Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-19
COLONEL NELSON,
VOLCANIC EDITOR
Well Loved and Well Hated, as He
Wished to Belle Was One of
Kansas City's Greatest Distinc-
tions.
BY JULIAN STREET

BY Special Arrangement with the Century Company
COLONEB WILLIAM r. NELSON, for
~ many years editor of the Kansas city
Star, who died last week, is the subject of
a chapter in Julian Streets book Abroad
at Home" Mr. Street visited Kansas city
for the purpose of seeing the Union station
and Colonel Nelson, Zone as big as the
other" and his characterization of the edi-
tor written, of course, several weeks ago,
follows:
Colonel Nelson is character" Even II
he had not the mind he has he would be
character" II only by virtue of his appear
ance. have called him n volcano; he is
more like one than any other man I have
ever met. lie is even shaped like one being
mountainous in his proportions, and also
in the way he tapers upward from his vast
waist to his snow-capped peak" Further
more, his face is lined scanned and furrowed
in extraordinary suggestion of those strange,
gnarled lava forms which adorn the slopes
Of Nesuvius. Even the voice which pro-
ceeds from tho Colonels Crater is Vesu-
Wan; hoarse, deep, rumbling, strong When
he speaks great natural forces seem to stir,
and you hope that no eruption may occur
while YOU are near, lest the fire from the
mountain descend upon you and destroy
you.
"Umph!" rumblcd the volcano as It shook
hands with my companion and me. You're
from New York? New York is running the
big gambling house and show house for the
country. 1t doesn't take any more interest
in where the money comes from than a
gambler cares where you get the money
You put into his game.
Kansans-and the Rest
kansas is the greatest state in the Union.
1t thinks 1t produces things. Among other
things, it produces crazy people. 1t Is a
great thing to have a few crazy people
around! Roosevelt is crazy Umph So
were the men who started the Revolution
to break away from England.
Most of the people in the United States
don't think They are Indifferent and apa-
thetic. They don't want to work. one Of
our Star boys went to an agricultural col
lego to see what was going on there. What
did he find out? Why, instead of making
farmers they were making professors Yes.
Pretty nearly the entire graduating class
went there to learn to teach farming. That's
not what we want. We want farmers"
The Colonel's enemies have tried. on vari-
Gus occasions, to get" him but without dis
tnguishcd success. The Colonel goes into
n fight with joy. Once when he was the
stand as a witness in n libel suit which had
been brought against his paper, a copy OF
the editorial containing the alleged libel was
handed to him by the attorney for the
prosecution.
Colonel Nelson" said the attorney, |
did you write ths?"
NO, sir" bristled the Colonel, with ap-
parent regret at the forced negation of his |
answer, but 1 subscribe to every word |
OF it,
Almost in Jail
once the Coonels enemies almost sue
ceeded in putting him in Jail.
A Star reporter wrote a story illustra-
ting the practice of the Jackson County Cir
cult Court in refusing to permit a divorce |
case to be dismissed by either husband or
wife until the lawyers in the case had re-
,eived their fees. The Star contended
that such practice, where the couple had
made up their quarrel, made the court, in
effect a collection agency Through a tech
nical error the story as printed, seemed to
refer to the Judge of one division as the
court when it should have applied to an
other. The Judge, who was, through this
error, apparently referred to, seized the OPP
to issue a summons charging
Colonel Nelson with contempt of court
Colonel Nelson. who had known nothing
Of the story until he read it in print. not
only went to the front for his reporter, but
caused the story to be reprinted, with the
added statement that it was true and that
he had been summoned on account of it,
When he appeared in court the Judge de-
manded an apology. This the Colonel re-
fused to give but offered to prove the story
rue. The Judge replied that the truth OF
he story had nothing to do with the case.
He permitted no evidence upon that sub
ect to be introduced, but, drawing from his
pocket some typewritten sheets, proceeded
10 read from them a sentence COndemnng
he Colonel to one day in jail. This sem