Show S A NEVADA EPISODE By John W Connors When the superintendent of telegraph for the t Southern Iaclllcrnllroud 1 moved me ftom the desolate and cnclusln festod nglon of Arizona to die uninviting unin-viting anti sequesicrcd environments of K Nevada the transfer wan a big Jump but time barrenness and aholutc trinqullhty of the territory dial sur romided jny now residence was char aelcilstlo of die old I wns serving die corporation In the capacity of a telegrapher telegra-pher and the Incident of which I write transpired in tho nmnmcr of ISSfl JL was my good fortune on this occasion oc-casion however to find on my arrival at the Nevada statIon a town und the Inlmbllanls supporting a hotel stv oral saloons wllh gambling IL main fenlure and while the Jmmcdlalo vl 1 clnlly of country that abounded this Inteleating desert hamlet was a vast domain of alkali sage brush and coy otefrequented landscape the touch of western civilization dint predominated 111 is I diminished any thought of thc descried exterior of the place that one might entertain These prevailing conditions con-ditions created a new Joy within mo for I saw the opportunity and gads I faction of enjoying my meals at a hotel ho-tel thereby culling out an operators undesirable undertaking baching To add further contontmenl 1 learned a singe line was in operation from the town penelrailng die isolated l plaint some fifty miles finally terminating it a thriving mining camp of great promise prom-ise and It was also brought to mo lint the Hide burs wherein I was to orry along Indefinitely was also the county scat of the count thai bore the same name ns the town Notwithstanding Notwithstand-ing all thljt pleasing aspect of things one piece of Information reached my ears that almost spuncd me to Avire my resignation Immediately and before silting In for duty at this Interesting and typical city of the plains On second thought however I concluded to brave the ordeal and though but a comparative youth at the time I have since thanked myself for stlcklnr It out as the experience proved a most practical lesson to me In later years while following Iho vocation of a journalist jour-nalist Incarcerated in the prison end of die com t house was a man and woman husband and wife tho pair hayIng hay-ing comminmi ted a dastardly and unprovoked unpro-voked crime n nIl the 1 astounding Intelligence In-telligence that I was Imparted to me was of an extreme and dramatic sensational t sensation-al characler for tilt culprits wrc to expiate tluir hellish crime Oil the especially constructed gallows the next day Legal combats had boon unsuccessfully unsuc-cessfully waged In the County and Slate courts rtliksionc was brought down from Lime dusty archives and every conceivable passage In the law volumes was dohcd Into to ascertain a possible authority or entanglement that would I reprieve the legal hanging of a woman In lint Slate While the evidence I against the condemned was wholly complete confession having been extracted ex-tracted from them still the defendants attorneys evidently craved notoriety or perhaps humane Instinct prompted them to balllc l for their t clients existence I ex-istence on account of the woman In I the case The wretched criminal and his erring er-ring spouse cruelly and premedllnlcdly muidercd robbed nnd sol fire to the house of an old decrepit miner In C Nevada 11 If I was a solitary recluse had plenty of money secreted about his hermit adobe and when the fact became known lo die crlmlnnl and his female partiur In I crime lliey migrated to C visited the old man under pretext pre-text of being friends and while In his house look the I nnajippttulng victim unawares un-awares and after accomplishing their damnable purposes added Incendiarism to the murder by tiring the house to I destroy all trace of tImely crime The perpelralors of the outrageous deed then flad lo an Eastern city The Nevada Ne-vada peace oilicers subsequently located lo-cated the fugitives and It was while returning with their captives that the man broke down made a clean breast of the affair and his murdctous consort con-sort inLet substantiated his confession confes-sion As I was to assume charge of the telegraph ofllce that very evening and I I knowing I several I telegrams t had been received re-ceived for Sheriff B I the day before and coming as they did from many mmmetiopol II mum dully I papers wiring that they l wore Fending special correspondents correspon-dents to llic SC < MIC to cover the story and also Informing the Sheriff that any courtesy extended them would be gratefully grate-fully h appreciated I foresaw much unexpected un-expected work nlrwl in handling the volume of press mutter that would bo filed by i die small army of writer Tbe newspaper folks Avcre due to arrive In the evening When Sheriff B was handed the telegrams by my predecessor predeces-sor he did not manifest any outward appearance of willingness to cater enthusiastically en-thusiastically to lie honeyed messages sent him by the various Journals On the contrary he crumpled the yellow missives wralhfully In die palm of his list and blurted out Damn these newspaper representatives t I and their i city t papers Not one of them I will enter en-ter die Inside of that Jail tonight n was known for his thickhcntl cdnoss obdurate and sullen nature and Ills word wns considered Ills 011 t h Mai tors t certainly looked anything l but on couraglng for the Incoming members of the press and besides dccrlpllvc mat I ters and Interview with the miserable lair on the I night preceding their hanging hang-ing would be cpheiuh Iii news material und Introductory matter to be printed in the morning So It can be readily Imagined a gloom of great disappointment disappoint-ment greeted the party of nevsgruh ercrK when they iillghicd from the I train II und learned of die 1 clroumHtnnccs that Impeded their t unlookedfor progress In that line Among the new arrivals was a woman writer accompanied hy a male companion compan-ion They were dlispatched to ihe place by a leading San FrancIsco paper The petllcontttd correspondent won presumably presum-ably Instructed to handle the woman end of the story and she did after a fashion When the train reached Reno a tall awkward Individual got on and It developed later he was to do time thing for Sam Davlss Carson Appeal and likewise look after live matter for Iho Associated Pies The Ogden flyer brought III another group of pencil I wlcldors they coming mum Denver Salt Lake and Omaha The fact that Alrg 1 P the condemned inurdorcsiu was the first woman to be legally executed exe-cuted on the Const evidently aroused tho sensational I features and the managing man-aging editors of their respective papers saw fit to assign special writers to Invade In-vade th t htrclofotc peaceable and tranquil tran-quil town of K Ky 750 oclock the assemblage ol rc jioriers proceeded to the heavily barred door of the Jnll and soon found Hint repented knocking and banging was of no avail In receiving a quick response from time inside as was probably not anticipated by the Invaders A voice from the upper caged window win-dow of Iho basilic however announced thai the Sherllf wns at his home had possession or the keys and left explicit ex-plicit Instructions to disbar all newspaper news-paper people from entrance to the prison pris-on The discouraging but determined I correspondents then repaired to the domicile of lie resolute and immovable immova-ble guardian of the Jail but again met defeat and nn unlooked for reception The stolid and fixed Sheriff not only refused to see them hut Ignored with Impunity the almost pleading beseech mcnt of the woman Journalist to yield his apparent settled and binding decla rallon After utilizing almost every I human effort to accomplish their desired I de-sired purpose and falling I utterly the majority ot the writers moved to the I telegraph ofllcc and commenced writing and filing their stuff Several hours later I was deluged with press dispatches dis-patches On request however mat tern WCIG greatly facilitated by Reno giving us athrough wire to San Francisco Fran-cisco So It was 1 found myself considerably con-siderably piled up the first night In my new olllcf The material sent In was mostly padded stuff the main points oC the story missing and some of the copy poorly written It I I was growing late and the discouraged correspondents had retired some hours before All save the tall i awkward Individual I had overlooked him entirely In fact forgot he existed us his droll plead Ina and moping characteristics did not imbue me with thoughts of his bo Ing possessed of the necessary qualifications qualifi-cations that make up the energetic and successful I respondent and as he sauntered Inlo I the ofllce In nn uncon corned and apparent careless manner I was certain that hE would fall down on his detail and probably lose out entirely JIj youthful sympathies and Imagination played me false in that respect and caused 1 me in future years not to Judge persons laD hastily 1 was In the midst of a batch of matter when he entered and was sltick leaving time key open and trying try-ing to figure oul the particular word when to my anii7einenl the tall awkward awk-ward Individual I I I spoke the word that fitted properly As the copy was miserably mis-erably penned and believing oilier words sentences and paragraphs would bu dlfllcult deciphering and confidentially confiden-tially believing the newcomer would help out considerably I brought parts of the copy over to him and he politely polite-ly Informed me that he was once an operator that he scooped In everything that was being filed by Ihc other writers writ-ers and thought they sent a poor story In our conversation I not only found him bright and entertaining but his cool deliberating and selfcontained reserve was the foumlallon of his executive ex-ecutive ability and deep thinking that subsequently showed his cleverness lie rend time doublful words sympathized sympa-thized wllh me for being so crowded With no help available and assured me that IC certain matters were not drawing draw-ing on his lime he would gladly sit In and give me L lift that he was an expert telegrapher It was my first experience ex-perience in sending press and I was continually falling behind and at that moment would rather have been elsewhere else-where As we were now good friends T suggeKlcd that It was gftltlng laic and thought if he had his story up I would rush It ahead He quickly Informed In-formed mo that it was coming anO Bnld when he was ready lo fire his special spe-cial In he would send It himself so that I could have a letup He then Hilled out Into the night It was shortly after midnight when he returned re-turned and I was nearly cleaned upI up-I ic Inquired if 1 1 could get out for lunch Feeling Instinctively i 1 the man at tho San Francisco end of the wire was bored with my poor sending so on Inquiry llml we let up for lunch he gladly consented An oppressive and almost deathly silence I si-lence reigned supreme on the outside SILC the piteous wall of a hungry coyote and the dim flickering of the fnint light radiating I from the Gem Fa loon across the tracks No other signs of life or sound wer manifest My newlymade acquaintance his name was H suggested that we go over lo the Gem for a few moments It was then 1 conceived dint he had been gpcndlng the greater part of the evening at that resort and had probably partaken of a few for a fnlnt odor or Intoxicants wns easily delected though outwardly no visible supposition supposi-tion wns apparent II whispered a fcnv words softly to the barkeeper and with that he bade me accompany him to a rear room set aside for devoteea of the green cloth and poker chips It was an unusual sight that met my gae for cuddled tip on a chair and displaying all the symptoms of a person per-son partly overcome with strong and Inebriating liquids was Sheriff 11 I He greeted our presence lu a Jocular foollHh way and In bin stupidity seemed particularly elated that H returned I nin muddled conversation expressed lila appreciation for the Nevadnns friendship and bin willingness to advance ad-vance any favor that the correspondent might solicit After several more rounds of amber fluid II In the most diplomatic manner at com 111011 d politely roqucalPd the kcyn to the Jail he promising faithfully to return ihom I within an hour It was Indeed surprising sur-prising to me how easily the Sheriff yielded Myself and the enterprising Journalist hurried over to the stone building nnd without any ceremony H hiHcrtcil the key In the Iron door and In a JllTy we were Inside the prison A gtiftrd approached us In a somewhat djflaut manner when ho dlrcernrd the Sheriff wan not present but after the proper explanation matters were satisfactorily satis-factorily considered by nil eonccrned II nt once sought out the cell or cage where the woman was stalled and It Is needless lo say he dug up i j great scoop for the condemned female fe-male had cut her wrist with 1 broken glass during the 1 day previous and was pnluhed up temporarily FO that juslice would not be cheated In conjunction the clever newspaperman learned much lint revealed Hlartllng and sensational disclosures and In forty minutes time handed the bcfuddlcd Sheriff the keys and was back to the telegraph office gelling up his story Fifteen bun dred words of exclusive matter was wired H and myself Inking turns about In sending JTls copy was ncally done und by 130 a m the tall awkwnrd writer had achieved a great triumph over his compeers who slept soundly while he worked with the nicety and diplomacy of it master mind He had his own Interesting and intelligent intel-ligent way of doing things never by I halves During the few minutes preceding the hanging all concerned were present pres-ent including myself A loop was strung from the Western Union mnl wire to the I jail yard and n set of telegraph tel-egraph Instruments placed upon a hurriedly hur-riedly constructed table Th same being be-ing placed a few feel from the gallows I gal-lows This Innovation wns Instituted for convenience to the various correspondents corre-spondents thnt t they might I file bulletins bulle-tins at Intervals during the grew OIl1p proceedings Everyone present t awnltcd with solemn anti expectant mien the forthcoming of Iho loomed man and woman The profound and painful silence si-lence was only broken by the Incessant clicking of tIme telegraphic sounder am I suddenly realized San Francisco was calling me I i quickly answered nnc Jotted down the following message Snn Francisco Cal J S II 33 Nev Congratulate you admirable and Ingenious scoop not line principal features story printed in papers pa-pers here splendid check be sent you in recognition of npprcclntel services TIIR ASSOCIATED PRESS T handed him tho telegram a fdnt smile played about his mouth and he merely snld I Thanks Some five years later while attending attend-ing a high jinks given in time rooms of the Press club in Snn Francisco I chanced across IF who was milan an Invited guest Our talk natural drifted l to the Nevada episode amid during the colloquy my friend said By time by did you ever concave m > motive In urging you lo accompany me to the Gem nnd In the Sheriffs presenceV I narrated several possibilities when he slowly Interrupted saying You Avere a live witness to the Incident In-cident and when the Sheriff was thoroughly Highly himself again If I ho denied lIng l-ing mo the keys a word from yoi would have contradicted his statement truthfully Come let us have some tlmIimg |