The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-08-10

indexed with the letter beginning this mans
name, and finds all he has accumulated there
Concerning him As he:reads every newspaper
that comes along, and clips out all
persons, he has drawn together q tremendous
amount Of information about everybody who
mas been In the papers ct all since he began
tnls sort OF thing. suppose his scrap book
system is the most complete thing Of It's kind
over his book, he sits down and telographs ali
ne can find. or invent, that makes good read
ing de seems to have taken the clipping
notion from Charles Reade who is we'll known
70 nave conducted operations on this line ever
since ne was youugster. Reade, however, does
not go In for personal information, Of course,
because he is not in journalism. Reade's
soheme is to cut out from the papers every in
teresting incident he can find, aud every ono
~ ~. tnose curious complications Of human
~! ~ Wnioh ne came across every few days in
me reading Of every large journal, wherever
published. Reade also Keeps complete list
OF OF the newspaper reports Of great crimes. he
VIII tske one of these crimes as the basis of
novel, and out OF it he can draw plot of great
vigor and depth.
III; townsend y is stout man. of medium height,
M W. na nor1d complexion, and a quiet manner.
i nc usually wears Prince Albert coat, dark
trousers, and plug hat He has dark
mo9stache and gray eyes, His nose turns
shghtly downwards at the end, and his hair
10 Drown. 1t is singular thing that a man
VINO can talk 80 well to shorthand writer's
nt sses , SO osd speech after dinner But an
OF II, Is about. the hardest thing on
earth to do in q satisfactory man
ner Townsend usually gets around it
by making two or three introductory remarks,
VINO winding up with saying that he cannot at this
ilmo NIX MS mind upon any particular thread,
but that instead of making speech he will, if
ms hearers consent, rccto a few verses Of his
own composition. He then gives them Little
Grlsette-a rhymed story Of the sort of life in
rarls when everybody reads about and nobody
g 60 ns look OK at Tho little grisettes1 saw in
and were abnormally addicted to tho use Of in
toxcants. If the students in the Latin quarter
IKE that sort of thing they can have it, 80 far
as any civilized human being is concerned.
However, Mr.; Townsend's poem is full of life
at all realistic. He recitos it very we'll. between
puts at his aftel-dinner cigar. It is good
scheme to have something of this kind always
on tap. and to have q proprietary interest in it
idea. 40
GENTLE JOE HOWARD.
while am abont it, might az well tell you
something Of the other actors III this little
Howard-Townsend episode. 1t has always
struck me, by the by, as rather curious that
Journalists do not fight oftener. No class OF
men on earth cay bitterer things about each
other, and none feel SO badly when they are
attacked. Isuppose Joe Howard has fired off
pie in America as anybody. Howard
was the boss editor of the New York
Star. at the beginning of that papers career.
He made things pretty lively around Printing
first thing done by Howard to attract general
attention was the framing of the bogus proc
lamatlon, puporting to have been signed by
Abraham Lincoln, for which Joe was sent
down the harbor and kept in irons for long
tune That Was during the war. Even
under these trying circumstances he was full
Of good nature and generosity. Some other
chap, who wac arrested at the same time and
went down with Joe didn't have a penny to
his name. Howard found in the bottom of one
OF his pockets. rolled up so small that
the wise foresight Of that kind of
journalism to which he is addicted he had nut
there ont of reach, This he produced, and
during his stay down at the fort, dragging a
ball aud chair around, he "whacked up'' with
his companion, not. because he had known
him, or had been friend of his, but simply
because he was a fellow prisoner in the same
hot water he himself was touudering through.
Joe ls one of the most versatile and inexhaust.
ible writer's in America; although he has writ
ten until the hair is all of his head, and
"'."ou6n no c"n lcuieAoer pack so laf that
every! everybody who has only been in
Elm ''a as Of patria sU; 'c Soseph upon is
one of the most energetic aud Woodworking
men in the profession, and no earns lot Of
money. When be left the Star he went to the
Herald, where his salary was liked at $3.50 "a
week. He sends the Philadelphia Press a
letter for every Sunday, which pays him 500.
1t is pretty tart letter, but it brings readers
to the Press Office and that settles its value in
the publishers eyes. Every now and then, too,
Boston Herald and Chicago News. I don't
know what other papers he writes for, but he
does some work for commercial houses in
New York. Altogether his income runs from
$4,000 to $40, OOOa year. Howard is one
Of the gentlest aud incest chaps in
know. am not acquainted rnn T's with 10
single mau in journalism, barring Townsend;
who feels resentment enough against Joe
Howard to give him rub of serious import in
q newspaper He had lots of enemies at the
time ne ran the Star in the interest of Bill
good humor and unfaltering clinging to all
those who have been friends of his, Joseph
has lived down ovcry particle of ill-nature
there ever was against him. He works in q
chaotic and spasmodic sort OF way, but man.
ages to turn out interesting material all the
as there is to a dynamite bomb. he bursts out
into an article and spreads over pretty much
the entire surrounding territory. but he sell
doms shows any violent hostility for anybody,
and his extremely wide knowledge of men gives
him value to a paper like the Herald
type which allows him good deal of swing.
Whenever any big thing occurs anywhere in
the country, Howard is sent to edo" it Dur
ing the last presidential contest he had charge
Of the campaign. He came out Of it smiling,
contented, full of friends and afauent He
knows every trick and rope Of journalism, and
he pulls them oil with equal success.
don't know how old Joe Howard is. and
don't know anybody who does know how old
he is. he has round, benevolent face, with
gray mous'ache, and patch Of gostee on
his under lip, about the size Of dwarfed
mushroom. He has pleasant gray eyes,
from which he looks at you
through gold bowed glasses. His head
shines like the top of the Massachusetts state
house, and hair is equally visible on both
which is the only remnant of his ambition to
step into the shoes of the late Thurlow Weed
Around his neck he has a long gold chain,
which leaves you divided in opinion as to
whether he is circus man or the press agent
of railroad company He is addicted to low
there is q gold cross, with diamond in the
center. He has genial and comforting man
ner, and will invite you to drink more times in
minute than any other man in America. He
is just the same man he was twenty years ago,
in every particular that I can see.
He will never grow old. When his
time comes he will quietly blow away. without
aging q day, or growing venerable worth q
darn. Between you and mel say it secretly,
mind you'll believe Joe Howard has found the
eternal spring of Ponce do Leon. The other
day was up at High Bridge. on the Harlem
river, when saw him contemplating sliding
elevator which was carrying people up the
high bank from the waters edge in swarms.
Sim the capitalist of that affair" said Joseph.