The age-herald., 1899-04-09

The colonel was a born fighter, with pen and ink; he wanted the war of the rebellion fought over again, and being an extremist on all questions managed to keep the paper in hot water a good part of the time. me other members of the staff were two boys, Joe and Dan, serving an apprenticeship In the composing room, Jerry, negro who turned the crank that moved the press, and any tramp printer who happened along and was willing to put in few days time for grub stakes and pass to the next town. Most of the merchants in the place advertised in the Watchman, but they re- garded their advertising bills as so much contributed to help along the boom, and in- sisted upon Jones trading out the amount at their stores. The result was that the only cash income was derived from sub scriptions and an occasional legal notice. Jerry and the two apprentice boys were paid in '.store orders," Colonel Harper in focal reputation" while interest and in- stallments on the press were allowed to ae- cumulate. White paper and ink had to be paid for, and for that reason l was em- ployed and told to push collections and to get as many local items as 1 could in ad- dition. At the end of my first week turned in $4.35 in cash over and above my own salary, and Editor Jones was so over come by my success that he promised to raise my pay in a short time.
 Jones was a practical printer and a very good one. He had to do most of the type setting and make up the paper. His outfit was very incomplete and it was tight squeeze to get up four pages of matter without resetting for the outside It was often case of slug and double lead every thing, and we used an average of two cigar boxes a day making wedges and fill- ing. If there was a rush of local matter, which consisted largely of personals and gossip about new industries that never came, I had to go into the composing room in the afternoon to help out with the make up and take a turn at feeding the press In this way the Watchman went for near four months, and the boom, so long expected, seemed upon the point of realiza- tion when the actual work of building the new railroad began. We had managed to scrape up enough cash to buy paper and ink, the circulation held up very well, but finally some of the largest advertisers con- cluded that s a week in trade was too much to pay for a double half column dis play and discontinued their patronage. Store orders had to be curtaied and it seemed impossible to increase the cash re- ceipts.
 During this period of development there had come to Mitown a professional boom- of real estate and promoter of land companies Major Hobbs, who was better known as Hobbs the Hustler" A bank had been established by the leading men of the town and there was a slow but steady improvement in business conditions. When Hobbs had been in town twenty-four hours he announced that the only thing needed to start the most successful boom of the year was a new land company. Mlltown's natural resources were all right, but they must be developed, said the ma- jor. land company would advertise the town and bring investors from all over the country. The major called on Editor Jones and gave to the Watchman two-