The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-03-06
SOME OBSERVATIONS BY LOB.
SERVER"
RICH HILL Mo Ian. 9

RICH HILL, Mo-, Jan. %, 1885.
INr. Editor To-day it SHOWS, and
as 1 am not otherwise engaged I will
give you few items from this place,
which you may either publish or CON-
sign to the waste basket, and l won't
demonstrate.
This seems to be busy, bustling
little city, although the people call it
dull at this time. The present census
reveals the fact that Rich Hill has suf-
fered loss of near fifteen hundred in
habitants and now numbers only
about four thousand. Fortunes have
been made and lost here. The great
coal oil adventure, which was simply
a hole bored several hundred feet deep
by a company of sharpers, and several
barrels of oil clandestinely' poured in
and the hole plugged up and sealed,
with guard standing over it with
bristiing bayonet, until advertisements
brought spectators, mostly verdants,
with more money than brains, to the
scene, and the hole was carefully
unplugged and pump put down and
barrel or two of oil brought to the
surface, then sealed up again and rot
opened until many thousand dollars
worth of stock was sold. And then
the company went to work, and the
discovery was made that pumping and
coaXing and "cussin'n would only
produce sum total of less than six
barrels of oil. And the bubble burst
and many went away poorer if not
wiser.
One old gentleman vino owned a
fine farm and stock, rushed in here
and lost every dollar, but he still stays
here and vents his anathema upon the
place says he knows he is fool. 1t
is strange that farmers, often spending
score or two of years in accumulat-
ing competency, will part with it so
readily. The output of coal has been
unusually heavy here this winter and
many thousands.of dollars are paid out
here every week to miners. Some
claim that they make as much as $3.50
to Sl15 per month for their la
Dor. Why they complain of hard
times AMI go poorly clad cannot tell,
unless the saloons have something to
DO with it.
Yesterday was, as you know, the an
niversary of the usheripg into exist
ence the greatest of Americas sons,
and while the good people went to
church the roughs proposed to celebrate
the day by having prize fight out at
old Rich Hill between one McManns
and another striker. l did mot learn
whether it came off or not.
There are more than a half dozen
churches here, and there are probably
three times as many saloons. / do not
think the influence of his satanic mai
esty is needed here, for while compare
lively few go to church think many
frequent the saloons. And am inform
ed that you can buy almost anything
and everything on Sunday and that
some of the miners and others work on
the Sabbath. Recently the miners
have been drawing the pillars in some
of the mines, and some of the build |
ings above have been wrecked, nota-
BILE among them is the Rock saloon. |
which went down some or 10 feet
toward the place where all saloons |
ought to go (they say down, don't !
they? L mean the preachers-not of
the present day; of the long gone |
by.
As the shades of evening gathered |
over the city the fire and church bells |
rang out the alarm of fire, and as the |
flames darted high into the air all was |
excitement. Investigation proved that |
a large livery barn was all ablaze right |
in the thickly built part of the city, |
one block from the square. Ny mind |
wandered back to our own little city, |
and 1 said to myself instinctively, |
what il fire like this would occurr in |
so density built part of lola; where |
would itstop? Why don't the people |
Of lola establish fire department |
The timely arrival of the two fire de- |
partments. and the Hook and Ladder |
company, soon made it evident that
the fire could go no farther. And thus |
the citizens were saved the humiliat-
ing experience of standing helplessly |
by and seeing their property melt |
away.
After the fire was under control we
wended our way to the Presbyterian