The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1903-02-12
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q: PurS1lif
Of Mr..
OUeraILS

Copyright. 1903, by Charles ". Hooke

WOHN WILDE Is man or great
wealth and restless energy, and
IL he owns a newspaper called the
Citizen, which is an organ Of
the common people. A fiery and errat-
ic genius named Henry Bond was ed
itor of the Sunday issue, and was his
assistant when the events here chroni-
cled occurred.
Pardon me one moment while / in
troduce myself. L am a mild eyed,
melancholy, lazy and generally incom-
petent fellow, having no appetite for a
strenuous life and very little for any
other sort. Upon the editorial staff of
the hustling Citizen and assistant to
Henry Bond was as much misplaced
as a Quaker in a swearing, match. A
spurious reputation for-well, scarcely
know what procured me the position,
and l took it because 1 needed the
money. Bond, whose geese were al
ways swans, declared to Wilde that
was the greatest man in the two Amer
icas. ...
One day an item of news drifted into
the office to the effect that horny
admittance to the Museum of Art be-
cause he presented himself at Its portal
clad in his overalls. By the best Of our
information it was purely a question
of dress. There was no claim that the
man had been intoxicated or that his
conduct had been open to objection.
We've got to get hold of that man."
said Bond, running his hand backward
over his hair, which was so full of cleo
tricity that it always stood up straight
and cracked every time it was touched.
There's a peach of a story in this
case"
"Out of sightv' 1 responded, with en-
thusiasm.
"Take it right in hand" said Bond,
making a movement as if he were pass
ing the matter to me on large platter.
Its our first page yarn for next Sun
day"
had no appreciation of the story nor
any power of guessing what my chief
desired, but knew better than to ask
questions. sent for a reporter, and
when he had come ] laid the facts be-
fore him.
Find this man and interview him."
said 1. "Get a photograph of him and
of his wife and children, if he has any;
also a view of the interior of his hum
BILE home. showing books on the table
and some good pictures on the wall.
He's a man, you understand, who APP
preciates art. Here's card to friend
Of mine who runs an art store. He'll
lend you the pictures. You can get the
books anywhere. Telephone me when
you've found the man. and I'll send up
a photographer"
1t was early in the day when the re-
porter went upon this errand. About
noon he telephoned that he was having
trouble in his search, that all the pa
pers in town were after the story and
that some of them had as many as four
or five men out on it. This was bad
luck. We had supposed that our infor-
nation was exclusive. l sent all the
available reporters by way Of re-en-
forcements and authorized the general
of this little army to pay Mr.. Overalls
$40 If he would agree not to give his
story to anybody else.
Mr.. Overalls was not found that day.
The next mornings papers had the sto-
ry, but not the man. There was not
even description of him that savored
Of authenticity. He remained nothing
but suit of overalls, to which some of
the papers added decoration of ma
chine oil or of whitewash.
This mysterious individual became
the subject of a newspaper rivalry so