Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-07-31

anu We uniers tsnd the feat was performed wlIhous
injury to horse or iidert"
"fhe penny line men are To the press, what inc
Cossacks are To regular army; and some cases Oh
vehanty ON their parts have encouraged an opihion
that nothing Is more easy tue way of reports than
or the bribe of o. 81 at the utmost, 5f 10 sup
press or procure the insertion of any article. IL
would be difficult, we believe, for persons VINO pro-
ess to entertain this belief point out any instance
oi regular reporter having wronged the repnta-
Ton OF his employer dsgraced his own characters
out u IS not impossible that some OF the needy occa
sonai reporters, who do not scrupct to representation
selves as connected with some paper, generally TING
most respectable, have been guilty in the way alIu
iuded To. The peculiar mode III which these persons
Who are probably about twenty in number, obtain tue
means oil subsistence is worth notice. The reuters
Of newspapers have sometimes expressed much sur
prise that the should appear IN The same
words, in several papers published al the same hoar
IL Is thus ,nanaged-when the Facts upon winch the
article IL To be manufactured, have been collected or
invented, the reporter, by means oither paper some
thing between silver and bank paper, called f'mSy,
anu prepared sheets ofsk cOvere over with printer
INK IL dried makes seven or eight copies Tor the sew
eral morning or evening newspapers. This is atten-
dcd with very little trouble. The black aud white
sheets are placed alternately, the reporter writes on
the upper paper with piece OF steel or glass not 700
hney pointed, so that the paper may not be cut
and with moderate degree OF pressure the INK
Is transferred from the black To the white
sheets and he obtains eight perfect copies
10 each of these copies he afdXes his name, ami
then sends them round 10 the newspaper offices To
take the chance OF their insertion. II the subject al
the report is thought Interesting, he Is well paid; Tor
report of half column, in each of the morning
papers, will produce him, i'll the whole, more
than 81. IS. From the competition however,
among these gentlemen, and the prudence OF some
editors To the oil reports furnished it is sell
dom, indeed, that they fortunate. A curious
story is told of two worthy competitors ut tins pro-
ies.ion poor devil or n penny line man, who
had been more than fortnight without real acct
dent, conceived the design OF clever and romantic
murder. In few minutes the murder ION paper was
committed, the manifold copies made and the
reporters desired to take them round to che
newspapers. The boy, however, on his way met
with another penny line reporter, who read the
account, and continuing To delay the lad with some
excuse, wrote mp another account of the murder and
sent II rapidly round for insertion. In two Instances
his account arrived first and was therefore used, for
II Is kind of principle To take the first copy if fairly
done; OH the following Saturday, when the real in
ventor of the murder for payment, it was refu
sed OH the ground that the murder was not OF his
reporting. The poor fellow insisted, observing that
the wording, indeed, OF the account was nos exactly
the same, but that the murder must have been his
own, because no other person or at least other
porter had been aware Of the transaction. The
two reporters were then brought face to face. The
pagarst contepded for the correctness OF his state
ment, and the inventor declared that the other report
must have been pundcred from his copy The plagiar-
lS still commended for the correctLesS of his atement
aud for It's having been obtained from Il pure and
certain source The quarrel was becoming fierce.
when at length the original murder maker exclaimed
IN passion, you rascully swindler, how you
say that you knew of the murder when no murder
had taken place, and 1t entirely Of my own
invention"
When the Emperor of Russia IN this country he visited
Oxford An OF his tine evening was
ent by express morning paper which il was printed
ma the containing Oxford express
Is TO be on the breakfast table Of the Emperor the following
morning.