The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-10-11
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS

IN HOTEL CORRIDORS
you have fine fire department in To-
peka,' said a fire insurance man at the
National. Proud of it? Well, I should
mayor and council should, by the inserut-
able will of Providence. be called upon
to ascend In a chariot of tire or be taken
away bv any other means of sudden
transportation, that department could
keep the CITY affairs running along SO
smao+1Iv that YOU wouldn't know that
chief l[Iovvs how to do things and to get
t 80 sly - ~ 49, Ina t1is ho-sess31d
for the chief Look at the new city build
ing Why, its principally composed ,,. OF
gressed the department kept expanding
until there was danger that the council
would have to build shed on the back
end to hold meetings in. And finally the
chief let the city dads have some room
piece of diplomacy was getting the build
ing insured. Don't you know about that?
Why after filling the building with fire
fighters and fire fighting apparatus the
council got the building well insured so
If the building gets on fire the Waterman
can let the boys sleep till 1t gets danger
and walk out. The Insurance companies
will foot the bills. See? Yes, your city
some cities they refuse to insure that kind
of property on the cold-blOoded theory
protect the building in which it lives
ought to burn up" And the insurance
man chuckled as he thought of the 5000
premiums
'eYou have heard innumerab1e stories of
the didn't know it was loaded variety"
said Frank Durland, who travels for
grocery house, but believe I can tell a
true story of that class which caps the
climax Of any that l ever heard even in
irresponsible newspapers. 1t was down in
Lyon county several years ago when |
was making that part of the country. L
always enjoy a hunt and I like to go out
fishing, providing 1 have good company,
In r~r1 itxr
Two friends of mine who are travelling
men, Geo. Bragunier and Frank Tucker,
had arranged things for a hunting and
fishing party, of which was the third
member. We were to drive to Chase
sport. We located our camp and had the
usual good time that party of three
circumstances. The second day out we
were spotterin' along the bank Of the
river carrying our fishing tackle and a
q rifle. There was also a revolver in the
party, but don't remember who carried
that We We're going up the river and
the opposite bank and, just for fun, shot
at it with the rifle He missed and we
shot several times both With the rifle and
revolver, but failed to hit it. We crossed
over the river some distance above and
came down the side the grip was on. It
was lying the side of a pile of rocks
and, as we neared it. I remarked that I
would bet I would be the first one to
hit it, and opened fire with the revolver.
Bragunier began to shoot with the rifle.
but neither of US hit the mark. Tucker
laughed and said he would hit 1t better
with a rock and threw at it several
times We were approaching it all the
while we We're shooting. l believe we
fired ten shots at the thing, not counting
the stones thrown, before we reached 1t,
and at the last shot We were not more
than ten feet from it. One of the party
picked it up and noticed that the handle
almost tainted when we found that it
contained dynamite Some one had evil
ing it to kin fish in the river, a practice
that is Illegal. but is nevertheless INDUCED
from the quarries. But it was dynamite
and enough of it to blow up a whole
not hit the stuff when we were so close
is a mystery to me. We all had nervous
row escape and had to go back to town
to get something to quiet our nerves.
would look down the muzzIe of q. gun that
was not loaded"
81 understand your city has had some
trouble concerning the lines of the
streets" said a civil engineer who has
had a great deal of experience in his
business. well, I want to tell you that
you will have all kinds of trouble, at least
the property owners will until the matter
is settled by some authorized commission
made difficult on account of poor work
by former engineering work, but the most
peculiar one that I can at present recall
was at Gainesville Texas and the neopIe
got around the trouble in a most sensible
manner. When l went there it was 20
years ago. At that time I was a young
interested in my work. The man who T
was working for was one of the best
engineers that I have ever met and his
work was to straighten out the tangle
in which the city of Gainesville had got
ten on account Of poor engineering work.
At that time the town was new and there
were no entanglements as to heirs, east
ern spectators and the like. Every man
who owned what he thought was. his
property was living in the city. which, at
that time, had about 5000 Inhabitants 1t
seems that when the town was first 1ayed
out that the engineer had taken as a.
starting point a tree on the Pecos river
This tree had been washed away and the
next man had used as base a pile of
rocks which stood near where the tree
had been. Later the river got on a high
and the rocks were washed away. That
waS@the condition when we arrived there
The men who had their money invested
in the town had enough sense to know
that something must be done in order to
find where their lines were, and for that
reason called a town meeting, which de-
cided to call an expert engineer. When
the engineer came he found that the
houses were not on the lots that the house
owner had purchased; that the deeds
called for lots that were not on the plat;
that where there should be a jog in the
street the street was straight; that there
were lots without deeds and deeds with