Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-08-16
BY W. D. WALLACH.
pENNY-A-L,INERS.

men who, as a class, bear the general name of
PeHUy-a- Liners. They are useful but not yery
exalted men, Providers Of local news, reporters
OF great trials, seekers of excitn ng cases at the
police Offices, and hunters-up i'm general. of all
sorts OF domestic information which appears
likely to interest newspaper readers
lnese men are exclusively part and parcel of
London journalism. In Edinburgh, Dublin,
Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and Birming-
nam, where there are daily newspapers, there
Is scarcely any penny -a-linsm. The system is
almost wholly metropolitan. In Philadelphia,
Boston, Baltimore, New York, and other great
cities where there are daily papers, each jour
nal has its own local reporters. In London, the
daily journals have very little of what we here
call local HeIrs. Police reports, great fires the
blowing up of steamers on the Thames exciting
suicides, great rObberies, tremendous swindIing
bloody murders, adroit cheats and such aeci-
dents OF moment and crimes of weight are alone
thought worthy Of being reported in n London
daily. Each journal Of this description de-
pends for such intelligence upon persons who
hayeho regular engagements upon any paper,
bat, having picked up items Of news, write
them.Out, and having manifolded it-that is
multiplied it by simple process which pro-
duces the required number Of copies, traced on
tissue paper-take it round to each of the daily
journals, on the chance Of its insertion by some
q them. In this country, each daily paper has
ns own reporters, who contribute intelligence
exclusively to its columns
There is one department in the London daiIy
journals, IN which, from various causes Ameri-
can dallies are as yet inferior. This is the re-
porting Of business before the police magis-
trates- Generally speaking, every daily paper
IN London has two to three columns; in small
type, Of al Police Intelligence - No part of the
newspaper Is read, we believe, with more avid
ity than this These reports are very full, at
times, and contain the criminal history of Lon
don, day by day. With US, anything like such
tullnesS n dota IL On of thau asfio
No London jury, were an action brought for
puRt$hfng what takes place in q police office
would declare such unexaggerated intelligence
to be libel. Indeed, a recent decision OF the
Court Of Queen s Bench, sitting at Westmin-
stsr, sH baReO, has delivered Judgment TO the
efectathat report of proceedings in a police
once IN court OF law, or at a public meet
ingeH evidently made with good faith and
witheat palpable malice against any one, must
not be held libellOus, even though part or
the whole Of it should wound the feelings, or
be supposed tO I'M jure the character or pros
poets Of an individual. In palmer words, what
may be called Free Reporting is recognised
permitted, sanctioned and even encouraged by
the laws and judges Of England, while with US
no such latitude has yet been allowed. There
fore, the American papers do not make spe-
elal feature OF police proceedings, AS the Eng
liSh journals do.
Indeed our whole law of libel is blot upop
our statute-boOk, q nuisance to honest men a
whip In the hands of scOundrels, an instrument
OF annoyance, persecution, and black mail
We allow a scOuudrel, long since denuded of
the last huttering shred of character, to charge
an honest journalist with having 90 libelled''
him, and though there be only mere suspicion
as 10 the authorship, grounded, it may he.
upon such vague thing as supposed similarity
OF style, magistrates absurdly armed with
=" little brief authority" have compelled the
accused to find bail-at the same time nor
he rthn IN 81
case before grand jury. There ought to be
no arrest for libel, in such cases until after a
grand jury had found a bill Of indictment
Then, and not earlier, the accused should te
called upon to give bail for his personal sp-
Iearanee to stand trial in q court of Justice
Coming back to the penny -a-lined' police
and law reports in the London papers, it may
he said that they have been made, for several
years, by men of education and standing. In
the Courts of law, indeed, there is less penny
aiming than in the police courts, for some
journals have young barristers, to each court,
to furnish reports of special cases. Judge Tal-
ford was thus uscOnnected with the Times for sew
eral years, and only the other day Sir Adam
Bittlestone (knighted on having been Judge
In India) retired from a similar position.
Police reporting is in the hands Of very few
persons in London. To each Of the Metropol- |
itan Police Courts two in the city of London, |
and eleven in Westminster, SOuthwOrk, Lam
beth, and the suburbs,) one regular reporter is |
attached. He is not an appointment by the |
government or by the newspapers; but origi. |
nally was self-undertaking, and is admitted by |
the newspapers, because any wilful mistake or |
misststement in a report, if proved against |
him, would end in his ceasing to be recognized |
as reporter of the court-a recognition in which |
even the magistrate joins, sometimes address |
ing. the public, through the reporter, on Occas-
ionsrhen he has to make statements or repel |
charges, and always allowing the reporter free |
access to documents, &C., which throw light !
upon any case.
There are eight morning papers in London, |
(nmes Chronicle, Herald, Post, Advertiser,
DAILY News, Telegraph, and Star,) each of
winch nznst have the police reports. We say
q, must" because il would be only part Of |
nssspsper without this necessary portion of in |
yeiligeDce-just as, in this city, q daily publi- |
Cation which does not contain the telegraphic |
intelligence supplied by the Associated Press, |
Sspsf. NV '' - '' '''''a a "eS'
As the average salary paid to a good reporter |
In Londonis about "a a week, each journal |
wos5fnsye to pay about $50 weekly for its Do
lice reporn alone, having to send a reporter |
TO saehapoiice office, daily. Instead OF this, |
they are supplied by the self-appointed re-
Pettsrs as aforesaid. at the expense of thirty
SShiliings = column, whereby the cost is dimin-
l8h6 tnily two-thirds. Each column Of the
ytzeD4on Times contains nearly two hundred
anu forty lines, and thirty shiliings for this
makes the pay exactly three instead of tpO
eentsa line. Say that's daily paper has twelve
columns OF police news in a week, (which is
about the average Quantity it pays the penny
liners tlo for this, instead OF close upon $50.
Thus, an this alone, there is a saving Of II 1000
per annum.
About thirty years ago. this police reporting
"as-nowhere Mr.. John Wight, who then
commenced penny lining for the Morning
e. Herald, devoted himself TO the Bow:s,reei
ponce once, and Possessing much humor and
pme wit, dressed up the proceedings so Iudic-
:. rously, that, within twelve months, his popu-
lar police reports nearly doubled the circula.
J, ton OF the Morning Herald They formed an
attractive volume, with admirable ILLUSTRATION,
by Cruikshahk, published in 1885, and called
" Mornings AZ Bow street" Wight's success
made other journals follow suit, but on his re.
tirement, the embcffishIHP system Of reporting
!, declined, and was succeeded by the present
mstter- of-faet and reliable statement OF what