, 1872-10-22
JOAQUIN MILLER.
Me Tells the sfBF55 6f His ,hifs=I8Iis
r1r1Re7s Sfate1n erffs xHnri aicf2ax

He Tells the Sttf3 Gf Els IfFG=EHis
Ex.yyIfe's Statements Contfkdlcteds
A,few weeks ago We gave synopsis Of the
Joau1in NIiller's ex-wife, s'1innie MYRTLE" A1il-
,e yisiR I q % New fork Fspcrte1 10 sat himself night
before the people, SO far as he c&h; ts explicit
dsnials Of the damaging. statements made Of
gky parlors Of, The Astor House, in New York,
where he is temporarily stopping, and after re-
counting desultory conversation which took
place between them, be gives in detail the poets
views regarding his M Mifss leettfres: tzxu
foI Ths sG Poat E1A Yes haTe read it, bit on say
+ nothing about it. hnve disputed nothing that
she has aaid. I viii dispute nothing, and will
allow nobody to dispute any of her statements:
md wife are so sacred, so holy, that would be
committing crino If I were to say anything
Reporter. Ire1nembor one statement; in her
lecture which is very funny. Speaking OF your
"pQetic workehop,n she said you Always aaa
could see the words, Ever clever, oVer clover,
fire desire, and 90 On, written On page Of FOOLS
ri Tie Poet. ne7er saw rhymi1g dictionary
never saw one Mrs. Miller knows very little
about me, very little, indeed. I am sorry to'say
I study too little for words. I work. with. too
great fapidity. See what I have been doing in
the feH days that hsyebeen here. HE showed
the rsgerte! nass M Pf2ofshsgts, ana called
Reporter. She said in her lecture that whBa
you we're q Judge in Grant County, Oregon ayon
used to have an immense Bible before you @and
that when you heard footsteps you used to place
it across your knees and assume a perp1exed'
1ecal scoW}'' Is that true?
The Poet (after some deliberation) had 8
stormy race OF men to rule over. We we're 200
miles from the nearest outpostB OF civilization.
It was mining camp in the Blue Mountains Of
Oregon. planned the whole settlement with
my own hands. directed the attention Of the
people to agriculture. I left them prosperous
people when I; went away. You may say that
The tetty o7ss Which presided aon vas e. large
and A, 900 Indians, (sadly) Yes, and these are
my, true friends thsss rsthe trua believers Of
Reporter. But how shout the legal sco#1, Mr.
Miller7
suppose had q legal Bcowl. As I said before, /
had q stormy race Of men to rule over. (Grave-
ly) nm sorry that should have to speak IN
ens57er to charges preferred against me BY the
woman that on1e was my Wife. But this is Amer
queer thing. Ameuca wants something she
ought not to have. II were to die now they
would send fifty reporters to gloat over my
death and to give glowing and Interesting &C.
count Of my last moments. This is a strange
country.
Reporter. Yes, it is. Is it true, Mr.. Miller,
that when you did notli your visitors you used
to shiver and fill your store with wood until it
became rsd-h?s' an snd 1oa nnm the on"eleo"e guests
The Poet {sniling). NY nature is open and
free OF course, when man comes and puts
his hands on his knees, and assumes Ill the stiff
ness TINT he is capsule Of assuming, an very
glad to get rid Of him. Nobody likes congenia1
society better than do, but / cannot endure
stiff, formal people.
Reporter. And when they did call on you, did
The Post QAughing heartily. froze them
out. You see I did not want to freeze Jou out
have shut the window.
Reporter. Thanks. Tour wife said in her
lecture that after the visitors were gone you
used to say to her, "that is the only way I can
do :. they would sit and talk foE hours II did
not make il too .wnrm for them ?"
Tho Poet Qanghingl. Yes; I hate Disagree
able peoplo;. and man has to resort to = great
nsnY ingenious expedients In life to get nd of
them. Is said before, had stormy race of
people to rule over. The bed Of Judge in
Ktporter. Is it true thnt you, In imitation Of
Lord Byron, .-professed horror OF literary
women, and that when Mrs. Miller asked you for
A0V in1oEfQHt10Q YOU Q68Q LU kel1 l3r tUAH ELS
had better not seek to know snything, and
that she Was more attractive to you as abe
Was
Tbe Poet Qsughing)., What strange idea !!
I think Mz5. Miller must have got this idea
while was in London: never initiated Byron.
lily. nature is not Byronic, and my poems are cor
taln1y as unlike those OF Byron as they could
possibly be. have never written "Childe
Harold or 40 Don Juan"
~Ly,a+ n{ron ~ rh $rrSh
:::could, not endure: to see beauty eat beef:
The Poet. She had always as much as had
more. II abe had not al should have liked
to give her, it vas because did not have it and
Reporter. She Gays in her lecture that ahe
went hungry until she became quite pale and in
teresting, when you went down to the classic
shades Of Oregon and made love 10 bouncing
you confess the charge2 .
The Poe. Qaughing). have no very distinct
recollection about that. I may have gone down
to the classic shades Of Oregon as she says,
or e1 to ,'t one Who weighed 200 po9nds or to one
who weighed $50 pounds. don't remember her
weight distinctly. She might have weighed less
than 200 pounds, she might have weighed more.
Reporter And did you ever refuse Mrs Miller
beefBteak?
The Poet Qaughing). I can't'say that1 ever
did. / shared with her whatever T had. She
had always as much as had-more. If she had
no beefsteak then had none.
Reporter. Is it true that after having long
promised your little daughter Maud 8 present
you sent her 3 chain and locket of brass worth
twenty-five cents? ~ -
The Poet. / don't think it WAS brass. The
locket was something like this locket (showing
the reporter small 1ocket that was attached to
his watch chain).. Maud will get this locket as
soon as she is old enough. It is very valuable,
rs You can see. Lady Charlotte Locker, the last
OF the Bruces, gave it to me when was in Lon
don.
Reporter. In an. interview with . reporter Of
the San Francisco Morning Cal Mrs. Miller is
represented as having said that you wrote
your "Songs Of the Sierras" in Grant County,
Oregon.
The Poet The statement is not correct 7 do
not know myself where wrote them. = Z was
roaming about for several years in the Wilds Of
New Mexico, Nevada, and California, and
VAS roaming among Indians and hurting: the
deer these poems we're written. I could not say
myself where I wrote them. ;.
Reporter. Your wife said in that interview
that you gained all your knowledge Of prairie
and tropics from reading. :,
: The Poet crossed the plninB when was sig
months old and hav4 crossed them three tm66