San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-09-07
The Enterprislng Advance Agent.

Last evening Chronicle repoytsr
overheard couple of discharged stake.
drivers relating their experience in a
saloon over their beer.
"Billy Simms," said one, twas tho
boss advance agent-the liveliest cove
YOU ever saw to 60 ahead and work nm
business. He could handle the press
you bet. He'd keep about two weeks
ahead, and the papers would 60 wild
over what was coming. This was his
game: He'd take the local editor off one,
side and tell him that the boss wanted a
good, live man to write up star notices
at S75 week and all expenses paid
and he was the man for the place. He
would then give him letter to the man.
ager, strongly recommending him, and
slide off next day, leaving the local ed.
itor confident of his being on the eve of
a big thing. The letter was just guy
and was always addressed wrong. The
reporter would then start in to show
what kind of notices he could write IL
he only laid himself out to do it, and the
paper would be nearly all circus. The
agent would work the next newspaper
man he met the same way, and, by lin.
90, he kept the country just blazin' with
excitement ahead with stories about the
lions, rhinoceroses, tigers and gorillas
breakin' loose and devourin' whole fam
lilies. He was buster, that advance
agent, and when he died the show bust.
ness lost II shinin' light. The only man
who ever came anywhere near him was
Bob Filkin, who is travelin' now for
Forepaugh."
"Pshaw!" remarked the other,
"what was that alongside of Jake
Bradley Jake and l started out driven
stakes for Barnum in '61. When Jake
went ahead of circus the concern had
to be way up or he'd be more of show
than the circus. l recollect one time
he took bill-poster and made him slap
the bills right on the tombstones in the
Presbyterian Cemetery, and then he
went and covered the whole side of the
Methodist Church with elephants, IT,
gers, lions, zebras and two.horned rhi-
noceroses; that's the sort of cheese
press he was. When the preacher came
out to expostulate, says Jake: GO
in, you old duffer; don't the Bible tell
us to beautify the sanctuary and make
the house Of the Lord gloriousp Pm
chuckin' a little style on your old hem
coop-making up for it's glarin' archi-
tectural deficiencies. Them's all BIZ
BILE scenes, anyhow, and represents
Noah gettin' his menagerie together in
the ark 1t just paralyzed the gospel
izer, and he took walk. Jake had the
solid cheek, you bet, and nothing alive
phased him hair. He knew when he
plastered the Presbyterian Cemetery
with small bills, and the M. E. Church
with pictures, that 'twouldn't hurt biz
ness because the Presbyterians never 90
to shows anyhow, nor the Methodists
neither, and the town was most 'Pisco-
palians and Unitarians, who stand in
with him. One day he stood at the
door of a Sunday-school and distrib-
uted small bills to the scholars coming
out. At the top was cut of Moses i'll
the bullrushes and some extracts from
Scripture appropriately chucked inland
the advertisement of the next circus per-
Torrance. Chiarim sat down and cried
like child when the trick mule kicked
Jake's brains out"
Here the two men asked the bar
keeper to trust them for another quart
of beer. but it was no 60, and they slid
off to hunt up dry-goods box to sleep
in Virginia (Nev.) Chronicle.