The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-30
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.
Missouri River Towns Where Proc
ress Ia Unknown

stand still, neck and neck" said a Chi.
cagoan who had been out West reeentlE.
Il made trip out there, and finding the,
old river on a sort of BOOM 1 took passage,
on a stern-wheeler and stopped off when
ever she made a landing. Some of the
towns haven't changed much since I trav-
eled up and down the river forty years
ago. I won't mention the names of the
towns where we landed, for business rea-
sons. At one Of them a hotel runner came,
down to the boat He was a darby and
looked very much like the hotel runners
forty years ago. except that he wore an
army hat and a Rough Rider coat As
soon as the staging was out he opened up
with yell for his house. AS there was no
competition, 1 did not see the necessity
for this. I went ashore and asked him
why he was yelling.
Oats what I'm paid for, cap'n, he re-
piled. Can't hold nah job less 1 ven
Il asked him what house he was run
ming for, and learned it was the Man
sion. There used 70 be a Mansion House
in every town ia Missouri if il was river
or a stage town. So the old name was re-
tanned in this town. l asked the runner
who was the landlord.
Oar amt no landlord only a landlady.
De Widow -
THE name was familiar. A few inqui--
ries and l learned that the landlady was
the widow of a young man whose father
founded the hotel The young man sue
ceeded to the business, married, went into,
the Southern army and was killed That
is the story, allowing the variations, ain
along the Missouri river.
''At another stop l went ashore. The
landing was under a great bluff. The last
time I was there the town was be-.
leaguered. A Confederate army was bang,
ing away at Federal force, il was ore,
of the first battles in the West. few
negroes lounged about the levee. A few
trucks stood, with three or four mules.
ready for freight. A boy sold me news.
paper of the day before. When the stern
wheeler was under Roadway l looked over
the publication, and here and there l saw
name that looked familiar. A majority
of the names, however, l did not recog-
nze.
But I did recognize the old style. The
men now in business along the Missouri
river have adopted the old advertising Ian
gIage of their predecessors. John Smith.
general dealer in merchandise, has on
hand and viii keep constantly in the store
the following and staple articles are
enumerated with the display line cheap
for cash This line was never seen in an
advertisement in Missouri before the war.
1
thing he sold. The customer paid when he
sold his hemp or corn or a niger
In the river news, under the head Port
of -, l read an advertisement, word for
word, as il appeared forty years ago, Wits
the exception OF the name of the boat.
captain. clerk and agent. The advertise
ment was indCnted, as printers would say,
with the cut of a steamboat. All steamer
cuts were alike forty years ago. They have.
sI ! p1iDpaH the advertisement
as a reminder of old times and as evidence
that there are some places in the world
that are under the command of joshua.
Listen 10 the reading:
The new, elegant swift passenger
steamer BLANC Blank, Blank Blank COM
mander Blank Blank clerk, will leave this
port every Friday for Kansas City, Leav-
enworth. Weston, and St Joseph, and ALI
way landings. For freight ana passage ap-
ply OIL board. or to Blank Blank, steamboat
agents"
''lIow the salt Of the water has lost its
SAVIOR. The captain. or commander, of the
boat on which l was a passenger was ms
own clerk and assistant pilot, and played
the role of mate from the forward deck
The captain of a steamboat forty years
ago was an alistocrar In the estimation
OF his passengers he was as important as
the captain of an ocean liner. l had some
business in a decadent town above Kan
sas CITY. and l left the stern-wheeer
at that landing. Before doing so asked
the captain when he would return, bound
below. He didn't know. All depended
on the stage of water and cargo. He said
he didn't have TO come back until he GOT
ready. This was not the case forty years
ago. Steamboadng has deteriorated more
than the towns.
"There was no hotel runner at the
landing when I disembarked l walked
up a long hill, In the grass, for the grass
was in the sidewalks and the street sew
eral old men, with long, white pearus'
looked at me as l passed When l reach
ed the top of the hill l asked man VINO
was milking a COW in the street where
could find a hotel. He coughed ana re-
piled in a wheezy voice:
There amt no hotel here. But the
taller has spare room occasionally, ana
he kin feed you. Amt got no beast nave
you?
Il understand this Forty years ago there
were tavern signs in the stage towns OF
Missouri on which was the information,
Entertainment for man and beast
FOLLOWING the milkman's direction l
found the jailers house, and, as he mad
no boarders, legal or otherwise, l stopped
all night I learned from him that even
the jail business was NOT what it used TO
be. He had not seen a prisoner for SIX
months. Lost one he had got away. The
Angel Gabriel will have TO toot over this
fellows grave when he Is dead, several
times to make him turn over. He IS
further back in the procession than any
individual 1 ever saw. When told him.
in answer TO the old Missouri query
Where do you hail from? that lived IN
Chicago he whitfield in silence for several
minutes and then asked, with effort, Got
to be a right smart town by this time,
reckon
Il explained to him as lucidly as could
the size and Importance of Chicago, and
how il had become as big as New York.
The information did not arouse him. He
whitfield as before, in silence, and then
sal5:
"'Reckon it must be pigger'n Kansas
City and St. Joe put together
Then I asked him for a candle, and
went 70 bed. l was in that benghted Sec
NATIVE staLa four daNs lnoL-