The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-01-19
AN EX-REPORTER'S STORY.
why Nr. Radd0ck Went into the Coal
Business.

why Nr. RaddOck Went into the Coal
Business.
While l was on the train going from
1eadville to Colorado Springs, couple
of years ago, chance threw me into the
company OF a gentleman named George
w. Haddock, who run large coal ward
on Larimer Street, in Denver. | had
known him slightly before; he was
q stoutly built, middle-aged man, and
always seemed to me to have rather
exclusive and austere air about him;
but when we fell to talking, as folks
will do on the cars, found him very
clever and agreeable companion. He
was, however, an extremely practical
man, and constantly applied his, no
doubt, very praiseworthy business
habits to everyday life-reducing the
splendid blue mountains we could see
out of the window to their height in
feet, specializing upon the possibilities
OF pasturing mules on the beautiful
rolling plain between, and calculating
the square yards of timber in the grand
old pine forests in such Il way as to
strip all the picturesqueness Off land
scape and leave nothing but a dry
skeleton of facts and figures. Still, with
all this, he was, as | have said, very
pleasant and agreeable gentleman.
L was newspaper reporter ut the
time, and our conversation happened to
drift upon my profession. Mr.. Haddock
remarked:
Il was newspaper reporter once
myself, although, perhaps, you would
never have thought it,
To tell the truth, never would. for
believed Mr.. Haddock to be the most
matter-of-fact and prosaic of men, and,
in an inoffensive way, told him So
Really-+had haen asked to pick out
me least imaginative of things, l do
not know whether should have selected
Mr.. Haddock OF the multiplication
table.
"Well," he said, squaring himself
around SO as to face me and block off
retreat. 81 am not surprised, for |
firmly believe that the event which
drove me out Of the profession drove at
the same time every spark of fancy and
imagination out of my composition, and
filled me with such dread and horror
of such things that, if have ever in
dulged them since, it has been STEALTH
ly, like people sometimes indulge bad
habits on the sly"
He paused, and his eyes assumed that
CLASSY, inward look, which l have
noticed always precedes a "reminiscences
with some people.
ga good many years ago." he went
on, Il secured a position on daily
paper published it doesn't make
any particular difference to you where;
it was in one of the large Eastern cities,
though. Before this all my newspaper
experience had heen in the West. Now,
you may happen to known that out here
there is not that morbid craving for
truth that characterizes Atlantic Jour
nalism, and | had been taught that o
Straightforward, honest, candid lie,
well dressed up and tenaciously stuck
to, answered every purpose when news
was short. was young, then, enthu-
siastic, and full of grand, visionary
schemes of doing something startling,
that would make me suddenly famous.
At that time was firmly convinced that
was u remarkable genius, and that as
soon as the people in the East found it
out. would have no difficulty in getting
a job as proprietor of one of the metro
politan dailies. would not, thought,
break the news to them too harshly or
suddenly, but daily with them for q
while, and then, all at once, blaze out.
''NNell, / found matters little differ
ent from what l had anticipated, and
had no difficulty dallying. The city
editor was cold, soulless crea-
ture, who did not have the least hest
fancy in boiling down q two-column
flight of fancy to two-line item, and
seemed to fake great pains to extract
all the bright, joyous little fictions out
of my manuscript and leave it barren
waste of facts. For instance, one night
when q stable burned down he cut out
q column of splendid descriptive mat
ter about the fire fiend, the 'lurid red
tongues of flame 'the department be.
ing promptly on hand and the alarm
ringing out on the midnight air. that
would have been considered superb out
West, you know, and asked me what il
the dickens / meant by not telling wha
street the barn was on and who owned
it. In that way he suppressed me anC
kept me down, but in my heart o
hearts l was convinced that it was onl,
fear, and that he had discovered IN,
genius and was aware if he gave me tn,
least show would instantly superced
him. So bided my time and watched
for an opportunity.
'1t so happened that in the latte
part of March the city editor went Of
on a visit and left in his place a yer.
slip-shod fellow named Perkins, VIII
let things take just about their owi