The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-07-01

Speaking of bull pups that turned
out to be terriers naturally calls to
mind the case of my old friend Jere-
miah Slmpkins' son. There Isn't a SOL
ider man In the Boston leather trade
than Jeremiah, nor bigger scamp
that the law can't touch than his son
Ezra. There isn't an ounce of real
meanness In Ezra's whole body, but
he's Just naturally and unintentionally
| q maverick. When he came out of col
lcge his father thought that few
years experience in the hide depart
mcnt of Graham & Co. would be n good
thing for him before he tackled the
leather business. So | wrote to send
him on and i would give him n job,
supposing of course that l was getting
ycarling of the steady, old, reliable
Simpkins strain.
was little uneasy when Ezra re-
ported, because he didn't Just look as
| If he had hnd n call to leather. He was
| tall, spare New Englandcr, with one
| of those knobby forchcads which has
been pushed out by the ovcrcrowdimg
of the brain or bulgcd by the thiclcn-
| Ing OF the skull, according as YOU like
or dislike the man. His manners were
easy or familiar by tho same standard.
| He told me right at the start that
while he didn't know Just what lie
| wanted to do he was dead sure that it
wasn't the leather business. II seemed
| that lie had said the same thing to his
father and that tho old man had an
swcrcd, "Tut, tut" and told him to
| forget 1T and to learn hides.
Simpkins learned all that he wanted
to know about the packing industry in
| thirty days, and learned all that !
wanted to know about Ezra i'm the
same time. Pork packing seemed to he
| the only thing that he wasn't interested
| In. l got his resignation one day just
| five minutes before the ono which |
was having written out for him was
ready, for | will do Simpliins the JUS
| ticc to say that there was nothing slow
abou. him. He and his father split up
temporarily over 1t, and of course it
| cost me the old mans trade and friend
| ship. | want TO say right here That the
| easiest way in the world TO make enc
| mics Is TO hire friends.
lost sight of Simpklns for awhile,
| and then lie turned up at the Office one
morning rs friendly and familiar as
| ever. Said lie was Il reporter and want
| cd to interview me on the December
wheat deal. or course / wouldn't talk
OH that, but / gave him little father
| ly advlcc-told him he would sleep I'm Il
| hall bedroom all his life if lie didn't
| quit his fooliShncss and go back to his
| father, though didn't really hcliovo 1t.
| He thanked me and went off and wrote
| q column about what might have said
| about December wheat, and somehow
| gave the impression that l had said 1t.
Tho next I heard of Simplilns he was
dead. The Associated Press dispatches
announced It, the Cuban junta con-
| irmcd 1t and last of all q long dispatch
from Simpkins himself detailed the cir
cnmstanccs leading up to the "atroc-
| ity," the headlines in his paper called
| 1t.
got long wire from Ezra's father
| asking me to see tho managing editor
and get at the facts for him. 1t seemed
that the paper had thought heap Of
Simpkins ana that lie had been sent
out to Cuba as correspondent and sta
toned with the insurgent army. Simp-
liins in Cuba had evidently lived up to
| the reputation of Slmpkins In Chicago.
When there was any news he sent 1t,
and when there wasn't he just made
news and sent that along.
The first word of his death had come
In his own letter, brought across OH a
| filibustcring steamer and wired on
To cl. cnnN.tlln fItl1 oil
| attention to dctail-somcthing he had
learned since ho left mellow ho had
| straycd away from the little band of
insurgents with which he had been
out scouting and had blundered into
| the Spanish lines. He had been prompt
| iy made prisoner, and, despite his pa
pcrs proving his American citizenship
| and the nature of his job and the red
| cross OH his sleeve, he had been tried
by drumhead court martial and SEN
fenced TO be shot at dawn. All this he
| had written out, and then that his ac-
count might be complete he had gone
| OH and imagined his own execution
This was written In sort of nigoon
or perhaps YOU would call II black
| Spanish English, and let OH to be the
WOTk VI l1e eyewitness 10 whom
Simpkins Ind conlidcd his letter He
had been the sentry over the prisoner,
and for small brbc I'm hand and the
promise of larger one from the paper
he had turned his back OH Simpkins
while lie wrote out the story, and aft
onward had deserted and carried 1t to
the Cuban linoa.
The account ended, "Then ns the or.
der to fire was given by tho lieutenant
Scnor Slmpklns raised his eyes toward
heaven and cried, 4 protest I'm the namo
of my American citizenship At the
end OF the letter, and not intended for
publication, was scrawlcd: "This Is a
bully SCOOP for YOU, boys, but It's pret-
| ty tough on the. Goodby. SImpkins.n
The managing editor dashed tear
from his eye when lie read this to mo
md gulped little as lie SAID: ~ can't
help 1t. lie was such q ID thought.
full boy. Why, lie even remembered to
inclose descriptions for the picturesp'
Slmpkins' last story covered the
Whole OF the front page and three coli
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