Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-11-11

| nupS cUulu uuu man WHO knew
! whereof he spoke. who could tell of
many n discreditable thing at the eX-
pense of officers of the aTmy-things
that, unlike almost everything it had
( asserted in the past, could not be dis
proved and denied. In the interests of
tie Seattle and the hope of winning
friends and subscribers among the Of
| ficers of both roads it had vigorously
abused ('roasted" was the technical
term Mr.. Langdon and published sew
eral letters from its own correspondent
ut the scene of the riots (who happened
to be the editor Of the Brentwood SUM,
in which poor Eric was held up to pub
lie obloquy as a drunken desperate, a
reckless murderer, etc. The Sun peo-
pie found especial delight in the repeti-
ton of that assonant if not alliterative
headline, "A Kicked Out Captain" and
The Palladium had taken it up until
one of its OWE reporters, a gentleman
from top to toe. who had known Eric
in happier days at the Point, made We
! hement personal appeal to the manage
ment and succeeded in having it stop
ped. 1t was The Palladium's policy
when discrediting Langdon to refer to
"the unimpeacha BILE verdict of brother
officers gentlemen of unstained honor,
which had cast him from the folG'
Now it needed circumstantial instances
with which to impeach these same
brother officers of unstaned honor, and
who more likely to be in possession Of
numerous interesting facts or in read
mess to part with them seriatiIl than
the kicked out captain" now needy,
impoverished and presumably sore
hearted? 1t was a reporter who brought
Lansdon the message that Mr.. Mana
| ger wished to have little talk with
him, and Langdon went, silently took
the chair TO which he was affably way
cd after the preliminary tender of the
handshake and smoke which the guile
less Indian and the enterprisihg bust
ness man alike regard as Indispensable
to council preparatory to mischief
Langdon listened without word to a
monologue that speedily became halt
Ing and embarrassed. for the blue gray
SSNS ioohVd SliaiSHt lllO lut Sill llHS
orbs behind the steel trimmed specta-
cles, and under that silent, steady gaze
the manager stumbled more and more,
ending abruptly with: "Well, merely
suggest this. 1t is line of work we
thought you might care to take up. In
your experience you must have encoun-
tered many and many case that
| -Or,1I 11,cfn int
expressed, and now that you are out of
it all, and very unjustly, as we are in
formed. you probably wouldn't mind
giving us the benefit of-of what you
know"
What / know of the officers of the
army" said Langdon, rising. lis just
the opposite Of what you publish In
the one case out of 20 where you meet
with cad it is simply another in
stance of the exception proving the
rule. which is that almost all their
number are gentlemen-men of honor,
conscience and character. do not
thank you for your offer. Good morn
! ing. SIR
Your friends a quixotic FOOL said
l1le lllaHiSilS eultOf 10 MS subordinate
that night. But if you can get him to
come and dine with me at the Union
League do it. Ering him tonight if pos
sible. Id like to know more of him.
which goes to show that the policy of
a paper and the honor and conscience
of man are two very far different
things. Eric wouldn't dine at the club.
J r Al I
dress clothes, which was true. for he
had sold them for one-third their value
and one-tenth their cost. A yardmas-
ter had no need of such toggery, he
thought. but that was when he never
dreamed that he should SO soon lose
that position or ever gain one infinitely
higher.
ITO be Contiuod a.