, 1889-10-24
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ERsr.
The Clever Ruse which an Old Foreman
Employed to Get IL Published.

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The Clever Ruse which an Old Foreman
Employed to Get IL Published.
i read in The Tribune of this morn
ing a very interesting Paris letter about
the deplorable quarrel between Erck-
mann and Chatrian, the literary part
ners who, under the united name of
Erckmann-C hatrian, have written SO.
many patriotic novels, most of which
are translated into English and much
e in America. The particulars
furnished by your Paris correspondent
respecting the feud now dividing the
two are completed by the following
details, which l get from La Repub-
hque Franchise. They are highly in
terest1ng, picturesque and true, since
they bear the signature of NJ. Edouard
Siebecker, a well known French "a
triot and a literary friend of Erck-
mann and Chatrian.
Erckmann and Chatrian's first
novel, THE nlustrious Doctor Mat
theus," had been offered for publica-
ton as a 'feuilleton" to the Paris pa
per lie Constitutional. The feuil-
Teton is a standing feature of all
French journals; it is a novel pub
lshed daily, in slices, at the lower
end of the pages of the papers. The
novel had been rusting for a long
while in the drawers OF the paper,
when they found a friend inside the
place. And now, to cut the story
short, / will merely translate the mar
ratiye published by Siebecker.
Old Nathan Sichel was the foreman
of lie Constitutionnel's composing
He interested himself in these
two young writers, who came every
month, each in his turn, to inquire
about the future of their copy, and he
resolved to help them along. The oc-
casion to do so came at last. 1t was ON
a Sunday. On the preceding day the
word end had been printed at the
bottom of the feuilleton or novel then
IN rs of publication and the read
ers expected another to begin the day
after. Sichel invited to breakfast the
compositor who had the key of the
bureau in which were kept the manu-
scripts of the novels already approved
by the management and which was
nlcknamed the bears cage He
managed to get his friend thoroughly
drunk. Then he repaired to the pa
per, and affecting to be ignorant of
everything, he raised n terrible stir
about that animal and Ounce" X,
who did not turn up to open the man
uscript chest, and thus prevented him
rom distributing the copy" of the
new novel TO be published.
We'll" said he at last, Il have
just fished out in another drawer a
novelette,. "In distribute enough of
1t to fill up the place of this num-
ber's feuilleton." 1t was the manu-
script of his young friends. On tho
arrival at the office of the managing
editor, old Sichel told him all about it.
Whats the name of the author2"
asked the editor.
We'll, sir, a queer name. E. Krian,
or Chairman. No, no. See, Erck-
mann Chatrian."
Don't know. But perhaps just on
this account the novel may prove bet
ter than others. How many feuille-
tons1" (How many days will it take
to publish ito
Five Or six, by rough guessing
That's very much. The director
may be down on us. But, after all,
you do not have the key of the bears
chest, nor l either; and we have to fill
up the bottom space reserved for the
feuilleton. We cannot print in its
place: Ground floor to rent Against
force no resistance is possible. Let it
goI"
And it did 60. 1.-The mustrious
Doctor Matthews" not for five or six
days only, as had said the cunning
Sichel, but it lasted fifteen feuilletons,
or days, and hada tremendous success.
The door leading TO fame and fortune
had been opened to Erckmann and
Chatrian. Let me add that they were
not ungrateful toward old Sichel,
whose eyesight soon failed him, and
who was kept in afluence until his
death by the two young writers whom
he had so smartly protected, and who
are, unfortunately, no longer the same
friends they We're for thirty years.
Letter in New York Tribune.