Catoctin clarion., 1917-03-08
Inaugural Ceremonies Wit
messed BY Thousands.
Great Anxiety Felt For Safety
of President Wilson.
Nothing Occurred To Mar
Great Event.

Great Event.
"Washingt ton, March 5.-Not since the
second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln
has the national capitol witnessed cere-
mony pregnant with such elements Of un-
certainty, ur.easiness and foreboding as
attended the induction of Woodrow Will
son into Office today.
"When it was all over and the Presi-
dent had retired with weary tread and
worried visage to the Executive Mansion
the whole community, official and other
wise, breathed its relief that the new
Administration had been launched with
out tragedy and that the man upon whose
shoulders rest the nations burdens was
safely removed from danger.
1.-The phrase of todays events may now
be discussed with frankness. Before the
Inauguration it would have been unwise,
if not unfortunate, to give expression to
the alarm which all Washington has felt
for days and weeks. This alarm became
more and more acute as the Inauguration
drew nearer. All men here knew that
the President of the United States, de-
spite all possible precautions, would be
exposed for hours to any insanity which
might manifest itself.
1T was with consuming dread that
those charged with the safety OF the
President approached this days work.
They knew how difficult was their task,
how inflamed might be the minds of per-
sons who have no Americanism in them.
They knew how easy it would be for
some madman to attempt the life of
Woodrow Wilson, just as they knew
how unavaling had been their appeals to
him to abandon the public end of the in
augural ceremonies.
Every step was taken that could be
devised to thwart any criminal design
that might have been entertained. Dou-
BILE lines of armed and uniformed men
faced the crowds from the Capitol to the
White House as the President passed.
The police of dozen cities formed one
line. The New York National Guard
with fixed bayonets formed the second.
Back of them in the crowds were lit
orally thousands of plain clothes men
with concealed badges but armed and
ready to act at an instant's notice. Hun
dreds of Washingtonian' men of bus-
ness or of the professions, had been
sworn in as special officers and were charg-
ed with the duty of assisting the most
skillful detectives of almost every impor-
tant city in the country to prevent any
suspicious move on the part of man or
woman.
"On the roof of every public building
along the line of march plain clothes men
were stationed. In scores of windows
there were others looking down upon the
crowds. And around the Presidents re-
viewing stands the Secret Service forces
of all the Government departments to
watch the movement of every man or
woman within range of the Executive.
"At no inauguration, not even that of
Lincoln, had such measures been taken
to protect the life of the President. And
when the last salute was was given and
the long line had moved down the column
ed aisle of the Court of Honor men of
high and low degree alike seemed to feel
that frightful crisis had passed and all
was well.
Under such strained circumstances it
was impossible for this Inauguration to
be of the usual shouting, spontaneous
sort. There was shouting, of course.
There was hurrahing from beginning to
the end, but it was subdued by the feel
ing that something calamitous might hap
pen, that move might be made by some
monster in the crowds which jammed
Pennsylvania avenue what might paralyze
the great government of the country"