The Topeka state journal., 1898-01-25
The KING OF
The TIGERS.
s'Blind' Tigers, Such is the
Popular and InvulnerabIe
Lon Townsend, Who Cannot Be
Convicted.
Al POOR COUNTRY LAD
Rises to Af1uence and Many
Diamonds
Through a Happy Disposition
and Some Nerve.
POOR COUNTRY LAD

Lon Townsend, the king of the Blind
Tigers.' has risen to fame in one brief
week. Alonzo is a large, agreeable faced
man. with pleasant smile. winning
countenance and rotund body. who
makes many friends among people of his
way of thinking, and has a cordial man
ner that disarms many of those who are
opposed to his ideas about the liquor traf-
1ic.
Lon" It appears, can't be convicted in
a Shawnee court of justice. Twice in the
past week have twelve good men and
true found him not guilty of the sale of
liquor, although he enjoys a handsome
revenue from his resorts.
Only a dozen years ago a young man
plOdded behind a plow in a field near
Rossville.
One day he did not go to the field. In
stead he wrapped his resources. consist
ing of a change of clothing, in red ban
dana handkerchief and turned his face
toward Topeka.
The next day he presented himself be-
fore Colonel Huntoon and applied for
position as driver of one of the convey
ances usually called hacks He was
accepted at once This was not the
place Lon Townsend had dreamed of
while treading the furrow on the farm,
but it was at least a stepping stone on
the path to success. He had gotten away
from the corn rows.
DR.. Huntoon placed the new man in
charge of hack No. 5, and many a young
man in Topeka has called hack mo. s. in
a commanding tone as he left an opera
house, little thinking that in a few years
mo. 81 would be in a position to com
mand, even in a court room.
Townsend was genial and jovial. He
would stand at his horses heads all night
waiting for some benighted or bejagged
traveller, and would greet the rising sun
with a smile as bright as the orb of day.
He never felt fatigue. He made few en-
emies, and his circle of friends rapidly
widened. He was no ordinary hackman.
Something happened, however, to put a
temporary check to his development"
Governor Click, in an absent-minded mo-
ment. appointed John Martin district
judge. There had been a prohibition law
enacted several years before. But the
saloons had kept open doors and the hack
business was good. But Judge Martin
enforced the law and saloon after saloon
closed its gates and Townsend, the hack
driver, saw all night business grow
poorer and poorer.
He left the city in disgust.
The ambitious young man went to Kan
sas City, where he reached the second
rung on the ladder of progress-he became
a bar-keeper and a popular one. Wher-
ever Lon went the business grew better.
Everybody liked his joviaI manner, his
beaming face and the hearty grip of his
hand.
A year ago things "slackened up in
Topeka a little and Lon determined to
come back.
About this time two men from a neigh
boring county came to Topeka and opened
a saloon, but prohibition sentiment voiced
by big mass meeting drove them away.
He at once rented the room vacated by
them and with his hard-earned savings
bought handsome bar, which a few days
afterward was put in place in the room
over 514 and SIG Kansas avenue. He
prospered, and soon a beautiful diamond
sparkled in his shirt front and then an
other adorned one of his fingers. He was
no longer hack driver No. 5, nor even a
bartender. He decided to branch out and
50 started a new resort in North Topeka.
The police passed by his doors, and if they
stopped it was not to arrest anyone con-
nscted with the establishment. Who could
arrest such a good fellow as Lon? Place
after place was started under Townsend's
supervision and he soon earned the title
of king of the Blind Tigers
With his accession to power the king
drew around him a large and powerful
circle of friends. His is a spirit that
loves companionship. Even Chief Steele
began to bask in the sunshine of his
smile. Others, higher in position, were
taken into his confidence until it can now
truly be said that there are few greater.
1t is even reasonable to expect that Lon
may one day be a city alderman, or even
stand higher in the peoples councils.
He still reigns supreme and the county
authorities have no terrors for him.
Such is the story of the rise of Lon
Townsend. From an humble position as
hack driver mo. s. he has become the
master of men. He no longer waits for
people on street corners. He is prosper
Gus and happy