8 p.m.
The very day after the foregoing conversation each member of the club received a circular couched in these terms : -- `` Baltimore , October 3rd . `` The president of the Gun Club has the honour to inform his colleagues that at the meeting on the 5th ultimo he will make them a communication of an extremely interesting nature . He therefore begs that they , to the suspension of all other business , will attend , in accordance with the present invitation , `` Their devoted colleague , `` IMPEY BARBICANE , P.G.C. '' On the 5th of October , at 8 p.m. , a dense crowd pressed into the saloons of the Gun Club , 21 , Union-square . All the members of the club residing at Baltimore had gone on the invitation of their president . The express brought corresponding members by hundreds , and if the meeting-hall had not been so large , the crowd of _ savants _ could not have found room in it ; they overflowed into the neighbouring rooms , down the passages , and even into the courtyards ; there they ran against the populace who were pressing against the doors , each trying to get into the front rank , all eager to learn the important communication of President Barbicane , all pressing , squeezing , crushing with that liberty of action peculiar to the masses brought up in the idea of self-government . That evening any stranger who might have chanced to be in Baltimore could not have obtained a place at any price in the large hall ; it was exclusively reserved to residing or corresponding members ; no one else was admitted ; and the city magnates , common councillors , and select men were compelled to mingle with their inferiors in order to catch stray news from the interior .