The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1892-08-27

dispatched to the composing room.
1t was big nights work, and felt
proud of the achievement. Conscious
of having made the grandest scoop"
of the day, the little failure at Sing
Sing, by comparison, cut no figure at
all. My superiors evinced their appre.
citation by according me gracious treat
ment, and realized that, for once in
my life, was, as we now say, sin it !"
The forms went to press after three
o'clock, and by four o'clock ] had re-
ceived copies of the paper, and saun-
tered over to Docs place to en- joy the
luxury of being regarded as deep one
as man who is away up" in his pro-
fession. Some Of the boys from all the
principal offices were sure to be there,
and / wanted to give them the pleasure
of gazing upon the hero of the hour in
person. On the way over I tiptoed
| along, as one who has accomplished a
wonderful feat should do.
Reaching Docs place tarried .
moment in the bar-room to exchange
greetings with the proprietor and then
proceeded upstairs. Fumes of tobacco
filed the room, and host of reporters
were there, as usual. The crowd
appeared to be larger than custom
airy, and everybody was talking at the
same time. My appearance occasioned
a profound hush throughout the depart
ment, which surprised me not in the
least, for felt entitled to rare consider
alton. But Immediately following tho
ominous pause came shouts of laughter
and derisive boots from twenty Bohem-
| ian threats.
'Bravo!'
Fire him Quit"
"How about the 'awe-stricken serv.
antsr"
''Oh, what a scoop"
These are samples of the contemptu-
Gus epithets showered like Goals of fire
upon me till my face burned with
shame. When they had made them
selves hoarse with their noises, mock
court Of lunatico de inquirendo was
organized and was tried, not for in
sanity, but for rank imbecility. The
tribunal SO far exceeded its powers az
to also hear another charge against mo
that of committing an offensc
against truth. On both counts l was
adjudged guilty and sentenced, amid
| frightful uproar, to set up a champagne
supper for the crowd. My story of tho
suicide, it soon appeared, had been
pronounced q hoax of the first magni-
| tude, for at least three members of tho
assembly had seen and spoken to Mr..
Bascom in the flesh since one o'clock,
an hour and half after he should have
shot himself, according to my state
ment. At one o'clock he left we'll
known club house in the company of q
newspaper man and another friend,
and started for his home on the Hud-
son, intending to 20 by the regular ex-
press train leaving the city at ono
| twenty-six a. m.
The reader, unless he has done news
paper work himself, cannot conceive
the depths of my modification and
| mental anguish at being guyed to death
by friends and foes. The boys poked
fun at me till I had stood treat all
round several times before they even
began to tire. My enemy, Romeri.
was present and, though he was UNI
demonstrative, his face wore enc of the
most completely self-satisied and
diabolical smiles ever beheld.
could have torn him to pieces for that
internal smile, for it was more CALLING
to my lacerated sensibilities than the
combined jibes of all the company.
Suspicion pointed to him as the man Of
all men who most likely would conde-
scend to put up job" of that kind on
| me, as a retaliatory measure for the
mistake / made in reference to the
| vessel being ashore. The worst and
most enduring feature of the whole
affair, however, was the knowledge
that the bIunder would, as surely as
the sun rose in the morning, cause me
the loss of my position on the paper,
an unpleasant prospect to contemplate
on the eve of the dull season.
Seeking the seclusion of my own
room at the hotel later on 1 tried to
sleep Ind forget the matter, but be-
tween my modification and rage rest
was out of the question. could dc
nothing for four or five hours but blush,
smoke my pipe and walk the floor. At
ten o'clock in the morning nerved my
self up to go on the street, though
must say a mighty effort was required
so to do. Once outside, and finding the
world moving along in its accustomed
course, oblivious alike of my presence
or my absence, l felt somewhat re.
lieved. l had brought myself to i'm.
agine that out on the street every
one would point to me with the finger
of scorn.
In the vicinity of Broadway and Mas
sau and Chatham streets the news.
boys ran yelling: Extra papers!"
"All about the suicide!" till curiosity
impelled me to buy several copies
Even the paper on which was EN-.
ployed evidently remained in state OF
obfuscation as to the truth, for the lads
were crying extras from our Office.
This thing, l thought to myself with q
shudder, is going too far. The best
thing, perhaps, for me to do is to skip
ont of town at once and forever.
Stepping aside and standing in Q
hall doorway, hastily scanned the re-
port as published in another paper.
Heavens! Do l see Alright? / hope I
am not losing my senses! Trembling
with suppressed emotion, eagerly /
drink the words. Here are tele-
grams from Tarrytown wired at
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