away over on the other side of the
great hall, crowds of students (per-
haps) of Izaak Walton took good looks
at the live Virginia trout and blue fish
and other subjects of doubtful stories
around the campfires of many fishing
clubs. They told stories OF how they
haG caught larger fish, and how they
were going to catch more and them
they wandered over TO the stuffed
bears and deer and thought up things
OF the times they used to kill big
game. This section OF the fair is
worth more than a passing minute. It
is study for anyone.
Work of Womankind.
Next door to the poultry building is
that filled with products of woman'e
ingenuity. These products embrace
everything in the category. and the
crowd simply took possession of the
building early in the Gay and held
the fort until the lights went ont
And so 1t was all over the grounds
Along the Midway, after the races.
wnen the crowd in the grandstand
surged out, at times it was hard to
move along, however slowly. People
were banked In almost sFsaeenetra biz,
ranks Must have been something
like a naasS attack of the Germans.
Occasionally some woman, or child
weak rom the effort to wade
through the throng. would drop ex-
hausted. and the willing hands OF the
crowd hurried them to a neighhorinr
re~t-room as well as a hurry could
be made through the dense masses.
Above the uproar of laughter
friends calling to each other at a dis
lance, the footing of fife and whistle
ana horn, rang the sharp, rasptng
voice of the bally-ho man exploiting
his wares. or inviting the throng to
take look at the greatest living GU
riosity on earth Hot-dog men reap
ed harvest Toy balloon men gath
ered IN the coin. and photogra pliers
and fortune-telleas grew rich.
ehN AhAS ANApt I6TEOSn Gre
ated much merrtnent in the grand
stand and around the grounds. They
were hedecked In the Costume OF the
stage farmer and his wife the likes
or winch were never sean in real life
ana In duster and straw hat wei
coined the crowds to the fair and in
vited them to spend next summer
down on tho farm.
Funny Mule Race.
Colonel Barton H. Grundy. who
had been excused from a meeting OF
the board of aldermen Tuesday night.
was discovered wading around in the
mud In the race-track experimenting
the rolling of the ground preparatory
to the mule race, and that race was
some" race, The mules know their
business, and most of the riders knew
theirs. But when you take Monte
stone. who was raised in an automo-I
bile, and DR.. Jimmie McDonough,
who has trained trick mules and dom
keys, and Starter Upton. and Judge
Quinton. both OF whom know an!
about horses. and put them on four
frisky Maudes, what would you think
Well. here is what did happen.
They lined up all right, each in his
little donkey cart, for a mile GO Di-
rector Hotchkiss gave the word and
:
the rear, and Monte Stone leading by
about half mile. Starter Upton be-
labored his mule and the animal de-
elined to obey orders to move for I
ward. He went sideways Judge
Quinton eased along and In the /
stretch the crowd got on its feet to
see the finish. The finish surprised
them all, for DR.. McDonough who
looked distanced on the start, came in
and Judge Upton second.
Monte Stone third. and Starter Upton
at the tail end. He claimed that
Monte Stones mule kicked dust In his
mules eyes and registered protest. /
Colonel Grumpy said the protest
would be considered later The event |
was one of the amusing features oil
the day.
An Star shows.
Railroads having used every energy
in landing padaphernalia OF some Of
the star performers. which had been