Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-07-25
A HOUSE OF FREAKS.
THE QUEER wHIMs OF AN ECCENTRIC
 RESIDENT OF CHICAGO.

For Work Upon Hotel Which Is Altered
 Often as once n Year. but Which Has
 Never Been Occupied.
 On a certain west side street there stands big white four story building. | One would say 1t was an apartment | house were it not that it seems to be | empty. But each spring and fall signs | of life invest the place Workmen in | blue overalls and jumpers come in | gangs Wagons drive up and unload | lumber. bricks and mortar. Windows | and doors arc opened. and the ears of | the people in the vicinity are greeted with the sound of hammer and saw. Were this building to be destroyed a landmark would disappear, and were its owner to die Chicago would lose one of its characters.
 Possessed of an ample fortune, this man, who may be called Colonel Per kins, gratifies some of the queercst whims which ever burdened mortal man or caused mirthful public no end of amusement. This building is the ob- ject on which the colonel works his own sweet will, and its interior has probably worn more different aspects within the last five years than any other building in this city.
 For heaven only knows how many years the colonel has intended to open n hotel Once always and sometimes twice every year workmen arc engaged, ma terial purchased, and for q few weeks great hustle and confusion go on within tho white walls. Partitions arc torn down and put up, painters and paper hangers change the appearance of the rooms, and great renovation is effect ed. This goes on for perhaps month. Then suddenly the workmsn are called of, doors and windows are closed, and the house is apparently empty for months. About the time the people are becoming accustomed to the deserted appearance of the place the workmen again appear and tear out what they had put in.
 The colonel spends fr0ra $500 to S6,- 900 every time he gets the workmen into the house. AS you go into the building you first notice 6 great oak staircase leading from tho main hall. Years ago the colonel was in Vienna In some old building there he saw n staircase with painted panels and inlaid tiles and scrolls and gimcracks of one sort and another in it. He was cntranc- ed and determined to have counterpart of it in his new hotel, which he would open for the Worlds fair year. When he came home, he hired w2rkmen, and Q part of them he put on 61e staircase. The men started to work with sandpa- per and pumicc stone to take off the old paint and varnish. The colonel stopped them. They must scrape it with glass, | he said. The foreman tried to explain that they could do it quicker and better their way. but to no purpose. It would not do. 1t-SauSt be scrapod with glass He WAS paying for that staircase, and be was goin. to have it dono his way. So tho men got pieces of broken glass and began to scrape. From morning till night half dozen men scraped and scratched away with bits of glass They finished the work ill time, but the sum which it cost the colonel was some thing prodigious
 Then he concluded that a furnace in a house was poor idea, SD he had that taken out and the registers stuffed up. He said when he opened his hotel he "OulNt lIiC gusts NlN4l l and they could have stoves if they chose to pay for them. The cheapest room ill the house was to be $3 day.
 Personally Colonel Perkins does not like running water i'll n room. There fore hs has had it shut oil ill his room and basin set ill tho stationary bowl A pitcher of water sots on tho floor. This oddity's bed, or rather ths way 1t is placed, is the Queerest imaginable If | c pcrson were to walk suddenly ilrtC this mans bedroom. he would rub his eyes and wonder where he was. Sus- panfed in the center of tho room ty chains from the ceiling is the colonel. bed. He reaches 1t by means of small stcpladdss, which he had built for the purpose. Inc reusCn he assigns for hay. ing hts bed placed in shis singular posi-. tion is that tho air circulates better UT rtsre How the circulation of sir could have any bearing on tho ease is not easily seen. as tho transom and every window in tho room is nailed shut with big spikes.
 The blankets on tho bed are of the finest silk. These ho sends to Boston tC be cleaned, where he also sends his trousers every month to bc pressed.
 Ono time during an anrryal campaign of repairs the colonel concluded the mattresses and pillows needed rcfillinG and the chairs and sofas needed new upholstering. Instead of sending tho things out to be fixed he had men come to the house. The mattresses. pillows and furniture were all ripped open, and the contents he had the men pile i'll one room. Half way to the criliug wal d heap of hay, corn huskS, Curlcd hail and excelsior, and there it rcniains tC this day. or at least part of il l. iu that room. \ portion, through careless
 ly opened doors and windows, has bcCI
 blown through the rest of the house. The frames of the furniture also had u be all scraped with glass and tho cnss' was something like three times wbai new furniture would cost
 Another innovation which the colone } says he will embody in his hotel is door. which sink into the floor. He proposc-
 to haze the doors fitted So that by press
 ing O button they will sink into grooves until the top is flush with thG 2 foor Pressure upon anothar button
 brings them up again
 Whenever he intends to go on triI
 his trunks are packed and sent on ex.
 actly three days tefore he leaves If by
 any accident the baggage is delayed one
 day, the colonel postpOnes his departure
 just one day. y.-Chicago Tribune.