Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1879-10-25
HOW | BECAME AN
EDITOR.

Iefr1nec IL u TCu-nOt, nCc-cHCIuk
Democratic sheet, and the Avchger
pulls off its coat and spits on its
hands for the Republican side Of the
ticket. The destinies Of tho Terri
fer are presided over by Thompson
"a Democrat Of the most approved
style; one who had, according to hts
editorials, left a limb on every battle
field of the civil war, and one, as ne
emplatically asserted, who was still!
engaged in business at the old stand
and always ready to dispose Of q few
more limbs for the sake Of his bleed
ing country. Phil Watterson, the
editor of tie Avenger, was al Ohio
man and II Republican ofthe deepest
dye. lie also occasionally favored
his readers with u little ofhis person.
nj record during the "late unpleas-
antness.' He affirmed frequently
that he had swan in blood up to his
neck on every battlefield OF the war,
and had twice wadded across the At
lantic ocean in search of aid for his
stricken country. Both editors were,
of course, bitter personal enemies,
and the way they poured chained
lightning into each others ranks
would have made volcano tremble,
grow pale and take down his sign.
Last summer the editor Of the Terri
fer went North to be gone three
weeks, and just before he left he came
to mo and requested that assume
control Of the Terrifer during his ab-
sencc. / told him that l was mex
perienced and would make u failure
of the thing, but he said he knew !
wouldn't, and begged so hard that |
finally accepted the position feeling
rs blue and sick abont it as u dog,
though, all the time.
Now, Vox,' said he, Il want you
while Pm absent to give old Waiter
son of the Avenger and his white
iivered crew the best in the shop
just literally rip 'em to pieces in
every issue-don't leave 'em % hair
on their heads, and I'll write red hot
letters occasionally just to let elm
know that Pm still kicking. Good
bye, old fellow, and don't fail to
knock old Watterson sky-high.' |
shuddercd and felt cold all over, for
Watterson was powerfully built
man and the equal Of Yankee Sulli-
van any day. He left, and summon
ing up all the courage | could COM
mand, went down to the office the
next morning and began work. l
hastily clipped . lot Of ,miscellancy
for the outside, dashed Oft a few
locals, and then sat down to sling oil
something 'red-hot' for Watterson
and his crowd. sat for an hour and
couldn't get up the ghost of an idea
until ut last was reminded OF q lit.
tie story once heard about Waiter.
son. Rumor said that he had mar
ricd u widow up in Kentucky for hc'
money, and then had poisoned he1
and shot his mother-in-law to pre-
vent her telling, and then had fled tt
Mississippi with his ill-gotton gains
This worked up in al its }orrid de-
tails; described the brutality Of TIT
WILLAMETTE beauty and accomplish.
ments of his innocent victims-ant
finally wound up by denouncing Wat
tcrson in terms that would make tn.
Okolona States or the Lemars Sent
mel burst wide open with envy. |!
my closing sentence struglingly ad
viscd the citizens of Voxville to hanl
Watterson immediately--spoke of tn
danger of having such man turned
, loose on good society, etc, etc, g
, not land confess here, CONFIDENTIAL!
: that added few sensational para
!; graphs, merely for etfect)-l wante'
. something to make the Avcnge
: stand on its head, and that articl'
| filled the bill exactly. When 1t wa
/, finished | called in the foreman, rea'
it to him and asked his opinion.
y oh, excellent! said he, 'but | tel
0 YOU, Mr.. Vox, you'd better look on
Q for your scalp after this thing see
t the light-Watterson is regular oil
8 grizzly, and he'll make things dev
n lish warm for you
:, | trembled and was inclined to de
o stroy the article, but that would new
Y er do now since / had shown it to til
4 foreman. So gave it to him an
# told him to "set it up" Then Iwen
II down town and purchased three re
!. volvers. The next day the articl
70 came out in pointed slang-two co
Y umns and q half, and containe
n enough exclamation points to stock
r circus troupe. After the paper ha
been delivered, could see groups ,
. excited men all down the street reat
4 ing the article and gesticulatin
=, wildly in the direction Of my otfic
- and I'll tell you honestly my bloc
ran cold. l endeavored to compo'
+ myself, however, for knew Ia hay
N to fight Watterson that very day.
10 got my pistols ready, sent the of1i'
~ boy down town to get, me three
" four Bowie knives, and then sat dow
y y to purusc the Herald. | sat the
d nearly all-somehow didn't tel Il
N least bit hungry-that day,so | didr
" 20 home to dinner. | hung to tn
70 office like a dog to u bone. ToWa1
r. four o'clock | heard q r'Imbll'
ID trampling noise down stairs, and
II knew that it it was Watterson cor
ID ing up with a crowd of friends.
ito he came, a club in one hand and
copy of the unfortunate article i'll t
other!
Did you scrawl this, yon low bro
re knock knecd son Ola gun" said ]
a brandishing the club, and glar1ng
OF me like Bengal tiger. My coura
IT began to rise all at oncc-the |o
cS are terrors when they get their DIo
IS up-and | calmly stated that ! i
:14o,, - aud that I xvOulu write