Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-01-05
THUMPED AN EDITOR.
Former Wausau Man Once Licked
by President Elect Taft

/ Since the election of VIM. III. Taft to
the presidency there has been consid-
cradle newspaper talk of how he once
administered beating to an editor.
The editor in question was Lester A.
Rose, who later, in the SOS, purchased
a half interest in Wausau newspaper
and assisted in editing it for time.
Most OF our people will remember A
Tramp's Musings column in that pub
lication, written by Mr. Rose. UL1er
that caption he attacked anything and
everything, which did not suit his way
of thinking. On account of his vigor-
Gus writings he got into more or less
trouble while here, at one time being
assaulted by the man who was then
sheriff of this county.
He was a veteran of the civil war,
and. as our citizens knew him, he had
reached that period in life when bis
fighting days were over. He went
from here to Milwaukee in 1900 and
died suddenly of heart trouble I.is
son visited here few years ago.
Relative to the fight the Cincinnati
Commercial of the date of April 20,
1879. has the following to say
"a SENSATICNIST PUNISHED.
'How WILL TAFT, SERVED LESTER A.
RosE--A SOUND BEATING CLEv-
ERLY ADMINISTERED.
"A sensation sheet edited by Lester
A. Rose contained in its weekly issue
yesterday LOT of trash ct vile nature,
hardly worth meEeioning because of its
absurdity, that was apparently con.
strued by the editor to refer to Judg e
Alfonso Taft 1t would not have At
tracted much attention had not tae boys
hawking the paper kert up a cry of All
about the Judge Taft scandal.' Early
yesterday afternoon Mr.. Will Taft, a
tall, powerful, athletic young man about
2l years of age, met his brother Charles
at the Times Office, and stated quietly
that if he could find Rose he should whip
him.
lbOSc was ucSCllOCSl W w III ait shit a
tall, raw boned man with broken
nose, who was known to be a bruiser of
considerable physical courage and great
endurance 1t was related to him that
Rose had been slug-shotted and dubbed
by Ed. Hudson and others, and that + q
head had been found to be like q block
of granite.
"Mr. Taft listened attentively TO the
information, and appeared to appreciate
it. He did not make much talk about
the task he had cut out for himself. bat
seemed to be in hurry to get at it, with
as few words as possible. His brother
Charles accompanied him. not with the
intention of assisting, but merely to be
on hand in event of interference thai
might be improper or unfortunate
They walked up to the corner of FiftI.
and Elm streets and quickly found Rossle.,l
who was accompanied by lady and a
friend
"Will Taft is only year or so out of
Yale, where he developed his muscle
at the manly exercise of the college,
and he seems to have retained it. He
approached and asked if the person
he addressed was Rose. A prompt
That's my name, and double re-
sponse, You're my man. and a blow
in the face, revealed to MIR. Rose the
object of the call Mr. Taft followed
up The attack vigorously. The first
blow was left handler, not so effective
as he intended, but he made up the de-
ficiency by repeated blows until Rose
went down. The rules of the ring
were not observed. When Rose went
down Mr.. Taft pounced on him and
was getting in heavily with blows when
bystander, more powerful than Mr..
Charles Taft, interfered and prevented
any further punishment. This by
stander objected because the head of
the under man was being used as a
hammer on the pavement, but since he
learned the nature of the difficulty he
has not ceased to regret his interfer-
ence. As the case stands Rose went
off bleeding and pale with his head
well punched"