Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-21


 tered him in l2 races and won every stake. As n private individual we were at tho race track to see that our mule had fair show. As editor of THE KICKER we were there as a guest of the grand stand. As mayor of the town we were thero to see that order was maintained and to back the marshal in case of n TOW. In the two years we have had about 30 ministers call on us for n talk, " and WIG cannot recall one single instance where they have advised us to get rid of that mule for fear of injur- ing our chances.
 We plead guilty to being the owner of n fighting dog. About a year ago n strange canine struck this town, and being friend less he was rolled in the mud by every cur he met and the boys shot about half his tail off as he flew up and down tho streets We felt sorry for the stranger and extended our friendship. To prove his gratitude he turned to and licked every thing in the shape of dog which could be got into the back yard of THE KICKER office We have never permitted him to fight for money and never shall. Now and then, as the shades of evening fall and the busy world prepares to rest, along comes great big dufrcr who claims to own a perfect terror of . canine, and who keeps yelling at us until we get mad and lead our dog down to the skating rink and stand by while he adds more laurel leaves to the bushel already won. He does not fight for us as mayor or editor, but as a humble private individual who took him in when he needed n true friend.
 As to our being ''scrappcr" and en- | couraging prize fights, We plead guilty to the first charge. Very early in our edito- rial career we discovered that it was a good | thing to know how to put up our dukes. | In fact, the first use We made of the man | ly art" was in connection with Brother Saunders of The Gazette. He visited this | town, called at the office, and noticing a set of boxing gloves in our sanctum he challenged us to square of with him. He confidently expected to smash us to squash in one round, but in the course of 1 Is min utes we broke his Roman nose and put him to sleep. Every time he puts his fin | ger on that nose he jumps up and down | and hankers for our life. Every time he looks in n mirror and sees the dcformity | he sheds tears of rage. Some of the boys | drop in on us most every day for a friendly setto, and on several occasions we have used our right instead of a gun in a row and found that it answered every purpose. As to encouraging prize fighting, tho as, sertion is n bold faced falsehood. As a private individual, anxious to pick up | "cross counters, ' upper cuts'' and other | little things, we have occupied front seat | at several SClent1fic bouts, and We have at- tended three or four rattling ten round goes as mayor to see that the ordinance was strictly complied with. Among our acquaintances are several professional priZefighters. 50 far from encouraging them to continue in that career, we have invariably advised them to seek something else. The man who turns the crank of our power press today and does the chore work about the office used to be a cham. pion lightweight in California. We sat down and talked to him in such a fatherly way that he gave up the prize ring to take a situation at S4 per week. We are now in correspondence with two others and | shall use every effort to make them sec the error of their ways.
 As to the last charge-that of being 6 murderer-The Gazette piled it on pretty stiff to offset certain incidents in the ca reer of Brother Saunders. In the last foul or five years we have bumped up against ten different men who wanted our life But for our getting the first fire they would have had 1t. In no case were we the az gressor. In every case there has been ( coroner's inquest, Q thorough examination and a verdict holding us perfectly blame less. Some of the men were outlaws, ana all were bad. In no instance was the towI put to any expense to bury the dead. IT six of the cases wc received a vote of pub lie thanks, and in the four others surviv ing relatives presented us with testimonial of gratitude and esteem. In the last thre, years The Gazette man has been horse whipped on the street, shot at as he fiet up the alleys, run into the brush by Chinaman and made to "take water" b,