The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-03
FINE BARSGO BACK.
Topeka joints Put on Metro
pOIitan Airs.
Many Of Them Are Installing
Short Order Adjuncts.
HITS RESTAURANT MEN
Legitimate Places Sag Their
Business Is injured.
Sandwiches and Beer Appear TO
Catch Trade.
HITS RESTAURANT MEN

With the coming of fall and the ap-
proach of winter the joints with which
the city is well supplied are preparing /
for the comfort of their patrons and in |
so doing are Quitting their places in /
the most approved style and adding
lunch facilities. evidently feeling as
sured that they will not be molested |
Oak and cherry bars. are succeeding |
the plain wooden affairs which have
served the months of midsummer when
beer was the chief liquor dispensed.
Back of these bars handsome mir
rors have been hung above equally pre-
tentious sideboards and rows of cut
glass goblets and glasses neatly ar
ranged glisten on snow white linen, and
take the places of the earthen stems in
which beer has been served during the
summer.
Brass rails have been placed in front
Of these imported bars upon which the
feet OF the unsteady nerved patrons
| may rest while they listen to the risdUe
tstories of their companions or the par
tender. Some of the more pretentlous
Joints which are styled clubs, are sup
Piled with card tables while the latest
things in drapeFies and carpets add TO
the seductiveness of the resorts.
Upholstered furniture of the better
| grade takes the place of the usual row
Of dilapidated chairs and some of the
places are furnished with leather up
holstered rocking chairs and sofas and
davenpoFts of the same style Inc
walls are hung with pictures ana an
air of security seems. to prevail IN TINS
section of the underworld.
Many of the joints have added cook
ing accommodations and serve lunches
at all hours of the day or night to
their patrons who flock to them be-
cause they can get beer or WHISKY
} with their meals and it is this feature
E--.s- q.~4-. - nf
Il from the. proprIetors of legitimate no.
tells. restaurants and cafes
These places are not confined to low
er Kansas avenue where they are too
numerous to attempt TO enumerate,
! but they have invaded the uptown DIS
! trict of the city and upstairs rooms on
Kansas avenue between Sixth ana
Tenth avenues are in great demand
and command almost any rent that the
. landlords demand
Strenuous efforts have been made to
secure rooms between Seventh street
and Eighth avenue for the purpose OF
= starting one of these socaled clubs
which are nothing more than JOINTS
; with the lunch counter feature added
; as blind and trade-Setter. the
e rivalry between the jointists has be
81 come intense, end though it has not
kSer re4zfcA eA It al sff6e lunch stage, 6
i Ffairfz-e6etf ~ tEI@34laS be obtained "a
Eany of them for price so low tha'
n there IS no money in this feature O.
e the business.
t The large room over the Felix cloth
( ing store adjacent to the National no
p tel. was. recently rented by vel
! known jointist of the city Ldnoleun
n was laid and arrangements made TO
the opening of one of these club joints
:, on a more elaborate scale than eve
j before attempted in Topeka. Ihi
u aroused storm of protests from th'
merchants and property owners IN TIM
g section and from somewhere came tn
$ secret warning that the project mus
It be abandoned at least for the presen
l. and the lincIeum has been removed
p and all arrangements that had beer
e made for eduipipg the place for JOIN
: under the guise Of a club has beei
IS Passing of ..The. Big Four"
Overtures have repeatedly been mad
Il to the owners. of the buildings on tn
1t east side of Kansas avenue. betWee
a Seventh street and Eighth avenue,
IF there are a number of desirable up
Is stairs rooms in this block from tn
N jointists' standpoint. 1t viii be re
uenbered as a bit of ancient h1stor
ar that the club rooms which were opera
l. ted for years by Wood Fowler an
a. Mike Thompson were located IN I'M
hi city and county authorities until fou
years ago when Otis Hungate wa
-, elected as county attorney.
-, AS soon as Hungate was elected h
Z, began a system of house cleanin
e which was at first laughed at. bu
y which ultimately resulted in their be
- ing driven from the city after they ha
"a served Jail sentences, though the
ae have both returned and are now i
Ve business Gambling of all descriI
tons ran riot in their club quarter
m and the bar was one of the finest eve
n seen in the city.
Ell After the proprfetors of this piaC
were sentenced to Jail the plaC
changed hands repeatedly though
!. ceased to be a paying proposition c
account of the vigilance of the ne
set Of county officers VINO caInped
IT. the trail Of every new proprietor WI
attempted to restore it to its form'
standing in the aristocratlc portion
the gambling world. William Gree
IDS & Sons had moved into this block ar
,r- objected strongly to the maints mir
ew of the nuisance over their piece
snt business.
i've Drunken men reeled from the stat
at way which led to the rooms abo'
viii their store and police raids became
he frequent that the place was indeed
iy- nuisance. 1t was in one OF the room
of this place that a comedy transpiri
err one night when the place was ralde
W. Every precantion to protect the pla
in ers and patrons of the bar from t
i've police was taken. The doors We
reinforced and men employed to 81
in the alarm by means Of electric bells
ion the approach of the police.
md One cold night in February VIII
the play was at its highest and Z
. tables crowded with the forms OF W
known men about the city the force
81 Chief of Police Stahl appee red at t
rs transon Of one of the rear doors viii
had been left for moment u
guarded.
The door withstood the battering
q the police for a few moments a
g these moments were precious ones
the men who were gambling fnsi
Z. and they improved them. A ste
8 ladder which fortunately stood close
o0- hand was raised to one Of the sH
an- lights and without waiting for tn
We coats a number of hasty exits W.