Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-03-27
100000 PEOPLE
SEE 27TH PARADE
F'renzied Multitude Alternately
Laughs, Weeps, Cheers or
Stands Silent as the Great
Procession Passes In Review
$4,000 MEN IN LINE
|eO.OOO Relatives Of Returned Heroes
ana 10000 Wounded Soldiers Occupy
Grandstnnd Two and n Half Milcs
Long

Now York, March 25.--victorious veter-
ans. heroes of Flanders fields on which
Prussian pride was broken. 5000 men of
the 9th division came back to Fifth ave-
niue to-day for their triumphai review. To
the thousands who offered all they had to
give on Liberty's altar the millions who
sayed behind poured out the full measure
Of their pride. The national guardsmcn of
yesterday and the civilians of tomorrow
Bymbolize6 to-day the martial ideals of a
rcd-blooded race.
The frenzined multitude laughed and
wept. cheered or stood silent as the pro-
cess.on passed, knew that n grateful peo.
ple never paid tribute to braver men or
CRUSADERS more chivairous TO these citi-
zen soldiers who looked death in the face
and smiled rs they wen: over the top
with song on their lips 10 sn,zsh the Hin
denburg line-tha. barrier against Eu-
ropes studiest troops had swept in vain.
There was no SHADOW on the hearts of
the stalwart marching men save the
memory of the 1000 comrades they Let
Sleeping where poppies bloom" While
they gloried as even modest soldiers Will
in the soul stirring welcome they were
given, the thoughts of all. their leaders
said, turned to the gallant lads who paid
the inevitable price of victory There
was no man in all the line who did not
mourn some buddy" who had fallen
Fighting blithely. with his face to the
foe.
But they bore their grief as soldiers
do. They had gone, unafraid. into an in
ferno from which it seemed none could
return. Facing death calmly they had
learned there are far worse fates than
TO die for a rigf teous cause. To them
'taps' have not sounded for the boys
who never will come back. The valor
Of those who pershed has added i'm
perishable lustre to the unsmlrched bat
tie flags, to which million men
reverently doffed their hats to-day and
klory guards the silent bivouac.
The clank of their hob nailed shoes
upon the pavement spelled an epic in
American history. Never before had a
full division of Yankee veterans fresh
from European service passed in review
In an American city. Every man of the
rs O00 was a volunteer. Fighting Jack"
O'Ryan led his men to France and
brought them back, still their COM
mander Never before on this continent.
at least, had so many thousands cheered
military spectacle.
Even New York famed for his crowds,
~
and children along single street. To
the city dwelers We're added hundreds
of thousands who had poured in from
every corner of the State to witness an
unpre recedented pageant and pay honor to
the men who marched. Tens of thou
sands more had come from other States.
1T seemed as If every person in the five
boroughs was there and every citizen
hn the State besides.
The police estimated more than 100000
persons were packed into five miles Of
Fifth avenue in the sunshine of per-
feet day. The sidewalks on both sides
were choked with humanity and at every
ntersecting street there crowds bulged
out east and west for a distance Of a
block. Every open space was packed
with an immovable mass of people. No
entcrprising statistician has estimated
how many windows there are facing the
avenue from Washington square to 10th
street, but every one of them was filed.
Men and women hung at perilous angles
over window ledges at imminent risk of
their lives Men clung like flies to
copings and other prccarious perches
bcach building presented an almost solid
wall of faces.
Stretching along the east side of Cen
tral Park from one end to the other was
a grandstand two and one-half miles
long. In it were some $4,000 fathers and
mothers. wives and sweethearts. sisters
and little brothers, grandfathers and
grandmothers. uncles and aunts of the
men of the 9th. The other 15,Ooo seats
were filled with wounded soldiers from
the army hosptaly federal officials. gov
ernors of this and other States, mem
bers of the Legislature, mayors and off,
cial delegations from upstate cities and
Constituents of New York aldermen.