Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-05-20
CHAPTER 1.

As soon as he had removed the stains
of travel and eaten his lunc. con, he
MADE haste to inquire his way to the
office of the Concord Blizzard. The
Blizzard wasreckoned very potential
power throughout Dakota, and not to
have heard of it was synonymous with
being stranger in that part of the
country. A man named Keevcr-Col.
Archibald keeyer, if you please-pre
sided over the destinies of the Blizzard.
de was also the guiding hand that
2anil sllated the affairs of the Con-
cord Towng;te Company in those
booming times of So. Guy had to do
with the Colonel on matters pertain
Ing to the town, weighty matters SO
Gar as Guy was concerned.
The building that harbored the
sanctura and its accompanying plant"
was an unsightly two-story structure
severed with tar paper held in place
by strips of lath. A flight of crazy
stairs chung to the outside, and Guy,
somewhat doubtful a t17i. stability,
laid hold of the hand al, and ascended
cautiously. AT the landing above he
turned sharply to the left and was
confronted by q door bearing this
printed placard:
Office of the Blizzard,
Fearless Champion of the Rights of Man,
II General,
And of the Republican Party,
IN PARTICULAR.
Welcome.
DWipe your feet on the mat.
Guy scraped his shoes assiduously
and passed into the taanctum. One
would hardly have IMuught that in
such misty little .%,hby hole the
powerful mind of Archibald Keever
was wont to evolve those gems of edi-
torial wit which had made the Blizzard
venerated and feared all the way from
Fargo to bismarck, and from Standing
Rock as far north as Turtle Mountain.
Yet such was me fact. Guy looked
about him with interest. Insurance
calendars, farming implement adver-
tisements. a cheap Autograph of Topsy
and another of Eliza pursued by blood
hounds did their little mite toward
covering the rough board walls. Two
ten-penny nails, affixed to the board
wall by half their length, supported
white hat and a cane. A window con-
tanning eight panes of dusty glass let
in mellow light upon the great man
who sat at desk, his profile to the
caller, and took no notice of him. Evil
IDENTIFY the editor was in the throes of
composition.
Guy had no desire to interrupt and
remained standing Very quietly in the
center of the floor. Scratch, scratch,
scratch. bumped over that antiquated
desk with his old steel pen, scrapng
away as for dear life. What fire the
Colonel must have been throwing into
that editorial! Guy observed him Curl
ously.
The Colonel was not tall, but rather
short. He was also very stout-a
pud2y man with an extremely pudgy
countenance. His face was red, the tip
of his nose conspicuously SO. He wore
mustache and chin whiskers, both
gray and bristling and cut in the fierc-
est form compatible with high re-
speciality, The better to show the
Colonefs iliustrious bumps, Nature had
denuded or hair the greater portion of
his scalp. Entomology had been pas
! time study of Guys. and he observed
how, beginning at the temples, the hir-
suite fringe bordered the Colonel's
head, passing, at the back, no higher
than the topmost limits of philopro-
genitiveness. imperfectly developed
Two small eyes, murky, bat wide apart,
NJ
The caller realized suddenly that he
had been in the Office for quite con
siderable period. If the Colonel could
not grant an interview, he mi..ht say
SO, and Guy would call again. The
young man cougiied The Colonel
fl owned heavily, raised his left hand
IN token of silence and scratched on
Guy swung on his heel and started
TO, the door.
Co.onel!" cried a shrill voice.
Don't let him get away! Maybe he
wants to subscribed"
Cry was startled. He halted and
peered about the room, finally detect
ing cadaverous, inlS-begrimed face
topped with a snarl of red hair. The
face waspeeringintot the sanctum from
the workroom through an unused
stovepipc hole III the partition.
The red hail I boy grinned as he
caught Guys rye a.d doGsed away to
escape pap@t 'se,ght which the Colo
mel hurled at him. The Colonels aim
was bad, and Guy observed that the
opening was bordered with dents AID
abcasions.
"By gad!" exclaimed the editor, an
) grily. THAT imp has knocked the tar
out of one of the finest thias:s have
set hand to in many day. If the peo-
pie ever find out what they lose on ac
count of that graceless cub, they'll
rise up as one man and hang him, no
doubt about it," WhirIing in his pivot
chair, he glowered at his caller.
Perhaps had better go and come
back al some more convenient time,
said Guy.
''Tla4 mischief has been done. and
my inspiration is knocked into q
cooked hat" answered the Colonel
softening. eff you wish to subscribe
for nv excellent paper, two-fiftv @