The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-06-10
INCREASING THE
A. a.. CIRCULATION.
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Nnen Il eSIHDllSneu tne 1reSS lnc
place In which | located was far
western town. now a middle western
city. 1 am now at one end OF life. l
was then at the other In those days
editors were wont to stir up an inter-
est In their papers by attacking some
one. I was young enough and reckless
enough to adopt the plan In vogue. |
was obliged to adopt some method of
selling my paper or 1t would have
shrunk to nothingness, but | was very
resourceful in averting the conse.
quences. When / attacked man and
he came into the office of the Press for
blood l told him that vel invariably
used the editorial plural-had based
our allegations on the best lnforma.
tion. Then when he demanded the
name of "our" informant "we' prom
ised TO give IL after consultation with
said informant in case he determined
TO face the consequences. If he re-
| fused, then we would publish denial.
with an explanation. This usually
STAYED the matter off for day or two.
when eve" published a statement that
1--WE" had been grossly imposed upon.
| I don't know which helped the paper
most, the excitement attending the ac-
| cusation or the frank and manly man
| ner In which we made the ameudc
| honorable.
Operating as I was In civil war time,
| when everybody was intensely pep
| perry, 1t is wonder that | escaped
some OF my advertising episodes with
my life. indeed, / finally made such n
! stir in certain instance that | was
obliged TO move my paper TO new To-
| cation. thou"h In the case l mention
had no intcrtion of attacking any one.
! I merely perpetrated what I consd-
| cred a wittclsm. A certain Colonel n.
had at the request of his fellow cltl.
Zens resigned his command to come
| home and make political campaign.
Referring TO him in an item. quoted:
| Grim visaged war has smoothed his
| wrinkled front. and now instead of mount
| ing barbed steeds to fright the souls OF
| fearful adversaries he capers nimbly In
| lady's chamber.
| The idea | intended to convey was
that the colonel would have u very diff
ferent time between bullets and bal.
| lots. Unfortunately he was not fa.
millar with the poets and knew no,h-
| ing Of Shakespeare. He doubtless had
a guilty conscience with reference TO
some fair dame and inferred that 1t
was to this that the Press referred.
! There was also certain dancing
master in the town, Demaise Robltaile.
upon whom | happened TO perpetrate
at the same time another so called bon.
mot | referred to him as NJ. Bobtail.
| The morning that these two items
| came out In my paper | was sitting in
my sanctum getting together material
| for my next days issue. had had a
| troubled week with the people had
used TO advertise the paper and had de-
termined TO advertise no more In that
way. 1t was proving hazardous. |
therefore felt very much ut ease with
myself and all the world. AS to Colo
mel n. or Dcmaise Rolitale. | was not
conscious of having lnsulted either of
them. Hearing step behind me,
| turned and saw the warrior advancing
upon me. In his eye was blood
thirsty look | had never seen in any
mans eye before.
"Glve me the name OF the man who
has accused me of being mixed up In n
woman scrape," he said, doubtless re-
ferring to his "caperng nmbly in Il
lady's chamber"
But, like Linden in the poem. 81 saw
another sight" Dcmaise Robitalle was
really "caperlng" up the staircase and
dancing into the sanctum behind the
colonel. IL was cowardly trick on
my part, ! admit but what Is fellow
TO do when a sledge hammer fist Of Il
200 pound warrior is about TO come
down upon him? | pointed to Robi.
talle.
80 you're the cur who wrote that
rot about an cX-colonel of the army
and a candidate for the votes of his
fellow citizens, accusing him of nounc-
ing around in wOman's room"
II? / write article about you? Non.
monsieur come here TO demand
"You lie, you French monkey! You're
Just the man to do Il trick like that"
The colonel landed blow ON the
Frenchman's jaw. Robitaile got the
, idea that his assailant was the man
he had come to the Office TO punish
and that the accusation was merely a
preteXt to get in first punishment.
Huh! By GAR" he shrleked. 81
teach you to call me names" He was
an expert boxer and, dancing up to the
colonel, landed blow on his nose that
spilled claret over the warriors shirt
front l got up on the inclined board
on which had been grinding out copy
for the purpose of watching the fight
without personal injury to myself. II
was pretty instance Of science
against mere strength. The French,
man would dance in, land a lightning
blow. then dance out of reach of his
powerful antagonist The fact that
each believed that the other was the
man who had lampooned him made the
fight far more interesting was
young enough to enjoy il and silly
enough not TO realize the detriment
to myself In case one of the com
batants killed the other. At last science
won. The dancing master floored the
warrior, who in falling struck his head
| a0ainst n wood polumn that hold IN