The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-02-07
SHAKESPEARE IN KANSAS CITY.

When Kansas City Was a younger
and smaller town." said an arrival
from that Western metropolis 10 n
reporter. lit was scattered more than
IL Is now. The heavy business was done
on the levee. The newspapers We're
printed down there. The only street
uptown was not graded. 1t was like
climbing a ladder 10 walk from the
levee uptown. and like shooting the
chutes To go from Market square up
town To the levee. There svrung up
sort of geographical jealousy between
the uptoWners and the leVee people.
The younger generation constituted the
uptowners The early settlers did bust
ness on the levee, but lived back on the
bluffs. There was law firm on the
levee that had the big end of the litiga-
tion. one of it's members afterward
became a Judge and the other n cor
poration lawyer Both got rich. They
are dead. but IL either was living he
could tell how n young police court
shyster OF the town forced the old firm
Ia move it's office uptown, and when
they moved the newspapers moved, and
when the newspapers moved the levee's
occupation was gone.
The young shyster was newcomer.
His name was Rummel or something
like II. His office was over the market
house the upstairs Of which was the
city courtroom. I'm one end of which the
city used 20 pile it's sawed wood during
the winter. The market house was not
in the centre Of the square. but the
area was usually crowded with farm
ers whose products OF hay wood and
cattle were huddled about the space
for sale. For some time after the young
shyster had flung his sign to the hurri-
canes he waited in vain for a client.
The farmer i'm search of litigation
would wait until he had sold his pro-
ducts and then eo to the levee, or If
he had not sold nv the time the legal
heavywechts Of the levee came up the
hill he would trail the Arm. and one Of
the members would go over and give adj
vice while sitting on the tongue of the
wagon or while leaning against IT, The
other member OF the firm would usually
wait a the drug store. where a part
nership bottle was kept in the store
room.
"All this was wormwood To the Young
man over the market house. In his
boyhood he had read Shakespeare.
don't know 10 what extent. but he went
on the stage and ranted Caesar"
Hamlet" "Othello." and anything
else he knew. An came back to him.
and he would stand by his open win
dow, when the square was filed with
farmers. and declaim and disregard
Hamlets advice to the players. This
was new TO the farmers in the early
days. And finally there was always n
contest To secure the nearest coign of
vantage with the wagon, so that the
owner could hear the great declaimer
and sell farm products at the same
time
As you might surmise. the fellow got
q client now and then. and he always
had jury trial. That gave him an
opportunity 10 spread himself. and be-
cause his style was novel the old court
room was crowded when he had case.
Not long after the success OF the
young syster the old firm moved up
town. Ii secured an office facing the
square and there it remained until the
town made it's second leap TO what is
known az the Junction and Coates Ad-
dition. OF course the success of Rum
mel, If that was his name. was ephe-
neral. People got tired of having
Shakespeare run i'm on everything. and
do You know that even now. years after
the old law firm and the shyster are
forgotten, il takes mighty good actor
20 draw in Kansas City VI he puts up a
play. And that reminds
me Of what Shakespeare said: The evil
that men do lives after them Still.
Rummel did some good. He started
the uptown boom. THE sun.