Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 436 — page 7: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CO rte, HEEL ne ee ee ee —~ 4 3 Me libelous appellations were freely set forth in glaring italics and bold-faced caps; challenges innumerable had been publicly proclaimed, only to be ridiculed and declined, or waved aside with scorn. Nor were these two great spirits rivals in business alone; they were likewise rivals in love. They had both been smitten with the tender passion about the same time, and the object of their love was a fair young widow of thirty- nine, one Euphemia Wigzins, who owned a house and lot, and a goodly number of paying mining shares left her by the late lamented—her - husband. _ As soon as this new rivalry had sprung up be- tween them, it was noticed that they pitched into each other with renewed vigor, and it was believed that, sooner or later, there would be a rush to arms, and one of the powers would rish, Of course the public took a lively interest in this war of words, and the circulation of the pa- pers was something immense, for that compara- tively small ‘‘ city.” Almost every person in town who could read at all read both sheets, en- joying the rare and spicy entertainment to the full, and from a business standpoint the two publishers could not have had a better ‘* card,” The office of ‘‘ The Bow” was just across the street from the office of ‘‘ The Arrow,” and the two editors could sit and glare at each other to their hearts’ content. On the morning following the evening of which we have been speaking, Major Miles and General Wade happened to be coming from breakfast about the same time. They slept in their offices, but took their meals outside, one at the Everybody’s Home and the other at a restaurant a little nearer by. It was Major Miles who patronized the hotel, and just as he was passing the restaurant men- tioned, though upon the opposite side of the street, General Wade came ont. 7 -morning, you whining cur!” cried the major. ** Ah! is that you, you braying jackass?” re- nded the general, and then the two shook their fists at each other most cordially and walk- ed on toward their respective sanctums, Presently the major exclaimed: ‘‘Oh! but I'll write you up beautifully this time, my esteemed contemporary! When ‘The Bow’ comes out this afternoon you'll hang your head in shame!” ‘* Will 1?” retorted the general; ‘* you just wait and see! If my paper don’t give youa happy send-off to-day, then I’m a liar!” ‘‘ Ba-a-h!” cried the major, shaking his fist again. ‘¢ Ba-a-h!” yelled the general, shaking his. They walked on in silence then to te doors of their establishments, where they paused a mo- ment to exchange a parting salute. ‘¢ Miles,” shouted the general, ‘‘ you’re an ass! You're a know-nothing ass, sir!” *‘ And you, sir,” returned the major, ‘‘are a puppy! Do you hearme? Isay you’rea puppy, a RUDPY, sir! You’rea dirty ‘ yaller’ puppy !” You're a coward!” screamed the general, ‘and I dare you to come over here!” ‘You're another!” bellowed the major, ‘‘ and Idare you to come over here !” ' 7 wouldn’t cross the street to wipe my feet upon you, sir!” ‘¢T wish you would!” ‘Why don’t you come over here?” ‘¢T wouldn’t soil my boots for the satisfaction, sir!” ‘* Ba-a-h!” ** Ba-a-h!” With a parting shake of their fists, then, both wheeled ‘and disappeared, and the spectators laughed till their sides ached. A moment later the rivals appeared at the windows of their editorial rooms, and with one more pleasant salutation with the fist, sat down to the work of the day. About an hour later the ‘ youthful sport,” Kentucky Jean, strolled down the street, looking at the signs as he Famed along, and when he came to the office of “* The Bow,” stopped, took a look at the exterior, and entered. He soon found his way to the editor’s den, and entered and sat down. ‘ You're the editor, I suppose,” he remarked. | Ves, sir,” responded the major, ‘‘ I’m the edi- ' tor.” And as he spoke he dropped his arm care- ‘lessly across the table so that his hand came in roximity to a revolver lying there, adding: \“ Did you want to see me?” The sport smiled. “Yos.” he answered, *‘but I’m not on the war-path, my dear sir, s0 pray have no uneasi- ' a — = —————— ‘‘Not the slightest, my dear fellow,” the major assured grimly, ‘‘ not the slightest. What is your pleasure?” ; af | understand you have been established here for some yerrs.”, hie ‘** You have been correctly informed, sir. The Bow is entering upon its sixth year.” ‘“‘Qlder, I presume, than The Arrow.” “That scurrilous sheet, sir! That reposito of malignant slander and virulent abuse! Al- low me to assure you, sir, that The Bow is older than The Arrow by two weeks.” __ = 1 , ’ \ ; . > i ‘ 4 * J / o, 7 ° é ‘ . ‘ = ¥ * _ "~ —— .e ma, oe « was Kentucky Jean. | ** Quite a distinction. But, to state my busi- ness: No doubt, sir, you havea large circle of _ acquaintances in this part of the State, and if I _can get the information I want anywhere, I am | most likely to get it from you.” | “Thank you,” the major acknowledged with _a bow. ‘“‘ Yes, I know a great many people _ here,” he returned, ‘‘ and any information I can give you, sir, will be given cheerfully. Of | whom are you in search?” | “T desire to find one Delwin Mourton, who *came—or is supposed to have come—to this part of the country, from Denver, about nine- teen years ago.” Major Miles was silent for a moment, think- ing, and then said: ‘*T never heard of him, sir. entirely new to me.” ‘‘As I feared it would be. But, sir, I am | sure if any information is to be had, a small ad- | vertisement in your paper—” | ** Ah! you are right! I meant to suggest it to | ' The name is you. I honestly believe, sir, that an ad. in The sow would bring: a response from tbe man in the moon.” ‘*Say no more, sir. I willadvertise. May I take your pencil and paper for a moment?” ‘* Certainly, sir.” Kentucky Jean drew his chair up to a corner of the editor’s table, and in a few minutes had written what he desired to have inserted. ‘* There,” he inquired, as he pushed the pad of paper over to the major, ‘‘ what will the tax er Miles read the article, and asked: ‘* How long do you want it to stand?” ‘* Your paper is a daily ?” See ‘** Well, say one week,” The cost was soon named and paid, and the sport rose to go, ‘*T think,” he remarked, “I'll step over to the other office and leave the same there. If one advertisement is good, two ought to be better, surely.” ‘*Ought to be, yes; but in that sheet—” and a motion of disgust completed the sentence. The young man laughed, and bidding the editor of The Bow good-morning, stepped out anc across the street to the office of The Arrow. PP Ay aes Wade saluted him the moment he en- red, ‘*'You’ve just come out of that jackal’s den across the way, I noticed,” he said. es pose the groveling wretch who styles himself the editor has tried to swindle you, and you've come here where you’re sure of square dealing and small cost... Am I right?” ‘Well, hardly,” the sport answered, as he helped himself to a chair. ‘‘ Fact is, my dear sir, I’ve left a little advertisement in the hands of your rival, and I want to insert the same in your paper.” ‘* You don’t mean to tell me you have left an ad, in the hands of that shark, to appear in the reeking cclumps of that sewer of refuse—The Bow, do you?” ‘*Such is the case, sir,” “IT am astounded. But, surely, you are a stranger, or you would know the stained reputa- tion that paper bears,” ‘*T find that there is a bitter rivalry between the two papers. The Bow speaks about as strongly against The Arrow.” ‘What! Has that dog-faced baboon over there dared_to speak ill of my paper?” and the general shook his fist at the major (who in- stantly responded in Jike manner, and with equal vim); ‘“‘ ll horsewhip the cur the first time I meethim. Oh! yourascai! won’t I show you up, though! Pardon me, my dear sir,” ae to the sport, ‘* but I cannot control my- ‘*That’s all right, sir; and now if you are ready Vl state my business more fully.” “Certainly, sir, I— Oh! you old villain!— [I beg your pardon. Now I am all attention.” The business in hand was the same as we have seen transacted at the office of The Bow, and if was soon done and the sport took his de- parture, That afternoon when the two papers came out there were accounts in full of the mysteri- ous shooting of Aunt Dinah, the old negress who kept house for Rube Rittens; and also of the shot that had been fired into the office of the Brdak o’ Day Mine, And a mystery it was, for no one could imagine who the would-be as- sassin could be. Even Rube Rittens, when he learned of the first shooting, had a doubt as to whether it could have been Jared Kenneth who fired the bullet that came so near being fatal to his old housekeeper, In the way of editorial exchunges of compli- ments, too, both papors were as entertaining as ever, ' In The Bow was a lengthy article, of which the following in the substance: “Much to our surprise, that weak-kneed apology for a newspaper—7"4 Arrow—still flourishes, and its editor is still out of jail. "We met the eur this morning, and dared him to cross the street. Need- jess to say he did not accept, but slunk into his miserable den. Hal he come within reach, we would have annihilated him om the spot. We would have crossed the street to him, but he is too —- - - Bas tad t ~ ¥ _ ag . tT ttttttCrCOtCtCtCtCtCtCtCtCtCtCtCtCCCtCTEEE LL sSssssssssssss-ssssssssssssss/ssssnssssssssssssssssssessssssssssssssssssssssnsssnssssssssstesssssssSSsNssSSssssiss; _\Shsssssssssssessssssssssseseestsensset EEE @ far beneath our notic?. How much longer can the suffering public bear with him? If there ever lived a miserable sneak; if the world holds a cowardl cur; if there 1s a villain unhung; if there is a drivel- ing idiot wanting to be incarcerated; if there isa pestilence abroad in the land ;—/hat miserable being GENERAL ORRION WADE—#s the creature.” And in The Arrow, to counterbalance the matter, was an article of which the following will give some idea: “As we were coming from breakfast this morn- ing, that whimpering doit—the self-styled ‘ editor of The Bow, a contumelious sheet of so little worth we » wonder at its existence—hailed us from acrcss the street, and we immediately shook our fist at the braying ass and dared him to come over and let us knock him down, Heinturn dared us to cross, as we would have don- promptly but for the fact that we knew he would runif we did, and disappoint i's. Tie Bow isa disgrace to the city, and its ‘editor’ ‘ is worse. If thereis a grinning chimpanzee out of Africa; if there is a gorilla loose in this State; if there is a crawling snake around; if there isa skunk in tne neighborhood; if there is a nondescript crea- ture in this city posses ing the essential characteris- tics of all the animals named;—that creature is ee ee ee MsAgor THEOBALD MILEs.”’ » There was, however, one article—a modest advertisement—that was the same in both pa- 4 pers. It read as follows: ‘“*Wantep—To find one Delwin Mourton, who left Denver. Col., about the year 1864. Any person giving information concerning him or his present whereabouts, will be liberally rewarded. ‘Call on or address— **Dosson & BLAKE, * Attorneys at Law, ** Denver, Col.” ‘‘Delwin Mourton!” that was one of the names upon the marriage-certificate found by— or rather delivered to—Blue-eyed Belle on the previous night! CHAPTER VIIL AT THE BEGINNING. On one of the leading thoroughfares of Denver ‘ stands a substantial building, in which are many offices occupied by lawyers, real-estate agents, 1) etc., whose signs adorn the main entrance. : One of these signs reads ‘‘ Dobson & Blake, 7 Attorneys at Law.” In the year of 1883, about a week previously to the time of the events just recorded, an old man passed into this building one day, slowly ascended the stairs, and entered the office of ‘4 Dobson & Blake. | He was an old man, as stated, with hair and beard as white as snow, but his clear eyes and steady hands proved him to be full of mental ; vigor and bodily health. 4 Both Dobson and Blake happened to be in, a4 and both looked up as the door opened. ‘* Mr. Dobson? or Mr, Blake?” the old man in- quired, | ‘* Both, sir,” answered Dobson, as he rose and 7 extended a chair. “a ‘* And you?” as the old man sat down. ; ‘*T am Dobson, sir. This gentleman is my partner, Mr, Blake.” “Thank you, sir. I always like to know to whom I am speaking.” ‘* A very good plan. Can we be of any service to you, sir?” “You can.” And as he answered the old man drew from his pocket a newspaper—a London Times, opened it, pointed to a small advertisement, and asked: ‘* Was this inquiry made by you?” 7 Dobson glanced at it and promptly replied: = ts It was.” : The advertisement was this: ““Gernetr.—The heirs of James Gernett, who aoe died at Denver, Col. (U. S.), in 1864, will learn of ee something to theirinterest by addressing us, | ‘**Dopson & BLAKE, ** Attorneys at Law, } ** Denver, Col, U. S. A.’ “Very good,” the old gentleman pursued. “ TI LiF like to know that [ am right before I go ahead. ‘\ I, gentlemen, am Gardner Gernett, a brother to — James Gernett, and his only relative, barring AN descendants—if any are living.” . | ‘My dear sir,” cried Dobson, ‘*T am happy to mA see you, and overjoyed to know you are so near Jn a relative. Prove your identity to us, sir, and | we will make you a millionaire.” Veg ‘* You surely do not mean it,” the old gentle- an man commented. ¥ ‘IT do mean it, most assuredly. Show us 4 roof that you are the person you claim to * , sir, and I will put you in possession of all the y facts.” ‘Fortunately I have the proofs with me. In fact, I fully prepared myself for every foreseen . contingency before starting from England. — Here are copies of various documents, sir, ail , ¥ duly attested, which will relieve hte mind of every doubt. Please to examine them,” As he spoke the old gentleman drew from an i inner pocket a long, black pocketbook, and band- re ed it to the lawyer. ee Dobson opened it and examined the papers 4 carefully, found them satisfactory, and said: . “These are more than sufficient for the pur- j pose, sir, and I admire your business tact as) __ i? shown by your forethought in preparing so thoroughly. Now I will state the facts, hia f* Some time about the year Highteen-Fitty, as comicbooks:corr iin