The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-04-15
NED BUNTLINE.
AN HOURS CHAT WITH THE SENSA-
TlONAL STORY-WRlTER.
Col. Judson at Home Among the Cats
kfIIs-AuthOr Of Between 300 and
400 NoveIs-His Recipe for
Story Writing.
wv. A. croffut in Detroit Free Press.l


his versatile life, his repute as a danger U
fighter, his wild stories, and his hons L.
the erie Of the eagle, combined to fill me
with doubt as TO where I should find him.
whether at a hermit's cabin, in q cave
up a tree. So dressed for roughing it, 81
route led up the Hudson to Kingston, az
thence up the Ulster & Delaware railro-
A picturesque trip, indeed, through win
ing and shining valley to the headwat"
of the Delaware. The green pillows of
haunted CatskiIls rolled back to let us whit
through, and up our long train climbed tie
we stood 700 feet above Underwater at Pin
hill Then we slid down hill for ten mi e,
then climbed again toward Stamford.
Climbing off at the station inquired of q
man IL he could tell ma which of the noun
tains around the town Col. Judson, "NsI
Buntline," lived on.
fright yender, where the big flag is" he
said, pointing TO a handsome house across
the green valley half mile distant. "But
there's the colonel on the corner with one of
his teams"
advanced to the carriage in which sat
man of striking face and portly figure hol !
ing firmly large pair of pancing bays Al
my ideas Of "roughing it" vanished as we
exchanged salutations and climbed in to be
carried away to the house on the hillside.
"Ned Buntline" was in the fatigue uniform OF
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 1t, the original
badge OF the order Of United Americans
which he originated, a golden hand crush
ing an enameled serpent, beQueathed to him
by Congressman Whitney, Of New York,
when he died, Grand Army badge and a
Masonic pin. His gray hair is cut short.
His only beard is full white mustache. he
weighs more than 200 I should think
The ample residence of twenty rooms vita
conservatory attached could not have cost
less than 800, 900. There are eleven tons OF
Vermont slate on the French roof. Around
it slopes the und ulating farm Of 120 acre of
land. He has six or eight horses and as many
vehicles, and a dozen cows came up at night
to be MIXED. For family, there are father
in.law. mother-in-Iaw, wife. three sisters
and one pretty ch1ld-a boy of 4-who has
not yet risen to the majesty Of bifureated
apparel
"Come on Eddy" shouted the colonel to
chubby face at the bay window, as we
alighted. "come on, my sonl It Is sunset;
let's pull down the hagp And away to the
halyards of the tall flag pole hurried the in
FAINT and the gray-haire1 father and the
twenty-fo flag lay on the ground in a
heap. %Ned Buntline" seems to-day to have
two passions-the latest ard most absorbing
a love for this promising child, and the
other, the devotion to the stars and stripes
which has led him into every war we have
had since he was born, which led him to
join Lopez to capture Cuba, and which in
duced him to start the Know Nothing party
Every pleasant day of the year this big flag
is unfurIed from this flag pole, visible over
100 square miles of the Delaware valley.
This is Col Judson's ancestral homs. He
and his father were born here; and his tw..
grandfathers, scions of Puritan stock, came
here from Boston a long while ago. They !
were in the wars of their time, but as fight
ers they were scarcely equal to their famous
descendant, who has received thirteen
wounds, seven Of them in battle. lie still
carries a visible scalp wound, two sabre cuts
across the face and one on the shoulder, and
he retains in his leg as a stimulant to neu-
ralgia the rebel bullet which he picked upin
Virginia. Moreover, his lungs are not quite
so good as they were, on account of bullet
hole through one and the touch Of Semin-
ole spear in the other. "I'Ye always thought
with gratitude" he says, chow lucky it i
that didn't have another lung to be per-
forated."
After supper we sat down In his library.
Before US on the desk was book Of blank
paper in which he had begun to write. /
asked him how many stories he had written.
81 made a little calculation the other day."
he said, "and am alarmed to find that
have written between 300 and 400 novels,
which, If published in book form, would
each make book Of about 400 pages each.
OF course most of them have escaped lein,
brought out in covers, but my published
books make quite a library"
intimated that I would like to get hi
recipe
He laughed and said he had good many
applications for it.
"Women send their stories to me to cor
rect their style and method. l send them
back. One woman came and told me thai
If would teach her how to write she would
give me half of the profits! Several broken
down or incompetent ministers have
applied. One last year was very persistent,
and / had at last to intimate to him that
more or less brains were necessary. He be-
lieved it and went of. OF course l was
joking. It doesn't require large amount
OF intellect to write a successful novel.
Some of the poorest stuff 1 have written
has had the largest circulation and brought
me most money"
In reply to my remark that he was reputed
to have made story writing profitable, lie
said:
Il am not rich, but / could live decently
If 1 were to do no more work. l have
earned a heap Of money with my pen. For
ten years l earned $20 QUO year, and some
years l have taken three or four times that.
/ never write q story now for less thar
g., 600 After my last campaign With
Buffalo Bill was cleaned out, and Sl2.O1t
behind, hut / went to writing and earned
$2U, 600 in three weeks"
"You said you wanted my recipe" con-
tinusd the colonel "Pve not the slight ST
objection to giving it to you, confidentialy.
as it WERE" he laughed. First get p il
and some ink and book like this, with fifty
sheets of blank paper bound up in it.
Twelve of these make story to run twelve
weeks. Then l select my title. That is the
principal thing. 1t is more important than
anything else I've repeatedly had god
stories ruined by bad titles and bad storie~
saved and made to go by good titles.
took up q magnificent book that he had
finished and looked at it. 1t was written IL
a delicate hand and every page was hand
some bit Of copy without an alteration There
was only one erasure in the first twe;ve
pages, and that only Of single word 10:
which better one was substituted asEo
him if he made plot in advance.
"No, never, he said. 81 simply take som
character, whose name I have decided on 4
and begin to write about him. The Str /
develops itself. l mean that never know /
how a story is coming out, or what the mex
chapter Is going to relate. I bring the fc. 4
tiUiouS characters into existence and then -; I
them go ahead and work out their own Z.
TIMES Another thing-as you see-I neva
correct or alter. What write mu t s,.,i.. I
If things go wrong, as they do sometint-
Just throw the book on the fire and be= |
uyifbO11t any rafaranca Tn If y