The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-01-01

note we received in the morning we am
ticipated sqfnething intensely interest
ing. / had'giyen orders to the foreman
in the composing room to hold several
columns of space until we got McCar-
ley's copy. When Watson returned I
never saw look of more profound per-
plexity or dumbfounding chagrin than
was depicted on his face.
81 have crawled over every foot of
that front lawn" said he, land not a
page of copy could ! find. / even
knocked at the door of the house and
thought would try and see Mac HIM
self on some pretext or other, but l
could rattle no one up"
We were surely in pickle now, and
the conversation that took place during
the next hour concerning the subject
am afraid McCarley would have
considered far from complimentary to
himself could he have heard it. 1t would
hardly have been the thing, either, to
reproduce it here to be read by people
who are unacquainted with the peculiar
livid and sulphurous character which
makes the language of printers, and !
regret to say sometimes editors and re-
poriers as well, of such proE1unced
force.
There was nothing to be done under
the circumstances, however, and con-
sequently the only thing the Mercury
of the next morning contained in ref
erence to the all-abSorbing topic was an
item l had hurriedly written stating
that there were no new developments
/, in the case that we were yet able to
give the public; but as soon as our re-
porter had time to follow up start
ling clew which he had run across, we
thought we would be able to furnish
our readers piece of news concerning
the affair which would create more in
tcrest than anything yet printed. This
l wrote on the strength of the note we
had received from McCarley when he
asked for the money due him. We were
not little mystified at our failure to
hear anything from him as we had ex-
pected; but we supposed the next day
would explain the cause of his leaving
us in the dilemma he did. Such WIS
the case and the letter q late msi'
Drought us follows:
"EN ROUTE HOME, Sept. 4, 1882
DEAR P---I played the Mercury a scurvy
trick. have no apologies to make, though,
as necessity knows no law but my cen
science is yet in such q state of preservation
that feel must explain the Weiby matter
fully and save you any further trouble that
it would otherwise cause you. The first two
weeks l worked for you could get onto moth
ing but five line items. and, as you are aWaSe.
! hardly made enough to pay my board; |
had TO have money. and so concOcted that
elopement of welby's daughter out CT tde
whole coth-an artistic, journalistic lie. which
good joke. j put up ut a little saloon the
dull-minded proprietor of which gave me al
the information / needed about the family
about a square from the W residence. and
here / evolved the thing out of my MAN.
moth brain in a httle back roonL which left
only once u day to throw my Ms. on the lawn
at Welbys. They are all in Vermont, where
they have been all summer, and. as we gaTe
no names, they will be no worse for the pless.
ure and profit they have unconscioNsly yield.
ed me.
this reaches you will be fast lessenng the
distance between N and the paternal roof.
with kindest regards to yourself and all the
trick have played You, l bid N = and the
MCCARTNEY"
No language of mine can adequately
describe the anger and CONSERVATION
which the reading of this epistle caused
in the Mercury ctfice. No one so thor
oughly appreciates artistic lying as
newspaper man; but when carried to
the extent McCarley's genius had car
RED this, it was more even than our
blunted sensibilities could stand, and 1
would certainly have given mp the
keeneSt pleasure to have stood by and
seen some horribly severe punishment
inflicted on him for the trouble and
modification he had caused us. Suffice
it to say the Mercury died peacefully
about two weeks after the departure of
our brilliant friend. The assignee
had one mournful meeting with the
creditors. aud. with all the earnestness
of a man who feels that on his is the
side of mighty truth, convinced them
of the utter impossibility of paying even
one per cent, with assets consisting en-
tirely OF blasted hopes. Our great SEN
sation was not mentioned again after
the paragraph referred to above APP
peared. and the momentary prominence
we had gained through it was followed
by jeers and boots from rival journals
and the public; in few short days to
buy copy of the Mercury came 10 be
looked upon as an objectionable crime
against society, and IS it sadly babe
this unapprecia.ive sphere adieu, at
least in the eyes of its projectors, the
last remaining hope for the worlds sal
walton was gone forever.-R. Parsons,
in Detroit Free Press.