The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-11-16

him, Il don't think it was a half bad
idea You see Colorado is a distinctive
state. Its characteristics stand out like
it's mountains On finishing Arizona,
my thoughts involuntarily turned toward
Colorado. 1t appealed to me as furnish
ing field of investigation and dramatic
portraiture that would be instantly re-
cognized as local-its mining life. That
I determined to study at close range.
have always sought to get the picture
OF the life of locality firmly fixed IN
my mind by actual contact with the en-
vironment, before trying to place dra-
matte pictures of it before the public
This was true of Alabama 'MizzOura
and Arizona. and / trust the Colorado
folk that this new play will agree
that have done the same in this case
I do not care much for drawing plays
out of what 1 have read 1 prefer to
deal with what 1 have seen.
Il picked up the leading character of
my new play as one would gather up
nugget on mountain side. He seemed
to be waiting there for the setting
of a play. AS 1 look back it appears to
me that I just happened along and call
ed on the stage hands to run out this
and that piece of scenery to throw
around him
4 went to Denver in November, 1899.
I wished to study the life of the min
ers at close range. My first idea was to
dress as a miner and get work in one
of the shafts. l was staying at the Den
yer club, where L was royalty entertain
ed 1 learned that this plan was not a
good one. 1t was pointed out that L
would at once be suspected of being in
the mine for something else than work,
and it would not be long before L would
be put down as a spotter. Relations be-
tween the men and the bosses were not
particularly harmonious at that time,
and realized the point of the objection.
saw that should be practically boy
cotted and isolated.
''One day one of the best known mine
owners of Denver said to me:
Look here. The man you want to
meet is F'lynn-Phil Flynn. Nobody can
suggest away to get at what you want
better than Flynn. There isn't anybody
in the earth or on top of it with "A
quicker brain than his. If he can't tell
you what to do, you'd better go back
east; but he'll tell YOU
Flynn was then away on some pros
pecting trip, but my friend managed to
locate him, and received a telegram
to go to a certain town where l should
meet Flynn. l hurried there and Flynn
was waiting for me, nervous and wor-
ried, as his train was to start in a few
minutes for the south state line.
Let me stop a minute and describe
Flynn. He was well-built man under
40, weighing about ITO, and standing
five feet nine or nine and a half inches
put up solidly. but with lots of activity
in his frame. He had been educated
LII Lie pAlcSluOOQ III ireland. L nave a
vague recollection that some one said
he had taken orders. Anyway, he threw
up his priestly prospect, for a reason
L needn't give, and came to America.
Adventurous and ambitious. he was
drawn to Colorado He had gone TO
mining and could handle a pick with
any of the men. A strange mixture
one year he was leading force to put
down strike, the next he was the lead
er of strike itself. He was exceeding
~ popular with the men. The superb
GRITTY of his education to that of those
around him would often make its way
to the surface He could talk to YOU in
the mining vernacular with a fiuencv
that would make you imagine he had
been born In the canons of the Rockies.
then all at once be would quote a Latin
phrase so accurately, that you would
wonder at the incongruity of it all
There was nothing vain about the man
though: he would not air his knowledee
pedantically- 1t would unexpectedly
burst from him like the springs he'd
somstimes tap in his prospecting. He