Kansas agitator. [volume], September 29, 1891, Image 3

About Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
"ME SIOK I,AltL-MJil.,
llie Reporter' "Scoop," Which was Made
by Chance.
Years ago 1 lay in bed one morning',
reading what I had written the night
before. After damning the proof read
ing, and admiring my stuff, which still
shone despite the efforts of a poor ed
itor to take the shine out. I bethought
mo of the various uses I could make of
the additional stipend resulting from &
scoop, lsaid: "Mv dear Mr. Patter
son, tmrsue the day's doings in the first
person whose identity is jogged into
your life this day, if his or her life is
open to inspection, and you will get a
story."
That aiternoon I met, on a street
crossing, a man I had to interview, and
we stood where we met until I was sua
denlv nearly knocked or pushed down
When I recovered ray usual dignified
bearing I found that I had been pushed
from in front of a runaway team by a
very bright, exceedinqriy self-possessed
and soiled young person, who drawled
out between pu:ts of a cigarette: 1 er
chump, did ycr want ter get killed?"
I discovered that my polite and effi
cient friend was a newsboy I had some
times ''.staked" I quote his vernacular
at early hours in the morning, when
he con 'idea to in a that his game of "cru
soo" had resulted in breaking him.
I only knew him as 4ilote." and I
knew him so well that I anticipated his
next remark: "I'm dead broke, Mr.
Patterson, an' ain't got no stake for de
evenin' papers."
I staked Pete and took him to a cloth
icr's where I had credit and furnished
him with a suit of clothes which ho
called a harness when it occurred to
me he was the person I should pursuo
lor mv story.
He thanked me profusely for tho gift,
and declared he wanted to run home
and ''show de harness tome mudder an'
failder."
I followed unobserved, and discovered
that it was to another relative Pete de
sired to display his line feathers, for in
half an hour he emerged from a pawn
shop, dressed in his old suit or rags,
and with $4 of his uncle's coin in his
pocket.
I felt fairly rewarded for my pursuit,
and convinced that I was to. the track
of a storv, if not a scoop.
! Pete made a bee line for an alley back
of an evening paper office, where I ob
served him lose my stake and his un-
, clo's loan in the varying fortunes of
crusoe," played with undaunted com
age but poor luck. I concluded, in tho
wisdom of my experience, that I could
then afford to relax my watch; that, if
left alono, Peter would soon hunt me
up.
On my way down to the editorial room
after dinner, Pete waylaid me, saying:
"Me fadder broke his leg in de foundry,
an' me mudder sent for do doctor, who
said me f adder's leg could rot before
he'd touch it, 'less ho had five plunks
down in advance, de snoozerl So I ups
ana shoves de harness wid me uncle,
and wid wot yer staked me I raised de
live, see.'' An' so I'm broke, bein a good
boy, and lovia' me mudder."
Thereupon Peter wept plentifully,
being excited with his efforts of imagi
nation and lack of dinner.
Then I took my potential scoop to a
coffee house "a bun joint. V in his slang
and fed him. In the honesty begot
ten of a full stomach and contented
mind, Pete confided to me that he had
"no fadder nor mudder, nor brudder,
nor nothin'," but lived in de ''place" of
his "side pardner."
Pete's side partner, he explained, was
Glasgow Jack, the keeper of a slogging
den a kind of place which nourished in
this community before the promotion of
slocrg'ng was made the vocation of the
male 200.
Glasgow Jack's being an all-night
house, was frequented in the early hours
of the morning by men who, having the
drear prospect of another day close at
hand, sought, to ameliorate their condi
tion by that forgetfulness which comes
from a glance at the morning paper. .
Pete, in exchange for the privilege of
eleeping on the mattress used for wrest
ling matches, brought the earliest pa-
J era to Glasgow Jack's, thereby holding
ack's customers, to the profit of the
bar. It seemed a fair bargain, as Pete
explained it, but the chances for a scoop
were not improving.
To make sure of my game, I agreed
with Pete to stake him in the press
room as soon as the paper was off, and
we parted.
That night I went down to the press
room on the elevator with the last plate,
and there was Pete, fighting with sci--ence
and success, to maintain his place
at the head of the line of waiting news
boys, all anxious to get bundles for the
all-night places, where two-bits is often
picked up for an early par er.
It was too dark to follow Pete, so I
told him I bad a- notion to meet his
"side pardner." and hurried along with
him to Glasgow Jack's.
It was the usual place a basement, a
square "ring" in one end; some dumb
bells and Indian clubs scattered abouta
pool table with leaden cushions, a half
dozen beery card tables, a bar, and a
patronage of pugs, low rounders, and
dreary young men who fancied they
were seeing life by poisoning it.
Pete's advent woke up the place. My
very considerable knowledge of what
the paper contained I had watched the
make-up had given me no impression
that all our news pertained to fights and
fighters, racers and racing, murders and
murderers. The crowd there found
nothing else in the paper, and was soon
expressing its interest in those phases
of life by animated discussions of them
over the most undrinkable whisky. I
took a drink of it with Glasgow Jack,
who treated me with that considerate
shall I say fraternal? kindness our pro
fession eyer receives from his.
Jack laughed when I asked him about
Petp. "I'm kinder stuck on dcr kid,"
said Jack; "dero's no flies on him, an'
I'm goin' to do der right .thing by him.
I was thinkin' it would bo do proper
game ter give do kind some schoolin'.
He kinder takes to literary ways sell
in papers and that. I'm doin' pretty
well, an' ain't srot nobody wid a string
on me sacs, so l was micKin meuuo i
could send de kid to one of dem schools
in dcr country, where he'd git away
from dis transr and brace up a little, an'
be a lawyer or somethin'. He's kinder
got ter me, yer see, and I'm sorter soft
on der kid."
I knew Glasgow Jack to be tho tough
est character in the city, but just the
way all the villiany went out of his
wicked eyes when he spoke of Pete has
secured him a graceful epitaph if I
have the pleasure of knowing of hip
death.
There must have be.3n some very ex'
citincr snorting' news that night, for the
crowd became noisy and drunk in di6
cussing it.
It was such a nasty outfit that I
should have left before Pete returned,
but I had resolved to 6ee him through
one day. When he did return, his pa
pers all sold, Jack motioned him to
come over to us, but a couple of men at
an adjoining table stopped the boy. and
one of them offered him a drink of whis
ky. Jack called out: "Let go, now!
You know I don't want Peto offered any
drink."
The man laughed in sui uirly way and
replied: i on are getting too pious,
Jack. If the kid's yours why don't you
say so? If ho ain t don t bo so funny
about him." The man, by a quick grip,
opened Pete's mouth and threw some
whisky in it.
Jack sprang at him and hit him be
fore he could rise. The man's pistol
was whipped out, and he pulled with a
dead drop on Jack, but just as he pulled
Pete jumped in between them and took
the ball in his head.
Everyone was silent and motionless
for several seconds, as Jack caught poor
little Pete and laid him down with a
woman's tenderness on the sawdust
floor.
Suddenly, with lightning swiftness,
Jack pulled and shot. The man fell
backward. Jack stood over the body,
and with horrible calmness emptied the
revolver in the man's face.
I was kneeling by Pete's side when
his eye's opened. He whispered some
thing and I put my ear to his lips.
"When yer write it up," be murmured,
"be sure and say me side pardner never
pulled his gun until after de odder fel
ler had de drop on 'im." Edward W.
Townsend in the San Francisco Argo
naut. False Vrophe8.
Last winter the partisan press or
Kansas was prophesying untold hard
ships for the farmers of the state be
causo of the withdrawal of eastern capi
tal. At the present time they are
boasting of the rapidity with which
farmers aro paying their mortgages.
Anything with them to create a senti
ment against farm organizations.
Pennsylvania Farmer.
There are said to be but few people
in England who can rival Mrs. Annie
Besant in dinner-table oratory. Her
voice is clear and melodious and her
mental grasp of the subject under dis
cussion is remarkable. Her great
speech at Westminster Hall in her own
defense before the chief-justice of Eng
land won tne admiration ox the queen's
attorney-general.
The Ft. Scott China Hall
Importers, Jobbers,
and Retail Dealers in
QUEENSWARE,
MM
ism
GLASSWARE
LAMP GOODS.
Pllf
Their lines embrace complete assortments of Decorated
Dinner, Breakfast, Tea, Fish and Ice Cream Sets. Decorated
Dinner Sets in any number of pieces desired, and at any prices
demanded, These goods in ANY LINE, when $5. CO or more
are bought, will bo delivered at your homo FREE OF CHARGE.
Their Lamp Department is the LARGEST and CHEAPEST in
the WEST, Write for Circular and Price List.
The Fort Scott China Hall.
JP. ROBENS, Manager,
Fort Scott, Kansas,
P ISO'S REMEDY FOR CATARRH. Bert. Easi
est to use. Cheapest. Relief is immediate. A
care is certain. For Cold in the Head it has no equal.
It is an Ointment, of which a small particle is applied
to the nostrils. Price 50c. Sold by druggists or sent by
mail. Address: E. T. Hazeltixx. Warren. Fa.
GEO. F. MACKAY,
R.R.& Steamship Ticket Broker
(Member American Ticket Brokers' Ass'n).
Correspondence Solicited. Railroad Tickets
bought and sold.
FORT SCOTT, KAS., and JOrLIN, MO.
BUSINESS COLLEGE
P7.4isic rtt.i Afr. Tlliioti-torl .-itnlnr'iio
wnn mj portrait enravin. iree. cenooi ot
Shorthand, Typewriting and Telegraphy. Write
Ht once.
Thayer Commission Company,
(Incorporated )
DEALERS IN ALL KINDS OF GRAIN.
Correspondence and consignments solicited.
Office in Exchange Building, Kansas City, Mo
Labor Knights at Outs.
Jacksonville, Fla., Sept., 21. The
6tate assembly Knights of Labor has
besn in session for nearly three days in
St. Augustine, most of the time being
spent in attempting to settle the matter
of contesting delegations and the rein
statement of the Jacksonville assembly
which is claimed to have been expelled
from the order. Saturday the conven
tion adjourned until this "morning, but
yesterday it was dec'.ded not to continue
the meetings any longer. No delegates
were elected to attend the national con
vention at Toledo but a committee was
appointed to securo a commission from
the national body to examine and re
port upon the condition of the order in
Florida.
Mining Stock.
In another co'umn in the advertise
ment of tho Pittsburg-Mexican Mining
company offering for sale mining shares
In their property In Old Mexico. J. hose
desiring to invest capital in grold min
ing stock may find in this offer iust the
kind of property they seek. The offi
ces of the company are at Pittsburg,
Kansas.
Chappie's Mustache Chappie (to
magnate in box office) '"Give me two
choice seats." Magnate (eyeing him
critically) "Down In front?" Chappie
When I want any criticism on that
mustache I'll call for it." Exchange.
The whisky trust is now after the
Kentucky Bourbon distillers, and will
make it warm for the Bine Grass manu
facturer unleM they come in out of the
Real Estate!
i navu u luigo dinuuui ui un
incumbered REAL ESTATE
In thn nr nf Fi-r ?nntt. K'nn-
sas, that I will trade for.
Desirable Farm Prop
erty, Horses or
Cattle, or
STOCKS OF GOODS.
I have good property and
will give a good trade Call on
or address
oscar rice;
Fort Scott,
- - IZansas,
WELL DRILLING MACHINERY,
DEEP OK SHALLOW WOItK.
Portable and for Horys or Steam Power.
ltlff Irons for Derrick lllg.
We manufacture, when desired, the Alexan
der Patent Taper Joint lor drilling tools, whi -A
Is a great Improvement, recognized by all drill
ers and contractors, and also a full line of Drill
Ing and Fishing Tools, universally said to be tho
best work west of Pennsylvania. tWAM
REPAIR WORK done, promptly and wortw
manahip guaranteed.
Fort Scott Foundry and Machine Works
KAVSAS CRT. MO Oct. 9 U 1880.
In my three Tears experience as Cement 1b
tpector la City Engineer's Deparumnt, 1
found that Fort Soctt Cement would lnereas
to teaue svrecgxa nor rapiaiy aiier ib
third or 1 onrtn week tfcaa any eement in jm