Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-26
SHOWERS TITLE
How Plain William, the Bsrkeep, Became q
Cuba Librs Leader.
GENIUS OF A FATER AND ITS SEQUEL
Lad binding OF In Enterprise thai
Was Good for Many Balls ana
Much space In Eastern
fellow Journals.

He IL a walter by profession. He is too
young to have fought in the civil war. He
was In Omaha during the spanish American
war. He never served on a governors
stan. So far as known he never belonged
to a Salvation Army corps. Then how ala
William showers acquire the title Of
"colonel7"
The question has been asked 90 often
and the colonel has turned II aside so per-
sistently that II really becomes a public
duty to expose the secret and show the
colonel In his true light. with Grover
Cleveland no longer president and the
Cubans bsnevolently sssimilatod, the ex-
posure can be made without the disastrous
results that would have attended IL q few
years ago.
The colonel has not always been thus.
There was q time when three scrambled
and q stack O. whests'' was not his morn
ing carol and coffee. sirf not the opening
wedge for cross-counter conversation. He
has said these things 30 often to so many
different people In Omaha that the latter
have come TO believe he has been doing 80
always. But they are wrong. There was
. time when Showers perturbed the
s1umbers of even the president OF the
United States and had the western mill
tary on the qui vive. How he did It will
furnish a chapter Of unwritten but inter-
estins history.
In His Kansas City Days.
It will be recalled that during Grover
Cleveland's second term "a president all
eyes focused on bleeding Cuba and the
American people grew so sympathetic that
there was simply no keeping count Of the
number Of burning resolutions they adopted.
About that time William Showers became
proprietor of the -Four Corners" a Kan
sas City Joy works where thirsty men
cam to ait for hours looking for q friend,
a Job OF any other old excuse for staying.
Showers is a princely jollier now and he
was q ~princely jollier then. The quality
of buncomb he passed out to the Reubs from
Kansas was considerably better than the
quality Of nectar he passed them. and the
way he rallied the local sports under his
banner was worth riding a long distance
on the Iowa Central to see. Finally his
place became headquarters fer about two
thirds OF the alfalfa j~ugglers Of tive states
and for a set Of local hot-air weavers that
were had to beat. The hot-air weavers
furnished conversation In exchange for the
nectar the alfalfa jugglers bought.
In the local contingent was Perry Ellis, .
newspaper correspondent. whs, when he
wasn't busy with his thirst, was always
busy with his imagination. Eastern yellow
journals wanted things to print and Perry
was supplying the want. Kansas City being
y drouthy place itself in war times, he had
to enlarge the scope of its influence. 1t
was when he undertook this that he started
trouble.
Crop the Correspondent sOwed.
He began sending out reports that Cuban
nlIhIQfaFin0 nxnnnNffnnQ uyaFa hafnR
equipped In or near Kansas City. He in
timated that the leaders Of the junta rem
dezvoused at the -Four Corners" From
the yellow journals this report was cribbed
into the patent insides of the country
weeklies and from them into the unpatented
insides of the Sunfower farm hands. They
headed for Kansas City and for the Four
Corners. Their exterior finish would indi-
cate that they were as peaceable as re-
formed pirates, but under their coats beat
courageous hearts and they burned to
undertake the p~erilous work OF the hlibuster
in a good cause. They were willing to die
for Cuba Libre. Sic Semper Tyrannis. e
Pluribus Unum or anything else that had
blood In 1t and q chance to figure In future
Fourth Of July o~rations.
At first, Showers didn't know what to do
about It. 1t seemed to him the game was
being played a little strong. But the, news
paper men pointed out the Hood OF ducats
that was going over the counter and said
any barkeep who would kick on money
coming hat easy would be all kinds OF a
foolish person. So Showers got in line
and worked the high signs with the rest.
That Kaw Town bunch got their yokel
recruits to believing that the Four Corners
was the center of the greatest secret move
ment for liberty since "Bozzaris ranged
his Suliote band in the forest and pre-
pared to do things to the dreaming Turk.
Collapse OF the Colonel.
But finally the recruits grew FESTIVE and
some show of organization had to be made
And that Is when William Showers be-
came colonel" That is also the
time when William Showers spoiled
q good thing and brought on a severe at
tack Of stage fright. The. newspaper mar
had printed 80 much and faxed so dexter
ously that even the president of the United
States took notice and issued the memorable