San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-09-13
The Kentucky hunehausea.
Louisville Courler-Jsurnai.

AMI
talked to him the other night found
him as good natured as ever. The
famous prevaricator is rather small
man, good-looking, with beard and
mustache, dancing blue eyes, quick,
catlike motions, and one of the most
rapid takers one could find in days
walk. Words seem to be gurgIng in
his throat and chasing each other out,
bot.foot. He dresses very well, and
altogether presents very tidy appear,
ance.
ayes, sir, l have started a new
branch in journalism; something that
is an innovation and o. success. |
call it novelistic journalism. Dickens
and Thackeray wrote novel in vol
ume, and thought themselves FORUM
ate when 100, 000people read it in five
years. write a novel of thousand
words that is read by more than l.
100000 in ten hours after it has left
my hand. Why, what could be more
attractive to o literary man? Nobody
is hurt by my little novels; nobody's
morals are corrupted, and all are en-
tertained and sometimes instructed.
I have selected all sorts of subjects
for these stories; many of them have
travelled over the world and have
been wondered at in twenty nations.
I am just 30 years old and am famous.
There is not man in this county
who can read and write and who has
read the newspapers that doesn't know
of Joe Mulhattan. / have fooled ev-
cry paper of prominence in the Unit
ed States, and some of my scientific
6 stories have been discussed by the
learned societies of Europe"
"When did you begin your career
of mendacity?" interrupted the report
er.
81 have been writing my novels for
ten years now. I started on the
Pittsburg Leader, and fooled them
for three OF four years. I wrote sto-
ries OF marvellous oil wells, of roman
tic highway robberies and things of
that kind. then got to sending my
novels to other prominent journals. [
started the story of John Wilkes
Booth being seen in several places,
and wrote so Enthusiastically that
many believed it. | started as Joke,
the report that President Lincoln's
bones would be exhibited at the Cen
tennial. The press of the country
took it up, and for weeks it was a ma
tional question. l don't know how
many of these stories l wrote in the
East. The biggest thing wrote in
this part of the country was the Big
Clifty fight, where q drummer wrestled
with two highwaymen On bridge
and finally threw them over. My
cave story at Glasgow Junction went
all over the world; you doubtless re-
member that. I found cave there
larger than the Mammoth Cave, with
navigable rivers, mummies 1900 years
old, and hundred other marvellous
things. The Leitchfeld story about
the finding of Masonic emblems that
had been buried for thousands of
years, showing q prehistoric race of
masons caused great excitement. l
am prouder of my Glasgow Cave story
than any of the others. It showed
more invention and more magma
ton"
"What was the basis ofsuch mar
velous ie?"a
You mean such we'll imagined
novel;" interrupted Mr.. Mulhattan,
with smile. why there is never
any foundation to my stories. There
in lives my power. Almost anybody
could write a story with the founda-
ton to build on; it requires genius
to construct novel without founda-
ton in fact whatever, to evolve it all
out of your mind as spider draws
the web from it's own body. I wrote
that thing about the finding of a cave
at Gallatin where the jewels and gold
OF the James brothers were found.
When Frank James read it, he turned
to jailer and said: I'll bet that sto-
ry was written by Joe Mulhattan.'"
What has been your success IN
Texas?"
very fine. L suppose you read my
meteor story. The Fort Worth ga
eette received the day after it was pub
lished ia kilograms from ali parts of
the world; some were from st. Peters
burg, some from London, some from
Edinburgh. When 1 visited Fort
Worth afterward they gave me fine
banquet. The Texans enjoyed my
novels immensely. Some Of my sto-
ries have never been contradicted, es-
Pecially that one about the finding of
4i,-o el-o1o4o,e ,-,dnr q tree where the