West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-10-09

CHdlpe. Inc paper was punished IN tie
loft Of "a livery stable. That is the rea-
son they called IL a stock company.
You could come mp the stairs into the
Office, or you could twist the tail Of the
iron gray mule aud take the elevator.
IL wasn't much Of a paper. but II cost
$4,000 a yea TO run Il, and IL came
out six days n tho 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 a great
many special kilograms from Washing
ton i'm that way, and when the freight
train got in late, / had TO guess at what
Congress was doing and iiN up a column
Of telegraph the best | could. There
was a rival evening paper there. and
sometimes IL would send n smart boy
down TO the train and get hold OF out
special kilograms, and sometimes the
conductor would 20 away ON IL picnic
and take our Cheyenne paper with him.
All these things are annoying TO a
man who is trying 10 supply a long-fclt
want. There was one conductor i'm par
ticular who used to go way into the
foothills shooting sage hens and take
our cablegfams with him. This threw
too much strain on me. / could guess
at what Congress was doing and make
up a pretty readable report, but foreign
powers and reichstags and 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 n dynasty or an efIe,e
monarchy in a bad state OF preservation.
IL may 90 into executive session, or it
may 90 into bankruptcy.
Still, at one time we used to have
considerable local news to I'll! up with.
The North and Middle Parks for a
while used TO help us out when the
mining camps were new. Those were
the days when l. was considered per
fectly proper to kill oil the Board OF
supervisors if their action wa distastc-
ful. At that time a new camp general
" located n cemetery and wrote nm
obituary; then the boys would start out
TO find "a 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 i'm the
land.
Sometimes the Indians would send us
in an item. 1t was generally i'm the
obituary line. With the Sioux on tho
North and the peaceful Utcs 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
ters N Indians Summer wa
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 decided they would not
go there IN tine 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 our To-
cal clrculat on ran from one hundred
and hity to two hundred and fifty,
counting dead-hcads. In u prospect
us we stated that we would spare no
expense whatever in ranSacking the
universe for fresh 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 h%and-press to
work them of, 90 home and wrestlc
with juvenile collie 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 life
made an old man of him and gave a
tinge OF extreme sadness to the funny
column of his paper.
In ar unguarded moment, this man
wrote az editorial once that got all his
subscribers mad at him, and the same
afternoon he came around and wanted
to sell his paper to Us for $40. 600.
told him the whole outfit wasn't worth
ten thousand cents.
Il know that, " said he, but it is not
the material that / am talking about. Ii
IS the goodwill of the paper
We a a rising Young horse-thief i'm
Wyoming in those days who got into
jail by some freak Of justice, and il was
so odd for a horse-th;ef to get into Jail
that ] alluded to it e%ditorially. This
horse-thicf had Distinguished himself
from the common vulgar h~Orse-thievos
OF MS time by wearing a large mouth, q
kin Of full dress. eight dty mouth. He
rarely smiled, but when ne did hc had
TO hold the top Of his head on with both
hands. ! remember that J. spoke of
this in the paper, forgetting that hc
might criticise me when he got out OF
Jail. When he did get ont again he
stated that he would shoot me on s'pht.
but friends advised me not to have his
blood on my hands, and / took their adj
vice 50 haven't got a particle Of his
blood ON either Of my hand.
For two or three months I didn't
know but he would drop into the Office
any min ito and c~riticise me, but u
day a friend told me that ne had been
lung i'm Montana. Then / began TO
inngle in society again and didn { have
~ get in my coal with a blc-b barrel
'IlOt gun any more.
After that ! was always conservative
ID relation to hOrsc-thiovcs until We rot
thc report of tho Vigilance Committee.
Peek sun.
Shrewd M s. Penuckle.
81 didn't always harrow the earth for
a living. said Farmer PenuckIe. of Or.