The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-05-14

at the Elks club porch and began his
| official welcome to Keokuk and iowa.
His voice rang out like trumpet and
| his enunciation was very distinct, SO
that a large portion of the immense
| throng could hear and understand
| him.
Instantly following him on the bal
ustrade came Rev. M. e. Nethercut, OF
| Trinity Methodist church whose voice
also was equal to reaching far out into
the big crowd.
The Grafton of the day took exactly
five minutes in delivery, and it was
as pithy and full of solid thought as
it was short. 1t was interrupted Win
spontaneous applause several times
and evidently the speaker had captuf.
ed his audience, even though they dld
not care nearly SO much for orators
as for soldiers today.
! AS soon as the Grafton of the day
was completed, sharp command
started the soldiers OF the battalion
to the union station to entrain again
/ for the rest of their journey to Camp
Dodge.
Crowds at Their Departure.
| At Water street, they We're march
! ed out upon the Mississippi river
bridge to give them view OF the
great Keokuk water-power, and after
a short pause there, they returned 10
! the station and entrained.
/ On the way they passed through the
Red Cross girls with the nine hundred
pies the Keokuk women had baked Tor
them Each soldier got pies, Ice
I cream and cigarettes.
/ AS soon as they were on the tram
they began to attack the pies, ana
they were eating their way through
/ the home made pies with much gusto
in twenty seconds.
The station was damned with hui
manity at this time, as the guard
lines had been removed. Relatives
saw their loved ones again, and every
body tried to get as near as possible
/! to a soldier and to talk to him. Never
/ has that station been more densely
crowded with people than shortly
after noon today.
Delay Mixes Things UP.
The troop train was reported yes
iterday to be due here at O'CLOCK
Z, this morning or a little later At
o'clock last night came the news that
1T would not reach ST. Louis until
| o'clock this morning. I!lat meant
NEARLY noon for it's arrival in keokuk.
/. 1t actually arrived at 11:27 O'Clock
Ythis forenoon. 1t was 11:22 O'CLOCK
| when it crossed the state line at the
lDes Moines river bridge.
Mayor Lotion had arranged Tor
signal when it reached the state line,
! and instantly pandemonium began
with whistles shrieking all over toWli
and on steamboats, in the river.
That was the signal which told the
mIblic the train had actually arrived.
The noise was easily heard on the
train down by the Des Moines river:
But the delay, while 1t did not spoil
the program mixed UP some things
for instance, the school children couio
not be notified of the change IN Tune
and they assembled on their appointed
corners of Main street and then scat
tered before o'clock. They could
not be collected together again.
The troops left in two sections on
the Rock Island, the first leaving at
i12:55 o'clock this afternoon and the
second soon after
Decorations at the Stat'o".
The decorations at the union station
were especially fine.
The entire building and its pillars
were draped with large flags. Along
the inclined ledge on which are tne
iinterurban tracks, was bunting oloch
'aong, showing the stars and STRIPES.
! Above and behind the station, on
the bluff and the railway was a CROWD
/ qv~syn nm
of people making human fringe Oh
the sky line for long distance.
r. r. Board. superintendent, was a
very busy man and rendered lnValu-
able assistance to Chairman Abel ana
everybody else working, including the
photographers.
The Welcome Of Mayor Lotion.
Mayor Lotion said to the soldier
guests OF Keokuk:
Never before have l been so
proud of our great state, the
state of Iowa, than | am this
: day when we have had the
first opportunity and privilege to
welcome back to Iowa the OH
GERS and members of the several
companies of your regiment, the
famous 168th.
As the executive heau OF our
municipality it affords me on be-
half of its citizens the greatest
of pleasure and honor to wei
come you to our city and to say
that we are extremely proud OF
the record you have made over
there" and to say further we are
glad to have you with us.
You are here today as
our guests and we want you to
enjoy every minute of your time;
and when you leave we extend
to you and each of you our best
wishes and want you to come
again. The city is yours.
Rev. M. e. Nethercut, of Trinity
Methodist church. made a speech I
that had the merits of brevity, elo-