KERSEY COATES AS A WAITER.
An Incident of the Early Days in
Kansas City.
An incident of the good old days in Kansas City town was recalled last night at the Hotel Kupper by Belle Theodore, a member of the Kathryn Osterman company, playing at the Grand this week.
"I have been coming to Kansas City every season for many years," said Mrs. Theodore to a party of friends. "Several years ago on one of my visits I was stopping at the old Coates house. At dinner time one evening all of the waiters in the house went on a strike. The late Kersey Coates, who was then running the place, was in a dreadful stew, hardly knowing how to proceed. The hotel was full of guests and the dining room was rapidly filling. I followed the procession and sat down at a table, thinking that I would take a chance, if there were any, of getting my dinner.
"I had been seated a few minutes when I saw a waiter approaching. As he neared me I saw that it was Mr. Coates, the proprietor. He had donned a jacket and an apron and was handling a tray like a veteran. He worked throughout the dinner hour like a Trojan and made the best of an unpleasant and unforeseen situation."
