Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-29
Is That of the Professional Funny
Man, According to One Of
EN-, ]. Annoy Knox.
A CONVENIENT DECK-HAND POET
How Railroads Have Made Rufianism and
Terrorism Almost Tradition
in Modern Texas
A DOCTORS HANDY CURE FOB CRAMPS
Tathfulness Of Peter WISE One of the Workers at the
Hill Farm Mine.

J. Annoy Knox, the New York funny
man. originally from the Lone Star State,
contributor to THE DISPATCH, and one of
the proprietors of Teras SVtings, is stopping
at the Duquesne. When asked if he was
here attending the Sunday School Conven-
tion, be replied that he was a Presbyterian
BY faith, but was merely passing through
on a western business trip. Before he re-
turns be will visit his Texan ranch, which
he has not seen in two years.
Mr.. Knox believes in a strict observance
of the Sabbath. but the old blue laws as
enforced in Pittsburg rather surprised
him. He thought it was right to suppress
the sale of liquor on Sunday, but drawing
the line on soda water and cigars he held
was ridiculous. Changing the subject to
the modern funny business, which has be-
come part and parcel of the daily news
paper, Mr.. Knox said:
NOT BED OF ROSES.
"The life of the funny man is not an easy
one. 1 find il no trouble to write after
have secured an idea, but to get to the idea
is the difficulty. / have offered from $40 TO
$50 per week for good suggestion, which 1
would accept / received lots of them, in
eluding alleged short tales of humorous
cast but j can't Use many of them.
1t isn't hard for reporter TO write about
q contlagratiou. All he has to do is to pre-
sent the task, but with me have to grind
it out Sometimes my liver is out of order,
or 1 feel little jaded, and the funny ap-
paratus refuses to work.
"These Sunday supplements are being
printed now so early in the week that 1 find
it difficult to furnish the New York syndi-
cate with my matter early enough in the
week. They would like to have it on Mon
day. but frequently hand it in as late as
Thursday. It's a tough job, at times, to
get the column out Of me.
81 am a sociable brute, and love to talk
with nv fellows. Dropping into the Hoff-
man House L pick up any number of stories,
but the trouble is to weed out the chestnuts.
am pretty well up, as a rule, but some
times what think to be new is pronounced
old by other people.
GIVES HIS JOKES AWAY.
MANY of the anecdotes l write are
worked up from suggestions and tips re-
ceive. l put them in the mouth of a man
like Depew or Florence, and at once they
have local habitation and name. Any
thing these men would say, you know, the
people would consider interesting.
81 have a man on the Siftings that call
the deck-hand poet. Ali 1 have to do is to
give him the first line or suggestion and in
a short time he will write IA stanzas. OF
course it is not of high order, something
on the style of the topical song breed, but
be is handy fellow to have around. Then
we have a few other men who grind out
fairly good poetry, but it is not an easy job.
SIT is surprising how the funny business
in the newspapers has grown since 1881.
There is scarcely paper these days that
doesn't give its readers a surieit of it. 1
don't like the average newspaper para
grapher. There is little in his wit or humor,
and much of it is SO much rubbish, simply
abominable"
Mr.. Knox is very entertaining gentle
man, of medium age. He wears a large
slouch hat, and rather long. flowing side