The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-06-20

CHICAGO. June 2O.-Ever since the
convention people began to arrive here,
the POmpeiian room in the AuditCs:s-rn
Annex has bothered the few sober
minded persons In the throng-
1t is easy TO see why it's called the
Pompeiian room Pompeu was burned
under hot rocks and molten fire a few
centuries ago by "a somewhat Overrated
volcano called Vesuvius. This room is
so named because right behind Il there
| Is a bar in constant eruption and con-
tiuuaIly active in pouring liquid fire on
/ and into all assembled. Likewise. the
name IS appropriate because. after you
| have seen the bill, you feel as II some
| body had struck you on the head with
| a pile OF hot rocks and taken all your
money,
| The decorations Of the place are vol
canic and the prices are skyrockets.
Altogether. the room is well named.
and nobody has any trouble understand
ing it.
But the worrying thing was that peo-
PIE kept going in there and sitting
around for hours drinking and then
| coming out looking as If they hadn't
| touched a drop. II is sure that they
drank while they were there. It's the
only thing the rooms built and fur
nished for 1t contains nothing but
chairs, tables, and thirst.
| II you go IN and don't order a drink
/ Immediately, rich-looking waiter
| stands in front of you and scowls. II
/ you sCOwl back at him he walks over 70
you and shouts In your ear;
.'Whatu you have?''
Three Dollars Per.
If you don't answer that, he tells you
| those seats are reserved for ladies' and,
| although you are behaving In a ladylike
manner, you'll have TO move on. You
move on to another belt Of the fire
zone, where another waiter scOWls and
/ shouts at you
Pretty soon you know you'll either
/ have to run or else get a drink that
will cost you S3-25 cents for the drink
and $275 TO make the waiter smile, II
| you give him less than 80 cents for a
/ tip he smiles meaningly at his fellow
walters and tells you very kindly that
ne guesses you need the money more
than ne does.
This you are IN no position 10 dispute.
/ So you put the money back into your
pocket and shove yourself into the
/ lobby, where. If you're not q church
member, you regret that there are 50
/ few epithets extant
! None Of this ever happened to me, but
/ a friend brought his bleeding heart to
my>rOOm and trotted up and down on
ny bed while he RELAXED what he
/ thought OF the walters, the whisky, and
/ the management OF the hotel. There
/ fore, Il is certain that everybody who
| gees into the POmpeiian room drinks.
He either drinks or ducks. When he
/ stays longer than three minutes, he's
/ drinking.
He Saw Things.
! How was it then that nobody ever
/ showed any effects OF it? Old men,
young men, lovely women, and plain
| wOmen-an went into the Ponpeiian
| room. Some Of them We're so attracted
| by the tables and chairs that they re-
NAMED for several hours. II seemed
| that nobody could be affected by the
| volcanic bar. That was the mystery.
! 1t is now no longer a mystery. A
man came out of tle place. the place
OF wicked atmosphere and sinful prices,
| this afternoon. apd hfs coming dis
! pelled forever the growing conviction
/ that nobody could ever feel the effects
1 of what he drank In the Pompeiian
room. His walk was like q fresh Mar
/ eel wave, and his eyes had their cur
! tEIns drawn down tight. He was pull
| log his beard out straight in front OF
him and sagging and tightening it with
/ laboTiOUs fingers, much as a little boy
! holds one end of warm taffy in his
mouth and plays with the other end
| IL was a good thing he had q beard. If
/ he hadn't had il he might have been
| winding his nose into a glnlet.
| He got as far as the side door or the
| Annex, and there halted. He didn't
| stand still. He couldn't, He halted so
/ far as forward lOcOmotion was con-
! cerned, but he swayed from side TO side
| gently like a Wind-tOssed bOugh. While
| swaying. he swore that he saw beau
/ tiIuI building in the middle OF Lake
! Michigan. According TO him, Ii had
1 forty-nine thousand windows and seven
| lights IN each window. Everybody took
/ his word for that. Everybody had TO-
| He was the only one who could see the
! building.
100000 an Hour.
| He had just begun TO describe how
beautifully the bands were playing on
! the eighty-ninth story OF this structure
which the Vesuvius bar had built
when one of the bellboys untangled his
/ fingers from his beard, arrested his