University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1909-10-18
WHEN THE EDITOR KEPT
HIS REVOLVER HANDY

day Evening POst.)
Wherever the miner went. in the old
camps of the middle period. the editor,
his fonts of type and his hand press
packed in sections on burro back,
crawled in after him. In those soil
tudes men are more hungry for news
than for bread. Two weeklics sprang
up in 1873. but the owners caught
the mining fever and let them die.
John Atkins, J. NJ. Burncll and C. c.
Davis We're practical printers at Den
Yer. They conceived the idea of a
daily in Leadville, borrowed money for
plant, shipped it by freight wagon
over the passes. and ran off their sal
utatory edition OF ten thousand copies,
which vanished III an hour at ten cents
IL copy. on January %, 1879. The miners
wanted everything. including news,
highly seasoned. Atkins. Burnell and
Davis caught the spirit and gave it to
them. From those adventures of Jour
naism who break always for the
frontiers they gathered their working
staff. The Chronicle spared no energy
for copy-reading. and the reporting, OF
all varieties, appeared as it was writ
ten. One relic OF the old. towery days
in newspaper writing us"i to begin a
murder STORY" with Il quotation from
Pope or DRYDEN, follow it with the
flowers of shocked morality, and. at
the beginning of column two. inform
the reader who il was that got killed.
Another wrote with telling strokes. il
he did write done for did and he
was Il rcalist. The words which most
newspapers. when forced to refer to
them. render aS - -.
he wrote out in full. The Chronicle could
not get an Associated Press franchise;
Atkins therefore hired a man in Den
Yer to cOndcn>e the news from the
morning newspapers and send it by
system of cipher ahbrcvation over the
single wire across Mosquito Pass. Twice
in the winter of lS1o-S0 the wire
broke down on the pass. The propri
ctorS of the Chronicle went UP on
>nowshocs and crawlcd along the face
OF Il prccipi"e to repair it.
The Denver correspondent had in
StructonS to favor stuff which was
high-col0red and violent; and it lost
no color in the rewriting of the Chron-
icle staff. If there was Il hanging in
any corner Of the country it drew in
the Chronicle "tophead' so written
that the hanging would appear to have
occurred in Leadvillc. Gone CoonS
read one head. That meant three ne
"rocS ma>Sacrcd by the Utes. Others
ran: bloody Bundle: \ San Fran
cisco Man Divorced With Dirk and
'Coilins for Two Leadville never ac
cepted the Chinese, and the Chronicle
yellow brothers were mobbcd in a camp
lower down. and the account of it was
headed: 'Pi@tail Pests Pointing Pc
kinward." The hcadwritcrs tried to
see who could turn out the most start
ling allitcrative heads for the Monday
afternoon Sermon story The prize
went to this effort: Church Chimes:
Chronicle Chirpings Conc"rnin" Color
ado Christians" The Chronicle stopped
at nothing bounded by human magina-
tion for the glory of Leadville. In the
height of the 70 boom Atkins started
Il campaign to have the State Capital
moved from Denver to Lcadville. I'VE
are the most popular city in Colorado
now" the Chronicle argued. "and we
have the wealth of the Indies. Not
for Il hundred Years shall we see these
mines begin to dwindlc III their unpar-
alleled output" 1t did its civic duty
as best it could by scolding the foot
I''iH- h'N' l'DbtIS llItOttHtu IL ny
letter and by stray shots Atkins and
Davis worked with revolvcrs on their
desks. In Town Items" Davis wrote:
1t is getting to be a nuisance. We
refer to this indiscriminate pistol prac
ticc from ten o'clock p. m. until day
light. and if it isn't stopped pretty
soon some one will get hurt" Also:
Last night was not very good night
for the highwaymen. SO far as learn
ed, but two unsuspecting travellers were
stopped and forced to deliver And
again: ITO all Murderers. Highwaymen
and Thieves: 4 favor will be conferred
upon the Chronicle reporters if You will
contne your jaw ashing to between
the hours of six a. m. and four p. M
This will enable us to get the item
and also scoop the morning papers. A
who will deliberately kill his
man after the Chronicle goes to press
and before we've a chance to get out