The absorbing topic yesterday was the draft which was being made in Washington yesterday afternoon and which found its reflection in the city in the long list of numbers that were posted over the press wires and were posted on the bulletin board as they were received.

It was a serious day and its seriousness was reflected in the faces on the men on the streets, particularly those with sons who were on the registry list, many of whom remembered the days of the Civil War and what war means.

Gathered around the bulletin board of the Gazette and Bulletin office during most of the day was an anxious crowd who studied the lists and remarked as this man and that man’s name appeared. Now and then a man would see his own name appear and would slip away with the knowledge that he had been drawn and just what number had drawn him.

Inside the newspaper offices the scene was a busy one. As a long list of figures came from the telegraph wires it was passed to a force of clerks who translated the columns of figures into columns of names for the public to read. This was carried on all day long and up to the hour of going to press this morning.

The entire list of numbers is drawn at one drawing in order that all may know the order which they stand and there was much speculation in the crowd as to where the dividing line between the first and second call would fall.