The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-24

clerks desk. Els atsatudo was stained
" elegant he seemed unmindful of
his surroundings. and to b looking
over the heads OF tire men on the sestee
across tho lobby. The clerk looked at
him occasionally IN mingled anger and
amusement Pres sntly the man walked
out into the cente of the lobby. glanced
slowly around ani walked deliberately
ont of the hotel through the writing
room and the lac ss' entrance.
II wish some ody would invent q
sure crank-killir machine" said the
clerk, after the nan had disappeared
s'That fellow We the sixth tonight"
"What do you camp" asked the re-
porter.
II mean" he olied. that tina. fell
low knew when came here that 20
such man as he ] quired for had ever
stopped here j, fact, the name ho
mentioned was a., there was of his pre-
tended friend 'shen he came here
and asked for I myth OF his own
creation, he kne' that he was simply
hothering me hat was his objectP
oh, simply to crs ito an impression on
the people stan, ug around Did yoa
notice how his -oice ros. whesa he
talked Of the m n as The big million
ai-eT Don't you know there are men
who are constantiy craving the noto-
.ie~F a. Is associated with riches?
Haven't you heard men in restaurants.
elevated t-pins, horse cars. barroonas
and elsewhere talk about big
deals bonds, vast sums Of money,
their social position, intimacy with
great men, and all that sort OF
thing? OF course You have. and have
known all the time that they were
merely taking. Well, that sort of MAJ
comes in here nearly every day and an
noys the life out OF US This fellow.
you saw has been here so many times
am dead on to him. He wants TO show
of his clothes and imitation diamonds,
and m axe people think he il big gun
Most Of them are not so well dressed rs
he is. Some are countrymen who have
heard good deal about our lobby and
the men who frequentit, and ask quee-
tons about persons who don't exist rs
an excuse for coming here. They seem
to think that being seen In converse
ton with the clerk gives them q sort
Of right TO stay here and satisfy their
curiosity. They have an idea the de-
tectives viii come around and order
them out unless they do something &c
the kind l frightened one of these
fellows nearly out of his wits one night.
He was a perfect jay, and suffered.
He asked IL Howard Johnson was in.
Yes said. there he is and
pointed out our detective. who was
standing close by. Mr.. Johnson I
said, heres a man wants 10 talk %
you / winled 10 the detective and be
tumbled. What did you wish Of me.
sir? he said, crowding him up into this
corner. The fellow turned blue with
fright. 4 g-gguess I m-m-ade . NM
mistake he suffered You asked for
Howard Johnson / eaid. severely.
And that's my nxmc.' said the detec-
tive. taking the hint 'Y-y-yes,' said
the fellow. 'b-b-but / g-g-guess y-you
air a d-d-diferent H.H-Howard' He
kept edging OF as far az he could. and
finally bolted.
''Some Of the cranks got UP great
btoftEA Sn6 ftitCW
called the other night TO know IL a
Mr.. Harris had left pair of opera
glasses for him. There had been no
sach guest here. During the last cam
paign. when the papers were full OF
stories about the big men here, we lad
as many as thirty or forty cranks pes
tering Us every day. A faroritc trick
with some of them was TO wait until
the papers announced the departure OF
big gun, and then ccme here and
poster Us with questions about when
he would return. They siways pre-
tended surprise when told ne had gone
without leaving messages for them.
and would try 70 talk cenfidentially
with us, in tones loud enough TO be-
heard fifty feet away, about their ipti-
mate relations with the biz men We
were overrun with them. and found IL
difficult To attend TO our business, for
they stuck like leeches II was a great
relief 20 see them drop OF after the
campaign, but we are still annoyed 10y
enough To make us sore at timea"-N.
I. Sun