Seattle Newsboys Take Tacoma by Storm

POST-INTELLIGENCER HEADQUARTERS, INTERSTATE FAIR, TACOMA, Sept. 6.—(Special.)—Today the Seattle Press-Times brought over the Seattle newsboys. Saturday is the Tacoma Ledger’s Children’s day, and September 29 is to be the POST-INTELLIGENCER’s Children’s day. On the latter day 500 Carbonado, Wilkeson and South Prairie people will come to town with a brass band and a party of forty miners who will sing in chorus.

Tacoma has an idea Seattle does things up brown, and today many grown-up people turned out simply to see what the Seattle newsboys could do by way of keeping up the reputation of their town. The Interstate fair is a big show, but the newsboys in themselves constituted a big show also. They amused the grown-up folks who went to see them more than a circus with a dozen rings.

The Tacoma newsboys went down to the dock to meet the visitors when the Flyer arrived, the Evening News boys going in a body, and the POST-INTELLIGENCER bureau boys and others with the crowd. There were cheers for Tacoma and Seattle, and a tiger was let loose for the mountain. On the way up town Hysams, Pauson Co.’s band serenaded the local store, and then the procession marched down Pacific avenue, past the POST-INTELLIGENCER bureau and the Morning Union office, and up C street past the News and Ledger offices. The boys conducted themselves in a derisive manner while marching past the Ledger office, in order to signify their disapproval of that office employing rat printers instead of union men. Meanwhile a large delegation slipped out of the ranks and fled up to the Interstate fair grounds. They could not, or rather would not, wait for the procession. They took possession of the fair, and their yells could be heard on all sides. They managed to register at the POST-INTELLIGENCER headquarters just as grown-up folks do, but some of them appeared on the register under curious and wonderful titles, one lad going down simply as “Toughy.”

They failed to take in everything at a glance and be in a half-dozen places at one time, but before the day was over they had explored the recesses of the buildings and grounds, even going so far as to crawl away up on top of the roof of the biggest building on the grounds, and there yell and hurrah for Seattle.

McConnell, the cyclorama man, was not out of bed when the first delegate arrived, but they made short work of getting him out. When they had him dressed they had him open his show in a hurry. After that they tried to run things at the merry-go-round. At first they did not succeed, but finally things went around, and yet they were not satisfied. They wanted the music box to play three tunes simultaneously, and to that end a committee was appointed to turn the crank at lightning speed. This aroused the merry-go-round man and he fired the boys, or tried to do so. After this there was no more merry-go-round. At the Indian Village the boys guyed the braves. The girls in the Turkish theater were guyed also, and applauded until the boss dancer appeared three times. Still the boys refused to go. They wanted more of the serpentine dance, and stood upon the chairs and yelled and applauded. Finally the manager, whom they knew only as “Jersey City,” that being the counterpart of his Turkish name, had to suspend business while the boys were enticed outside to ride the camels and donkeys.

The scenic railway caught their eye also. They arrived before the thing was in operation, and as the cars were chained they could not open it themselves, so they walked over the tracks, and screamed in the tunnel until people thought the Indians from the wigwam village were massacring the whole crowd of youngsters.

At noon the boys ate Chilberg’s restaurant in the main building out of house and home. They were rapacious eaters, these lads from King county. At 3 o’clock the boys left by the Flyer and the town quieted down.

Boone’s animals will leave San Diego tomorrow for the fair.