The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-11-26
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
AND ELSEWHERE

The hotels of Birmingham are seldom SO
crowded as they have been during the past
few days. Last night every hotel in the
city was filled to its full capacity, and
many guests slept upon cots. At the lead
ing hotel four men elected to sleep in a
| single bedded room. The rush was ire
mendous.
what is the meaning of all this crowd?'
was asked of a hotel man.
II don't know" he answered. "There Is
nothing unusual going in the city or
district. The crowd has come to be the
regular thing, though 1t is greater these
| past few days than l remember it for years.
| We turn off scores of people almost every
| day. This is not so much owing to a lack
!! of hotel accommodation for a city of Bir-
! minghams size; but that the tide has set
unexpectedly strong into Birmingham. VS.
| itors are actually begging for a place to
| sleep, and few of them are here for fun;
! they are here on business. Bless my soul,
| It recalls memories of the boom days. We
| keep a big supply of cots always ready,
and we are needing a great many of them"
| The rush is on to be sure. Why it is so
| nobody seems to know. 1t is in the air that
| Birmingham is ON the rebound, and men
with money are fiocking hither. 1.-The truth
| is" said Secretary W. A. Sadd, of the Chat
| tanooga Savings bank, Everybody is talk
| ing about Birmingham now, and talking
| in enthusiastic terms Birmingham is once
! more the center of public attention and in
| terest."
| Mr.. Sadd is one of the strong young bus
| mess men of Chattanooga Z He is spending
| the Thanksgiving holidays with his broth
| er-in-law President Barker, of the First
| National bank of Birmingham.
| There is no doubt about the ris ng tide of
prosperity in Birmingham" said Col Rob-
| ert Mckee of Calhoun who is spending
| few days here. II not only hear of it on all
! sides, but l observe unmistakable evidences
| of it. A man told me that he was agent
| for 200 houses, and every house was occu-
| pied. Another man Informed me that his
| real estate business was now ten times
| greater than it was fifteen months ago.
| lie had all sorts of inquiries for houses
| and was making many sales of house prop
| erty and vacant lots, the purchasers in
| tending to build al once. l have been riding
| around the town, and the building observ-
| ed is astounding
This is the best town l have seen In the
| United States, and l have serious intention
| Of coming here to live when my time Is up
| in the army" Thus spoke Lieutenant d. }.
| Martin, Company A, Fourth infantry, WIS
| consin volunteers, who has been enjoying
| Birmingham for two three days. There
| is nothing hidebound about Birmingham.
| People here convince the stranger that
| their principle is live and let live. There
| is no humbug here, no unnecessary re-
| straint, no arbitrary interference with the
/ liberty of the Individual l believe there is
not another town of similar size in Amer
! lea which is so broad and so thoroughly
| COSMOPOLITAN as Birmingham. Why, came
| here not knowing a soul, and 1 hope l may
| die If the captain of the police didn't re-
| ceive me like brother and show me
| around the. town with the utmost courtesy
| and friendliness! Everybody here is so
| civil to me, and not only to me, but to
| all visitors, in so far as can observe. 1t
| is wonderful civility, wonderful town. won
| derful people. We have got nothing like it
| anywhere else in the country"
| Lieutenant Martin is as stalwart hand
| some. manly a fellow one could find in
/ whole days journey, and evidently he
| is pleased with Birmingham. How could
| he be otherwise than pleased with the best
town in tn eUnited States?
|
| Looking out from window in my house
| this morning." said citizen, 81 saw an
| amusing sight. The coachman of the man
| next door had left the harness room open,
| and milk cow had found her Waytto the
| harness. The reins of one set of carriage
| harness were of bright yellow leather, and
| these attracted the special attention of the
| cow that supplied the family milk and but
| ter. She proceeded to chew the end Of one
| of the reins, and evidently enjoyed the
| feast. She chewed and chewed and switched
| her tail and blinked her great brown eyes,
| until she had swallowed three or four feet
| of the leather. The process was very in
teresting to me, but sent my servant to
| inform the careless coachman that the
| family COW was consuming the family car
| riage harness. The coachman appeared
| upon the scene In hot haste, and then the
| real fun began. The man caught hold of
the rein and began to pull it with all his
| energy. The astonished COW backed, and
the man pulled, and the scene was most
| ludicrous; for several feet of the leather
were in the cows stomach. Finally 1t was
all Drawn out Inc coachman was greatly
| disguised, but not more SO than the cow"
1.-THE speaker of the third house of the
general assembly of Alabama was in town
last night, having absented himself from
Montgomery for day or two. He is Hon.
Jake Weiss, the extra member from Mobile.
Jake Weiss is known and liked all over
Alabama. He is a member of a noted firm
of liquor dealers in Mobile and travels for
his own house. He is a man of wide ac-
quaintance-knows more people personally
than any other Albanian now living"
said an old friend of his. 'Pll bet you Jake
can call the roll of the senate and house
from memory. He is a remarkable man,
and jolly, good fellow
"a newspaper man is quoted in today's
| Herald as saying some kind words of
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