Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-09-24
The Death of a Newspaper.

ming two years, and VIC entered the (
arena hoping to win an easy victory
over this paper and become n great
power in the West. We made it our
business to boom everything that was
boomabIe, aud to sneer at the lack Of
enterprise of our adversary. We got |
specials by mail, press reports by slow |
freight, and showed style of fearless
enterprise that was the envy and the
admiration of many metropolitan
journals. We thought that our ad-
versary wouldn't last moro than q
month after election, but Thanksgiv
ing came and found the Evening
Squawker still on deck. The editor
would come and borrow printing
paper of u.s. and then use it to call US
the slime-bedecked and putrid Of a
still more baneful political faction.
We would borrow a font BREWER Of
him, and characterize his paper as
the wailing fondling, dying in the
poisonous vapors Of the deadly swamp
of political filth, wherein it had
chosen its bed, edited by the bitter foe
of the laundress and Lindley Murray.
Thus we kept up spirited contest
for long time. Sometimes we
couldn't get our paper out of the
freight office, and sometimes he could
not, but we would loan each other the
last quire we had and keep friendly,
while through the columns of our re-
spective papers we spoke of each other
in language which might have been
construed as reproachful to some peo-
pie.
1t was an exciting time. One day
the Squawker would effend SUBJ
scriber, and he would come over to
us, and the next day we would un.
Willingly tread on the toes of one Of
our great army of subscribers, and he
would 60 over to the enemy.
The editor of the other paper and
myself saw that it was going to be a
war Of determination. We ground
our teeth and our shears and sailed
in AT the end Of the first year he
had discharged his servant girl and
my paper owed me eight hundred dol
lars salary. AT the end of the second
year he had blown in his fine brick
residence, and l had taken my salary
US Police Justice and thrown it into
the rapacious nav of my little hum
cry long-felt want ..ti
One day the little, muddy, measly,
long-sullering features Of the Evening
Squawker failed to appear We kept
asking the olfice-boy why the Squaw'
ker didn't come. He1fNn't know.
Finally we went to the publication
office. The door was locked. A map
of Dakota was hung over one window
and printers towel over the other.
The ofice-boy raised the map and
stole in. The uncertain light here
and there broke in struggling rays
through the threadbare places in the
towel. On the desk lay letter from
the advertiser of Collie Eraser, in
which he offered to take column in
the Squawker year, following pure
reading matter, and with 1000 lines
of reading notices to be strung along
through editorials from day to day,
, in boldfaee type, and in consideration
therefor to furnish for two years to
the editor or his order fifty bottles of
the Collie Eraser at publishers price,
delivered on board the cars. Every
thing about the Office showed that the
work had been going bravely on when
the summons came. In fact the sum-
mons lay there on the desk, among
other papers, along with a writ of at
tachment for S253.85. This shows
what hold paper gets on its SUBJ
scribers, and also what hold the SUBJ
scriber gets on the paper. The sheriff
had been a subscriber to the Squaw.
ker ever since it started, but we didn't
know his attachment for the paper
was so great. -.,t.,s
We won the day, but at what a
sacrifice The smoke Of conflict
cleared away, and showed that the
victory was worthy Of the carnage.
We had survived, but we were not
proud. The Squawker had fought us
bravely, and now its still, cold form
lay in state in the basement Of. the
chief creditor, and the usual notice
of attachment was tackled on the
door. g.
The editor and myself met op the
following day, snd he was tho more
cheerful of the two. He said he felt
sorry for me. 81 can use what | get
hereafter on my family" said he;
"but you can't. You will feel guilty
if you buy barrel of -four for your
own use, knowing that it may imperil
the next issue of the paper. l. have
passed all that" And he was right.
The quicker man concludes TO cease
publishing paper where it is not
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