| January 1, 1907 |
MASQUERADE BALL AT |
At Least 1,000 in Costume Welcome New Year |
There were many spokes in Kansas City's New Year's wheel last night, but the hub was at Convention Hall, where there was held the first annual New Year's ball of the Convention Hall directors. In point of attendance it was not a great success, for there were more people in costumes on the floor than there were spectators in the balconies. There were at least a thousand on the floor in costume. There were senoritas and Hottentots, princes and minstrels, cowboys and cowgirls, the Gold Dust Twins and Sunny Jim, ballet girls and a rooster. A dozen funny clowns played "crack the whip" and one of the real features was the young man who had himself made up as a "Seeing Kansas City" trolley car with one passenger. A new feature last night was the placing of the band in the center of the dancing floor and it was fully The spectacular effort of the evening was in the speeding of the old year and the welcoming of the new. At 1:30 o'clock high up at the north end of the hall suddenly appeared as the music stopped a dance, the "1906 Good Bye." There was then nearly thirty minutes of intermission, towards the last of which the blue lights that traced this farewell grew gradually dim. Then the band played "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot," and just as the big dial in the south end of the hall showed 12 o'clock the dying lights in the big all went almost out, and the lettering at the north end of the auditorium suddenly changed to "Welcome, 1907." The maskers and the audience cheered and the lights went up again. Then came the unmasking. |
