Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1885-09-24

Then company Incorporated itself
and started a paper of which took
charge. The paper was published in the
loft of a livery stable. That is the rea-
son they called it stock company.
You could come UP the stairs into the
Office, or you could twist the tail OF the
iron gray mule and take the elevator.
1t wasn't much of a paper, but it cost
$4,000 year to run it, and it came
out six dayssin the week. no matter
what the weather was. We took the
Associated Press news by telegraph
part of the time, and part of the time we
relied on the Cheyenne morning papers,
which we got of the conductor on the
early morning freight. We got great
many special kilograms from Washing
ton in that way, and when the freight
train got in late, had to guess at what
Congress was doing and fix up a column
of telegraph the best l could. There
was rival evening paper there, and
sometimes it would send a smart boy
down to the train and get hold of our
special kilograms, and sometimes the
conductor would 60 away on a picnic
and take our Cheyenne paper with him.
All these things arc annoying TO
man who is trying to supply long-felt
want. There was one conductor in par
ticular who used to 60 away into the
foothills shooting sage hens and take
OUR cablegrams with him. This threw
too much strain on me. l could guess
at what Congress was doing and make
UP pretty read able report, but foreign
powers and reichstags aid crowned
heads and dynasties always mixed me
up. You can look over what Congress
did last year and give a pretty good
guess at what it will do this year, but
YOU can't rely on d dynasty or an etfete
lnonarchyin bad state of preservation.
1t may 60 into executive session, or it
may 60 into bankruptcy.
Still, at one time We used to have
considerable local news to fill up with.
The North and Middle Parks for
while used to help us out when the
mining camps were new. Those were
the days when it was considered per-
fectly proper to kill off the Board Of
Supervisors if tlieir action was distaste-
full. At that time new camp general
ly located cemetery and wrote an
obituary; then the boys would start out
to find man whose name would rhyme
with the rest OF the verse. These were
the days when the cemeteries Of Colora-
do were still in their infancy and the
song of the six-shooter was heard in the
land.
Sometimes the Indians would send us
in an item. 1t was generally in the
obituary line. With the Sioux Oh the
North and the peaceful Utes on the
South, we were pretty sure of some kind
of news during the summer. The parks
used to be occupied by white men win
tiers and Indians summers. Summer was
really the pleasantest time to 90 into
the parks, but the Indians had been in
the habit of going there at that season,
and they were .so.clannish that the white
man couldn't have much fun with
them, SO they dec ded they would not
60 there IN the summer. Several of our
best subscribers were killed by the
peaceful Utes.
There were two daily and three week
ly papers published in Laramie City at
that time There were between two
and three thousand people, and or To-
cal circulat on ran from one hundred |
and fifty to two hundred and fifty,
dead-headS. In our prospect |
Us we stated that we would spare no
expense whatever in ransacking the |
universe for fre.h news, but there were |
times when it was all we could do to
get Our paper out on time. Out of the
express office | mean.
On, of the rival editors used to write
his editorials for the paper in the even
ing, jerk the Washington hand-press to
work them of, 90 hc:ne and wrestle |
with juvenile cS,ic in his family until |
daylight and then deliver his papers on
the street. 1t is not surprising that the |
great mental strain incident to this lite |
made an old man of him and gave a
tinge of extreme sadness to the funny |
column of his paper.
In an unguarded moment, this man
wrote an editorial once that got all his
mad at him. and the same
afternoon he came around and wanted |
to sell his paper to US for $4,000. |
told him the whole outfit wasn't worth |
zen thousand cents.
II know that" said he, ''but it is not
The material that | am talking about 1t
S the goodwill of the paper"
We had a rising young horse-thief in
in those days who got into
all by some freak of Justice, and it was
30 odd for horse-th;ef to get into Jail
hat | alluded to it editorially. This
horse thief had distinguished himself
rom the common, vulgar horse-thieves
Of his time by wearing large mouth, a
kind of full dress. eight day mouth. He
'arely smiled, but when he did he had
20 hold the top of his head on with both
hands. remember that | spoke of
his in the paper, forgetting that he
night criticise me when he cot out of
all. When he did get out again he
stated that he would shoot me on sight,
)ut friends advised me not to have his
blood on my hands, and took their adj
ice so haven't got particle of his
blood on either of my hands.
For two or three months | didn't
know but he would drop into the Office
my minute and criticise me, but one
lay friend told me that he had been
lung in Montana Then l began to
ningle in society again and didn't have
20 get in my coal with a double barrel
hot gun any more.
After that was always conservative
n relation to horse-thieves until we got
he report of the Vigilance Committee.
-Peck's Sun.
Shrewd Mrs. PenuckIe.