The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-24
The Tragedy Of
 Carrie Nation
By Her Former Press Agent.

by f1er fcrTner F1eSS Agent.
 When the newspapers of June 10 :; flashed the news that Carrie Nation, the Kansas saloon -smasher, had died at Leavenworth, Kan. the night be- fore, a pitying smile went over the country. The notice of her death serv- ed only to bring back to the minds of the public the Carrie of ten years ago the fiery, fearless. saloon-smashing, journalistic joke. who served to hit the national sense of humor as the acme of the screamingly ridiculous.
 And therein lies the grim tragedy
 of the life of Carrie Nation. The pathos of this gray-haired broken hearted, fanatical old woman is in- separable from the humor she arous- ed. Both pathos and humor were with her through the years when she thun- dered damnation to saloonists and wrecked destruction to their places of business. It was many times more in evidence at her death-bed, when, broken in spirit and mind, she breath ed her last with none of those with whom and for whom she had fought to soothe her dying hours. Two nieces a strange hospital surgeon and a head nurse were her ionly attendants.
 The two dominant features of Car rie Nations character were diametr1- cally opposed. On the one side was the crusader, the leader, the fearless fanatic boldly defytng the world greedy for money and seeking the best meth cd for getting it: alive to the value of advertising and quick to grasp the dramatic and sensational; a grafter of the lowest kind; miser in her love for gold; glutton for publicity a leech; . money-vampire.
 On the other hand was her simple
 motheriy character, as lovab1e as that of any woman I have ever known. Sometimes she would make one won- der how she could be the termagant she was. She rarely referred to her smashing tour and when she did 1t was with quiet little laugh. her gray eyes sparkling and her fist clenched as she would describe how the men would flee the saloon by the rear door when she entered the front. The waste, the injustice, the criminal side of her actions, never seemed to enter her head.
 deeds were inspired by her press agents or the press agents of the theatres in which. during few years, she worked. She was keen too in making her con- tracts. She received from s250 to $1 900 a week for featuring at theatres, and always with the privilege of selling in the lobby her lfttle gold hatchet pins and the history of her life. This privi- lege would net her from $1OO to s250 a week extra.
 The first work I did for her was as a press agent for theatre in Atlanta, Ga The house was putting on sensa- tional plays at popular prices, and twenty minute lectures each day. for which she received $500 for the week with the usual lobby privileges. The house manager choose .'Ten Nights in a Bar Room" for the weeks produc- ton. and Mrs. Nations profits for the period amounted to nearly N.ooo.
 Tn spite of the money she made, she refused absolutely to stop at a first class hotel. She preferred rather to go to cheap place, because, she said, 'she needed her money more than the hotel keepers did
 Not a single suggestion made by me. with view to making her stay fn Atlanta more sensational was re- jected by her. She arrived Sunday night and early Monday morning be- gan her crusade. There was a biz advertisement for cigarettes in a drug store window in the center of the city In which a man made up to represent a manikin. with electric wires attach ed smoked cigarettes. I suggested that Mrs. Nation pull him out of the window backwards.
 Of course there was a big crowd in front of the window and the little old woman saw her first chance for a sensation. She marched determined 1y into the store, stopped in the cen- ter and began a tirade against ci- garette smoking. Then, when the store became crowded with people. she went to the window, opened the back of it. grasped the performer inside by the scruff of the neck and yanked him to the floor. The manikin was so surprised that he became galva- nised into the liveliest lay-f1gure ina ginable and the crowd roared The next day the window was empty, and remained so for the rest of Carrie Nations stay. In Atlanta.
 I suggested to her that Governor Hoke Smith was an inveterate smok- CT. 'Ts he? Well. let's go to see him. she said It'll make good newspaper