Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-11-13

in the neightorhood in which either of the
two regiments Is quartered. Instead. IL Is
only a block from the very heart OF the
portion of Eighth street from Walnut street
10 Delaware which is seldom traversed
by vehicles of any sort and is yet so near
to the .puIse of The city to be always in
reach of a crowd. is the fakir's paradise: The
popcorn man and the peanut man and the
long made their hold out here, and have
assumed peculiar poses, or grown. shorter in
their uphill legs from standing from morn
till night on the sloplng pavement.
But the commercial advantages of the
place were not to be monopolized by parties
with such unpicturesque pursuits as these.
and one day the man who sells the Little
Gem combined corkscrew, can-opener, knife
sharpener, glasscutter and tack hammer
moved in, There was crowd enough to
spare and although the circle daily grew
around the little man who cut panes of
glass into rings and spirals as if they had
been sheets of paper. the traffic in peanuts
and popcorn and collie breeding confection-
cry did not seem to languish.
Then the Soap Man Came.
Then. one day. the soap man came.
A little way up the slope from Delaware
street he erected his tripod and wash basin,
and every day, warm or cold, he exhibited
upon himself the marvellous properties OF
the soap he sold. With some apprehension
the confectioners up the hill, and the little
man with the combined glass-cutter, etc.
on the corner below watched the operations
VI lH!S IOTIHlldDle rival. anu even JOlIleu
the wondering throng to witness through
the soapy. mist the movements of the much
belathered mountebank. But when the
stock of little cubes of soap had been dis
posed of at 10 cents per, the trade drifted
back to the other tradesmen and lesser
orators and at night their receipts were
no lighter than usual.
A week passed with nothing to mar the
tranquility of the Midway. but the unsea-
sonable cold and snow. Then. with the re-
turn of warm days n new and seductive at
traction came u%nannounced. and struck
fresh terror to the hearts of the humble
tradesman, and even the lather of the soap
man seemed less profuse than it had be-
as the soap man had done. His was a new.
uncouth. almost unheard of business. For
a nickel he let you hear the dying groans
of the negro fiend. whose flesh was roasted
from his bones in the fierce flames kindled
by the Infatuated citizens of Paris. Tex"
From another monograph for a like con-
sideration could he heard the edifying and
refining particulars of the confession of
William Carr. the murderer of little Belle"
But the attitude of the denizens of the
Midway was not shared by their customers,
and from noon till night the rubber tubes
of the Photographs were kept busy i'm
proving minds and illumining souls with
their messages. while the crowds in wait
ing gaZed in wonderment at the pictures
displayed of Scaffolds and criminals and
victims and funeral pyres. Then one by
one the doubling tradesmen We're presented
with comps They left their stands TO
absorb horror from the gutta-percha ear
pieces of the photograph man, and came
back ~conGeaIed but converted. The pho
nograph man had established his right to d
place on the Midway.
4 Preacher Was the Last Blow.
himself and his apparatus to the slope