The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-06-03


Ends. To his clerk, rather-he was not
there himself. There were sixteen beau
tiful young ladies in the room, writing
in books, and there were seven well-fa
Yored young clerks showing them how.
The young women smiled up over their
shoulders, and the clerks smiled back at
them, and all went merry as marriage
bell. Two or three clerks that were
reading the newspapers looked ut me
rather hard, but went on reading, and
nobody said anything. However, had
been used to this kind of alacPity from
fourth assistant Junior clerks all the way
Through my eyentful career, from the
very day l entered the first office of the
Corn-Beef Bureau, till passed out of
the last one IN the Dead Reckoning Di-
vision l had got so accomplished by
this time that could stand on one foot
| from the moment / entered an Office till
a clerk spoke to me, without changing
more than two, or may be three times.
| So stood there till / had changed
four different times. Then said to one
of the clerks who was reading:
Industrious vagrant, where is the
Grand Turk -
"What do you mean, Sir? whom do
you meanf If you mean the Chief. of
the Bureau, he is out" ........
The young man glared upon me a
while, and then went on reading his pa
per. / knew / was safe, if he got
! through before another New y Ork mail
arrived. He only had two more papers
left. After a while he finished them,
and then. he yawned, and asked me what
/ wanted.
'.Renowned and honored imbecile ::
On or about"
"Y on are the beef contract man. Give
me your papers"
He took them. and for long time he
ransacked his odds and ends. Finally
he found the Northwest Passage, as l
regarded 1.-THE found the long lost rec
ord of that beef contract-he found the
rock upon which so many of my ances-
tors had split before they ever got to it.
l was deeply moved. And yet l re-
joiced-for had survived. l said with
emotion, ''Give it me. The Govern
ment will settle now" He waved me
back, and said there was something yet
to be done first.
said he.
dead"
'When did he die 2"
'He didn't die at all--he was killed."
GLOW 2" .
''Tomahawked.'
"Who tomahawked him ?"
S'Why, an Indian, of course. You
didn't suppose it was superintendent
of Sunday school, did you?"
"No. An Indian, was it?
"The same"
Name of the Indian -
His name! don't know his name"
"MISt have his name. Who saw the
tomahawking done?"
''I don't know"
"You were not present yourself.
then 2"
(Which you can see by my hair. |
gas absent"
"Then how do you know that Mae
kcnzie is dead 2"
Because he certainly died at that time,
and / have every reason to believe that
he has been dead ever since. i knOU he
has, in fact"
eve must have proofs. Have yon got
the Indian ?"
'.Of course not"
"Wcll, you must get him. Have you
got the tomahawk p
81 never thought of such a thing"
"You must get the tomahawk. You
must produce the Indian and the tOma-
hawk. If Mackenzie's death can be
proven by these, you can then go before
the commission appointed to audit
claims, with some show of getting your
bill under such Roadway that your chill
dren may possibly live to receive the
money and enjoy it. But that mans
death MUST be proven. However. may
as well tell yOu that the Government
will never pay that transportation and
those travelling expenses for the lament
ed Mackenzie. 1t may possibly pay for
the barrel of beef that Sherman's SOL
diers captured, if you can get n relief
bill through Congress making an appro-
priation for that purpose; but it Will
not pay for the twenty-nine barrels the
Indians ate"
"Then there is only one hundred dol
lars due me, and that isn't certain AT
ter all Mackenzie's travels in Europe,
Asia and America with, that beef, after
all his trials and fluctuations and trans
portation, after the slaughter of all
those innocents that tried TO collect that
bill! Young man, why didn't the First
Controller of the Corn-Beef Division
tell me this 2"
''He didn't know anything about the
genuineness of your claim"
"Why didn't the second tell me why
didn't the third ? why didn't all those
divisions and departments tell me p
"None of them knew. We do things
by routine here. You have followed
the routine and found out what You
wanted to know. 1t is the best way. IL
is the only way. 1t is very regular, and
very slow, but it is very certain"
Eyes, certain death. 1t has been to
the most of our tribe. I begin to feel
that /, too, am called. Young man, you
lOye the bright creature yonder with
the gentle blue eyes and the steel pens
behind her ears see il in your soft
glances; you wish to marry her-but |
you are poor. Here, hold ont your
is the beef contract; go,
take her and be happy. Heaven bless
you, my children!"
This is all / know about the great beef |
contract, that has created so much talk |
in the community. The clerk to whom |
/ bequeathed it died. / know nothing |
further about the contract or any one |
with it. | only know that if |
a man lives long enough, he can trace a |
thing through the Cireumloeution Office |
of Washington, and find out, after much |
labor and trouble and delay, that which |
he could have found out on the first day, |
if the business of the CircumIocutiOn |
Office were as ingeniously systematized |
as it would be if it were a great private |
institution.