Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1913 — SOME JULY FOURTH DISAPPOINTMENTS [ARTICLE]

SOME JULY FOURTH DISAPPOINTMENTS

Rensselaer Not Alone in This Mat- . ter—Goodland Aeroplane Failed . to Put in Appearance. There were some disappointments in Rensselaer Friday because all the free attractions that were advertised did not put in an appearance, and some persons, often those who had not contributed a cent, made loud and lusty kicks, even though they failed to visit the attractions that were here. While there was some general disappointment here, it is fair to the management to say that they were not ro sponsible and did all in their power to overcome 'the omissions. Rensselaer, however, was not the only town where the ' assembled crowds were disappointed, and, in fact, from what we can learri today, Saturday, we fared much better than several other neighboring towns and cities. At Goodland the whole show was based upon the aeroplane flight and the aviator and his machine failed to show up and the Goodland people were not informed of it until Thursday night. The-committee at Goodland had engaged an aeroplane and aviator from the Paterson Aviation Agency in Chicago. To assure people that there would be no mistake, SSOO was deposited in a Goodland bank to pay for the flight and to draw the crowds. This made the disappointment all the more keen and yet Goodland people were in no sense responsible. The agent called them Thursday night to say that the man who was to have been sent,to Goodland had been in trouble with the agent and that they had severed relations. No substitute could be procured and It was too late to get other attractions. It simply knocked the committee into a “cocked hat” and there was no way of getting the information to the people who had fanned to visit Goodland to see an aeroplane flight. An auto parade was hastily arranged and proved very, pleasing. Charles Welch, of Carpenter township, one of our county commissioners, won first prize for the best decorated car, Mort Kilgore won second and W. E. Rich third. There was also a clown auto parade with prices.

In the afternoon there was nothing but the ball game, which was between Goodland and Fowler. The people streamed out to the grounds in large numbers and paid admissions amounted to $350. Gojodland won the game 5 to 4. At night a fireworks display of unusual merit was given and people were generally kind enough to overlook the fact that the aeroplane did not show up, although there was very keen disappointment

At Monticello two of the leading free attractions did not arrive and the large crowd assembled in that city was disappointed. In Rensselaer the cancelling of the Laßelle CQarke and her Grand; Horse, Duke, was made in time to' give it some general notice, but other disappointments also fol- j lowed. Thursday the Tyrones put I in an appearance with only two in the troupe. Their contract called for three people with three distinct acts. The booking agent was called and he fired the Tyrones. The William Tell shooting act and slide by the teeth, act both failed to put in an appearance and the agent did not send any other act to take the place of Laßelle Clarke. Manager Don Wrlfcht and Band Director Braun did the next best thing, they arranged with O’Kura and Meta to put their act on one extra time. It proved the best single act ever given here, the Jap and his white assistant proving remarkable in their rlzly act, during which he showed himself a marvelous little man at balancing things on his feet. In each act he used five small boxes, one on top of the other, and his helper on the uppermost box and then suddenly tipped her one way and the boxes another and then caught her on his feet and spun her about like a top. The act was clean and refined. Hilda, a contortionist substitute, had a fairly good act, but it was very old in style and smacked more of the carnival sort. 1 Cameronl, who pulled against two teams of horses, then against two automobiles and who bent iron rods across his forearm, did not impress the crowds very favorably and he failed to hold either the horses or the autos. The other attractions are mentioned below. The motorcycle race was between three machines, tyro Indians and one Excelsior. The winning machine was a 1913 Indian driven by Ham Stewart, of Brook, x whose time was 8 minutes and 3 seconds Seven seconds behnid him was Edward Honan, Jr., also riding an Indian. The Excelsior finished the eour&e

in 9 minutes and 2 seconds. The route was from Duvall’s corner south on the gravel road, thence east to the Gangloff corner and south to Hauter’s, thence west past Marion Adams’ farm and back to town via the ball park. The finish was made at the postofflce corner. The following attractions may be listed and win show that the Fourth in Rensselaer was far from a dull day. The band played morning, afternoon and evening. The Jap and his assistant gave five free acts. 3 Hilda, the contortionist, gave two acts. /' Cameronl, the strong man, gave three acts. The merry-go-round. The ball game. The Gayety Airdoipe. The Princess Theatre. The Rex Theatre. The concessions. * The fire works at night. The merry-go-round took in $605.55 during the Fourth. The band gets 10 per cent of this. The ball game was one of the best ever held here and with one or two exceptions was a fine contest. A commendable thing was the fact that both teams were composed of all home players. Rensselaer won by the narrow margin of 6 to 5. The gate receipts were SB4, less than a quarter the amount which Goodland is reported to have taken in. But many did not seem to know that there was to be a ball game or found too much to interest them On the streets. z The tabulation below will show

Double plays—Swamen. - to Morgan to Swartfcell. Clark to Morgan to Swartzell. A longer report of the ball game is precluded because of the numerous other things to be written. It was a fine game and was much enjoyed by all who witnessed it. Lowell is to be the Sunday attraction. The reports from the hitch barns and stands indicate that there was only about two-thirds as many visitors as there were a year ago and shows conclusively that to draw large crowds some big drawing card must be arranged for and extensive ly advertised, ,