Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1903-07-18
Ezra
Simpkins'
SCOOP
Had No Call to Leather. but
Sailed High on Ink
From "Lctiors From Il S'lf Made MGR
chant to HIS SOM" by Ec0rUr Horace
Lorimer. Bp permission Of Small, MdU-
mara & Co., Publishers, Boston

speaking or Dnll pups tllat luTneu
out to be terriers naturally calls to
mind the case of my old friend Jere-
miah Simpkins' son. There isn't sol
ider man in the Boston leather trade
than jeremiah. nor a bigger scamp
that the law cant touch than his son
Ezra. There isn't an ounce of real
meanncss in Ezra's whole body, but
he's just naturally and unintentionally
n maverick When he came out Of col
lege his father thought that few
years experience in the hide depart
ment of Graham & Co. would be good
thing for him before he tackled the
leather business. SO | wrote to send
him on and | would give him n job,
supposing of course that was getting
yearling of the steady, old, reliable
Simpkins strain.
was a little uneasy when Ezra re-
ported. because he didn't just look as
il he had had call to leather. He was
tall, spare New Englander, with one
Of those knobby foreheads which has
been pushed out by the overcrowding
Of the brain or bulged by the thicken-
ing of the skull, according as you like
or dislike the man. His manners were
easy or familiar by the same standard.
He told me right at the start that
while he didn't know just what he
wanted to do he was dead sure that it
wasn't the leather business. 1t seemed
that he had said the same thing to his
father and that the 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 l learned all that l
wanted to know about Ezra in the
same time. Pork packing seemed to be
the only thing that he wasn't interested
in. got his resignation one day just
five minutes before the one which l
was having written out for him was
ready, for will do Simpkins the JUS
tice to say that there was nothing slow
about him. He and his father split up
temporarily over it, and of course it
cost me the old mans trade and friend
ship. l want to say right here that the
tdSltSt way III lllt WI III " SIC-
niles is to hire friends.
| lost sight of Simpkins for awhile,
and then he turRCd up ut the office one
morning as friendly and familiar as
ever. Said he was reporter and want
ed to interview me on the December
wheat deal. OF course | wouldn't talk
on that but | gave him little father
w. Ivic told hin, ha lv0nlH Gloon In a
hall bedroom all his life if he didn't
quit his fOolishness and go back to his
father, though didn't really believe 1t.
He thanked me and went off and wrote
column about what might have said
about December wheat, and somehow
gave the impression that had said 1t.
The next heard of Simpkins he was
dead The Associated Press dispatches
announced 1t, the Cuban junta con-
firmed it and last Of all a long dispatch
from Slmpkins himself detailed the cir
cumstances leading up to the 'atroc-
ity," the headlines in his paper called
it.
got long wire from Ezra's father
asking me to see the managing editor
and get at the facts for him. 1t seemed
that the paper had thought heap Of
Simpkins and that he had been sent
out to Cuba as correspondent and sta
toned with the insurgent army. Simp-
kinS in Cuba had evidently lived up to
the reputation Of Simpkins 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 on
filibustcring steamer and wired on
from Jacksonville. 1t told, with close
attention to detail-something he had
learned since he left mellow he had
strayed away from the little band Of
insurgents with which lie had been
out scouting and had blundered into
the Spanish lines. He had been prompt
ly made prisoner. and, despite his pa
pers proving his American citizenship
and the nature OF his job and the red
cross OH his sleeve, he had been tried
by drumhend 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
on and imagined his own execution.
This was written in n sort of pigeon,
or perhaps you would call it black
Spanish, English, and let on to be the
work of the eyewitness to whom
Simpkins had cOnfided his letter. He
had been the sentry over the prisoner,
and for Il small bribe in hand and the
promise of Il larger one from the paper
he had turned his back on Simpkins
while he wrote out the story, and aft
erward had deserted and carried it to
the Cuban lines.
The account ended, Then, as the Or
der to fire was given by the lieutenant.
Senor Slmpklns raised his eyes toward
heaven and cried, L protest in the name
of my American citizenship" At the
end OF the letter, and not intended for
publication, was scrawled This is a
bully scoop for you. boys, but it's pret-
ty tough OH me. GoOdby. Simpkins."
The managing editor, dashed tear
from his eye when he read this to me
and gulpcd little as he said: Il can't
help Ii. He was such ID thought
full boy. Why. he even remembered to
inclosc descriptions for the pictures"
Simpkins' last story covered the
whole of the front page and three col