Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-04-15
"MR. p00LEY," OF CHICAGO.
How Peter Dunno Achieved Fame,
Originals OF His Characters


The Lounger, in the Critic: Finley Peter
Dunno (Mr. Dooley) is the object Of no lit
tie solicitous Interest on the part of ed
itors and publishers these days, but
Pete" Dunno has been a person of no lit
tie interest to Chicago newspaperdom
these many ~years-though he's but a
young mar yet, even as we reckon young
celebrities. He has "been on nearly II
every KIND or newspaper work, from po-
lice reporting to political leaders, from
sporting ".~write-ups' to the manifold and
various duties of a managing editor,
which latter Office he now holds with the
chicago Journal, an evening paper. He
was always good at a STORY" and years
ago, when 1t was his delightful assign
ment to go out TO the baseball grounds
and make a report of the game. Dunno
would turn in a racy bit of humor, in
stead of q conventional amplification of
the score, and that he was allowed to do
this, and TO continue to do it, is proof
sufficient that ii was good stuff" so
good that even the baseball cranks rel
ished Dunne's dramatic elaboration OF
some comic incident or feature, even TO
the sighting Of the battles details. Well,
In those days newspaper men, especially
those on the Tribune, did a good deal of
'~rallying' In the saloon Of one James Nc
Garry. 1t was next door to the Tribune
office. and the boys" considered 1t a part
Of the newspaper premises. Many a bit of
copy" was frantically scrubbed off on Nc
Garry's bar, and what mine host did
iloN hllONs u CllIN lS hlS"s - IApAAii
nent men and prominent events was not
worth knowing. He was a "phiosophizer,"
which may not be the same thing as n
philosopher, but passes for the same with
many persons, and his rich, rolling brogue,
his deliberate manner, and his willingness
TO deliver his opinions for the benefit of
his patrons. made him the hero of many
a funny story in newspaper row. 1t was
when jay Gould died. and McGarry read
the account of his funeral. that Pete
Dunno happened to be by when the oracle
delivered himself of remarks so delicious
ly humorous that Mr.. Dunno, on returning
10 his desk in the Post city room, and
hiding himself Assessed of "A little leis-
ure, wrote out ne Irishman's observa-
lions, and, rather amused with the re-
suit, turned In" the stuff" which was
accepted and published forthwith. The
substitution Of an n for a q in the name
or Mr.. DUNES philosopher made but a
thin disguise, so unmistakable was the
portrait of McGarry, and Of course the
boys twitted him about it, Meanwhile,
the McNarry STORY" had met with inter
ested readers, and Mr.. Dunno, being a
thoroughly capable ~"interViewer,' found
1t possible TO write another without the
necessity Of bothering the irritated orig
inal for a fresh deliverance OF opinion
The more fictitious the papers became,
the more irate became McGarry, until,
discretion being the better part of valor,
and the editor having been appealed to
by the offended saloonkeeper, Mr.. Dunno
changed the name Of his philosopher to
MI. DOOley, ana pTOCeeueu WITHOUT utDI
Of any sort to Mr.. McGarry.
When the war broke out there came n
rich crop of topics, and when Mr.. Doc
ley's "Cousin George" took Manila and
Mr.. Dooley expressed his opinion Of the
same" the little "squibs' Of a busy re-
porter and editorial writer jumped forth
with from a local celebrity to q wide
spread fame, and more than 100 papers
the Dewey story, and Dewey himself sem
the author word that he enjoyed it most
Of all that was written about him. From
thence the Dooley war articles have been
far from the least famous of the time;
but so little did their writer think Of them,
more than Of his other regular copy"
that he did not ever preserve the papers
containing them, and when publishers be-
gan to make offers to HIM for the book
rights of Mr.. Dooley,' and he finally
consented to collect the little papers as
best he could, it was an admirer Of Mr..
Dooley, unknown TO Mr.. Dooley's author
but known TO some of his friends, who
came forward with q complete file, or
nearly complete, and made the book posi-
bic. 1t has been a pronounced success
from more than one point of view, and
publishers are making fiattering offers 10
Mr.. Dunno looking toward more ambitious
portrayal of Irish-AmeriCan life. Mr..
Dunno wit is inevitable; ii is his birth
right. The Irish people he knows well,
though he has never been in "ould Ire
land" The dialect Of Mr.. Dooley, ii may
interest some to know, is the dialect of
County Roscommon. and natives of that
county have enthusiastically approved its
accuracy.