Back in 1880, Atchison --- located on the Kansas shore of the Missouri River midway between St. Joe and Kansas City --- was the eastern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, a major rail gateway to the West. Lucas Countyans headed for the West and Southwest could catch a southbound at the C.B.&Q. Depot in Chariton and arrive in Atchison a few hours later via St. Joe to transfer to a westbound.
That's apparently the route followed by an unidentified young couple from Chariton, who arrived at the Union Depot there on the morning of Dec. 23, 1880, and proceeded to put on a show for anyone who cared to join the audience before departing at midnight Dec. 23-24 for the West.
The Atchison Weekly Portrait of Christmas Day reported the goings on in rather lurid terms in an article published under the headline, "A Couple Who Loved and Didn't Care Who Knew It."
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The travelers, guests, employees and sightseers at the Union Depot last night enjoyed a rare treat of a protracted series of love demonstrations of the most violent and volcanic character. Sitting in the ladies waiting room were a young couple from Iowa --- Chariton, Iowa --- who came in on the morning train on the C.B.&Q. and left at 12 o'clock, midnight, on the Central Branch for the west.
The entertainment continued without cesaation from their arrival until their departure, but it didn't open out in its fiercest phase until the shades of night commenced falling.
Upon their arrival they took adjacent seats in one end of the room, and the man --- a lusty young fellow of about 30 summers --- laid his head affectionately in the lady's lap. From appearances, the girl was also hovering on the brink of 30, and were it not for her giddy and youthful antics might have been quoted as having crossed that Rubicon.
When Claude deposited his cream colored head in his Dulcimia's lap the demonstrations commenced. She first kissed him about once for every year he had lived, and then once or twice each for the years she hoped he would live. She kissed him on his alabaster forehead, and then like the swooping and uncertain eagle, would light on his chin and chew that. Next she would attack his mouth until his eyes would roll around like an epizootic stricken calf, and he would hardly get to feeling good in this spot until her lips would be glued to his hardened cheek. It was a royal feast, and she partook of it with apparent appetite. Then he would raise his head and they would entwine their arms around each other and love mutually and spontaneously.
The travelers and spectators gathered around, and with bated breath watched the proceeding. It had no visible effect. Like the howling dervishes, who are at their best when a crowd watches their frightful writhings, the more that gathered around the more affectionate they became. He would hold her out at arms length and look down into her deep blue eyes until he would get dizzy, and then they would come together again.
Twice John Dougherty separated them, only to see a collision a second afterward. She would pat his cheek and smooth his hair, and for a moment he would pretend to be asleep, and then suddenly waking, clasp her to his arms as if he had dreamed some dreadful ogre had attempted to carry her away. Then they would coyly kiss again. It was a rare love feast, and enjoyed by a large number of strangers visiting our city.
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