Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-08-19

the Judge and finally they told him that 1T
was shame to appoint me to defend an
innocent man.
My first experience in journalism was III
Western town, In which L was total
stranger. | went there with 35 cents, but
l had it concealed in the lining Of my
clothes so that no one would have sus-
pected it if they met me. / had no friends
and | noticed that when got Off the train,
the band WAS not there to meet me. L en-
tered the town just as any other American
citizen would. | had not fully decided
whether to become a stage rObber or
lecturer on phrenology. At that time L got
chance to work on a morning paper. L
used to go to press before dark so | always
had my evenings to myself, and [ always
liked that part of it tirstrate. | worked
on that paper year and light have con-
tinued if the proprietor had not changed 1t
to an evening paper. Then d company in
corporated itself and started a paper, OF
which took charge. The paper was pub
lished in the loft Of livery stable. That
is the reason they called it a stock COM
pany. 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 q paper, but 1T cost
SIG, 900 year to run it and 1T came out
six days in 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 copy OF
the Cheyenne morning papers which we got
of the conductor on the early freight We
got great many special kilograms from
Washington in that way, and when the
freight train got in late, had to guess at
what Congress was doing and fix up a col
umn OF telegraph the best / could. There
was q rival evening paper there and some
times it would send smart boy down TO
4 / j al 1t
grams, and sometimes the conductor would
go away picnic and take our Cheyenne
paper with him.
All these things are annoying to man
who is trying to supply a long-felt want.
There was one conductor in particular who
used to 60 away into the foot hills shoot
ing sage hens and take our Cablegrams 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
dynasty or an effete monarchy in bad
state OF preservation. 1t may go into ex-
ecutive session or it may go into bank
ruptcy. Still, at one time we used to have
considerable local news to fill 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 1T was con-
sidered perfectly proper to Kill oil the
board OF supervisors if their action was
dstasteful. At that time a new camp gen.
orally located a cemetery and wrote an
obituary, then the boys would start out to
find a man whose name would rhyme with
the rest of the verse. Those were the days
when the cemeteries Of Colorado 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 most generally In the
obituary line. With the Sioux on the north
and the peaceful Utes on the south, we
were pretty sure OF some kind OF news dur
ing the summer. The parks used to be oc-
cupied by white men winters and Indians
summers. Summer was really the pleasant
est time to 60 into the parks, but the In
dams had been in the habit Of going there
at that season and they were clannish
that the white men couldn't have much
fun with them, so they decided that they
would not 60 there in thesummer. Several
of our best subscribers were killed by the
peaceful Utes. There were two daily and
three weekly papers published in Laramie
City at that time. There were between
1000 and 5000 people and our local
circulation ran from $50 to 25O, counting
dead-headS. In our prospectus 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.
One Of the rival editors used to write his
editorials for the paper in the evening jerk
the Washington hand-press to work them
Off, 60 home and wrestle with juvenile collie
in his family until daylight, and then deliv-
er his papers on the street. 1t Is not sur
prlslng that the great mental strain incl
dent to this life made an old man OF him
and gave 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 sub
scribers mad at him, and the same alter
noon he came around and wanted to sell
his paper to US for $4,000. I told him
that the whole outfit was not worth lie, 600
cents.
81 know that" said he, but it is not the
material | am talking about. 1t is the
goodwill OF the paper"
We had rising young horsethief in Wy
oming in those days who got into jail by
some freak of Justice and it was so odd for
horsethief to get into jail that I alluded
to it editorially. This horsethief had distin-
gui6hed himself from the common vulgar
hOrsethieves Of his time by wearing large
mouth, a kind of full dress, eight-day
mouth. He very rarely smiled, but when
he did. he had to hold the top ofhis head on
with both hands. I remember that | spoke
of this in the paper, forgetting that he
might criticise me when he got out of Jail.
When he did get out again, he stated that
he would shoot me on sight, but friends ad-
vised me not to have his blood on my
hands, and [ took their advise, 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
any minute and criticise me. but one day a
friend told me that he had been hanged in
Montana. Then l began to mingle in
society again and didn't have to get IN my
coal with double-barrel shotgun any
more. After that I was always conserva-
tive in relation to horsethieves until we
got the report OF the vigilance committee.
Following is the annual poem, by
Mrs. Elizabeth Baker Bohan:
What power, most potent in the world to
million voices cry-'the Press! the PressP
Four centuries ago each nations heart
Beat i'll a solitude unbroken;
solemn silence from the outer world
Hemmed it up close within its own domain.
And if, perchance, some daring stranger forced
His eager steps and spirit bold within,
And told of other nations Joys and woes,
And then departed, it did but make
The tomb-like silence heavier still. =,
Then KINDS within their inn Mons ftrOht divine,