one o'clock
One company after another came up Royal Avenue or swung round the corner from High Street , and marched before my eyes along Donegal Place towards the scene of the meeting . Small bodies of police appeared here and there , heading in the same direction . Now and then a few mounted police trotted by , making nearly as much jangle as if they had been regular soldiers . The hour fixed for the meeting was one o'clock , but at noon the number of men in the street was so great that ordinary traffic was stopped . A long line of trams , unable to force their way along , blocked the centre of the thoroughfare . The drivers and conductors left them and went away . Crowds of women and children collected on the roofs of these trams and cheered the men as they marched along .