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Show mines inspest BATTLESHIP FLEET i American War Vessels at San Diego Attract Many Thousands Thou-sands of Visitors. WESTERN" HOSPITALITY FOR OFFICERS AND MEN Sports. Luncheons, Dances, Receptions, Re-ceptions, Round Out Third Dayv of Festivities. k : SAX DIEGO, Cal.. April 16. After two, das of pageantry on sea and land there was a restful lull in San Diego's celebration in honor of the American battleship fleet today. Ninety-two of the officers, including Ecar-Admiral Thomas, were entertained at a picnic some thirty-odd miles in the country, passing through lemon, orange and olive groves on the way. Jore than one hundred citizens accompanied the officers, and forty-four .automobiles were required to' accommodate the party. Ar the conclusion of the noon-dayluneheon, noon-dayluneheon, spread on a grassj lawn, there were a number of informal speeches. It was late in the evening when the officers returned from the outing. out-ing. IBoac races on the bay during tlte morning, a baseball game this afternoon, after-noon, free lemonade and fruit, horseback horse-back rides, trolley excursions and sightseeing sight-seeing tours occupied the attention of the 200 sailors who came ashore on liberty. Town Full of Sailors. The streets down town were filled with the bluejackets, every passer-by had a word of welcome for rliem. and, following out: their individual desires, they had a splendid time on this, their , first day of liberty in an American city ; in more than four months. All of the sixteen vessels of the flcel at. anchorage off Cononado were thrown open to visitors vis-itors front 10 a. in. to o p. m.. and the excursion launches running out. lo sea had all they could do to handle the interested in-terested throngs which in most cases set foot upon a ntan-o "-war for the i first time in their lives. - The third day of the fleet's stay end- I cd tonight with an extensive fireworks display from a barge anchored in the center1 of the bay. The aerial flights of all manner of pyrotechnic wonders could bo seen for milos around and were enjoyed alike by the sailors of the fleet and the people ashore. Elaborate Fireworks.. The display opened with a rear-ad- mi raj's salute of thirteen bombs ex-, ploding Inch in the air. Then followed a brilliant ascension of thirty-six signal sig-nal rockets. Next;, in a burst, of varicolored vari-colored lights, the bay was illuminated with twenty-five floating beacon?, set adrift, from the barge and burning fifteen fif-teen minutes. Other features of I he tiro show were showers of liquid gold, hanging chains, azure mists, floating diadems, chromatic stars, electric meteors, me-teors, flying fish', floating festoons, eagles in fire, volleys of cobras, calliope cal-liope rockets, weird waterfalls, a mystic mys-tic flash curtain, flights of bouquet rockets in groups of 100, and scores of other enchantingly named novelties. novel-ties. There was considerable entertainment entertain-ment by the officers on board many of the ships today, luncheons and dinner parlies predominating. |