The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-03-27
thought there must have been a mill
lion of them

lion of them
The case having come or for trial
today, it is not proper for this paper
TO make comments upon it 1t will.
therefore, contine itrelf to statements
of fact, as above and following.
The editor of this paper again be-
comes a reporter. He will report this
case, being ably assisted by Mr.. w. G.
Clugston, known as "Clug." a mem
Der of his staff. The reporter who
writes these lines may thus become a
reporter of his own funeral: that is, if
the case turns out against TIE printer
of II is paper and in favor of the bar
Der at thu Antise ptic. This is a some
what unique experience and one that
may not be without profit or pleasure
to either the friends or the enemies of
this daily purNeyor of news and enter
tainment.
If this proves funeral instead of'a
festivity. it will not be the first case
in which an editor has furnished a
good story TO- his own paper.
There is recorded. in the annals of
Journalism, or newspaper history, as
y
editor, contemplating suicide, fearing
less the evils that might follow, than
those that were a real and r. mt
burden upon him. wrote up the full
story of the event, going into details
leading up to his sudden taking off.
He left the copy for the managing
editor. pulled the trigger, with the
muzzle against his own breast. The
news instinct thus remained with him
to the last breath. He expired having
just reported a good item for his own
paper and "scooped" the opposition, as
he had done so many times before.
Courts begins at O'Clock in the
morning. 1t is necessary that news
paper men begin L. own regular
work on a daily newspaper at a much
earlier hour. This one tries to be on
deck at the news office by 1880. He is
glad to be there thea because, to quote
Shakespeare in Anthony and Cleo
patra:
To business that we love we rise
betime, and go to t with delight"
The business we went to with de-
light was the newspaper business, not
the court business. We routed out of
bed little earlier than usual, our
stenographer, who, by the way, is a
mere man.
The writer went to work in his
trusty. tho at times tricky, Ford. The
same Ford that a year ago ran into a
brick wall on Ninth street and later
was given to military service at Camp
Funston. but has now been returned
tn feiy iS Ha hut
you might not recognize it-for it has
brand new coat of black paint.
The Ford did valiant service for
Trench and Camp at Camp Funston
and is not at all as "black as it is
painted" 1t is a wise man who knows
his own Ford. You recall that at the
Kansas Free State Fair, where there
were a thousand Fords, more or less
a man forgot his license number. How
did he get his own flivver? Well, he
waited and waited till all the Fords
were gone from the grounds. but one.
He took that one. 1t was his own.
| AS tn defendant MacLennan en-
tered the court room this morning and
took his old place at the long table
| separating the bar and parties to the
suit from the spectators, the first per-
son who greeted him was the plaintiff
Decker. This was the first time he
had seen Mr.. Decker. or talked to
him, since the suit was filed last
| October; and indeed, in fact, for weeks
before October II, 1918.
Good morning." said Mr.. Decker
in low voice, as court had convened
| Good morning" said MacLennan
, The case thus began without bit
terness on the part of the plaintiff, OIL
! the defendant.
The attorneys began examining the
venire to secure a jury.
While the scenes in the court room
were probably new to the plaintiff
who doubtless never was in a lawsuit
before, they were old and familiar tC
the defendant. For the last two We eks
Mr. MacLennan has been held in the
court house thru the mighty grasp OF
the law in the long drawn out triaI
just ended last week of the Crawfords
Grand Opera house against MacLen-
nan, said to be the longest civil suit
tried in this court in several years.
There was the same young judge
at the bench striving to do justice t.
those appearing before him; the
same court stenogra pher. George
Kline. who has written volumes in the
MacLennan cases in reporting the tes
timony and other evidence in the
L.;