Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1905 — GREAT INAUGURAL PARADE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GREAT INAUGURAL PARADE.

Pageant Contained Many Extraordinary and Picturesque Features. The inauguration parade of 1905 had more extraordinary features than any which ever wended its way between cheering multitudes on Pennsylvania avenue. The first picturesque feature was the President’s personal escort of Rough Riders. They rode government horses and were dressed in khaki uniform, blue shirts, blue polka dot neckties, service slouch hats, military gauntlets, brown leggings, black shoes anil brass army spurs. Four of the guard preceded the President’s carriage on the march; two rode on each side, and the rest followed The inaugural parade was national history and national destiny told in pageantry. It was a dr;uua without action, in which the present stirring suggestion interpreted each season; it was an epic without words, writteg, in high lights and brilliant colors, in marching thousands and cheering tens of thousands. It was the story of a people, their trials, their triumphs and their ambitions, printed on every aspect of the daylong scene. The essential oneness of the Union, rising above the individuality of.. sovereign SfateS amrthe widely diversified interests of 76,000,000 of people scattered across a continent, was typified in the picture of one man reviewing mile on mile of swinging battalions, while acres of massed humanity looked on and cheered. The parade was a military and civic pageant projected upon a scale of magnificence never before undertaken on a like occasion. Undoubtedly in point of numbers, spectacular features, picturesqueness and gorgeous accessories it eclipsed any inaugural display in the history of the nation. Upward of 50.000 men were in line. Every army of the military service was represented by crack organizations, the National Guard of several States added to the brilliancy of the military' demonstration, while civicorders, political clubs, college students, eminent men, chief executives of States with imposing staffs, historical floats symbolic of the progress of the nation, and bands almost without number contributed to the splendor of the spectacle. Seth Bullock, sheriff of Deadwood, idol of South Dakota, picturesque plainsman and withal a gentleman, who enjoys the personal friendship of President Roosevelt, out in the hills of the Northwest gathered together a band of genuine western cowboys, whom he brought to Washington arrayed in all their fantastic regalia to participate in the inaugural parade. Cow punchers have never before taken part in an inaugural parade, and with their “chaps” and lariats and “big horn” saddles proved a feature of the pageant. With the cow punchers came a number of well-known characters who v strictly speaking, are not to be classed as cowboys, but who are closely allied to them, and, admiring the President, were eager to join them in giving him a “send-off.” These westerners, these representatives of the great region and the wild free life that Prsident Roosevelt knows and loves so well, were all for pleasing and gratifying the man whom they regard as one of themselves, and cut a striking feature hi the inaugural parade. They not only wore the conventional cowboy dress, but- they rode their own “cayuses” in the parade. Among the well-known western char-

acters that came along with the cow punchers was “Deadwood Dick’’ Clark, the once famous scout, bandit, hunter and leader of the “shotgun men,” who guarded the Wells-Fargo Express treasure coach from Deadwood to civilization a quarter of a century or more ago. The once famous "Deadwood Dick.” the man who, in pioneer days, in South Dakota, was the terror of all “bail men" iu the region and performed well nigh miraculous feats of daring, is now a workman in plain blue overalls in the Northwest railway yards at Lead, five miles north of Deadwood. After the red border days he laid aside liis rifle, his brace of pistols and his buckskin suit. and. donning *.hr garb of civilization, engaged in railroad work, and for a number of years lie lias been a yardman at Lead. “Tex” Burgess is another famous character who was in line. The State of Tennessee sent an unusual delegation. The members of the Timnessee legislature chartered a special train ami swooped down on Washington en masse on the evening of March 3. This was the first time in the history of the country that a State Legislature attended an inauguration. Tennessee was a'.so represented by six “long, lean musicians,” as they describe themselves, who marched up Pennsylvania avenue keeping step with their own mnsic. played on six violins, each over 300 years

old. The Governor of Louisiana and hit staff, a company of infantry from Alabama, the Georgia Military Academy, a battery and a company from Florida, a company and a battery from North Carolina, two regiments from Virginia, and another from Maryland, composed a representation of the entire South. A uniform color scheme was adopted for the House decorations.- but in the parade color ran riot. Every hue and combination of color was represented. One organization appeared in royal purple, another in olive green, several wore bright red, while blacks and browns and blues and grays were in abundance. The delegation of famous Indian chieftains wore all the colors obtainable. Nearly 50,000 men took part in the parade and it took nearly all afternoon to pass the reviewing stand.

SCENE AT THE INAUGURAL BALL.