The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1901-01-04
BARR MONUMENT ERECTED.
Grave of Capt. Sam Il. Barr in the
Humboldt Cemetery Fittingly
Markedly Loving Friends.

Many of the older residents of Allen
county are we'll acquainted with the
memory of Capt. Barr, once proprie-
tor of the Nickle Plate hotel at Hum
boldt, and will be interested in this
account of how the handsome grave
stone came to be erected there. The
story is told thus in the Kansas City
Journal: y
A year ago Sam B. Campbell one
of the proprietors of the Centropolis
hotel, began the work of raisingmoney
with which to buy a monument for the
neglected grave of Captain Sam b.
Barr, at Humboldt, Kansas. He had
the satisfaction yesterday of receiving
news that the stone now stands on the
Humboldt grave, a silent witness to
the devotion to the memory ofthe dead
friend of Mr.. Campbell and dozens of
other hotel proprietors and travelling
men in Missouri and Kansas.
Fifteen years ago Captain Sam b.
Barr had as wide an acquaintance as
any man in Missouri and Kansas. He
was known throughout the country as
"Beelsteak Barr" because, as the
travelling men averred, he was the only
proprietor of II country hotel in the
West who regularly served his guests
with tenderloin steak when the price of
that palatable commodity was 35 cents
per pound.
Captain Barr lived at Brunswick.
Mo-, at the outbreak of the civil war,
when he enlisted under General Price
in the Confederate Army. He served
four years entering as private and
being mustered out as captain. For
many years after the war he was "A
commercial traveller, and as such
made" almost every large and small
town in Missouri, Kansas and the
Middle West.
On one of his trips, about twenty
years ago, he visited Humboldt, Kan
sas. There he stopped at the old
Nickel Plate hotel, and to his delight
he learned that its proprietor, John l..
Reynolds, was an old friend who had
been one of his comrades in arms. The
former comrade was not, however,
making a gratifying success in the
hotel business. In fact, his business
was fast travelling from bad to worse,
and he was slowly being parted from
all the money he had saved in former
years.
CAPTAIN BARR EMBARKS IN BUSINESS
Captain Barr had never had any
experience in the hotel business, but
he listened sympathetically to the APP
peals of his friend, the former lieuten-
ant, and finally bought half interest
in the business, paying forit consider
ably more than either the trade at that
time orits prospects appeared to justify.
The event disappointed all lugubri-
Gus expectations and proved that Barr
was born to be hotelman. From the
moment he identified himself with the
venture, it be came u success. This
was because Captain Barr ran it "up
to the handle" Having been travel
ing man himself, he knew what kind
of Accommodations the knights of the
grip best liked, and his table soon
bore among them the reputation Of be-
lug the best set in the West, outside
the cities. His Sunday trade was
especially large, for travelling men
would ride all night Saturday night
to get to put their feet under his table
at Sunday dinner.
And so "Beefsteak BARR aud his
partner, the lieutenant, who gladly
yielded into the hands OF his more en-
terprising associate. the management
of the business, prospered and grew
rich. During the boom, when CONNER
men were as numerous in Kansas as
gasshoppers had been some years be-
fore, they did an especially big bust
ness.
About twenty years ago Captain
Barr also engaged in the hotel bust
ness at Harper, Kansas, and it was at
this time that Mr.. Campbell was given
a job by him. He was the young
fellows first employer, and the kind
ness he showed him and the encourage
ment he gave him, won for him Mr..
Campbell's lasting affection.
A CHAPTER or MISFORTUNE.
But unfortunately, a change came
on the good captains life. He fell
upon evil days. There followed in
his history a chapter, in which his
misfortunes played as prominent a
part as his good fortune had in the
preceding one. His friends, in writing
it, make it as brief as possible. Suffice