Saloon Stories

Things happen in and near saloons. Things happen because of saloons. Things like this.

1. Crazy Lady on a Bike

No one knew who she was or where she came from. On a July day in 1902, she rode a bicycle through Ainsworth, moving northward up State Road 51. Her bicycle looked new; a man's bicycle, it seemed; and she rode it unsteadily, as if not used to riding. Did I say through Ainsworth? — no, she didn't quite make it through Ainsworth. At the northern edge of town, she stopped at Ed Sauter's saloon.

Into the saloon she walked, and what a sight — she was hatless, windblown; her nose red and bloated; her eyes wild. She called for a drink.

The barkeeper refused. Whether it was because she looked like she'd already drunk enough, or they simply didn't serve women at Sauter's, I don't know.

She took the refusal surprisingly well. She left the saloon, got back on her bicycle, wild-eyed and red-nosed, and continued her unsteady northward course. She was last seen by John Dorman as she rode past his place (near the present-day Indian Ridge Golf Course).

And then she disappeared. No one knew where she went.

She probably would not have made it into the papers but for the subsequent appearance of a mysterious damaged bicycle lying near the road.

Yes, a damaged bicycle lying near the road had people in Hobart and Ainsworth talking for two weeks, wondering, speculating, conjecturing. It turned out to be the stolen property of one Patrick Malone, who knew nothing about any crazy lady. And so our lady rides out of the pages of history.

2. "Too Much Boose"

It was a fine day in early September 1902 when two young men of Hobart, William Sohn and Ed Rieck, hired a horse and buggy to drive to Crown Point and have some fun at the fair.

Actually they had some fun even before they left Hobart, and they were already lubricated when they set out southward on State Road 51.

Like their bicycling predecessor, they found themselves unable to pass through Ainsworth. Something stopped them there. I'm guessing it was Sauter's saloon — judging by the condition they were in when at last they did break free. The young men stumbled back into the buggy; somehow they got the horse turned onto 73rd Street, heading westward toward Crown Point; but having done that, they subsided into unconsciousness and let the horse drive itself.

The horse kept up a brisk pace westward, passing other rigs, weaving from one side of the road to the other. The young men were blissfully unaware. But near present-day I-65 and the cemetery, disaster struck. The horse weaved too far to one side; the buggy went down in the roadside ditch, tipped over and spilled out all it contained.

The horse was unharmed, but neither the buggy nor its occupants were as lucky — the top came off the buggy, and the same nearly happened to one of the young men.

Some kind soul stopped, picked William and Ed up from the ground, and took them to Merrillville where Dr. H.L. Iddings tended to their injuries, which apparently were not mortal. Notified of the accident, the owner of the horse and buggy came out from Hobart and fetched them all home.

Sources:
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette (Hobart, Ind.) 4 July 1902.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette (Hobart, Ind.) 18 July 1902.
♦ "Too Much Boose." Hobart Gazette (Hobart, Ind.) 12 Sept. 1902.