The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-02-21
EDITOR OF THE ToMAHAwK.


an Iowa printing office. a touring typ
setter for a number OF years, he sudden
" desired a paper OF his own y clean
name with MS fellows, joined to the few
hundred dollars he had saved. secured for
him plant, and he transported this by
rail and wagon into the grass country.
| and because where he located the Sioux
had once ruled he called his paper the
Tomahawk. t was a good newspaper.
geographically il could not have been
improved upon; every local doing was To
be found in its columns, and the editorial
| page was fresh with homely and cleanly
comments on the news OF the day. He set
no moral standard for the community in
which he lived; he INDUCED il no lengthy
dissertations as TO what the people should
or should not do. He conducted his pa
per for the news, and If through his re-
firing disposition he did not make warm
friends he nevertheless held tie respect
Of everybody. That he would fight. re-
sent an attack. make trouble if trod upon,
no one ever dreamed. He was too quiet.
One day in his search for news he
CHANGED TO learn that the Washington
| Merchandise company was quietly selling
! liquor to the Indians. The knowledge ag-
! gravated him. The company was the
one big trading concern of the region. It
had main store and twenty or thirty
| t4cHClicS ScdEltIEG bNtT 0pJ lIl4SS VI EOAl-
try. 1t was owned by eastern spectators
and managed by local agents. The mem
bers of the corporation had wealth and
! Intelligence. That they should permit
whisky to be sold TO the aborigines seem
ed extraordinarily outrageous TO the edi-
tor
He thought it over, and then wrote
! letter to the president of the company
| briefly reciting what he knew and sug-
costing that stop be put to the sale;
that il might precipitate an Indian ont
/ break, and, anyway, it as a violation Of
, q national law which the corporation
! ought not 70 permit. He received in re-
! ply curt letter requesting him III 50
many words to mind his own affairs The
next issue of his paper bristled with on
! exposure of what the merchandise COM
pany was doing. He investigated so thor
oughly tnat the government finally acted,
and IN the end the company ceased the
I sale of whisky altogether. II was a signal
victory for the TOmahawk.
But the same day that the company sur
rendered, its manager az Sand Bluff
wrote TO the editor of the Tomahawk:
I 4 shall reach your town Monday. If
/ you are still In the country l shall kill
/ you
/ The editor opened the letter. read it
most carefully. laid it down and said half
10 himself and half to the press beside
him:
It's two days from Monday
Then he picked up another letter. for
got the first and eagerly read;
You wish me TO come west and take
UP life with you. J agree with You chat
we have waited long enough. I am tired
working for others, but am ready to work
for and with you. By the time this reaches
you L shall be on the way. I will reach
f ATr.s,- 4.av-
l understand ] have to take stage from
Sand Bluff, but shall enjoy the exper-
/ fence. 1t is agreeable to me that We
/ should be married as soon as I arrive.
The editor smiled from ear to ear He
walked TO the rear Of his shack and look
ed at a room he had been preparing for
months for this very coming OF his girl
The only carpet IN town was on the floor
! Of this room, her picture was over the
dresser; white curtains hid the windows;
/ little knickknacks had been placed gust
about as the average man would locate
them.
Well" said the editor, Il may be dead
Monday, but she's coming, and this is her
room"
He was most quiet the rest of the day
and the day following. He told no ore Of
the contents Of the two letters he had
received Only he satisfied himself if the
Sand Bluff stage WAS on time that il
would reach his town Monday at 1890
NO reason. either" said the postmaster
why it shouldn't be on time"
Sunday without attracting any ones
particular attention the editor barricaded
his windows am two doors. He con
structed something like breastworks back
Of them. lie made also several ingenious
peephOles. He knew the Sand Bluff store
manager, knew the rage he had felt over
the whisky exposure. knew the wild band
Of frontier spirits that usually iourneyed
with him when he was ''out or business
He had no reason TO doubt but that the
manager would arrive in town Monday
and would Immediately search for him.
Il may die, he muttered. 'bue she's
coming
His last act Sunday before he went to
bed was to saw of the barrel of a shot
gun and load the weapon with n curious
mixture of slugs. He was not an expert
with firearms; he never carried a gun
and on a test shot he probably would have
missed the side of a barn as quickly as
the next man. but he kept thinking of
the girl and the more he thought the more
methodical his preparations.
He awOke the next morning 10 find him
self besieged. The store manager from
Sand Bluff had arrived with half a dozen
cowboys prepared for any kind Of ruth
less sport. They shot the upper half of
the shack full OF holes without arousing
the editor to a reply. and then they an
nounced that they intended 10 hold him
prisoner there until 12:30 at which time
they would rush the shack. set it on FIRE,
and shoot him down when he came out.
He heard the declaration. He could SEE
them. could sweep with his eye the entire
street.
He sat behind barricade with the shot
gun across his lap. lie was most carefully (
dressed and extraordinarily calm for a 1
man who had been under fire for an hour
or more. He drew at his pipe with great (
composure and studied the time on the
face of the little alarm clock that stood
on table near him. The cowboys left /
two of their number on guard and rode
M the street after liquor No one in {
terfered with them. The fact that they
were from Sand Blun made their word
law in the lesser communities. Many a
grim jest they passed or the final fate OF 4
the editor. and many an assurance d.
the store manager give that no id 4
friend Of the Indian could live here
sun. the editor held the fort through
the morning. and the cowboys toyed with
him as Terrier sometimes fools with the
mouse IT means TO XIII
At noon big cloud OF dust rose On fhe
trail from sand BLUFF. u was the stage
coming in. one u the editors nespho1cs
gave him such command % The stree;
that he could see the approach of the
stage. He noted that IS L was travelling
IL should reach the pos4oniee in about
dfteen minutes. really ahead % time ffe
got ur. shook himself. walked - the
back room. looked 81 "nsr picture once
and then carefully loosened the fazter-
ings az his front door he LEFT the door
SO that IL could be instantly sErirE hack Z