Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1914 — HOW THE POPCORN MAN WAS “STUNG” [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW THE POPCORN MAN WAS “STUNG”

Story of Humphrey and the Amusement Resort Which He Purchased. STRUGGLE FOR DECENCY How He Drove Away the Saloons, Gave Everyone Value for Hie Money, Kept the Place Decent and Finally Won.

By RICHARD SPILLANE.

Humphrey’s father left the farm to him. Some persons may find pleasure and profit in tilling the soil, but, hard as he worked, Humphrey made little headway. He longed for the comforts and opportunities of 'City life and the more he dwelt on what the city held In promise the more dissatisfied he became with his lot Finally he got so tired of “cropping it,” as the agriculturists call farming, that he determined to sell out He put the farm on the market and got a purchaser. Then he moved to town. One thing Humphrey liked was popcorn. He doted on it as a boy and his appetite for it did not diminish as he grew older. When he got to town and looked around for some work with which to employ his energies, he did pot find so many openings as he had expected. Idleness was abhorrent to him, so, more to keep himself engaged than with any thought of going into the business permanently, he made popcorn on his kitchen stove and sold it to men who had stands about town. No one knows more about the art of popcorn making than Humphrey. The corn should be of a special growth and It should be kept three years to season and it should be cooked just so, or it will not have the flavor and delicacy that real popcorn should have. The people who bought Humphrey’s popcorn relished it, and the sidewalk venders developed a trade in popcorn thejr never had known before. Humphrey made a little money—not much, but enough to make him ambitious to broaden his field. Out at the lakeside was a big pleasure park. It had cost many thousands of dollars to build. The men who started it expected to make, a fortune, but had been disappointed. At first it did fairly well, but gradually its attractions paled. Then the owners let it become a fly paper proposition. Every visitor got stuck. Made Money and Saved It. Humphrey sold popcorn to the Beach Park people. That was one of the few things sold at the park for which the people got the worth of their money. His popcorn sold so well there and at the stands in town that Humphrey took up other lines. He made old-fashioned candy and sugared peanuts and gradually built up a trade in those articles that permitted him to add a little to Jhe money he had put in a bank as a result of the sale of a farm. Although Humphrey prospered, the owners of the Beach Park did not. The reputation of the big amusement place did not improve. Roysterers got to going there at night and occasionally there were disgraceful brawls. The bar did the blggesfbuslness in the establishment Every sideshow had a ballyhoo man and most of the freaks were fakes of the worst order. As the years went on, respectable people began to avoid .. the park. There always is an element that delights in riot and roar, but it is not altogether profitable. The owners of the park, facing a larger and larger deficit each year, became more and more disgusted. They s&w how wrong they had been in their estimates. The city was not big enough to support so large an enterprise as the park. The best thing they could do, they decided, was to sel> the property. It is one..thing to want to sell and another to find a purchaser. Men wiljiiig to buy lakeside parks and taring money to pay the price are scarce. To announce the amount of the yearly deficit would not enhance the value. The owners looked around carefully and cautiously for a person upon whom they could unload. Somehow, the popcorn man came into calculation. Bought Beach Park. It seemed ridiculous when his name was suggested, but Investigation showed he had considerable money, and when the proposition was put up to him he gave it consideration. He looked the property over carefully. He inspected the bar and frowned. He looked at the fakes and scowled. Everything that seemed profitable to the owners met with his disapproval. About the only thing that pleased him was the location. He looked out over the lake and his face cleared. He gazed along the beach and IffSfifed pleased. He watched some children at play, and nodded his head approvingly. A few days later he closed a deal for the purchase of the park, and the men who bad been holding the bag for years breathed easier. Humphrey was the purchaser. Tha popcorn man not being partial to strong waters, closed the bar the first day he was in charge. In doing this he basely deceived a large num-1

ber of thirsty gentlemen who journeyed out to the park the following Sunday. It was hot —frightfully hot — and their thirst had not been cooled by the five-mile ride from the center of the city in the crowded trolley cars. They let out a roar that was unpleasant to hear. They scoffed at the attendants who mildly suggested that there were plenty of soft drinks to be had. The closing of the bar was bad enough, but worse followed. Gentlemen who sought the pleasures of the dancing pavilion and cast aside their coats and vests as they had been accustomed to do in order to be cooler and more comfortable while they danced, were fighting angry when informed that no one would be permitted on the floor unless properly clad. Long and Trying Struggle. Beach Park was a sad affair for the rest of the season. The respectable element would not go there because of its general reputation, and the rough element would not torture itself In such a deadly dull place. Women and children went there on summer days and found relief from the heat of the city and persons who loved boating and fishing continued to give their patronage to it, but the receipts were decidedly less than under the old regime. Next year Humphrey had a desperate time. Every day meant a loss, and his capital dribbled away steadily.' He had to make a lot of popcorn, old-fashioned candy and sugared peanuts to meet one week’s deficit, but he went about his business as usual and kept his own counsel. The third year Humphrey was in possession tested his courage to the limit. The days when the receipts equaled the expenses were rare. The days when the losses were big were many. The popcorn man had to rake and scrape and make sacrifices to

keep up appearances, His brother, who had joined forces with him, helped him out with money and services, but even with his aid it was the tightest kind of a squeeze to get without a visit from the sheriff. It had been proved so conclusively that the public would have nothing to do with • Breach Park that no one supposed Humphrey would be so foolish, after that experience of the third season, as to waste more of his time and hard-earned money on it. But the popcorn man was obstinate and he opened) up the fourth year as blithely as \ever. It was the old story until about the middle of the season. jThen there was a slight improve'ment. Somebody of consequence and influence TdlcTsomebody else that the place was changed so much he hardly could recognize .it He was so glowing in his picturing of the charm of the park that the other man was tempted to go there. He was surprised and delighted, and felt it was his duty to tell everybody about it Both Decent and Paying. Before that fourth season closed Beach Park was paying expenses. It opened next year with an excellent business, and in a month or two it was having a patronage such as it never had kno,wn before. It . was exactly the place for a respectable man and his family. There were no toughs. There were no bars. Everythtng was moderate in price, yet good. There were no shooting galleries, no fortune tellers, no freaks or fakes or loop the loop or thrillers in the way of roller coasters with sensational dips that occasionally brought But thpre was everything that was legitimate and safe and decent. The dancing pavilion was a delight There was a dancing master there to instruct the awkward or the young or to check any tendency to Impropriety. The music was of the best for dancing purposes. Comparatively few persons realize what a big difference the music makes in the enjoyment of dancing. Instead of the sideshows and flakes, Humphrey had charming pavilions, shady nooks,, rustic paths, grassy lawns and grottos. There were roller coasters and miniature railroads and

some really entertaining but by no means noisy, shows. And the restaurants! The town never had had better. Everything was at moderate price. You could get a sandwich foi five cents, and everything else in proportion. Men found they could take the whole family there to dinner and not be bankrupted. Some declared It was cheaper to go to the park and dine than to remain at home. i In addition to thq joys of good eating, good surroundings, cleanliness and decency, there were the delights of boating and bathing and fishing. Humphrey had changed everything at the lakeside. All the boats were new. All the bathhouses were neat and well kept. Even the beach was gone over several times a day to remove anything or everything dropped by careless persons. Drove Away the Saloons. From being neglected, Beach Park suddenly sprang into favor. Its former evil reputation was forgotten and was used as a basis for expressing its new worth. The money came pouring in on Humphrey in a way to cheer him for all the patience he had displayed, and people began telling him how they always knew he would make a big success of the enterprise. All the persons who went to the park were not drinkers of soft stuff. Various gentlemen, seeing what crowds were being attracted to the park, wished they could Induce Humphrey to let them have the bar privilege at his newly-made gold mine. Some approached him on the proposition, but never again. Then they did what they considered to be the next best thing. They opened saloons across the broad highway from the main entrance to the park. Some of those saloons were pretty tough. Humphrey did not like his saloon neighbors. He determined to get rid of them. Rigging up powerful search-

lights in his grounds, he directed the rays of the searchlights upon the saloons. Nobody coiild enter without being truly in the spot light. Decent men didii’t like to make exhibitions of themselves, so they dodged those saloons. The liquor men threatened lots of things to Humphrey, but went no further than to sue out an injunction restraining him from using his battleship searchlights. That was pie for the popcorn man. The papers £nade big stories out of the fight. Tiumphrey got more advertising than he could have bought for thousands of dollars. And the injunction was set aside. Thereupon the searchlights came into play again. The crowd at Beach Park thought It highly enjoyable to see an occasional person try to get into a saloon without being spotted. People went out just to see this show. Every Visitor Gets Value. The searchlights drove the saloons out of business* and Beach Park never has seen one since. It has increased in popularity year by year, and today is a remarkable monument to the worth of nonesty and decency in an amusement park. Every palatable "soft” drink is sold there, but nothing with a suspicion of dope. There is no ballyhooing, no deceit, no loudness. Every visitor gets value. The whole establishment —and it covers many acres—is conducted rationally, efficiently and yet most profitably. There has been so much profit in Beach Park as he conducts it that the popcorn man has had to look about to employ his money. Liking the amusement field and believing he was doing a good service tn providing for those who want to take their please ures in a decent, respectable way, he built a great winter carnival right In the heart of a city. There he has hockey tournaments, ice skating and other sports. The ice-making plant is so tremendous that this rink Is said to be the biggest in the world. It is a pronounced success. The games and tournaments nave come to be features of the winter life of the city, and the popcorn man is now declared to be the most prosperous amusement purveyor in America. (Copyright by the McClure rtrwspap-M Syndicated

He Made Popcorn on His Kitchen Stove.