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LARGEST DERBY CROWD Saturdays Gathering at Churchill Downs Breaks All Records VicePresident of United States Host of Governors and Notables of All Description Present LOUISVILLE Ky May 8 A crowd of in ¬ estimable size but positively the largest ever stood in waiting upon King Horse at the Kentucky Derby coronation at Churchill Downs this afternoon People from every strata of society elbowed their way into the clubhouse and grandstand enclosures and overflowed into the center field and into the area where the stables are quartered on the far side of the track trackFrom From VicePresident John Nance Garner as special emissary of the United States government down to nondescript youngsters in tattered breeches from the mighty to the humble from the notable to the ignominous upwards of 80000 joined forces to make Derby Day the day which excites the ima ¬ gination of thoroughbred fanciers of the en ¬ tire continent continentConverging Converging on Louisville for its carnival season have come visitors from every state in the Union its possessions and not a few foreign countries Those who own or can afford them came in high estate in private cars and airplanes and others came less pomopously but no less enthusiastically enthusiasticallyACCOMMODATIONS ACCOMMODATIONS AT PBEMIUM PBEMIUMThe The citys hotel and other housing facilities fairly bulged Guests shared their sleeping quarters and shower baths those fortunate enough to have one or both doubled up tripled up and even opened up and those who had no accommodations took their rest where they found it Automobile tonneaus were especially inviting to weary travelers without bunking space while many others dozed off in hotel lobbies and corridors Private corridorsPrivate homes were open houses to many who otherwise might have had to sit up all night in restaurants or just walk around awaiting DayWhile the dawn of Derby Day While VicePresident Garner was the Derby crowds Number One citizen the throng included governors of nearly a dozen states cabinet members senators congress ¬ men state and city officials industrial ty ¬ coons men high in finance and business motion picture actors actresses and exec utives and persons high in society societyPOLITICAL POLITICAL DIGNITABIES DIGNITABIESAmong Among the dignitaries who came on from Washington were PostmasterGeneral James A Farley Senators Joe Guffey of Pennsyl vania William H Dietrich of Illinois Wil liam R Bulow of South Dakota William Gibbs McAdoo of California Sherman Min ton of Indiana Lewis B Schwellenbach of Continued on seventeenthpage LARGEST DERBY CROWD Continued from first page Washington state George L Radcliffe of Maryland Prentiss M Brown of Michigan Theodore F Green of Rhode Island and Allen J Ellender of Louisiana LouisianaThe The list of governors included A B Chan ¬ dler of Kentucky Olin D Johnson of South Carolina Charles F Hurley of Massachu ¬ setts Clifford Townsend of Indiana and Ed C Johnson of Colorado Among the former governors there were James M Cox of Ohio and Alfred M Landon of Kansas KansasLess Less cosmopolitan was the assemblage just the other side of the fence on the back stretch where flourished the customary games for the general education of Negro stable employees At the end of the day they were much wiser if less affluent but they too had seen the Derby the running of which they await each year with the same avid interest as those who crowd the grounds of the grandstand and clubhouse side of the track trackTWO TWO DISTINCT TYPES TYPESIn In the vast gathering were two distinct types those who make annual pilgrimages to the Derby and those who were seeing the race for the first time Col Matt J Winn head of the track and whose vision and labors have made the Derby a national insti ¬ tution has seen all the Kentucky Derbys from 1875 down as perhaps have a handful of others while unique in the crowd was Josh Thompkins of St Joseph Mo who at 80 was seeing his first Derby DerbyIn In the crowd also were two other sharply contrasting types the horsewise and the un initiated One had speaking acquaintance with all the owners trainers and jockeys knew all the intricacies of horse racing and had an unfailing capacity for seeking win ¬ ners while the other was frankly nonplussed and relied upon guidance of Lady Luck as he worked his way to the mutuel windows windowsTo To be sure there was the usual quota of touts or urgers but through the vigilance of city and track police their operations were somewhat curtailed The light fingered gen ¬ try also found it difficult to ply their voca ¬ tions and as early as nine oclock a number of them were escorted to the village bastile to cool their heels in solemn meditation meditationFAMED FAMED MINT JULEPS The bars restaurants hot dog i ce cream and sandwich stands did all the tjusiness they could handle and if drinkingwaslmore or less general it was temperate anovbrder ly Kentuckys famed mint juleps were tried and not found wanting and for many it was their first taste of the elixir of the Blue Grass GrassIt dayThe It was a typical Derby day The crowd began to trickle through the turnstiles at Churchill Downs as soon as it was early enough to see and nearly 100 claimed the distinction of being the first on the grounds At 7 oclock several details of state militiamen augmented by city po ¬ lice assumed their positions all around he track itself and at other strategic points on the ground and ushers ticketsellers and tickettakers took up their places to facili ¬ tate the handling of the great crowd crowdFrom From the time the gates officially were thrown open until late in the afternoon there was a constant stream of patrons pouring in ¬ to the plant As the first race went to the post at 1230 there did not appear to be breathing space in the betting enclosures and an hour later the crowd was greater Those fortunate enough to have reservations were the last to arrive but there didnt appear to be an empty seat in any of the postward
