The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-02-19
He HAD NERVE.
The Gall Displayed by Travelling Printer
in an Iowa Town.


in an Iowa Town.
| had been devil in the Bugler Office,
in a town in Iowa, about four months,
when the editor was one day called
away. The man who was acting as
compositor, pressman, job printer, col
lector, solicitor and so forth, seized
the opportunity to go off on spree,
and was thus left in sole charge.
just after dinner, as was washing
the roller and cleaning up generally,
IN walked the first old ''printer bum
| had ever seen. The duds on his back
weren't worth silver quarter, his hair
was long and unkempt, his face COW
cred with dirt and bristles and his
breath scented the room. He was rag
ged, dirty, homeless and penniless, and
had been let out of the county Jail,
eight miles away, that morning.
Howdy, boy,n he said as he came
in, and without second glance at me
he took seat at the desk and attacked
the remains of my lunch. When he
had eaten the last crumb he picked
his teeth with the editorial pen, peeled
off his old coat and commanded:
.Boy, hunt me up job stick !"
/ obeyed, and as he took it he walked
over to the rack, slung in two or three
lines of display type and then stepped
to the small plea case and set up the
body of circular reading:
HE HAS ARRIVED
THE WORLD RENOWNED PROF. PETERSl
Venti il0Qtist! Mesmeristl PhrcnoIogist!
Prof. Peters has engaged Snyder's Hall for
the evening of September g. 1858 tomorrow
evening", and will give the citizens of GARNER
CITY an exhibition of his wonderful powers in
ventriloquism, meSmerism and phrenology.
VIII initiate the notes of all birds; will speak
to you i'll sixteen languages; will wager 500
to S. that he can mesmerize any person in
the audience; can read your character by
feeling of your head; will forfeit $50 if he
fails in a single case. Medals from all the
crowned heads of Europe. Flattering press
notices from the leading newspapers of the
world. Every body turn out Admission only
% CENTS children free.
He placed this matter on a galley,
pulled a proof and corrected it, and
then cut a lot of print paper to the
right size and said to me:
Get up the roller and roll for me. "
| complied, and he worked off two
hundred Of the circulars He was not
only good compositor, but he wrestled
7 that old hand press around like a man
who had never done any thing else.
When we had finished he said:
''Take the tin pail and get me a
quart of beer. Tell 'em to charge it
to the office"
I was afraid of the man, and I got
the beer and paid for it out of my own
money. He drank the whole quart
with only one breath.
"Now, then, take these circulars out
and distribute EN-" he said, as he put
away the pail. ''Be good boy and I'll
give you two tickets to this great en-
tertainment.
That was indueement enough, and in
two hours, with the help of another
boy, had billed the town. When I
returned the '.bum'' had washed up,
combed his hair, and had on new
suit of clothes. He had gone to a
clothier's and bought them and had
them charged to the office, claiming
that he had been engaged as foreman.
Further than that, he had been and en-
gagged the hall. / had been back only
five minutes when the booty compositor
came in. He had scarcely entered the
door when the "bum' rose up, waved
him back and tragically exclaimed
go hence! This is no place for the
depraved! How dare you enter my
office in your present condition."
The comp" backed down stairs
drunken than ever. and after the stran-
ger had questioned me as to when the
editor would return he went to the hotel
and engaged the restroom. Ihad heard
that somebody held mortgage on the
office, and it struck me that this must
be the mans agent. / was young and
green, and had never seen display of
tramp printers gall.
Next morning he took possession of
the office. When the now sobered
compositor arrived the 'bum" selected
copy for him and bossed him around,
and there was no rebellion. He wrote
and set up several editorials himself,
and made up the outside pages of the
paper in neat manner, and worked
off two jobs for which three dollars and
seventy-fve cents cash was paid. Dur
ing the day two subscribers paid in four
dollars, and all the money went into
the strangers pocket.
The editor was to be gone two days,
and the man took such complete pos
session that we believed in his right,
and did not kick. During the day he
got hat and new pair of boots the
same way he got the clothes, and he
drank three quarts of beer at our ex-
pense.
Prof Peters circulars filled Snyder's
hall that evening to overlooking, and it
was the old bum who stood at the door
and took the money. When the last
person had passed in, the door-keeper
slid into the darkness, and the people
sat there for half an hour before they
realized that they had been duped.
Then grand man-huntw organized.
But it was too late. The bum had
stolen skiff and dropped down the
river, just about one hundred and fifty
dollars ahead of our TOWN.. 7. Set'a.