Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-02
BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI,
An Of-Hano Sketch OF Scenes and
Incidents in the Kansas
City Depot.

81 Sho Apbooo
City Depot.
Phpba Cozzens in st. Louis Globe Democrat.
The western journey begins properly
at the Mississippi river, and the
prosaic east srn soul gets Its first thrill
and sensation of occidental vastness
as the piers of the St. Louis bridge
are passed, and the brilliantly lighted
tunnel and the clang and confusion of
the great depot bswilders one That
small corGer Of chaos known as the
union depot, has always an Irresistible
fascination to me, and the wild and
typical Western man first presents him.
self to the q ranger at thot point, his
high boots and SLOUGH hat mark.
Ing off the longitude a. clearly
as the imaginary lines On a geogrspk-
er's map. St. Louis, rejoicing always
In extremes and Surprises, received me
with a moist warm day that might
f .ly have been borrowed from May or
June, and its mud worthy of all west.
ern exaggerations and adjectives.
Crossing the great state or Missouri
In one night, Kansas City, on its
further border, presented the very
opposite to st. Louis In external
things. The wind was keen as o two.
edged sword, and instead of fanring
themselves with the morning papers,
the SLOUGH. hated gentry gathered
gathered their big overcoats about
them and built a rampant up and
down the waiting room with the rows
Of their unblacked boots. All the
types Of humanity that this broad
country can offsr are daily to be seen
In the Kansas City depot, Emigrants
from every quarter OF the globe herd
together In group; negros, Chinese
ard Indians represent our " assort-
ment of rsoes-snd, from polished and
inquisitive Yankees TO the most pic
turesque and unconventional epeci-
mems of the rufian and frontiersman,
the range includes innumerable curl
osi'ies of human nature. At the depot
breakfast.room oddities congregateG
on every side. A bleached New Eng
lander sat at my elbow and deliberately
polished eff his plate, knife, fork and
spoon with a napkin. Everything pui
before him had to undergo a sus
picious examination, and he all but
pat his biscuits to a chemical analysis
before he decided to eat them Fac
ing him sat the ~much-evident brlda
/ couple, the groom an off-hand, swsg-
geripg and harmless young citizsn
I with a black mustache, a plaid neckti'
aud a guady pin. The bride was
compliment, self-satisfied peacock, O
,, not more than Is, and In the dlngy
4 depot she flashed upon the trave
soiled company like a gay topica
r bird. Her travelling dress was
bright strawberry cashmere of vo.
luminous width and draperies, worl
Q with a crimson velvet Jacket, and
big crimson hat nodding with straw.
! berry plumes. She dazzled tn
. company like a meteor whel
p she crossed the room, and excited tn
visible envy of the young women Ii
calico gowns who were serving bsef
Q steaks and grlddle. cakes to the travel
Ing public, A fourth specimen at tn
i table was a iashy man Ct the typ
a labeled ''gent" by Richard Gran
White. He carried on a strategic fiji
tation with the water girl, and hi
q divinity was clad In brown calico an
y many freckles. Her coqusttish air an
g!ances were parsded to the Who'll
table, but the ''gsnt" shaded hi
glances bys widespreadnewspaper an
muttered mysterious things to he
behind Its friendly curtain. For th
n twelve hours that l spent at the de
" pot hotel, a m n stood on the curb
y stone across the street and rang
hand bell furiously, and as each a
"a riylng train sent a stream of peopl
ca out of this thoroughfare, a doze
more bell ringers would join him an
D. rend the air with their combined e
a, forts The cause of all the tirtir
IL nabulation was the fierce rivalry b.
tween various ticket scalpers, and tt
n, ~ bell ringing and bswllng that hs
o. made the day hldeous increased
frenzy at nightfall, when the EXPIRE
II. train from st. Louis and Chical
% came In.