The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-30
GREAT MEMS BAGGAGE.
Observations Of One who Noticed it
for Thirty Years in Old St Nicho-
las.

.f= p
~ bert, who has been employed in Il
3. hotel since it opened thirty years q.
= as head usher and under superintendent
Al lie knew all the regular and prominel
f guests. He had charge of the porter
y and he knew all about the baggage ,
I1 the many great men who have stopped
: = the St. Nicholas.
:. As general rule, he said, in tall
n ing about baggage, Il have observe
. that women have more baggage tina
= men. When man travels he wants q
: little baggage as possible, and be will q
/ along without any if he can. Drum
! mers are excepted, of course They wi
/, ill the hotel with baggage if YOU wi
s let EN-. Porters never like to see
drummer come TO the house, becaus
/ that generally means heavy trunks. w
J never had baggage elevator at the 81
4 Nicholas, and the carrying of trunk
: was always big job. have seen grea
J strong men give way. | have seen fou
porters struggling with one trunk. l
almost seemed the rule that the NOR
Important a man was the less baggag,
he would have. Take Gov. HOratit
Seymour, for instance, who was steady
, patron. | have often seen him come
with little carpet bag. Senator Conk.
ling carried very little baggage, but his
wife, delicate woman, had plenty of
baggage when she came with him. SEN
: ator John j. Crittenden used to come
with no more baggage than you could
put in a tobacco box, when he came
alone But when Mrs. Crittenden came
with him the porters would stagger un.
Il Pfx nrfx C.sA
tenden was very fond of dress and en-
tertaining people, and all the trunks had
to be taken up stairs.
When the Canadians came the por-
ters trembled. Sir Charles MacNab
would keep the porters busy three hours
getting in his baggage. Sir Charles
| Grey, Governor General of Jamaica.
brought a cart load of baggage. Presi-
dents of the United States were common
| visitors TO the st. Nicholas. Matty Van
Buren used to come with baggage that
looked like lady's reticule. He was
plain man, with no such airs as his son
Prince John, as they used to call him.
President Buchanan was another plain
man who did not carry much baggage
when he came alone. But when Miss
Harriet Lane came with him there was
baggage enough to fill an express wagon.
Miss Lane dressed great deal and had
a great deal of company. When she
came to or left the hotel the porters gen.
orally got tired carrying her baggage.
| think | can see them now putting ON
the stairs under the load of her big
trunks. After the boys had rested they |
all said she was dear, nice young wo- |
man. Gen. McClellan's father-in-law, |
Gen. Marcy, used to be frequent visitor |
at the hotel. He did not have a great |
quantity of baggage, but his daughter, |
Gen. McClellan's wife, like most of the |
lady visitors, had plenty of it. | shall |
never forget the day she fell sick at the
reception of the news of Antietam. |
thought the poor lady would die in the
house.
"The biggest lot of baggage ever
saw in the hotel was when Gen. Wool |
and staff came there during the draft |
riots. The hotel looked like a military
camp. We fed 1.400 persons in day,
most of them without baggage, on the
day of the great cable celebration. Ma
jor-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler came often
to visit us, and always carried moderate
baggage. The man whose baggage grew
most after he came was the famous
Marquis of Waterford, who went on a
spree with our head porter, Tom Adams,
and was locked up in the station-house
for breaking lamps in Broadway. The
nobility took a great fancy for Tom
Miss Burdette-Coutts gave him 81, 900
for attending TO her comfort on an ocean
voyage. She stopped at the hotel all the
time that Grisi and Mario were there,
and she went to every performance they
gave, although she never spoke a word
to either of them. Senator Henry VIII
san, the Natick cobbler,' was frequent
visitor, and one of those who did not
bring much baggage. Major-Gen. Ma
thaniel p. Banks was another light-bag-
gage man, but his wife could bring a
fair allowance of baggage. That is the
general rule. Women do not seem to
think how much trouble a lot of baggage
is. Men always think about it. Many
men would rather go with no baggage at
all and buy new underclothing when
they want a change. Erastus Corn
ing, the 70; mer President of the
New York Central Railroad Compa-
ny, used to come with very light
baggage As for Gil Davidson, his part
ner, his heaviest baggage was big roll
of bills be always carried in his pocket,
a share of which was always left with
the boys. / never saw more generous
man. But Mr.. Corning brought consid-
cradle baggage when he brought down
his adopted daughter, Miss Turner, the
one who afterward married Burch, the
Chicago banker, who tried to get di-
voree from her and failed. Miss Tur
@InE
everybody sympathized with her and
hated old Burch. The last time | saw
Mr.. Corning in the house was when he
left to catch the IL train one evening.
had hard work to get carriage, and
finally had to take one from the street..
In the harry one of the porters dropped
Mr.. Corafng's trunk in the street. 1t
made me sick to see it.
'fOf course we made some mistakes in
getting baggage in the wrong rooms. 1t
seems to me that in old times mistakes
of that kind were not so serious as of
late. Somehow / have noticed lately |
that when guest had the wrong trunk
Ia his room that trunk would very often
be opened by mistake. | have seen
trunks filed with bricks left as security
for board. / have seen trunks stopped |
when guest tried to get of without
paving. President Bnchanan's trunk
was marked J. B., and cost about a
dollar and d half, while some fellow who
did not amount to anything would have
q $40 trunk. My experience is that it
is q very risky thing to judge people by
the outside of their trunks. President
Franklin Pierce stopped at the hotel on
his way home after his term of Office had
expired. noticed that he had great
many more trunks than when he came
from the East.
Actors generally brought considera
bic baggage. VIM. Il. Burton made the /
hotel his headquarters for years. The
Booth brothers were also steady patrons
George Francis Train made the biggest 1
sensation with his baggage, and kept the /
Custom House lively for some time be- 1
fore be got it through The biggest |
trunks lever saw belonged to the fami- |
" Of George III. Phelps, great railroad |
strongest kind to get one of these trunks |
up stairs tried hard to save the por-
ters by having some Of these heavy
trunks left down stairs, but the ladies
wouldn't listen 70 Ii ] think the lady
WnO AfaNEtieu VIII tAAc AlNSt bfMuAS was
Mrs. Kate Spragne, wife Of Gov Sprague,
of Rhode Island. II would take q good
sized room Tor her trunks alone
How to Read q Novel
Open IN the middle, glance al page.
Catch the name Of the characters.
Turn to tie last page and see whether
he married her. or she died with angels
hoFering around the headboard.
Turn to the beginning and see what
the matter was with the old man and
Why he didn't approve of the match.
Y0n have thus acquainted yourself