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Show COFFEE WASTED TO DECEIVE. Origin of the Business Now So Exen-sivo Exen-sivo Due to an Accident. Ordinarily one business grows out of another, but tho coffee-roasting business has como by accident. Before tho Civil war all coffees came to the Loulavlllc market green and everv family roasted Its own coffee, either In the old-fashloncd cylinder roaster or by the use of large pans placed In hot ovens. Recalling the days when ho, received all his coffees green at the wharf and sold It green at his store, a Main street coffee merchant said: "The days before the war arc also known as the days of tho steamboat, steam-boat, for there were few railroads In trie country then. Business on the boats fien was heavv and many carried nothing but coffee Hlvcr disasters were also heavy then, for the reason that tho Government paid little attention to cleaning out the rivers and many a boat that started from the South with coffee for tho old Portland wharf struck a snag and sank In the muddy waters. "Green coffee, of courai-. swells in water wa-ter and when a cargo went down li was always considered a total loss. One day In the '70s a big boat coming to Louisville Louis-ville sank near the bank between Evans-vlllo Evans-vlllo and this city. "Two Jews who lived In the neighborhood neighbor-hood of tho sunken vessel bought the coffee In the hopes of saving most of It before it began to swell They spread It out on big tarpaulins In the sun. but when It was dry they realized that It would not sell on the markets In that condition Tho Idea of roasting tho pile In an effort to- conceal Its Inferiority dawned upon them and they Immediately set to browning brown-ing the little grains In pans placed over charcoal fires. - "When tho lot was sufficiently browned they hauled It to a small river town and sold It loose, with much success. After they had disposed of all tho coffee thev bought more of the sunken goods and treated It to a like process. In a short time they erected a fnctorv for the- now Industry and then several other factories engaged In tho roasting of coffee. Now Instead of buying green coffee, everv family fam-ily buys Its coffee already roasted and the labor and time consumed bv Individual Indi-vidual roasting arc now uaod In another way " Louisville Courier-Journal. |