News Items from The Kansas City Journal ~ Old News That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

January 29, 1910

HE ONCE BUILT HOUSES HERE.

But Now George O. Purdy Is Chief

of Police in East St. Louis.

George O. Purdy, chief of police of East St. Louis, Ill., for the past eight years, whose department has the record of capturing a greater percentage of malefactors than any other police department in the country, arrived at the Savoy hotel last night. It was Chief Purdy who adopted the system of putting practically all of his policemen in plain clothes and sending them out in the shape of a dragnet whenever a crime was committed, and he has advocated this plan at every meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, of which he is a member of the executive committee representing Illinois.

Twenty-three years ago Chief Purdy was a Kansas City contractor. He laid the foundation and the first story of the old Missouri, Kansas and Texas Trust Company building, the first of the Stilwell propositions in this section.

"Kansas City is destined to be the coming inland city," said Chief of Police Purdy last night. "It may take a few years, but she has the advantages and just look at the territory that is dependent on this city for supplies. A score or more years ago the wildest dreamer of the then boom days of this city could not have predicted the advances it has made. It is wonderful. There is a hustle and a bustle about this city that does not exist in other cities in this country and although I am across the river from St. Louis I will say that unless St. Louis gets a move on itself and that in a hurry, Kansas City will soon leave it behind."

Labels: police, Savoy, St Louis, visitors

January 21, 1910

NO LOVE NOTES IN

THIS GIRL'S SUIT.

Cigar Stand Manager, Young

and Pretty, Sues Rich

Saloon Keeper.

Miss Mabel Reeder, young and pretty, manager of the cigar stand in the lobby of the Savoy hotel, yesterday filed a suit in the circuit court against John E. Johnston, a saloon keeper at 810 Main street, demanding damages in the sum of $25,000 for alleged breach of promise of marriage. Johnston is said to be well-to-do.

It was on December 1, 1905, Miss Reeder asserts in her complaint, that Johnston promised to marry her. Since then, she alleges, he has discontinued his attentions and has informed her that he does not intend to marry her.

According to the complaint, the engagement of Miss Reeder and Johnston became publicly known and, it is set forth, Johnston's failure to perform his part of the agreement embarrassed, humiliated and wounded her "in feelings, affections, womanly pride and sensibility," and, it is added, her "prospects for life and eligible marriage are blasted."

"This isn't one of those love letter cases," said Miss Reeder last night in her rooms at the Tomlinson apartments, Eleventh and Broadway, "because I haven't any love letters to present. I would just love to give you a story, but I can't for several reasons. One is that my lawyer, Frank P. Walsh, tells me not to talk.

KNEW HIM IN WICHITA.

"You see, Mr. Johnston and I are from the same town, Wichita, Kas. We have known each other a long time and it was there that we became engaged. He was the proprietor of a hotel and I was working at the cigar stand in the hotel. We both came to Kansas City a couple of years ago and Mr. Johnston started a saloon here.

"I am unable to tell you why Mr. Johnston broke off his engagement with me. I don't know whether there is another girl in the case. He has known that I contemplated bringing this suit, because he was notified. Really, now, there isn't anything sensational about this case, and I want to escape all the notoriety I can."

Johnston refused last night to discuss the action brought against him by Miss Reeder.

"Let Miss Reeder do the talking now," he said, "and I will have my say later."

Labels: Broadway, cigars, circuit court, Eleventh street, Frank Walsh, Lawsuit, Main street, romance, saloon, Savoy, Wichita

January 1, 1910

HILARIOUS DINERS

HAIL THE NEW YEAR.

Thousands at the Hotels and

Cafes Watch Passing

of 1909.

"It's 12 o'clock," said "Billy" Campbell, electrician at the Hotel Baltimore.

Frank J. Dean, manager of the hostelry, whose hand was on one of the big switch levers, gave it a pull, and in an instant the lights in the five dining rooms, the Pompeiian room, the grill room and the lobbies were extinguished. Bands in the dining rooms struck up "Auld Lang Syne," 1,200 diners blew souvenir horns, congratulated one another, and the new year was on.

Capacity crowds filled the dining rooms and cafes of the hotels and restaurants of Kansas City last night. At the hotels the lights were extinguished for a minute at midnight to indicate to the diners that the new year had been born. Special orchestras furnished the music and at most of the hotels the old Scotch refrain was sung.

The crowds this year were larger than last. The hotels began making reservations for last night over two weeks ago. A week ago practically all of the lists had been filled. Even at that, last night found hundreds at the big hotels, who waited in lobbies for an opportunity to get into the dining rooms before midnight.

A check system similar to that used in theaters, in which the tables were numbered and the diners held numbered checks, was inaugurated at the Hotel Baltimore this year. This avoided confusion. After dinner scores of men were put to work on the dining rooms. The tables were arranged for their guests and the decorations were put in place. The favors or souvenirs consisted of horns, in the base of which were bits of confections. The color scheme was red, roses and carnations being used in the decorations.

COFFEE AT MIDNIGHT.

The doors to the dining room were opened at 10:30, but dinner was not served until 11:30. The dinner was timed to last half an hour, with the service of coffee on the tables just at midnight. Orchestras were hidden behind banks of palms and ferns in the dining rooms.

The largest crowd was in the Pompeiian room. It was also apparently the jolliest. Long before midnight hundreds of would-be diners thronged the lobby and pleaded vainly for room in one of the dining rooms. As the midnight hour approached the doorways were crowded by those who would look in, even though they could not cross the portals. The balconies above the marble room and the main banquet hall were crowded early in the evening by those who could only watch the revelers.

SING "AULD LANG SYNE."

At the Savoy hotel the dining rooms were thrown together and the orchestra was placed in the hall so that the grill room, with its quota of stags, could be entertained. Dinner was served here at 11 o'clock. At 12 o'clock the lights were extinguished and the familiar Scotch melody was sung.

The Hotel Kupper dining room was crowded an hour before midnight and those who could not gain entrance filled the lobby and joined in the chorus of "Auld Lang Syne" when the lights were turned up after midnight.

At the Sexton hotel the crowds overflowed the dining rooms and were taken care of in the grill room in the basement.

The actors and actresses about the city had their celebration at the Century hotel. Immediately after the curtains were rung down at the various show houses a rush was made for street costumes and the members of the "profession" gathered at the Century hotel. The tables had all been reserved, and an orchestra greeted the crowd from each theater as they appeared.

The cafe of the Coates house held a capacity crowd. It was quieter than those at the other hotels.

At the Densmore, the tables in the dining room had been reserved for several weeks. Scores were turned away last night. Special music was the rule here also.

Labels: Coates house, food, holidays, hotels, Kupper hotel, New Years, Savoy

November 18, 1909

HOTEL MEN IN ARMS

AGAINST 'DEAD BEATS.'

MAY PUT CONTRACT ON EACH

PAGE OF REGISTER.

Meeting of Association Concludes

Today With Lunch at Sexton

and Banquet Tonight at

Excelsior Springs.

If the plans of the Kansas-Missouri Hotel Men's association are carried out, it's not going to be so easy to walk up to the hotel register, sign your name, and then walk out the next morning without paying, giving the simple excuse that you are "broke." The legislators of Kansas and Missouri will be asked at the next session to allow the following brief contract to be printed at the head of each page:

"Any one signing their signature below hereby agrees to pay the bill as charged by this hotel. Failure to do so shall be a violation of this contract and party violating same will be punishable by law. The proprietor of the hotel hereby agrees to fulfill his part of the contract."

SAM B. CAMPBELL,
Clerk at the Sexton. Oldest Clerk in Point of Service in Kansas City.

Though stringent laws have been passed in both states, they are usually evaded. The present law reads that any one securing a room "by fraud or pretext" shall be punishable. In the future, a man will be starting at a contract at the head of each page, and the hotel men think that it will be a more serious matter.

In fact, the whole session, which began yesterday afternoon in the Italian room at the Hotel Baltimore, was one of self-protection. Every speaker dwelt on the fact that the average inn keeper was the most oppressed individual in the community. Means of getting around the wily "bad check man," dead beat," "loafer," and how to get better legislation was discussed, and committees appointed to see that action is taken.

F. P. EWINS,
Hotel Savoy.

Yesterday's session was opened with an address of welcome by Mayor Crittenden. He complimented the men on their general appearance. T. L. Barnes, president of the association, made a short reply.

There was a general feeling that the meeting would like to face a hotel inspector, and Thomas L. Johnson, state hotel inspector, was asked to be present and, in fact, had agreed to come and discuss the laws regulating hotels. At the last moment Johnson failed to appear.

C. L. WOOD,
Secretary of the Association and Manager of the Sexton.

Last night's gathering was purely social. A Dutch lunch was served in the grill room of the Sexton hotel, which is managed by C. L. Wood, secretary of the association. A ride over the boulevards will be taken this morning, and after the report of committees this afternoon the entire association will take the train to Excelsior Springs, where a banquet will be held tonight at the New Elms.

Labels: conventions, Excelsior Springs, Hotel Baltimore, hotels, Mayor Crittenden, organizations, Savoy

November 17, 1909

HOTEL MEN'S YELL

HAS NO RAH! RAH!

"SOMETHING DIFFERENT" TO

BE HEARD IN RIDE TODAY.

Kansas-Missouri Association Mem-

bers Here for Annual Meeting.

Local Officers Elected.

Banquet Tonight.

"Kansas -Missouri hotel me are we,
Enjoying ourselves in old K. C.
Kansas Citee, in the state of old Mizzoo,
With plenty to eat, and other things, too.
How do you do, and how are you?"

To show that the collegians who come to Kansas City on Thanksgiving are not the only ones who can boast of yells, a few of the advance guard of hotel men who are assembling for the annual meeting of the Kansas-Missouri association, composed of the above yell last night at the Hotel Sexton.

"You notice that we cut out the 'Rah, Rah, Rah,'" said C. L. Wood, the secretary of the association. "We want something to distinguish it from the college yell. You will get a chance to hear its carrying power when we take our trip over the boulevards Thursday morning."

That the meeting, which commenced today at the Hotel Baltimore and ends tomorrow night with a banquet at the Elms in Excelsior Springs, is going to be the biggest in the history of the association, is the belief of the officers. More than half of the delegates were in the city last night visiting friends. When Mayor Crittenden delivers his address of welcome today, it is expected that more than 100 members will be present.

WAR ON BAD CHECK MEN.

At the two days' session especial attention will be paid to some form of mutual protection against bad check men.

C. D. Tisdale of the Western Hotel Men's Protective Association, will discuss a proposed detective agency to be established in each city and do nothing but look out for hotel "dead beats." It is estimated that there are 1,500 hotels in Missouri and Kansas, and each loses about $250 a year in bad bills. The total loss, $100,000, would maintain a fair detective agency, the hotel men say.

A meeting of the local hotel proprietors was held yesterday afternoon at the Sexton and plans for the coming interstate association were discussed. A permanent organization also was planned.

Though Kansas City has been prominent in the large gatherings, very little attention has been paid to a local association. F. P. Ewins of the Savoy was elected president and James Ketner of the Densmore was elected secretary of the local society.

Labels: conventions, Excelsior Springs, Hotel Baltimore, hotels, Savoy

September 7, 1909

DEATH ENTERS THEATER

AS ORCHESTRA PLAYS.

HEART DISEASE CLAIMS E. L.

DORSEY AT THE ORPHEUM.

Faints in Seat and Expires When

Carried Into Foyer -- Had Been

Having "Jolly" Day

With Daughter.

As the orchestra of the Orpheum theater was closing the last strains of the overture from Mignon, E. L. Dorsey, a traveling salesman, leaned on the shoulder of his daughter, Miss Leonora, and with a single gasp lost consciousness. Doctors, who were summoned from the audience and reached his side by the time he was carried into the foyer, pronounced him dead.

His heart action had stopped, they declared, when he collapsed in his seat.

The collapse of Mr. Dorsey caused consternation among the occupants of the nearby seats, but ushers quickly carried him into the foyer and a request was made from the stage for a physician for a man who had fainted. This allayed the excitement and few in the audience realized that a death had occurred in their midst.

AT THEATER WITH DAUGHTER.

Mr. Dorsey was a salesman in the employ of the Burnham, Hana, Munger Dry Goods Company. He lived in Norborne, Mo., and traveled in the northern part of the state. He met his daughter Leonora, 18 years old, at the depot yesterday morning by appointment. They were to spend yesterday and today in Kansas City and then he was to have taken her to the Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Mo. A daughter of Virgil Conkling was to have accompanied them.

Mr. Dorsey secured seats close to the front at the Orpheum, and with his daughter reached the theater before the members of the orchestra took their places. It was while the last notes of the overture from Mignon were being played that Mr. Dorsey collapsed.

"I always like this selection," Mr. Dorsey told his daughter just a few moments before he fainted, "but it is seldom that I have the pleasure of listening to it."

EXPECTED A JOLLY TIME.

Attaches of the theater supported Miss Dorsey when she realized that her father was dead. She was taken to the Savoy hotel, where Miss Conkling and other friends were summoned to her side. Mr. Dorsey's body was removed to Stine's undertaking rooms.

"Father suffered from heart trouble occasionally, but he did not give it much thought, and none of us ever thought it was serious," said Miss Dorsey. "He was in fine spirits this morning and enjoyed a hearty lunch. We expected to have the jolliest sort of time here before Miss Conkling and I left for school."

Friends wired Mrs. Dorsey at Norborne, Mo. Besides the widow and daughter, Mr. Dorsey leaves a son, Edward, 10 years old.

Mrs. Dorsey and her son arrived last night and were taken to the Savoy hotel and later with Miss Leonora Dorsey to the home of friends. The body will be sent to Norborne, Mo., for burial today.

Labels: death, music, Savoy, theater, undertakers

June 21, 1909

HARRY STEMPLMAN MARRIES.

Banquet and Ball Follows Ceremony

at Colonial Hall.

Mr. Harry Stemplman of Kansas City and Miss Annie Eisberg were married last night at Colonial hall.

The bride was attended by members of her immediate family and the groom by his youngest brother, they all standing under the improvised canopy which Jewish customs prescribe, while Rabbi Isidore Koplowitz read and chanted the marriage ceremony.

The the wedding cup was passed and the banquet begun . Despite the heat of the evening seventy-five couples swung out upon the floor of the Colonial hall and danced.

The groom is the son of Ben Stemplman and had lived at 1717 Campbell street. He and his bride will make the Savoy hotel their home for the immediate present.

Labels: Campbell street, Jews, ministers, Savoy, wedding

February 27, 1909

MUCH LIKE AMERICANS.

Australian Compares His Own People

With Those of United States.

When L. C. Mordaunt reaches home in Melbourne, Australia, the first of April, he will have completed a trip around the world. He spent last night in Kansas City at the Savoy hotel, and was accompanied by his wife and three children. He has just come from London, where he had gone on business. On his way to London he had gone by way of the Suez canal and the Mediterranean sea.

"I have always wanted to see the United States," he said last night. "I find that the Americans are much like our own people. The same energy and habits characterize both nations."

Labels: Savoy, visitors

November 26, 1908

CITY WAS GIVEN OVER

TO THE COLLEGE BOYS.

BY THOUSANDS THEY THRONGED

STREETS LAST NIGHT.

Roaring Their Songs and Cries, They

Made Their Presence Generally

Known -- Good Feeling Pre-

vailed Above All.

College life with the college left out; that's what several thousand Missouri and Kansas students and graduated enjoyed to the limit in Kansas City last night. Such life is interesting even in a college town, but in Kansas City it is real exciting, and the somber goddess of sleep had little work in the downtown districts after nightfall. Then it was that the real fun of the day before began. Hordes of enthusiastic students gathered in the lobbies of the various hotels. Instinct guided them more than anything else, and so it happened that the boys from K. U. assembled in one hostelry and Missouri fans joined hands and voices in another. The noise -- well, it wasn't just exactly noise, it was more like a human roar -- continued in hotels and on the streets until after midnight, and everybody was good natured.

It would be almost impossible to describe the thousands which went to make up the vast crowd of enthusiastic youths. They came to Kansas City, every one of them out of their own world, dressed in the fantastic garb which inhabitants of college walls and college atmosphere are wont to affect. There was the slouch hat with the brim cut closely around the crown; the heavy tan shoes, buckled for extra weight; trousers rolled up two or three times at the bottom, just why no one can guess' the inevitable cigarette and pipe. It was all of a different line than the Kansas Cityan is accustomed to, and he started and wondered and remembered, perhaps, that once he dressed the same way. Then there was that self-bred enthusiasm which gave vent in lusty roars; roars which showed the joy of life for the college man on the day before the great game.

IT WAS COLLEGE SPIRIT.

Before leaving their colleges the thousands of students had assembled in mass meeting to engender just such enthusiasm. They heard talks from members of their teams; from the old guard and from heads of the universities, and upon each one of them seemed to rest a certain responsibility for the success of his team in the only real football game of the season. That is college spirit, and that is why the regular boarder couldn't sleep in his usually quiet room at the hotel last night.

At the Savoy the Missouri aggregation of imported college men and yells held full sway. Nothing else was considered and nothing else could have made itself heard. True, there were three or four police officers on duty, but what were they when confronted with a mo b of a thousand husky young men? First there came the Missouri "Tiger," and then, with uncovered heads, the throng sang the grand Missouri song, "Old Missouri." Oh, they were sure of victory, were those fellows, and they were mightily proud of their alma mater. Somehow their songs of victory and triumph and allegiance to "Old Missouri" made the outsider think of the times when the ironclad soldiers of Cromwell went into battle singing, and he couldn't help understanding that the same spirit possessed those seemingly frenzied youths that steeled the heart of soldiers of the commonwealth. Over at the Coates house were the Kansas boys, and they were not to be outdone by their natural rivals, so far as noise and college spirit are concerned. "Rock-chalk; jawhawk; K-a-a-a U-u-u-u" made the second floor of the building seem to tremble from the vast noise sent up from a thousand throats. Pennants and banners of crimson and blue were waved frantically in the air between yells, and it was a pretty sight. Confidence there was in abundance; Kansas could not lose the Thanksgiving game because, well, because she was Kansas. It was knowledge of certain victory that added zest to those ferocious yells and gave them the utmost sincerity. No thought of loss entered the heads of enthusiastic rooters. They had put their faith and their money on Kansas, their alma mater, and she couldn't fail them. And so the songs and yells were songs and yells of the victor, and the Kansans were even more confident than their rivals.

GIRLS MADE NOISE, TOO.

Girls; there were lots of them, and they joined in the singing and noisemaking, too. Of course, they stood a little way off from the surging crowd of youths, chiefly on the stairways of the lobbies, but if one got close enough to them they could hear their shouts of general exuberance. But the girls could not stand the strain on the vocal chords as well as the men, and they began to hunt their rooms after an hour of jubilation on the stairways. In their rooms they could talk with each other of the coming game and the heroes thereof. Anyhow, they were girls, and it wasn't their part to make themselves so very obvious.

Early in the evening the old graduate was in his glory. He made the rounds of all the hotels and met the sons of his college chums. He forgot that he was a prominent lawyer and dignified; he remembered only the outlines of the old university hall; how he and his classmates used to hold jubilees on similar occasions; he forgot the numerous flunks in math and history and remembered only the great game "we played when your father and I were on the team." And did he yell and sing those college songs and yells? There were some of the songs that he had forgotten partly, but his lips moved just the same and his eyes were just as bright as those of his younger college mates. Off came his hat when the university hymn was sung and then when the "locomotive yell" was started he kept time with his headcovering and his arms.

WHEN OLD BOYS MET.

But when "old grad met old grad" then it was interesting. The hearty shake of the hand; the resounding slap on the back and the many, many questions of "where have you been all these years, and what have you been doing?" It was the revival of the good old days when they were young and boys; and the joyousness of the approaching game permeated their systems as it did those more active students of the present class.

Then there were banquets of the secret and Greek letter fraternities. The frat yells and songs filled the banquet rooms during the meals and it was all one big jubilee. But the yells were confined to frat yells for both universities were represented in the gatherings. Nothing really discordant could be allowed to enter into the rejoicing of the night.

Late in the evening, after the too mellow wine and overabundance of beer had begun to get in its work, a group of Kansas students left the Coates house and marched with arms locked to the Savoy hotel, where the Missouri bunch was holding forth. Just after a resounding "Tiger" had risen from the Missouri men, it was answered by a "Rock chalk; Jayhawk; K-a-a-a-a U-u-u-u-u" from the meandering Kansas. Some surprise was occasioned by the yell of the enemy and muttered threats of rushing them were heard. But the Kansas men were standing near the doorway, where they could make a hasty exit in case it was necessary, so the M. S. U. fans contented themselves with overshouting their would-be usurpers.

The theaters were heavily patronized by the "fussers" of the college boys. Many of them h ad chosen to spend the evening with the quieter, but equally fascinating, charm of feminine companionship. That was all right; they could do their yelling at the game and after.

All hotels in the city were crowded to overflowing and many of the boys were willing to sleep four and five in a room in order to get accommodations. The college boys literally took the town last night and they were given preference over all other persons.

Labels: Coates house, fraternal organizations, hotels, Savoy, sports, University of Missouri

July 3, 1908

THEIR LABOR AGENT FLED.

Seven Foreigners Had Trusted Harry

Burton With $50.

The police are searching for a Harry Burton, about 60 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, complexion ruddy and mustache gray. At 1018 Union avenue there are seven Italians who mourn his disappearance. They say that he brought them here from Chicago on the promise of putting them to work. They allege that he gave them the slip at the Savoy hotel. When he left he took with him $50 belinging to the foreigners, they tearfully allege.

Labels: Chicago, employment, immigrants, Savoy, Union avenue

May 6, 1908

WILL ORGANIZE

FOR GREAT FAIR.

PERMANENT ASSOCIATION TO BE

ESTABLISHED HERE.

EXPOSITION AT ELM RIDGE.

LIVE STOCK, POULTRY AND

OTHER FEATURES TO COMBINE.

Will Be Known as American Royal

Live Stock and Industrial Ex-

position -- First Fair in

Fall of 1909.

After a meeting of several business men of Kansas City yesterday afternoon at the Savoy hotel, the organization of the American Royal Live Stock and Industrial Exposition was determined upon and active steps were taken looking toward the permanent establishment of the exposition at Elm Ridge park by the fall of 1909. The meeting was held at the call of Secretary J. A. Runyan of the Manufacturers and Merchants' Association, and this organization will be asked to back the exposition.

Secretary Runyan with A. M. Thompson will visit Minneapolis to gather data at the Minnesota State Fair Association. The methods used by the American Royal Live Stock Association will also be followed closely as it is the unanimous opinion of those present that this is an ideal association.

It is the purpose to combine the various exhibits which are being given in this city into one grand show at least one week. The American Royal Live Stock show will be used as a nucleus, and with it will be combined the poultry show, agricultural exhibits, merchants' exhibits, manufactured products, the kennel show, the horse show, racing and a display of farm implements, in fact every line of industry in Kansas City.

THIRTEEN OF THEM THERE.

The meeting yesterday was preceded by a dinner at the Savoy and was attended by the following: E. L. Howe, F. B. Heath, I. W. Bigger, L. P. Rothschild, C. L. Merry, Irwin Baldwin and J. A. Runyan for the Manufacturers' Association; C. R. Thomas, A. M. Thompson, George Stevenson, W. H. Weeks and William McLaughlin for the American Royal Live Stock Association, F. F. Rozzelle and C. C. Peters, for the Elm Ridge Club, and W. M. Beall, Dr. W. H. Stark and P. H. Depree for the poultry show.

The subject of a suitable location was discussed and it was decided that if a lease for a term of years could be obtained at Elm Ridge park this would be the best location for an undertaking of this magnitude. F. F. Rozzelle was selected to make arrangements for the lease of the park grounds for at least fifteen years.

IT TAKES BIG PRIZES.

Mr. Thomas explained something about the customs of the live stock show exhibit. He stated that about 250 carloads of fancy cattle were shipped to this show every year and that it would be necessary to have switch track facilities on the grounds in addition to a number of cattle pens and sheds. Large prizes must also be offered in order to get the best exhibits.

In discussing the question of concessions at the park it was the unanimous opinion that liquor should not be sold on the grounds and that betting on the races should be prohibited. Horse racing, it was stated, is the life of any fair, but races can and are being conducted without the gambling feature.

In order to start the exhibition, build suitable buildings and offer prizes that will tempt the owners of the finest breeds of animals, it will be necessary to raise at least $50,000 and as soon as the necessary details are arranged, the Manufacturers and Merchants' Association will take this in charge.

Labels: animals, Elm Ridge, organizations, races, Savoy

January 24, 1908

WANTED ROOMS WITH DRAFTS.

Alaskans Were Looking for Cold,

Italians for Warmth.

"Five nice cold rooms, please, with a draft in each."

The keeper of the register in the Savoy hotel dropped his pen and straightened to face ten men in double fur coats standing by the counter.

"Yes, we want cold rooms," resumed the spokesman. "We're the basketball team from Nome, Alaska. At the athletic club tonight, you know."

"All right," says the clerk, "and if the row on the top floor facing north doesn't suit, I'll have beds made up in the roof garden."

The next comers were members of the Italian grand opera company, which sings at the Willis Wood this week's end.

"It iss so cold here," said a little miss with her chin drawn down into her fur boa. "You have the very warm rooms for us, is it not?"

"Yes," said the clerk.

Labels: arts, hotels, Kansas City Athletic Club, Savoy, sports, visitors

Special Report -- C. W. ANDERSON

SIX HUNDRED PETITIONS BRING

IN 8,000 SIGNATURES.

A petition for the pardon of C. W. Anderson, which was circulated yesterday, was signed by all the county officials and all the circuit judges except one, the latter agreeing to add his signature today. In the city hall all the city officials signed but three, who could not be seen.

Petitions were circulated all over town by all classes of people. The Rev. John Sauer, pastor of the German Lutheran church at 1317 Oak street, will circulate a petition among the members of his church. Merchants in this city and in Kansas City, Kas., and Armourdale, secured copies of the petition and will ask for signatures among their customers.

Last night there were 600 petitions in circulation and it was estimated that 8,000 persons had signed. More than a thousand signers were secured to a petition that was circulated among the passengers of street cars yesterday. The man with the petitions would board a loaded car, go through it requesting the signatures of the passengers and get off at the next transfer point. Here he would board another car, repeating the former performance. At 6 o'clock he stated that he had secured more than 900 names and that only four time had a signature been refused.

At the meeting of the Episcopal Church Club at the Savoy hotel last night a petition was presented by Rev. Father J. Stewart Smith of St. Mary's church and signed by every member present, about fifty altogether. The motion to present the petition was seconded by Rev. Edward B. Woodruff of St. George's church.

Hundreds of names were attached to petitions circulated at the city hall yesterday asking for the immediate release of Anderson. Mayor Beardsley was about the first to sign.

"If what I have read in the newspapers concerning Anderson is right," said the mayor, "he should be given his liberty."

Last night

Labels: Armourdale, Charles Anderson, churches, city hall, Mayor Beardsley, ministers, Oak street, Savoy, streetcar

March 2, 1907

ADDS TO HADLEY'S BOOM.
Banquet of Tenth Ward Republicans at the Savoy.

"Hadley for governor" was the slogan of the Tenth Ward Republican Club at its annual banquet at the Savoy hotel last night. Homer Mann, who delivered the nominating speech at St. Joseph when Hadley was named as candidate for attorney general, proposed the name of Hadley for the gubernatorial nomination, which was received with hearty cheers by the 200 or more Tenth warders present.

A four-course diner was served, following which was the evening's programme, Captain Charles A. Morton, retiring president, was toastmaster. The speakers were: E. F. Halstead, Alderman George H. Edwards, Homer B. Mann, Alderman E. E. Morris and George A. Neal. Mayor Beardsley was a late comer, and he made a few remarks.

Following are the officers elected for the ensuing year: Martin J. Ostergard, president; Howard Lee, vice president; Samuel R. Halstead, second vice president; J. C. Barrette, secretary; William H. Gardner, assistant secretary; Flournoy Quest, treasurer, and William Newland, sergeant-at-arms.

Labels: Herbert Hadley, politics, Savoy, St.Joseph, streetcar, Tenth Ward

January 5, 1907

HOW TO STOP EM.

HOTEL GUESTS WHO SWIPE

LINEN AND BRIC-A-BRAC.

THE BANE OF THE BONIFACES.

SUSPECT EVERY MAN, WITH OR WITHOUT BAGGAGE.

Members of the Missouri-Kansas Hotel Men's Association

Relate Their Grievance Because of

Souvenir Collecting Guests.

It was late yesterday afternoon. The Kansas-Missouri Hotel Men's Association was nearing the close of its annual session at the Midland hotel. Discussions of various kinds, following papers, were had.

"Any unfinished business?" asked Charles Wood, of Topeka, proprietor of the National hotel.

Mit Wilhite, famous in Kansas because he runs the Mitway hotel at Emporia, and because he is one of the biggest baseball fans in North America, and usually runs a team of his own during the summer to entertain himself, caught the chair. "There is a question that I want to ask of this convention," he said. "My wife has asked me to solve it. I can't. What do you do when guests at your house swipe towels? We have lost just an even six dozen since October 1. What in the name of Charles Cominskey do you do to get them back or get some sort of redress?"

There was a shout of laughter from all over the hall. The 100 or more dellegates appreciated the situation. They just threw back their heads and shouted.

Allen J. Dean of htis city is president of the association. "I can give you a dead certain relief," he said. Name it, shouted Wilhite. "I'll pay you for the prescription."

"Buy six dozen more," answered Dean. Then there was more merriment.

It's a funny proposition," said Dean, "a mighty funny one. Just last week I got a big package from a town in Wisconsin. I opened it and found a sugar bowl, of an old colonial style that we used about six years ago. Accompanying was a letter but unsigned. The writer said: "I have been attending revival meetings, and have experienced a change of heart. I herewith return to you a sugar bowl which I took from your hotel when a guest there a number of years ago. It is with me a matter of principle."

"But over at the Hotel Baltimore we had a strange experience. A guest there bought a new trunk, had it taken to his room, filled it with all the stuff from the room that he could cram into it, blankets, carpet, rugs, dresser scarfs and knick-knacks and he got away."

"The Bellvue-Stratford hotel has a remedy," said a member. "On every floor is a glass lookout. A young lady is placed in each one of these day and night, and can see, without being seen, all persons who come and go. When a guest leaves a room an inventory is immediately made of the room, and if anything is missing, the guest can be caught before he gets his bill paid at the office."

"In my hotel at St. Joe," said George Boone, "I had some gas stoves. One day I missed the silver ornament from one in room 11. I found that the occupant had just checked out, but that his grip was still at the check stand. It was not locked. I opened it, took out my ornament, but it back on the stove and closed up the grip. That guest never stopped at my hotel again."

"I got an envelope here a few days ago," said Frank Miller, of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas eating houses. "It contained $5. The note was unsigned, but the writer said he owed me that much for something he had taken. I never knew what it was or who took it."

And so they related experience after experience, but the final verdict was in harmony with that of A. J. Dean: "Go out and buy; six dozen more. That is the only sure remedy."

The meeting opened yesterday morning. Mayor H. M. Beardsley made the welcoming address. Reports of officers and a great deal of routine business was transacted. Frank Miller and D. C. Smith, of Kansas City, read papers. A number of other papers were read from members on the programme, who were unable to attend. The delegates will be here over tomorrow, and are down on the programme, as printed, "For good fellowship."

The banquet was held last night at the Savoy hotel. James A. Reed was the principal speaker. A programme of vaudeville from local theaters was put on.

Labels: Hotel Baltimore, hotels, James A. Reed, Mayor Beardsley, Midland, Savoy, Texas, Topeka, vaudeville