The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-06-16
Mystery Element
Has Been Injected .
Into State Politics
Continued from page Oney
as a good letter. and ably written.
noAs he knouy Mr pa,,lcono

SONS SS SAAVW AVAIL aNACVAA
Not personally" All he knows was
that Mr.. Paulson was a merchant
whom the N~onpartisan League put
out of business some eight or 10 years
ago and he is not the kind Of a fellow
to take anything like that lying down.
Ten years isn't long to wait for a man
like Mr.. Paulson.
Well. didn't it cost quite a bit of
money to print and send out such a
letter? MIR. Thoresen sent out 5000
Of his letters and that means $16O for
postage alone. In addition there was
the cost Of printing and clerical work
incident to getting the letters in the
Kenmare Tor Bismarck) postoffice.
Mr.. <Twichell said "Ummmm."
OF course, as always Is the case with
mysteries, there are some sidelights,
Who ever read a mystery story in
which some sleuth didn't ask who last
saw the murder victim alive?
Was Need For Letter
For instance. there appeared to the
uninitiated political observer to be a
need for such a letter from the indie
pendent political standpoint.
Your correspondent commented last
week that Mr.. Thoresen's letter con-
stituted . wallop in MI. Twichellis
political breadbasket and that Mr..
Twichel doubtless would reply. 1t
might have been more discreet to
have phrased It that doubtless a re-
ply would be made" for here. just like
the answer to a sanity mans prayer,
comes q letter written, or rather,
signed, by Mr.. Paulson Of Kenmare,
and postmarked from Bismarck.
II the postmarking was an error
and the letter was actually mailed in
Kenmare. the p~ostoffice department
should be cautioned against such
mixups. They might get someone
into trouble someday. It doesn't need
much of an imagination to couture
up all sorts of business and domestic
difficulties which might result If that
sort of thing gets common.
OF course there are some so unkind
as to hint that the letter actually was
mailed In Bismarck and that it new
er saw Kenmare. But these same
unkind persons also hint that Mr.
Paulson was just a dummy" q ficti.
tious person.
We can scotch that idea immedi.
ately.
Mr.. Twichell knows Mr.. Paulsor
and knows him to be a real, live, in.
dividual who was put out of business
by the Nonpartisan League"
It isn't so easy to dispose of the
suggestion that the letter may have
been mailed here and that the post
marks were not switched after all.
MI. Twichell can't offer much or
that, since he is not an expert or
the operations phase of postoffice af-
fairs. SO there's the opportunity fol-
q good amateur sleuth. Perhaps
when Mr.. Paulson finds out that his
letter from Kenmare was p0stmarked
at Bismarck. he may offer a reward.
Unkind Make limitations
Those enthusiasts for postoffice ef-
ficiency who intimate that the letter
actually was mailed in Bismarck, also
intimate that Mr.. Twichell was re-
~sponsible for it: that he wrote 1t and
sent it out, just borrowing MI. Paul
sons name for the occasion.
There Is evidence against that
theory.
MI. Twichell said he never saw the
letter until 1t came to him through
the mail. He absolutely denies that
1t was circulated throughout the state
from here.
When the prediction vas made last
week that MI. Twichell would answer
the letter, it was merely stating an
obvious fact. For. it was mentioned
at the same time. Mr. Twichell is not
the type of q political campaigner to
take a wallop or the whlskers without
protesting to the referee.
Maybe he is just lucky.
Perhaps, just as he sat cogitating
what to do about MI. Thoresen's un-
foreseen attack, Mr.. Paulson's letter
arrived. Imagine MI. Twichell's Joy
when he learned that Mr.. Paulson, an
enthusiast for "the cause" was spend
ing his own money and putting 5000
letters In the mail from Kenmare-
or Bismarck.
II that. is the case and the letter
causes the reaction which Mr. Twill
son hoped for it. MI. Twichell is very
fortunate indeed.
But then some folks are more than
lucky. There is such a thing as max
ing your own luck.