The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-04-10
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

other hotel of New York. 1t is the place of
places to meet people Tor whom you may
chance to be looking. Its rOtunda and bar
at midday is one of the city sights. Like
all of the downtown resorts. the bulk OF
the trade is by day, though the hotel Is al
ways full from one years end to another.
The outside business completely swal-
lows up the mere guests of the house.
They may be in Il" but they are unseen
aud unfelt save on holidays ard Sundays.
There are four bar-keepers and a cashier Oh
duty by day. and the bar receipts average
SoOo per day-next to the Hoffman House.
AT night while the uptown places are coin
ing cash. the Astor is next TO nothing. In
the matter of wine the average at the AS
Tor Is probably smaller than almost any
Iashionable uptown resort. except the
rlith-avenue, beng about $3.50 per day.
Ihls Is mostly consumed at lunch.
mere Is usually very little time devoted
10 the pleasures of the table by business
bar-ISeper Harry Smith, though there are
always more or less business men with
friends who are ready to form the excep-
tions A good deal of wine il drunk over
the bar here for the same reasons. There
remarked, calling my attention to the fact,
"a rare thing, perhaps. up town. Most peo-
pie are In hurry down here There's an
awful lot OF whisky drunk. We order one
aonSs wResner that done az any
other hotel in the world. OF wines
and liquors we carry usually about Sl0o 900
worth in stock. BY the bottle we sell more
claTets and sauternes. hooks. Burgundies.
of the wine used is for lunch by outside
pe0ple-not 80 much for regular dinner
guests. AS said, the great tlpple Is rye
whisky at the bar. I've been In the bust
ness now for thirty-fve years-ten years at
a a
time at the Eutaw House. Baltimore-and
never saw any place TO equal this We
have In here every day judges of the city
and federal courts, politicians. railroad
paper men and ali kinds of professional
aud business men.
SOME OF THE REGULARS.
There are old merchants who como
down here from up above Canal street.
They have been coming here for years. Ion :
before the most of the uptown places were
built. and they come here. except on holi-
days and Sundays. as regular as clock
work. never heard of such thing be-
fore came here. know Old-timers who
will insist upon the same stool and the
same waiter every day. aud they will wait
behind whoever happens 20 have that stool
until it is vacant. They have been sittin g
somo particular seat for ten, fif-
teen, twenty or twenty-five years
or more. They have been waited
such men here every day. Another funny
thing-one of them takes his single glass
of claret with two parts warm water, while
there Is occasionally man near him who
man shakes his head solemnly and warns
the man who is drinking iced claret, and
the latter usually says he likes it better
that way. and that's the end OF it I've
witnessed this little by play scores OF times.
Yes. we have walters who have been here
ten fifteen and twenty years. think one
man has been here thirty.
"A good many Of these people get to
know me. and / remember their faces.
They come around to my corner and feline
all sorts of things. and ask me If Judge
So-and-So has been in yet. or whether any
body had left any word, or something. A
broker comes in here and looks at the
ticker while he eats, or is waiting for q
ally writes an order to somebody to sell or
buy so many shares, and hands IL
to me to give the party when
he comes in. 1t Is q great fashion
dST bs4s b Sy a1 1 Saps tbTss
or four bottles. Sometimes from one court.
sometimes from another. There's a tall old
man who comes In and eats tart every
day. A short time ago it happened that be
stood right between Colonel Shepard and
Chauncv Depew, and they made a funny
trio. And Norvin Green. of the Western
Union, leaned against the bar and laughed
at them. Come in here any day and I'll
point 'em all out to you"
INTENSELY RESPECTABLE.
The distance from the Astor House to
Hotel Brunswick is only some two and q
half miles, but If il were two thousand
that wouldn't measure the gap existing be-
tween the respective styles and character
Istics of patronage. There is an air of in
tensity about the respectability of Hotel
Brunswick that needs only the gloomy ma
hogany wainscotings and ceilingst to render
is painful to most people; 1t is "deucedly
English. you know" Not only has the
custom comes from foreigners. who proba-
bly, find in 1t something akin to the somber
hOstelries Of London. The wine cellars are
across the street, and these contained when
the house failed about 100000 of wines and
liquors.
sour guests drink good deal of claret.
like most foreigners" said Mr.. Conkey, the
boss of the cellars. "Clarets. Burgundies
and champagnes. Very little Rhine wines
are used. The consumption of wines aver
age about $500 per day. The ruling prices
of clarets are from go TO "a a bottle, though
occasionally parties scale higher. and now
and then somebody thinks our best Bur
gundy-SS per bottle-is none too good fol
wines-always timing the shipments &C
they will reach here about April /.
The bottline is done in July
and August from the original casks
That is the best season, according
to wine experts. We have four wine-
handlers in the cellars and an expert. born
and raised in the wine regions of France.
to care for the bottling. and so on. Good
wines are precious and require great
deal of attention. No house carries q lsrge
stock of champapnes and while the con.
sumption of champagne in point of value
is next to claret with us, the supply can
| readily be had here. There Is too much
waste on defective corkage TO pay for keep
ing champagne in large amounts.
With these distinctive types of the New
| York hotel on which to base calculations
! the interested will be able TO form some
conclusion as to the liquid capacity and
financial strength of the great consumer
| the public.
CHARLES THEODORE MURRAY.
Another Whack at Eliot