The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-04-05
THE TOPEKA EMEurE.

Under the above head the Kansas
City Times furnishes the following IN
formation regarding the recent retire
ment Of Captain Henry King from the
Topeka Capital;
From q Topeka gentleman well &C
quainled with the true inwardness of az
fairs at the Kansas capital, it has been
learned that the facts of the recent
emeute in the Capital Office has not been
made public, and that "the question of
salary" was not the cause of the retire
ment of Captain King. It seems that
there have been four Interests involved
In the stock Of the Capital: the Santa
Fs and Kansas Pacific interest, the John
4. Anderson interest, the Senator In
gals interest, and the st. John inter-
est. Captain King, as editor, controlled
q mai Jrity Of the stock. but was op-
posed by a majority of the board of di-
rectors. He represented the railroad
interest. At heart, the Topeka gentle
man says. Captain King was never a st.
John man and never an active prohibI-
ZIONIST or strict temperance man, in the
political sense of the term. He was
friendly to Mayor Wilson and opposed
TO the claims of Mr. WEIGH. This was
distasteful to the board of directors, and
from this grew the first evidences of dis
content. The story goes that one
memorable evening the Captain was en-
joying q lete supper with a party OF
congenial friends, when the question of
Mr.. WEIGHS candidacy came up. One
of the party remarked that Mr.. WEIGH
was q little premature, and that under
the law no election for mayor could be
held this spring. Acting on the I'M
pulse, Captain King returned TO his
office and wrote the famous editorial to
tina; effect. Next day tue town was in
an uproar. Hudson, Purcell, MulYane
i'm fact the board OF diFectors-Were
favorable To Mr.. WEIGH, and the EDITOR
al fell like a hopbshell. Sir. Hudson
was particularly furious, and declared
that Captain King had ruined the policy
Of the paper. A meeting of the boar q
was called, and the result was that the
next morning the Capital apoligized for
the article by saying that IL was only iu-
tended ''to make a liLlle sport for the
boys" But the trouble continued t.
grow Mr. WEIGH had been nominated
by the prohibitiOU,sts, as one of ST.
Johns most active assistants, to sue
ceed Mayor Wilson. Captain King
fatty refused to support him, and
could not, of course, cone out openly
tor Mr.. Wilson. therefore the paper
preserved an entirely non committAl pol
| icy. In the meantime the board of di-
rectors held daily meetings and Captain
| Kings resignation as editor in chief was
requested. This the captain pointedly
refused, and so affairs dragged on until
| ex- Gov. st. John returned from his lee
| turing tour in the east Then, il is said,
st. John, anxious to secure the advance
ment of Mr.. WEIGH, formed a coalition
with Mr.. Hudson and other directors,
secured q majority of the stock and at
once deposed Captain King. Some mi
nor changes had been made in the staff
few days before, and It was deemed
best to have thorough oYerhauling of
| the editorial force and begin anew.
Hence. the Capital is now openly COM
mitted to Mr.. WEIGH and the prohibition
wing of the party.
OF Captain Kings ability as a writer
there can be no question; how well he
| is able to combine the duties of jour-
nalist and politician Is matter OF doubt
The policy Of the Capital has been sim
| guiarly Hateful, to say the least, and the
| war in the camp has not tended to fur
Their its advancement as a newspaper.
/ j. B. McCullagh, of the Globe-Demo-
crat, is a warm admirer of Captain
Kings talents as a contributor, and 1t is
highly probable that he will be given q
| lucrative and congenial position in st.
Louis For the time, Mr.. Hudson will
dictate the full policy of the paper until
| an editor can be found. What this pol
icy will be has been foreshadowed by
the events described.