Reminiscences of John H. Charles. 37 



ing a fierce snow-storm. That night I stopped at the 

 Hagy House, or Western^ Hotel, of which John Hagy 

 was proprietor. The hotel was located on the levee at 

 the corner of Second and Water streets. It consisted 

 of two log cabins near together, the space between en- 

 closed only with rough hewn boards. The house was 

 ordinarily referred to as "The Terrific.''^ 



A dozen men were in the hotel lobby. All were in 

 shirt sleeves, but each man wore from two to four flannel 

 shirts. One old man named Cowan, known familiarly 

 as "Colonel," sat by the stove with an umbrella raised 

 over him. The storm was very severe and blew so much 

 snow into the upper part of the room that it settled 

 down all over the floor. Above the stove the heat 

 changed the falling flakes into rain, hence the umbrella. 

 The men were a hard-looking set, harder than I had seen 

 in the California mines or even on the Isthmus. They 

 were dirty and ragged, but talked chiefly of their real 

 estate sales and of the money they had made. But they 

 looked harder than they were, for some of them were 

 well educated and have since made their mark. 



Near bed time I looked around for a sleeping room. 

 Seeing none, and wishing to make inquiry, I approached 

 the only man in the hotel whom I saw wearing a white 

 shirt. He answered that none of the men had rooms, 

 that there were no rooms, and that I would be lucky to 

 get even a bed. He said that he himself slept between 

 the two houses, and not having any bed fellow I could 

 sleep with him. He probably noticed that I also wore a 

 white shirt, and since we two were the only guests that 

 did, this maj be the reason why he took me in prefer- 

 ence to any one else. We soon retired to sleep, under a 

 buffalo robe. That is all that kept us from freezing. 

 In the morning we were covered with snow several 

 inches deep. Frost had formed around our eyes and 

 mouths and our faces were covered with snow and ice. 2 



1. The Hagy House of 1856 was called the Northwestern House 

 later. The nickname "Terrific" had been applied to the house before 

 Mr. Hagy became proprietor. 



2. Mr. Charles' bedfellow that night was Charles K. Smith, 

 afterwards postmaster of Sioux City. 



