The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1907-07-19
WHERE the
DRUM MERS STOP
storlos Of Odd Hotols.


uno The colorod boy appeared at the
elbow OF the guest morning. noon and
might aud bis simple inquiry covered
the entire ground.
How you laik yoh airs7"
Indeed. the south until within the
last decade. and loo some spots still.
. furnishes the limit loo the hotel line. !
remember one evening In March down
10 Kentucky. had driven % miles
over mud roads. and. arriving at the
hotel which appeared tolerably com.
Portable. ! inquired ~ could get a hot
bath. and. 10 my delight. was informed
that could. 4 fine rain. half snow.
was falling and high wind blowing
] went To the room. disrobcd and.
throwing bath robe around me. fol.
lowed the negro hoy down the CORR.
dor Pretty soon we emerged on to a
latticed back porch ON the second
story and IN lattlcowork that was
covered with vines In midsummer
stood a bathtub. into which the boy
had dumped two buckets Of hot water.
The latticowurk was open. and even
ihc haring lamp sizzling az the snow.
flakes struck &c.. revealed me 10 half
the neirhburs ! gave up the luxury
of The bath aud rctroatcd In as good
ord'r as possible
one Of the oldest hotels I ever
struck was up in the lumber district
Of upper Michigan. hit the town one
election night aud found the place
crowded with t,w-.r.. f.a,.. al ,,.. ...t
down the river. There was one hotel.
@ small board AFFAIR The Office and
dIuIngro occupied one side. the
kitchen was leantn In the rear and
one long bedroom extending along the
entire side Of the hotel completed the
ouiht A double row of cot beds with
heads 10 the wall made the furnish.
ngs and yet there was only about
room enough for third OF the Wis.
itors In town TO sleep Along about
nlnc O'Clock ! decided TO retire. and
the proprietor after looking me over
curlously ana evidently debating In.
wurdly. assigned me 20 bed, and
turned In.
At midnight every cot was filled
and half the picked log rollers were
snoring, when. suddenly and without
trace of warning. every cot was
overturned. the occupants dumped on
the floor, The sleepcrs arose put ON
what clothes they had removed before
retiring and started out without com.
ment was dazcd for a minute and
then began to Kick 10 the boss. who
stood In the doorway and yelled: AN
OUT"
What the dickens does this mean2"
I demanded. hotly
First shift turning out" he OK.
planned. and as he did 80 a line OF men
marched In and retired. while those
who had slept In the frst shift slipped
away TO the near by saloons. At three
O'Clock the second shift was dumped
onto the floor and at six. when the
third shift was dumped, | paid the
boss one dollar extra 10 let me turn In
and sleep until eight
In earlier days. when was selling
farm machinery In western Kansas. |
struck some queer hotels. but the odd.
est Of all was owned and operated by
a genius named Richards In little
village In Sheridan county. no or 20
miles from Hoxie.
Richards was queer character.
and his specially was invention. lie
had invented more worthless things
than any man IN the country. Almost
everything he made would work. but
they all required more time and Ia.
Dor than the things he tried to i'm.
prove on. His barn lot and barn, as
well as his little one-story hotel. were
filled with things he had invented
lie put me TO bed In n small room.
perhaps eight by ten. with one small
window. and one extremely narrow
door. ! noticed as he showed me into
the room that the place seemed to
have double walls.
retired The night was sultry and
close, hut after a time ! fell asleep.
Sometime during the night was
awakened by q Earring. rumbling,
and the thought flashed into my mind
that cyclone had struck ms. / loapcd
out Of bed and ran Ia the window. a
slckcning sensation OF falling came
over me. Everything was dark /
lammed my arm through the window
and my FIST struck solid earth. ! was
terror stricken. but with jar the
movement ceased. and with a few
minutes we began TO ascend again
and stopped suddenly a gust OF wind
struck me and as / was about TO climb
through the window Richards opened
the door and asked;
How did she work?'
/ demanded an explanation.
Cyclone he said. checrlly. Took
the calf barn and two haystacks and
part Of Dobb's barn and his windmill.
I thought Il was going To hit us and,
let you down.
The next morning he showed me
the mechanism. Every sleeping room
was really a double room. tho inside
being like an elevator and he had
rugged weights and counter weights
until by pushing a lever he could drop
all the sleepers In the hotel down into
the cellar until the cyclone passed.