Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-23
NED BUNTL1NE.
AN HOURS CHAT WITH THE sENsA-
TIoNAL SToay-WRITeR.
Col. JIdson at Home Among IL Cats
EHis-iutlicr of I:etween 500 and
roo Ncveis-His Recipe for
Story Writing.
nv. A. Crorut in Detroit Free Pres..1

w. A Crcfftt in Detroit Free Press.1
On Saturday / started to find Ned Bunt-
line up among the Catskiils His wounds,
his versatile life. his reputs as a dangerous
| fighter. his Wild stor.e., and his home in
1 the erie Of the eagle, combined to fill me
! with doubt as TO where I should find him.
whether at hermit's cabin, in a cave, or
up tree. So dressed fer roughing it NV
| route led up the Hudson to kingston and
thence up the Ulster & Delaware railroad.
| A picture que trip, indeed, through wind
| ing and shining valley to the head-waters
Of the Delaware. The green pillows Of the
haunted Catskills rolled back to let US whirl
through, and up our long train climbed till
| we stood 5000 feet above tide-water at Pine
hill Then we sill down hill for ten miles,
then climbed again toward Stamford
Ginning of at the station l inquired Of a
man if he could tell me which Of the noun
tains around the town Col J1ison, "Ned
Buntline," lived on.
"Right yelier, where the big flag is,' he
sail, pointing 10 q handsome house across
the green valley half q mile distant "But
there's the colonel on the corner with ono Of
his teams"
i advanced TO the carriage in which sat a
man of striking face AMI portly figure, hold
"a pm VI All
| my ideas OF @roughiny it' vanished as we
exchanged salutations and climbed in to be
carried away TO the house on tie hillside
"Ned Bun;iins' was in the fatigue uniform Of
| the army, blue coat with brass buttons, and
upon his blue vest twinkling decorations-the
badge of the Sons of America, the head OF
| Washington set on gold shield with Two
American flags crossed above it, the original
badge Of the order Of Unitel Americans
which he originated. 4 golden hand crush
ing an erarrelei serpent, bequeathed to him
by Congressman Whitney, OF New York,
when he died, a Grand Army ba lge and a
Masonic Pin. His gray hair is cut short
His only beard is full white mustache. He
weighs more than 200, should think.
The ample residence OF twenty rooms with
conservatory attached could not have cost
less than So, 600. There are eleven tons OF
Vermont slate on the French roof Around
il slopes ths und uiating farm of l2) acres Of
land. He has six o. eight horses AMI as many
vehicles, and dozen cows came up at night
to be MIXED For family, there are father
| in-law. mother-in-law. wife. three sisters
and one pretty ciili-a boy of 4-who has
not yet risen 70 the ma jesty Of bifurcated
apparel
"Come on Eidyi' shouted the colonel to
alghted. come on nv soni 1t is sunset;
let's pull down the flas.' And away to the
halyaris Of the tall flas-pols hurried the in
FAINT and the gray-hairei father and the
twenty foot flag lay On the ground in a
heap. Ned Buntline' seems today to have
two passions-the latest ard most absorbing
love for this promising child. and the
other, the devotion to tho stars and stripes
which has lei him into every war We have
had since he was born, which led him to
join Lopez to capture Cuba, and which in
drcei him to start the Know Nothing party.
Every pleasant day of the year this big flag
is unfurlei from This flag-pole. visible over
| 100 square miles of the Delaware valley.
This is Col Judson's ancestral homo. He
and his father were Torn here; and his two
grand .athers, scions of Puritan stock, came
hero from Boston a long while ago. They
| we're in the wars of their time, but as fight
ers they were scarcely equal to their famous
descendant, who has received thirteen
wound. seven OF them in battle. He still
carries visible scalp wound. two sabre cuts
across tie face and one On the shoulder, and
he retains in his leg As a stimulant to reu-
ralgia the rebel bullet which he picket up in
Virginia. Moreover, his lungs are not quite
20 good rs they were on account of bullet
EcAe pilt TIC tOuCu Oi u oeUnlH-
ole spear in tho other I've always thought
with gratitude he say, show lucky it is
that ! didn't have another lung to be per-
| fora ted"
After supper we sat down in his library.
Before us on tie desk was book Of blank
PAPER in which he had begun to write. I
askei him how many stories he had written
Il made little calculation the other day.
| lie said, -2ni am Alarmed to find that /
have written between 800 AMI 40 novels,
| which, if published IL book fern, would
each max, look OF abou; 40 pages each.
OF course most of them have escaped Icing
brought out in covers, but my published
books make quite library
i intimated that l would like t. get his
recipe.
He laughed and said lie had good many
applications for it.
Women send their stories to me to cor
rec. their style and method. | send them
back. One woman came AMI told me that
if would teach her how to wrto she would
give ne halt of the profits. Several broken
down or incompetent ministers have
applied Oas last year was very persistent,
and | had at last to intimate TO lin that
more or less brains were necessary. He be-
lieved it and went of. OF course | was
joking 1t doesn't require n large amount
of intellect 10 writ. a successful novel
Some OF the poorest stuff | have written
has had the largest circulation and brought
ne most money
In reply 10 my remark that he was reputed
to have made story writing IRRITABLE, lie
said:
Il am moi rich, but l could live decenuy
if l were TO do NO more work. | have
earned a heap Of money VITA my pen. For
sa,,N / "A 4
years have taken three or four times that
| never write story now for less than
5000. After my last campaign with
Buffalo Bill was cleaned out, and $4,000
behin1, but | went to writing AMI earned
S2U. 600 in three weeks
"You said you wanted my recipe." con-
tinued the colonel I've nos the slightest
objection TO giving it to you, confidentially.
rs IT Were lie laughed. First get pen
and some ink and book like this, with fifty
sheets Of blank paper bound up in it
Twelve OF these make story t. run twelve
week. Then | select my title. That is the
principal thing. 1t is more important than
anything else. I've repeatedly had good
stories ruined by bad title, and bad stories
saved and made TO 20 by good titles
took up magnificent book that he had
tinishe! and locked at it Ii was written in
delicate hani and every page was a hand
some bit Of c. Ply without an alteration. There
was only one erasure in the first twelve
pages, and that only of n single word for
which better one was substituted ] asked
him If he made plot in advance.
"Nc never. he aid. Il simply take some
character, whose name ! have decided on,
and begin to write about him. The story
develops itself. | mean that never know
how story Is coming out, or what the p-x.
chapter Is z ing to relate. ! bring the ic-
tiJious characters into existence and then let
them go ahead AMI work out their own des-
TIMES Another thing-ns you see-l never
correct or alter. What / write mu { stand.
Ii thing go wrong, ns they do sometimes.
lust throw the book on the fire and be,in