Early Days In Wichita

"Wlien I projcded the flrst mimber of mj journal fn Wlcnlta," said 'lom Blifklns, founder of the Wicbitt War Eagle, at the Occidental, "the town conslsted of two houses, the United States bind office and the institution Ib which I jeiked the Archlmedlan lever, whlle the ofliee-boy lnked the forma wlth a hand-roller. I had arrived on the scène two weeks before from Chicago wlth a bai;íul of type and a little old eecondhand press. Our constituency conslsted princlpallj of prairie dogs, though you could look from the open door of our board shatity any hour and sce antelope scampering past. At night we heard the doleful cry of the coyotes. The boy slept on the rough plank table which we called an imposing stone, whlle I slept on the Hoor under It. Our coats and trousers servcd us for plllows, whlle our exchatigfs, vthlch had begun comming in iu advance were used for covering. "Bob Tompkins, the register of the land office, and 1 were Intímate fiiends. He had given me a pointer as to tlie destined importauce of Wlchita, and I had got in in the uick of time in order to get the land notlces to publisli. In a fortnight more the town boomers bad arrived, and in a little wblle the entire prairie was criscrossed with white stakes represeutlng the Grand boulevard, Hemmingway avenue, the Mali, public park, depot ground and tlie Mate higuway from Emporla. A half-dozen places on tlie principal streets were set aide for public fountalus, and the Lord knows .vhat we dldn't have. We boomed the place for all she was worth. Scttlerg rulled In. Prairie sehooners and fast-rlding vaqueros covered the plaius. The land office was besieged from mornlng to night, and ioon lt got to be that the office was open all night, manned by relays of men. I got in on lind deals. The War E-iq't soared aloft. lts clreulatlon got o big I could no longer print lt on my bandpress. I got a steam-power cyllntii-r and took a suite of elegant rooms at the Western hotel. I began the erectlon of a fourstory olh'ce, and again increased my force until I had tweuty men In my employ. lTh6H I sent to St. Louis aud got a big editorial staff, whlle I acted as manager, laudcd proprietor aud general sppculator. All this I accomplished in loss than live months. I counted inyself worth $20,0üi), aud 1 wouldn't have given a snap of my tinger to be assured that Fwould be worth SflOü.OOO by the end of Uu1 vear. "But the Atchkon, Topeka and Santa Fe rallroad went wliizzing by us to the nortb, and they built uo Newtou, Emporla and other towns along the üue, and advertiscd them jast like they did Los Angeles and San Diego, and our people cllmbed In their covored wagons and run over there. The Santa Fe land boomers made such overtures to them that they captured the lot, and next dav they came back and hauled their shantles off. The Mali and Hcmmingway avenue and all the rest of our thoroughfares looked as deaerted as when Bob Tomiiklnsand I flrst arrived. Our two buildings were all that were left. I couldn't pay my men. Delegatlons of printers and my editorial staft callea on me, and when they found th's out they walked away. Bob and I were the masters of the sltuatlon. My half completed edliice stood bigh In the air. The carpenters had gone to Newton where they could get their inoney Saturdavlnlght. Bob had no patrons for hls land office. He went over and loeked the door and putting a tag to the key malled lt to the secretary of the interior, while I wrote S. P. Rouuds, aftcrward public printer, who died the other dar, to come and get bis steam press, as that was the only way I knew of llftlng the mortiiage. Tlie öecretary of the interior treated the matter as a joke, but Rounds didn't. He knew too much about such things. Well, after four or flve years Witchita recovered from the nwful hackset and with steady settlement aud cultivatlon of the surroiinding country eame to ilie front as a prosperous and even as a booming town. Now lt it a city of 20,000,(has an Baalt, thonirh not a War Éagli, new8paper, and is a subtantlal place. How is that for froutier editorial eiperlencei" Mr. Blifklns Is now a prosperous cl tizen of Fort Worth. to which place he removed after the early VVlchlta boom. He has just been looklng around In southern California aud is