The Natchitoches enterprise. (Natchitoches, La.) 1888-1965, 1919-02-13
Little Journeys Into the Past

e ISSUING A PAPER UNDER DIFFICUl
We were discussing the hare
II ships the late unpleasantness star
= ed by the ex-kaiser had worked O
the newspaper business, and b
suddenly began to smile. But
. knew he was not showing signs O
e unseeming mirth because tn
: price of paper was soaring, and al
z the type-sllngers had gone to slim,
. bombs. l knew some amusing
memory had occurred to him, anC
| possessed my soul in patience
knowing likewise that he stored
in his very unusual memory more
incidents connected with the news
paper business in Natchitoches
than anybody else.
"Ycu have had some difficult
ties" he began, but they didn't
have the amount of exercise con-
nected with them that one issue of
the paper of which l am thinking
did,"
"Exercise!' l murmured curl
ously, what did exercise have to
do with it?'
"A great DEAL" he assured me.
and l ought to know, for tho
the most unimportant member of
Office force, | got out that par
ticular, and important paper and
took the aforementioned move
ments.
l was the Office devil, and as in |
the case, of many ambitious chaps
who hold that place in a country
office, my duties, besides being /
carrler-boy, embraced many things
not listed in the contract. ] felt
as much responsibility in the af-
fairs of The Peoples indicator as
did the editor, and owner, j. H.
Cosgrove, or the local editor. w.
H Tunnard, or the printers, Tony
Pelli and w. A. Areaux.
So when the fire began to threat
en- the neighborhood of the old ,
brick building occupied by the
indicator and everybody was
frantically fighting the flames in
IN effort to con6ne them to the ,
block, l stayed not on the order of 9
ny going, but went at once, and G
ook the paper with mc''.
The freq wanted to know. !
The big fire. That was in +
8S1, April DIST, to be exact. I
1one of the old inhabitants will 8
yer forget that fire. Front street n
rs substantially built, MASSIVE :
rick structures, Our freight i
~ apparatus was woetully inade- q
uate. Thd old Lecomte building t.
'as brick and the heavy iron cl
hutters down stairs protected the g
'indows. But up stairs the win 9,
ows were latticed and the fighters m
ung the narrow balconies and ii
lndows with wet blankets. So in
ley stopped the fire there. The up I. :.
or boundary was the Prudhomme -
now called Hughes. O.
i'd tell you about the double q
ght the boys had when they W
'ached the upper story, there9 70 :,
he wasps-a'' "
l side-tracked the fire for an q
her issue. 1t was worth it w
ather Dicharry's garden, pumps tn
I'd the wasps and the many other Al "A,
ings. TIE Spectator never dis Sc
Tired over his inability to tell ~; nu
Il the fascinating things he saw til
his rambles over London and SIC
cinity more than l have since I
allied the richness Of Natchi-
ches lore.
but the papers,. and the ar
ie
i backed a wagon up to the .
and hastily loaded in the :
'oks and things from Mr.. Cos -
owes offi-e. The press etc. were
the rear and up stairs. We -,
inted the outer page on. Tuesday
d the inner on Friday. When
had gotten the Office valuable
safety | found among them a
py of that weeks issue, the OUT
le printed. the double pages in
le blank. So when the excite
mt was over, Tunnard took his