May 17, 2025
TURNS BOW ON THE SIDE.
Kaiser Hat, With Knot Behind,
"Riles" Patrick Haffey of Bar-X.
Believing the bow on a man's hatband should be on the side, rather than around in the rear, Patrick Haffey, a cattleman, last night attempted to dictate fashion to a stranger in the Union depot.
After carefully scrutinizing the hat, which was one of the soft green felt Kaiser Wilhelm variety with a little bow-knot at the back, Haffey laid a large and heavy hand on the hat and, lifting it up, twisted it so that the bow was on the side, and slammed it back down on his victim's head.
"There," he said, "that is the way men wear their hats in my section of the country."
He put much emphasis on the word "men."
"What do you think you are doing, sir?" was the indignant query of the man with the hat, as he sized up Haffey's six feet two inches of solid manhood.
"Haffey's my name, young feller," said the ranchman, "Patrick Haffey, and I'm from the Bar-X ranch out in New Mexico. Where I come from a man don't wear a hat like a kid, and if he hasn't got a ribbon on his hat he puts a strap around it, but the buckle's on the side, you can bet."
By the time Haffey had delivered himself of this information the hat had been turned around and the little bow stood out defiantly in the rear.
Haffey again laid his ponderous hand over the crown of the hat, took it off the wearer's head and a second time slammed it back with the bow on the side.
"Don't try that on me again, stranger," he said angrily. "You keep that bow where it belongs or make tracks. If you don't you won't have any hat at all."
The man with the hat found Station Master John Wallenstrom, and together they went back to look for Haffey, but he had also disappeared.
"I did not say a word to the man," said the victim of these indignities, "and treatment of that kind in a public place at the hands of a stranger should not go unpunished, it should not be tolerated."
The man refused to give his name. He boarded the Chicago & Alton train which left for St. Louis a few minutes after.
Labels: clothing, Union depot, visitors
