The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-09-03
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS.

'If a man in the box office depended
upon his salary alone he would not wear
diamonds live at the best hotel and have
a dozen suits of Clothes" remarked one
ing of ticket sellers as they sat in front
of the Copeland. Il have heard that in
some of the p-opularplaces of amusement
in the east the privilege of selling icketS
is paid for. I do not know that the
statement is true, but lido know that it
is very probable. You can readily APP
preciate this if you have ever purchased
a ticket at the box office n forgotten
the change. / have heard men say who
have been in the business that in a good
theater the rake off mounts to several
hundred dollars a month. OF course, IL
any money is left at the window it be-
longs to the ticket seller, as he has to
account only for the number of tickets
taken at the door, and If there is a good
crowd and a rush he is bound to get the
best of it, ever if he is perfectly honest
and does not attempt to short change
any me-. Many people will get in line,
approach the window and call for the
number of tickets they desire. When the
tickets are received they take them and
the change, if there is any, and walk
on without thinking of the money. A
large majority of the people are careful:
they know how much the tickets should
cost and count their change, but the
number who do not is surprisingly large.
If there is a great rush as there usually
is at a circus ticket wagon it is very
1900 ASAA~ 0S-A& ~ SAACA- -GAA5
the buyer. Even in small theaters the
rake Off is quite an item to the man in
the box office. 1 know a young man who
managed an opera house in a Kansas
town of not over 5000 Inhabitants, and
he told me that his revenue from the Of
flee averaged SO for every entertainment
that was given in the house during the
time he had control of it. That will give
you some idea of what it would amount
to in a house where the average attend
ance nightly would be 1000, as it is III
many OF the cities. h same young
man that 1 spoke of made a neat thing
in another way. He would buy up all
the plugged nickels from the men who
had slot machines and put them out in
change at box office. This could be cas-
lily done as no one was ever known to
catch him at it and every time the house
was opened he passed out a number of
them. He did not tell me what he paid
for the plugged money, but said the
scheme paid from so to 20 cents a night"
II used to know a very peculiar man
in Augusta, I made that part of
the state, who afforded me more amuse-
ment than a comic OPERA" said a travel
ing man at the National who was swap
ping "reminiscences with a few friends.
I made that town every other week and
always met this man in one of the gro
Gerry stores. He did not own the store,
but was a customer who lie a good deal
of loafng there and was a great hand
for stories. He had a stock of yarns
which seemed i~nexhaustible and his pc
culiar drawing talks made them all the
more entertaining. I always tried to
have a story to start him with and af-
ter he got started he would manage 20
entertain me n the other loafers as
long as we would remain. He had one
accomplishment of which he was very
he could spit further and with
greater accuracy tina any man I ever
knew or heard of. He chewed tobacco
as his billygoat whiskers and spotted
shirt evidenced, but when he did his ar
tistic expectorations not a drop of am
Der would fall short of the mark. He
had acquired his efficiency by the loss of
a front tooth in bOyhood, and by years
of constant practice later in life. He
proud of his requirement and re-
allied that he was the envy of every boy
n loafer in the community. He would
sit fully 10 feet from the coal scuttle and
hit it without theleast troubla-that was
not an exhibition feat but just an ordinary
one He ~disdained to sit any closer and
considered it an insult If anyone pushed
the scuttle towards him. In the winter
evenings the loafers would rather in the
store and before closing time they were
sure to get h 'champeen splitter as
they called him, to give them an exhibit
ton. His record was 80 feet and that was
a solid shot, not counting splatters.
ne could SIT on a box at the store door
and nail a fly OF the hitching post every
pop Half the dogs in town had sore
eyes which were the result of passing
him on the street and receiving a wing
' 4OS COuia IIOJ DIV
fast enough to avoid the shot. and. as
the old man said, they came to know
him, and when a dog saw him on the
sidewalk it would take a circle out IN
the street, and do it al q swift lone.
too. He didn't spit like anyone else. He
would curl his upper lip, stick his
tongue back of the vacant tooth. and
there would be a sudden pop like the
explosion of an air gun. The BOYS said
that he would sit out in the back yard
and practice all day whenever his wife
didn't object, which she always did If
she caught him at it. His Hife did not
share in her husbands pride Of his ac-
complishment. and it was through her
that he lost his laure1s. He had some
trouble with his teeth and when he went
to the dentist about it she went along
and had a private talk with the dentist.
The old man was informed that q lot
of work was necessary, and before it
was done he had made several trips.
When everything was fixed and the old
mans mouth got in condition to take a
chew he found that he couldn't ex-
pect0rate with his old-time accuracy
n strength. The dentist had put III
a false tooth where the vacancy had
been for years. and the old man could
neither spit straight nor far. He asked
the dentist to tax it out again. but
he refused and as there was no other
dentist in the town, it remained. 1t so
affected the old man that he quit COM