The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1918-11-14
KENNEWICK
CELEBRATES
END OF WAR
Noisy Demonstration Greets
News that Armistice Had
been Signed
EVENT IS MEMORABLE ONE
Stores Close and Hundreds Join in a
Big Parade and Rally Round
Bonfire

Did the people of Kennewick cele-
brate themselves out last Thursday
when they indulged in rousing DEM
onstration over a fake news report /?
They did not! In fact they merely
put themselves into good trim for a
real celebration Monday.
The authentic news of the signing
of the armistice was heralded in Ken
newick Monday morning about five
o'clock when either Chief of Police
Copeland or dad" Hayden pulled the
: switch on the fire siren and sent peo-
pie tumbling out<of their beds to find
out where the fire was. AS the morn
ing wore on and people showed up at
the usual places of business there was
just hint that maybe the edge had
been taken off Kennewick's enthus-
iasm by Thursdays premature OUT
burst 1t wasn't long tho, until few
men congregated and in very short
order plans were under way for reg
ular celebration.
Dodgers were hastily printed an
nouncing that at 2:3O there would be
a "To-Hell- With h-the- Kaiser" parade
and at 1880 a big "Hurrah-for-F Foch"
bonfire. The central girls cooperated
enthusiastically and soon the rural
wires were buzzing with the news of
the coming celebration. At 2 o'clock
the stores were closed and the fire and
the laundry whistle latch strings were
tied down and Kennewick's celebration
was on.
The afternoon brought forth the
biggest parade and the evening one
Of the. biggest and by all odds the
noisiest crowds the old town has ever
known. The parade started at Second
and Yakima streets, headed down Sec
ond, out Washington, up Fourth and
back to Tacoma to Second to where
the two ends met. The procession was
headed by the county truck on which
rode Commander S. M. Henderson of
the G. A. R., and other Civil War
Veterans with. the silken colors of the
local Post, Mayor Sherk, members of
the city council and County Commis-
sioner r. E. Pratt. Then came march
ing abreast, Clinton Copeland, of the
U. S. Navy, w. E. Duncan, with the
British and Tom Warnock with the
French flags. These were followed
by cayuse-mounted, flag-bedecked In
dians, which Charley Copeland round
ed up somewhere Following was a
long line of shouting, yelling, happy
men, women and children, who were
closely followed by automobiles of ev-
cry description and each with it's own
hastily improvised and unique noise
making device. After the parade had
simply paraded itself out there was q
temporary lull and further prepara-
tions for the night celebration.
All the while Ben Bergen and the
City truck were busy erecting a big
miscellaneous pile of barrels, boxes,
and cord wood on the vacant lot west
of the King block. A church organ
was pressed into service and placed
on a temporary platform, not that It's
strains could be heard, but just as
sort of tuning fork for the evening
sing. Almost as if by magic the down
town streets took on holiday appear
ance. Flags burst from windows, from
everywhere, big banners floated on
cables across the streets and store
fronts were strung with bunting.
Promptly at 7:3O the whistles gave
the signal, the match was applied to
the bonfire pyre and the second phase
of the celebration was on. Over in
vacant lot on Kennewick avenue, the
bombers, working under the direction
of E. NJ. Sly, set off mammoth charges
of dynamite, which shook and ratified
the windows and aroused the residents
up the valley above Richland and down
the valley as far as Hover. Sly, by
the way, is the man who insisted that