The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-13
BIGGEST CROWD

CONTINUED from rage One,
pose to pave with brick a seventy
mile stretch from Horton south thru
Topeka to Scranton. Frank Dixon of
Holton was elected president of the
| new association and Charles T. HAST
of the same town was elected secre-
tary. Charles Bolton of Scranton was
elected treasurer. The petitions for
Shawnee county's section of the road
will be handled by H. s. Putney of
Topeka; F. A. Pratt of Wakarusa and
Walter Staples of Pauline. F. E.
Michaels of Scranton and Blaine bod
son of Carbonate will be responsible
for Usage county.
The Midland Trail association was
also busy. w. F. Hughes of Beloit,
president of the association, stated
that petitions for thirteen miles of
! permanent road from Beloit east to
Asherville had been circulated and
would be checked up to the state
highway commission. Thirty miles
more permanent highway from Ash
erville east will be the next step taken
by the Midland. Good roads repre-
sentatives from Mitchell, Cloud, Clay,
Riley, Pottawatomie, Jackson, Usage
and Shawnee counties attended the
meeting in the pavilion.
Pavilion Busy Place.
The Peoples pavilion has been in
use practically the whole day and it
has a full schedule until evening. At
Caldwell gave a lecture on Milk a
War Food" and at 4 o'clock Mother
and Daughter Canning Club demon
STATIONS will be given. 1t will be for
the benefit of women who tried out
canning vegetables this year and failed
or who want to do a better job next
year
Automobile parking space was gone
early today. Before noon Seventeenth
street, Tyler, north of the grounds,
he Of
grounds were lined with cars unable
to get inside. Street cars bound for
the fair grounds filled up early this
morning and continued all day long.
Howard Patten, superintendent of the
Topeka Street Railway company, said
before noon that the street car bust
ness today indicated a greater crowd
than has ever before attended the Free
fair in a single day.
The Con T. Kennedy shows usually
open up just before noon. Today
there were so many people on the
grounds early that orders were given
to all employees to be on hand at $3.50
o'clock for business. The midway
started then with a bang and has
been playing to capacity business all
day.
One of the Kennedy attractions that
is crowded at all times is the Auto
| drome. 1t is not new attraction with
carnival companies but it continues to
pull CrOWQS year aILer year Inree
| riders, with motorcycles and an auto
| mobile, have thrilled thousands of fair
visitors this week. Some of the fair
! est of the visitors turn their heads at
! the most thrilling feats but the men
| continue to look and let the riders do
| the worrying.
| William Jones operates and owns
| the Autodrome as a part of the Ken
! needy shows. He built it, he and Har-
vey Wright and Lester Knox. the two
Built Own Dome.
The show was wintering at Jack
sonSille, Fla, in 1915, when Jones de-
| cided he wanted an autodrome. He
got an architect to draw a plan and
| hammer and a borrowed brace and
| bit, he began work. They completed
| 1t before the spring opening and it has
! been a money maker ever since. 1t
| cost him 81. 500 and there have been
days when the receipts were in excess
! of that amount
! Wright and Knox share riding hon
ors with Betty Ross. good-looxing
| girl who rides just as fast, just as high
| and pulls just as many tricks as they
do, Besides the motorcycle riding
| Harvey Wright drives an automobile
around the course, racing against
Knox who rides a motorcycle.
Otto Floto, we'll known circus man,
and brother of William Floto, press
agent for the Kennedy shows, dropped
in from Kansas City Wednesday to
look the shows and the fair over.
He thinks nothing in the show line is
a success unless 1t is a circus. He's
been in the business for years. He
travelled around looking at the differ
ent shows on the lot, went into some
of them, watched the crowds pass up
their dimes, and summed it up.
Maybe there is something in this
carnival business after ALL" he said,
you've got a pretty good show. But
it's nothing like the circus business %
He and his brother stood in front
of the Garden of Allah tent, within
ten feet of the big drum that booms
like a cannon. Laymen didn't at
tempt to talk. They couldn't even
think because of the noise. But the
two Flotos carried on conversation
upon the merits of the show as easily
as they might on a vacant lot a mile
away.