The Washington herald., 1914-02-19
HISTORY BUILDERS.
How c. P. Huntington 0utwitted
Blackmailer.

THE late Coils p. Huntington was
accustomed TO attribute the goos
health which he maintained dur
ing all his long life, in which were
concentrated some stupendous intel
lectuai and business Iabors. to his keen
perception of humor, to his good un-
ferstanding Of human nature, and to his
profound sense that every man had his
temperamentaI as well as his intellectual
weak points. and that no man is all bad
who has any moral responsibility at all.
These things" said Mr.. Huntington
to me one day. have enabled me to over
come many annoyances successfully TO
meet many eplbarrassments and emer-
gencies. and on the whole to handle and
treat men as they deserve to be handled
and treated.
Not the least of the annoyances which
have been my lot were the infinite va
'iety OF the attemps to get at my purse
small as well as in large amounts I
. IN not referring now to the attempts at
blackmailing legislators or politicians to
compel tribute from me, but to the petty
efforts Of that kind which were constant
ly made
Let me tell you OF an experience that
'hN scAh' twenty wears akO.
had become familiar with the methods
adopted by irresponsible writer's TO coax
Few dollars from me- and / want 10
say that ] never knew of a case whore
any one connected with a reputable news
paper ever offered hint TO me that h.
would like a little extra honorarium.
think If every one were as honorable in
this respect as the newspaper men Of
whom / have had knowledge, there
would he cause for congratulation
One day man called upon me and
laid before me the proof-sheet Of an
article which he said he had prepared
and was 10 publish in a few days. He
told me that he would be glad il / would
look il over
i said to him that il he had already
prepared the article and was going To
publish it. ! didn't think il was neces-
sary for me to glance at IT,
He insisted. however. that ] read il.
d'd so and found II to he exactly what
suspected-a mass Of atrociousIy false
statements. IL was simply awful
Having read the article. ] handed tn.
proofs back TO the young man and looked
at him. He asked me if | had read II
through carefully. and | told him that
had. Then he waited for me 10 sav
something else, but l had no comments
to make
At last he ventUTod to ask me IL the
article was not all right. In reply. 7 sail
to him: You have brought me the arti-
Gle and asked me TO read it, have don
so
Then he pIucked up courage AID
asked mo II | had a suggestion to make.
Il said: 1t is entirely your affair. You
have. or someone else has. written this
article and that is your or his affair
am not at all concerned about that
'Well?' said he inquiringly and with
strong hint in his manner.
Well said I in reply 1t is now on
tirely your affair and will be until tho
article is published. After it is published
1t will become to a large extent my ar
fair. and l might IS well tell You thd,
after II becomes my affair I shall attend
to il with all the yigor OF which 7 an
capable and that 7 feel certain that soon
after its publication YOU and those whC
publish il will have abundant opportunity
for contemplation at Your enforced Ieis-
urH ia a great institution over which the
State has authority. and you will he
well guarded from outside interference
while you write other articles of this
kind If YOU think il worth while
He took the proof sheets up and went
away The article was not published
Here Mr.. Huntington smiled Significantly.
fCopyriEht, Iel4J