Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-06-07
AN EDITORIAL
HIGHWAYMAN

lCopyrlBht, l0o. by Mcclure, Phillips G. Col
In travelling through the state OF
Kansas In pioneer days on horseback
was held up one afternoon by u man
with Il gun, who not only went through
me in first class shape, but insisted
that l follow him into the woods where
he had his retreat. He seemed Of fero-
clous disposition at first, and believed
he intended to murder me, but in u
little time he thawed out, and l began
to see that he was not such a bad fel-
low after all.
When supper had been prepared and
disposed of he dug among the leaves
and brought out an old satchel. The
contents consisted Of q dozen copies Of
the paper which had busted him, a lib
eral supply Of print paper for writing
on and half Il dozen lead pencils. He
took some of the blank paper and a
pencil and scrubbed away for a few
minutes and then said:
although l TIM out Of the sanctum
the old habit still clings. l want you
to see my style and criticisc it. Listen
to this: Mr.. Joseph Gillian, u esteem
ed fellow townsman, called at this Of
fee yesterday to report that While he
was on the highway between Joplin
and Neosha last Tuesday he was sud-
denly confronted by a highwayman
him into the woods to be despoiled and
probably murdered. Mr.. Gillian, who
was taken completely by surprise, ap-
peared to cheerfully acquiesce, but just
as he entered the woods he quickly
drew his pistol and turned in his saddle
and fired point blank at the daring
burglar. AS soon as he pulled the trig-
ger he put spurs to his horse and in
the confusion of the moment made good
his escape. The robber fired two
charges Of buckshot at him?
"What do you think of that" asked
the editor as he finished reading.
cts very fair"
But not up and up. It's too heavy
too Shakespearean. Our eminent fell
low townsman, Mr.. Gillian, would buy
1--we SAllu SOplCS VI tAS pupSA ~ SNdo
away to his relatives, but the article
would not produce widespread interest.
That was my failing-nothing wide
spread about my writings. I'd like to
see your style. Just dash off some
thing based on the same facts"
I wrote a "side header about half
the length Of his, and when he had
read it he said:
THAT knocks all my plans in the
head. l was going to offer you Il part
nership in this business, thinking you,
too, were also too Shakespearean in
style for this section, but l find I'm
mistaken. It's an elegant little article
not a word too little or too much"
The man had such a queer streak
about him that I couldn't make up my
mind whether he was 4 robber, as he
claimed, Or had gone daft over his
troubles and was wandering about as
crazy people often 90. There was no
cause to fear him. however. and we sat
and smoked till Il lac hour and had a
good visit. When looming came and
WI lltV us (. 'ctl vi vi t..A Al ils>l. liz III SSb
me to accept 500 as Il present. and
when | firmly refused he wanted me
to take Il god watch. In those days q
tramp printer with 81 ahead of the
game was Il millionaire. My refusal
seemed to hurt his feelings, but he
shook hands heartily on parting and
wished me all sorts of good luck. In
due time | reached Neosho, went from
there to Fayetteville, Ozark and
Clarksville and about the middle Of
December brought up at Van Buren,.
One day l was sent over to Fort Smith
to interview a nan who was to be
hanged ten days later. When admitted
to the presence Of the condemned l
was almost %paralyZed to discover in
him the whilom editor Of the Echo. His
surprise was likewise great, but as
soon as he had rallied a little his face
fairly beamed with smiles as he said:
What a godsend! Why, my dear
boy, I'd rather see you than any other
man on earth. 1t wasn't an hour ago
that l was saying I'd give a day off
LQe Lew lclL llC W oCC SOu. " huN
come to interview me?'
And what has happened?' l asked.
Gun accidentally went off and killed
q man. Pure accident, but l couldn't
make EN- believe it. l am to be hung
Oh the Doth. Too bad, OF course, but
it's too late for lamentation. You've
been Sent over today to get a prelim-
~inary-how the condemned looks and
feels-no hope of reprieve-going to
the gallows like a brave man, and so
forth and so on?"
That's it."
"All right. You can do yourself
proud on that. Make about a column
and put on three scare heads, all full
face caps. And now about the other
the actual event. There won't be much
to it. Don't try a pad in it. You can't
make over half a column Of loaded
minion without padding. The salient
features will be: Reading the death
n>oJrncc ne tho onndanno6