Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-21
Much Ado About Nothing,

Since the world began it has been the
fashion of those who could afford it, and
of many who could not, to entertain their
friends, and at these entertainments the
correct thing has been to supply the
guests with wine. When the host is
solvent and pays his way, this practice,
if not carried to excess, is quite an inno-
cent one, and is looked upon as
showing a generous and hospitable
disposition. There are very few quar-
ters of the world in which the in
diligence of a little hospitality would
bring man in collision with the laws,
but Topeka, Kansas, is one of those
places. 1t appears that Mr.. Marco He'll
man, young gentleman born and bred
in the free air of Los Angeles, and the
son of the Los Angeles capitalist, Mr.. L.
NJ. Hellman, had the hardihood to give
a supper to a party of friends in that
hide-bound city, and the result was an
excitement only comparable to the
Samoan difficulty. 1t appears that the
Grand Jury has some smelfungus
advisers who got wind of the dreadful fact
that wine was served at the repast, and
great was the commotion. Says the
Kansas City Times:
Mr.. Hellfnan, of California, will give
no more champagne suppers at Topeka.
He will, however, continue to entertain
vigorous opinions of prohibition ways.
The hospitable gentleman who gives the
next banquet in Topeka must not forget
to invite the grand jury. Some people
are very touchy.
A Kansas paper has the following:
Topeka is now not only called Holy
Topeka" but "Truly Good Topeka. I"
This is since the Grand Jury began to
investigate private wine supper recently
given by young man from the Pacific
Slope. Topeka can endure this mild
irony with equanimity 30 long as she is
perfectly conscious that she is the holiest
city in the State. We are able to read
our title clear, though fiery darts be
hurled. Mp-ah
The awful circumstance is travelling
over the country at high rate of speed,
as witness the following dispatch in the
Chicago Tribune, dated Topeka, March
14th:
Saturday evening Marco Hellman, a
young Californian, gave wine supper at
the Copeland to seventeen society men
of this city. 1t is alleged that nearly one
hundred bottles of wine we're consumed.
The w. @. I. U. was not asleep, and the
case has been reported to the grand jury
now in session, creating a sensation
among the guests, all of whom are sum-
moned to appear. Hellman was apprised
of the probable trouble and has left the
city. He is now at Kansas City, Mo. A
requisition has been taken out for him
for use in case he is wanted.
Mr.. Hellman, young man, is to be
pardoned for his ignorance of the fact
that there exists in the country of his
birth a region so bigoted that, in the
privacy Of the dining room of hotel,
the placing of wine on the table would
be held as an infraction of the law.
Coming from region like California,
where hospitality assumes all its natural
and gracious forms, he might readily
suppose that he was doing an innocent
and praiseworthy thing in following the
usages that prevail in every civilized
region Of the earth outside of very
limited section of the United States. The
whole incident is a fine example of a
tempest in a teapot.