midnight
`` Let 'em alone , '' said Hefty to Miss Casey , `` I 'm not sayin ' a word . Let the judges get on to the sensation I 'm a-makin , ' and I 'll walk off with the prizes . The crowd is wid me sure . '' At midnight the judges pounded on a table for order , and announced that after much debate they gave the first prize to Miss Lizzie Cannon , of Hester Street , for `` having the most handsomest costume on the floor , that of Columbia . '' The fact that Mr. `` Buck '' Masters , who was one of the judges , and who was engaged to Miss Cannon , had said that he would pound things out of the other judges if they gave the prize elsewhere was not known , but the decision met with as general satisfaction as could well be expected . `` The second prize , '' said the judges , `` goes to the gent calling himself the Black Knight -- him in the iron leggings -- and the other prize for the most original costume goes to him , too . '' Half the crowd cheered at this , and only one man hissed .