Omaha daily bee., 1900-02-11

my opinion there is only one solution to
the question o. Kentucky murders and feuds,
and that is the advent Of ciyilizing infiu-
cnces and the breaking up OF what might
be properly termed tribal influences"
During the recent cold snap the proprietor
Of a certain boarding and rooming house on
West Farnam stree. was sorely pressed for
a means Of heating the upstairs rooms. The
current Of air rushing upward from the furn-
ace seemed to lose all warmth by the time
IL reached the second floor, and the roomers
we're clicking" Something had to be done.
The proprietor went 70 the baseme and
piled on coal until the furnace was red; then,
climbing the stairs TO the second floor, held
his hand over the hall register.
a faint. eickly breath OF tepid air arose.
This would never do. With m~onkey-wrench
and scrowdriyer he took off the register 10
let more heat pass up.
One-thiry O'Clock. In the dining room on
the first floor a dozen boarders were seated
about the long table, waiting for the mid
day meal. BY each plate reposed a dish of
cranberry sauce. The big punches of celery
locked temptingly fresh and crisp, while
from the kitchen noated the odor of roast
turkey and sage. The boarders were hungry
and impatieutly awaited the advent Of the
hired girl with the steaming bird. But the
hired girl was upstairs.
Everything comes to him who waits re-
marked the insurance agent.
Scarcely were the words spoken when there
was a crash, a rattle of falling debris and
the crackle of splintering laths.
Instictively every eye was directed up
ward toward the center of disturbance.
Then, in the smallest fraction of a second,
every eye was closed with hands, napkins
and handkerchiefs pressed over them.
The dust from falling plaster is peculiarly
irritating to the sensitive eyeball.
But in that infinitely short space of time
the boarders had caught a glimpse Of some
thing long, dark and shapely dangling down
ward from the ceiling-something that term
mated in a No. 4 shoe.
Three minutes later all hands turned in
to help clear away the wreck. The insur-
ance agent got a coal %scuttle. the window
trimmer welded the broom, the dry goods
clerk held the dustpan while the landlady
whisked the things off the table and pre-
pared to set it anew.
well, l %nevcr." said the landlord. emery
ing from the basement. who did that?"
"You!" snapped his wife. You had no
business to take that register off"
The hired girl didn't come down for dinner
that day. She said she wasn't feeling well.
Residents of Omaha who knew w.
II. Kent, a newspaper reporter who worked
here away back in the SOS, will understand
this story better than those who never had
the pleasure of acquaintance with the err
ratio, but clever Mr.. Kent. In the summer
of 1895 Kent was employed on a st. Joseph
newspaper. He received a letter from a pros
porous brother in Indiana extending him an
invitation to make one more visit to the old
home. The invitation was accompanied by a
draft for $50 and a railroad pass from st.
Joseph to Charlottesville Kent got as far
as Chicago on his way to Indiana, and he
might have gone further without incident,
but for the fact that he met his old friend,
William Lightfoot Visscher, a well known
poetic genius who has played engagements
in all the larger cities of the country. Kent
spent his $50 in renewing acquaintance with
Visscher. Visscher was also liberal with
his funds as long as they lasted. After they
were broke they dicussed ways and means
for recuperation. At that time Visscher was
a space writer on the Chicago papers.
why don't you write a story about my
Alaska railroad?" Kent asked.
1t was a happy thought. Visscher knew
that Kent was the originator of a scheme by
which the world was to be encircled by a
railroad crossing Boring strait, and connect
ing Siberia with Alaska, extending through
Russia and into the heart of Europe. So
Visscher wrote the story. He sold it to one
of the Chicago morning papers. 1t made two
columns andra half. 1t was a good story. but
the funny part of it was that the introduce
tory paragraph read something like this:
w. H.. Kent, a multi-millionaire of St.
iInGpnh Mo. iS at the Auditorium Annex.
enroltte to New York, where he goes to
confer with Wall street magnates with ref
the world, competing by way OF Bering
straits. From New York Mr.. Kent will go
to st. Petersburg to confer with the ear
of Russia, as the Russian government is
deeply interested in his project.
And so the story ran, while at that very
blessed moment Kent. whom Visscher pic
tured as a multi-milionaire, was anxiously
waiting for Visscher to rise the price of a
drink, a supper and a bed. 1t was true,
however, Kent was the originator of the
Russian railroad scheme, dispite the fact
that Ex-Governor GiIpin OF Colorado was sc
accredited. Kent figured out the plan and
was for several years during his residence in
Omaha in COMMUNICATION with the Russian
authorities.
Somebody once wrote an alleged joke to
the effect that there may be plenty of civil
engineers, but no civil brakemen. This joke
doesn't always hold good, and one instance
of departure is the case of Judge Lee Es-
tellc. Many of his friends and admirers who
observe the graceful manner in which he
fills his position on the district bench are
not aware that the judge once twisted
freight brakes on a railroad and that he
could jump from car to car as easily as he
now wheels about in his revolving chair
back of the bench, Yet, that is "A fact, for
Judge Estelle says so himself. Away back
in the latter COS it was Lee Estelle, brake
man. He ran on the Missouri Pacific and