The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-09
WHERE THE DRUMMERS STOP.
Stories OF Odd Hotels IN Different Parts
OF the Country.

y W VNb " ~
OF the Country.
/ recall one hotel down in the Southland
which had one Of the most primitive bills OF
fare in the world, writes Il. E. Grassland
in the Chicago Tribune. The co!ored boy
appeared at the elbow OF the guest morn
ing, noon and night, and his simple inquiry
covered the entire ground:
How you laik yoh aigs?'
Indeed, the South until within the last
decade, and in some spots still, furnishes
the limit in the hote! line. l remember
one evening in March down in Kentucky.
l had driven twenty-five miles over mud
roads and. arriving in the hotel. which
appeared tolerably comfortable, | in
quired if l could get a hot bath, and TO
my delight was informed that could.
A fine rain, half snow, was falling and a
high wind blowing. l went to the room,
disrobed. and, throwing a bath robe around
me, followed the negro boy down the cor
rider. Pretty soon we emerged on to a
latticed pack porch on the second story
with vines in midsummer stood a bathtub,
INTO which the boy had dumped two buckets
Of hot water.
The latticework was open, and even the
haring lamp. sizzling as the snowfakes
struck it, revealed me to half the neigh
bors. | gave up the luxury of the bath
and retreated 4 in as good order as possible.
Once in Kansas I doubled up with two
stockmen in one bed. but the limit was
reached one night when Preached a small
town in southwestern Texas. tired out
from a long drive across country Il was
ILL No. 100 etANN n mr. ri
for quarters. The hotel man regretted
exceedingly that he had but one room and
that occupied, n hoped i would not
object to doubling up with the occupant.
who had already retired.
He lighted me to the room, showed Inc
the bed. put Town the lamp, and as he
started TO leave he asked casually
Il suppose you've had smallpox
NO" ! replied.
That's bad" he remarked, and added
cheerfully, but don't suppose il can be
helped"
He was going out when I inquired
What has smallpox to do with this?'
Nothing, he answered. nothing only
your be1mate has it,"
| beat him downstairs and slept in a
chair,
One of the oldest hotels | ever struck
was up in the lumber district OF upper
Michigan. ! hit the town one election
night and found the place rowde with
loggers from all up and down the river.
There was one hotel, a small board affair.
The Office and dining room occupied one
side, the kitchen was a leanto in the rear
aud one long bedroom extending along
the entire side of the hotel completed the
outfit. A double row of cot beds with
heads to the wall made the furnishings.
and yet there was only about room enough
for a third of the visitors in town to sleep.
Along about 9,o'clock | decided to retire,
and the proprietor after looking me owe
c~uriously and evidently debating inwardly
assigned me TO a bed and | turned in.
At midnight every cot was filled and
half the picked log rollers were snoring
when. suddenly and without a trace Of
warming, every cot was overturned. the
occupants dumped on the floor The sleep
ers arose. put on what clothes they had
removed before retiring and started out
without comment. / was dazed for a
minute and then began to kick to the boss.
who stood in the doorway and yelled, "All
out"
What the dickens does this mean?s |
demanded, holly.
First shift turning out, he explained.
and as he did so a line OF men marched in
and retired, while those who had slept in
the first shift slipped away 10 the near by
saloons. At 3 O'Clock the second shift was
dumped onto the floor and at g. when the
third shift Was dumped, | paid the boss 81
extra 10 let me turn in and sleep until 8.
In earlier days, when ] was selling farm
machinery in western Kansas. ! struck
some queer hotels. but the oldest OF all
was owned and operated by a genius named
Richards, in a little village in Sheridan county,
fifteen or twenty miles from Hoxie.
Richards was a ueer character, and his
specially was invention. He had invented
more worthless things than any. man in
the country. Almost everything, he made
would work, but they all required more
time and labor than the things he tried
TO improve on. His barn lot n barn,
as we'll as his little one story hotel, were
filed with things he had invented.
He put me 10 bed in a small! room, perhaps
8 by 10 feet, with one small window and
one extremely narrow door. | noticed
as he showed me into the room that the
place seemed 70 have double walls:
! retired. The night was sultry and
close, but after a time | fell asleep. Some
time during the night / was awakened by
a Earring, a rumbling, n the thou ght
flashed into my mind that a cy clone had
struck us. leaped out Of bed and ran
Of falling came over me. Everything was
dark. | damned my arm through the win
dow and my fist struck solid earth. | was
terror stricken, but with a jar the move
ment ceased, and within 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."
I demanded an explanation.
Cyclone he said cheerily. took the
calf barn and two hay stacks and part Of
Dobbs's barn and his windmill. ! thou ght
IL was going 10 hit us and let you down.
The next morning he showed me the
mechanism. Every sleeping room was
really a double room, the inside being like
an elevator, and he had rugged weights
and counter weights until by pushing a
lever i've could drop all the sleeperN in the
hotel down into the cellar until the cyclone
passed.