Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-10-02
PANHANDLE HOTELS.
a BUSINESS REQUIRING a vARl-
ETY. OF TALENTS.
Incidents Of the Days Before Ralfoads-A
Picturesque and Humorous Fhlso Of
Lie on The Texas Frontier.


towels as the hotel OF the eliete East.
Just think OF Il. the first railroad came
through the Panhandle only four years
ago: upto that time lumber had to be
hauled from Red Lake Mills, n. NJ, or
Dodge City Kas.. for building; yet az
Amarillo, which Is the greatest cattle
shipping point in the United States,
THAT is, for shipping cattle on the
range), there is delightful hotel, with
pretty suites Of rooms and as good II
cuisine as anything | have found east
OF New Orleans, and our little hotel
here is just smaller edition OF the
Amarillo.
RUNNING a HOTEL UNDER DIFFICuL-
TIES.
But n circumstance occurred last
week which set us talking OF Panhan-
die hotels as they used TO be. The
cook left suddenly In response to a tel
egram from another Panhandle hotel
man Offering him twice AS much as we
gave him; the dishwasher had long
been gone before; Mrs. East wife OF
the proprietor, who had heretofore
been doing the chambcrwork herself,
was filling his place, while l was by
turns and spasmodically, first assistant
chambermaiu, deputy darner and
member and high admiral of the linen
room, committee on lights and general
scullery maid and otiscouring.
But the cook left-on telegram
| We all fled TO the kitchen; we precipi-
tated ourselves into IL with the utmost
fury Mt day light, and fought, bled and
died there, of and on all day-the en-
| tire household and most OF the neigh
| bors. Nobody understood the range
/ Il
Mr.. East built fire in it for just
forty-iive minutes--I mean II took him
| forty-fivo minutes of struggling. pcI-
spring and the bitterest invective To
get feeble lame to live precariously
in tho back OF the fire-boX, while in
front all was fresh ltindling wood, coal
and frigid gloom. But things improved
US the day won't on, the weather, the
range and ourselves all warmed up TO
gether
Mrs. East cooked Mr.. East sliced
meat, sawed bones and chucklod all
the relatives, connections and hOnora-
| ry members Of the household, among
| tho latter myself, washed dishes. pot
and pans, helped prepare, serve. etc,
Any unfortunate stray visitor without
regard TO age. sex or previous cOndi-
tion of servitudel had hat and coat
snatched of, and after being invested
with an apron and furnished with some
implement OF domestic slavery, was
made to work or leave. In this man
ner, a small boy who-hed come 10 Dor
row a spoonful Of soda was detained tIn-
TIL his father came after him with q
barrel hoop; and two females, one OF
whom had it in her mind TO sell III
Somebody's Memoirs, aud the other "a
!, tss H.,tt
were utilized two hours, after which
they fed TO the depot and left on the
next train.
Our nails got broken off in Jagged
serrations, like buzz saws we cut them
down to the quick. We burned our
hands freely, promiscously and unan'
imously on the range, scalded them
over the steamer,ou them with knives,
dropped on them the detected old win.
dow that won't stay up, ghuged them
with can tops, tore them with can open
ors, and jammed them enthusiastically
in doors. But all this was rather pleas
ing TO me- as I've some brown looking
stuff in a funny bottle that mends all
the casualties llesh is heir TO. and I'm
held in esteem as the big medicine man
of the tribe
Cooks have been telegraphed for all
over the inhabited world-and the
Panhandle. People start 'cm here
with letters In their hands, and wire
us they are coming. They go past on
the Fort Worth and Denver, fall into
an abyss Of silence aud Oblivion, and
their loved ones hear of them no more,
This thing has been going on for
four days now, and We really like it,
We work like galley slaves-like dray
mules-hOrses at brick yards, dogs at
dog churns, but, oh, we eat like canni-
balls, our circulation is the most active
and extensive OF any in the Panhandle;
our digestion is $50 per cent, our brows
are wet with gallons and gallons Of
honest sweat, and we owe not any man
except the telegraph operator, and
he boards with u.s.
But, as ! said, we rcminisce on the
subject OF Panhandle hotels.
THE FIRST PANHANDLE HOTEL,
Probably the first hotel in the Pan.
handle was Tommy O'Laughlin's place
at Mobeetie, which is the oldest settle
ment in this country. This was q
picket house Of about three rooms, with
dirt floor and roof, and the front door
was a frame work with a c0wskin
stretched over it. There was kitchen,
dining room and Mrs. Tommy's room.
There were no rooms for guests, and
sometimes not anything else, for,
whites Tommy would conclude 70 have
a big time and play monte with his
aggregated savings from the hotel
business, Mrs. Tommy would, coinci-
dentally, rcpudiate cooking and its ai-
tendant labOrs as unworthy and unbo-
coming her charms, and would employ
herself entirely in looking pretty; and
for a season there was no hotel and
the stranger within Mobeetie's gates-
be- he errnnt cattleman, COW puncher,
prospectOr, tenderfoOt locator who
would add to the population, or the
sheriff with papers calculated to deplete
it--had not only 70 sleep as heretofore
under his own saddle blankets, or such
bedding as he was prudently furnished
with, but 10 rustic his provisions about
like the patient aud enterprlsing
wearer Of the saddle blanket
THE FIRST "PLAsRH HOTEL.
Dune. Gage came home to the ranch
one day and announced that the rail-
road had got 10 Quanah-which was
then tent town-an they had a plank
hotel with d plank floor; ~ cu'd ies'
walk an look back At Yer " sr"
His description Of his night Eleri-
Z aftfs. az 4 Ia. t,a.,4 f.lauL lRttaI HH..aH