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Show CROWDS ABOUT HALL Despite the Heat, Throngs of People Besieged the Coliseum Early in the Day. CHICAGO. June 21. The Republican Republi-can National convention, the thirteenth thir-teenth in the history of tho party, met in the Collsoum at noon today and organized. The grapd climax, the nominations, will not be reached until Thursday. Senator, Depew call3 today the curtain-raiser for the more serious drama of tomorrow tomor-row and Thursday. The curtain-raiser was in itself an absorbing production-Weather production-Weather predictions were disturbing. There was a suggestion of rain in the air, and the sun had u struggle all the morning with clouds banked ud over the lake. Fresh breezes from tho northwest cooled the temperature, but Indoors out of reach of the breeze, the day was hot. Five Acres of Seats. Five acres of seats under the arches of the Coliseum began to fill by 10:30 o'clock. Black dots appeared in the emptiness, the videttes of that huge assemblage as-semblage which presently shaped Into the convention. The interest that had for two days eddied gently around fifty State or Territorial headquarters concentrated con-centrated upon these five steel-covered acres, or rather upon that fragment of an acre of delegates' chairs painted green in front of a crimson carpeted rostrum" set with Flemish oak furniture. The table was a solid piece fit to stand the blows to be beat upon It. Great Convention Hall. The first mental effort after looking at the Immensity of seats, parterre rising ris-ing on parterre, was to estltnate the total. It turned out to be about 8500 numbered places, Including the bank of 350 rising behind the chairman. Above this terrace of seats hung the colossal portrait of the late Senator Hanna on a canvas 20x17 feet. Portraits of the President, with flags about them, were placed at regular intervals around tho amphitheater. A banner of the "Home Market Club" of Boston swung near the roof opposite the chairman. Arrangements for News. Under the rostrum and stretching tho whole' length of the basement was one of the most curious sights of the conventionthe con-ventionthe paraphernalia and the workers who communicated to tho millions mil-lions what the thousands saw. Into this space was let hundreds of wires, more than 500, that -connected the hall with the principal newspapers of the coup-try coup-try and with the agencies that transmit trans-mit news over seas. Moro than 100 telephones tel-ephones were working and upward of 400 telegraph instruments. A thousand reporters, operators and messengers manned this intelligence machine. For hours before and during the session ses-sion of the convention the hotels were vacant. The large rooms occupied by State headquarters decorated with tricolor tri-color cloth and the pictures of distinguished distin-guished sons, both living and dead, were quite empty since the eRrly morn-inir morn-inir conference. |