The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1918-10-10
German Peace s'Bait' is
Misunderstood and Thous-
ands Parade Streets and
Cheer a "Foull Ball
MAYOR ORDEas CELEBRATION
Gets Telegram from Chicago Newspaper
"a Day Late and Proceeds to Set
the Whistles Going and the
Cannons Booming.

Kenosha went off half-eocked on
Sunday afternoon and staged a peace
Celebration. It was sort of an official
ordered by the Mayor and had the sup
port Of a lot of the people of the city.
Saturday night the Chicago Herald
Examiner sent telegram to the mayors
| of all cities about Chicago, telling of
the announcement that Germany was
looking'' for peace. The message to
the Kenosha mayor was not delivered
until some time Sunday and the Mayor
at once decided to celebrate. He fixed
| the hour at three clock in the after
noon and the police sent out the word to
blow the whistles and ring the bells.
Then Kenosha went near s'crazy.'
People forgot all about the influenza
epidemic, the gasless Sunday, the
Liberty Loan and everything else, and
crowded into the down town streets.
Thousands of people congregated on
Market Square and Calvin Stewart,
leaning from the window in the police
Office read the most favorable portions
of message which most people had
read in their morning papers. The
war is over "-'f Peace is declared =
was the word that went through the
crowd and it went with official sanction.
People who had given the slightest
consideration to the facts as they had
been given out, knew that the celebra-
L K q ~.
kind, but there was no stopping it.
People who had boys in the army
Rugged each other. "The boys are
coming home" they said, and they
laughed and cheered. Some hysterical
women went home to get the house
ready, expecting that their "boys"
would be home from the army camps
within a day. The whistles kept up
the insistent blowing for half an hour
and the blowing of the whistles was
Ipunctuated by the repeated firing of
the cannon over on the island. It was
Ipandemonium turned loose and it GER
tainly woke up the city and brought
the people out. In several parts of the
city parades were started. The auto
mobiles were ordered out and in few
minutes the streets were alive with
them. The people were ready for big
parade in the down town district, but
the parade fizzled out as the people
began toTealize that the telegram which
had been read to them contained moth
ipcr b,,+ Al, nunc,7p a an, oy4 &c &bo rar.r
German bait.'' A lot of people who
should have known better, fell for it all.
Some Of them even stood on street
corners and declared that the "peace
pact had been signed'' and they were
ready to give all the terms.
Serious men and women began to get
busy on the telephone and they soon
found out that the celebration was I'M
warranted and ill-timed. Some of them
thought Of the effect that it was hay
ing on the sale of the Liberty Loan in
Kenosha and shuddered.
Factory men who had joined the
whistle din, had been advised that
telegram had come direct from Wash
Iington telling Of the coming of peace
and they fell for it too.
Tt was hours after the celebration
had been started that the people be-
gan to sober down. They found out
that there was no peace declared, that
the suggestion of peace had not even
reached Washington.
Kenosha was not the only city which
celebrated. Down in Indiana-at Gary
they had a half-cocked celebration at
midnight Saturday night due to the fact
that the telegraph company had been
more prompt in the delivery Of the
message from the Hearst paper to the
mayor Of that town. Vagrant reports
from other cities told of similar blow
offs and blow-ups
Racine sent down a delegation of
people to get the real tdope on just
how peace had been declared, but when
Racine men found that Kenosha was
the only place in Wisconsin to be adj
vised Of the "signing of the treaties
they went back to Racine and had a
good laugh at the expense of Kenosha
Of course people found OUT how they
had been deceived when the first morn
ing papers reached the city this morn
ing. The celebration was cruel dis
appointment to the people who had a
heart interest IN the war.
There were some interesting side
lights on the way Kenosha is going to
take peace when it comes. One of them
worthwhile was the comment made in
a group of foreign born citizens stand
ing on a street corner. Now WEI
got to go back to two dollars q day
again. declared these men.