The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-13
Def TO HIS HONOR
WALT M'D0UGALL. ARTIST,
TO "PHILLY" MAYOR.
Puts His Name to Article in Answer to
Challenge to Call Executive
a Liar.

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 13.-Walt Nc
DougalI, cartoonist, has come out in print
with a def for Mayor Reyburn, regarding
what the Mayor is quoted as having said
in a speech Saturday, to the effect that
he stood ready for some one to come
down from the sixteenth floor of the
North American Building and call him q
liar in Broad street." McDougall signs
his name to his def, which is published
in today's North American. In part. no
says:
There are very few things that would
N. j., on a Sunday. The failure of my
attempt to raise doublebarreled chickens
from double -yolked eggs, and other dis
appointments of a farming life, nave not
robbed agriculture of its destinations, and
l reserve one day a week for quiet ohser-
walton and experiment.
"But Mayor Reyburn's speech on Sat-
urday might, presented an emergency from
which l could not finch. When | read
his amazing challenge to some one TO
come down from the sixteenth floor of the
| North American Building and call him a
liar in Broad street, the blood OF the
crusaders, CT something that felt like It,
why the Mayor should wish any one
from the sixteenth floor to call him q
liar in Broad street | did not stop to
inquire. Mine not to reason why. mine not
" WIN lily ~ AAAAAAC 0at ~ 6Af1 49, -
onward I hastened. l took the first train
to Philadelphia.
Two things stirred my fighting instincts.
first, that someone had desecrated the
financial dignity of the sixteenth floor by
using opprobrious language. second, thar
| spend much Of my time there, as IL IS
the headquarters of the cashier, and my
personal honor was touched. / was de-
termined to unmask the malefactor.
Failing that, Of course I would have to
descend to Broad street myself and oblise
the Mayor by meeting his strange request:
AS a public character-I have addressed
the Bibliophile Club and the Pleasantvliie
Grange-it Is up to me to maintain. the
honor of the newspaper. / nominated my
self at once as official Caller OF Liars. an
office never before filled on this journal.
There were few persons on the sixteenth
floor yesterday, as was natural, and these
I quickly eliminated. Intent upon my task
a~ceosted the first person | met after
stepping from the elevator. This was the
usher. He did not look promising. being a
suave and dignihed gentleman Of some
years.
anyone a liar? Have you disturbed the
calm of this floor by uttering-
But 1 got no further. The gentlemsnly
usher suggested that I go home and sleep
1t off. My next subject was the cashier,
whom l called on the telephone at his
jerks I began, jerks. old boy. what
did you mean by calling somebody a liarl
Why was that voice raised in impreeationy
Why was that hand from Which have
/ ~ i1ANC hAO WNANOA~O -
velope, clenched In angerT
But here the person at the other end
broke in, and | found that | was question
ing the cook, the cashier being att Chris
tian Endeavor meeting In Germantown.
Still, l knew he was innocent, and hung
up the receiver with a light heart.
IA that moment a SINAI figure emerged
from the elevator and seuttled across the
marble floor. | pursued and collared II.
It was an office boy.
"'You young limb of Satan I began
playfuIly, you unspeakable and
offspring Of Beelzebub. you thorn In the
flesh Of your elders; what did yop 90 d, y
You call Some one a liar? And wherefor.
"T amt called nobody a liar, he ut
tered, 'exceptin' Reddy Murphy. an 1hat
boy from the Inkwirer, an the dago wot
sells waffles. an the cop in SAMSON street.
an
ly. Instantly the child stopped whimper-
ing. ,,
"fG'wanl' he said. Quit yer kiddin.
And this isn't all Walt McDougal wrote
: under his own name.