The New York herald., 1868-03-08
before we hear reputation boldly spoken Of
from one end Of the country to the other.

Newspaper bOnemhams ana How They Turn
a Penny-Litcrary Thimble-Rigsins as a
Fine Art.
The burning Of Barnum's Museum last week
was made the occasion of an unusual outbreaks
of journalistic, literary and artistic Bohemian
ism. Newspapers were peppered with peculiar
paragraphs relative to this or that or the
other matter, which had no foundation in fact,
and were simply SO many puffs to be used here
after as occasion may require. The fat woman,
or, to speak more dignifedly, Miss Anna Swan,
was the loser of q larger valuation of diamor DIS
than ever pertained to Prince Esterhazy's coat
or the red house Of the Duke of Brunswick
Lunenburg; Zuleima Agra, the languishing
Teutonic Circassian, lost quite as heavily in
gems of the first water, and, generally, the pub
lie was sought to be imbued with the impress
sion that the Museum was a sort of fairy
palace, in which Circassians and Swans, with
their diamonds, and stuffed horses, lions, tigers,
monkeys and mermaids with seagreen hair,
were accustomed to dwell together in millennial
harmony. Gossip set on foot and circulated,
hereafter to appear in printed bills along City
Hall square, was retailed by Bohemian jour
nalists through their news columns-retailed,
perhaps for a consideration-and generally
every avenue of authentic information was
bolted and barred against those who might pos
sibly prove unmanageable; for Barnum reasoned
very justly that the confagration would be
of no use to him whatsoever unless it could
be turned to account for the production of
something to be quoted in red letters hereafter
The Bohemans fell in with Barnum's sug-
gestion. They were hungry, had gone break
fastless for days, some of them, and were con-
sequently, quite ready to turn a penny-hon-
estly if they could, to be sure, but otherwise
than honestly if necessary; and, having no
conscientious scruples, they were naturally de-
lighted to be able to turn the penny needed so
easily. They have grand idea of journalism,
these gentlemen, and hold that If news cannot
be collected it ought to be manufactured. They
are no Gradgrinds and have no regard for Mr.
Gradgrind's affinity for fact indeed, fancy suits
them quite as well, and, being occasionally re-
munerative, they take to it as naturally as a
Tombs lawyer takes to the pocket of his client.
Not satisfied on this occasion with grotesque
atrocities of fancy which are remunerative,
tesque ''extras, in which Bohemian newspaper
men We'd with Bohemian artists in the produc-
tion Of literary and artistic hodge -podge, which
could not even be dignifed by the term nom
sense-a mass of silly, verbose whimsicalities
which bore about the same relation to nonsense
that maudlin and drivelling stupidity bears to
humor or wit.
This tissue of absurdities was, however, but
the natural offspring of that which had been
printed as news in the columns of the sensation
dailies The fat woman rescued by the frog
was scarcely more absurd than the loss of
diamonds which she never had, or the rescuing
of real camelopards, which were only stuffed
ones after oil, and the stupid twaddle of the
falsehood of Me latter. In fact, in
The way of honesty the difference was in favor
If the s'extras, which, though stupid as ''Nick-
Max" ever was in any number, was, never
heless, understood by the public and accepted
or what 1t was worth, while the reports of the
sensation dailies were constructively labelled
''News," and put forth as transcripts of actual
facts and happenings. That the public was
not deceived thereby, therefore, is not due to
any intention on the part of the Bohemians not
too well understood to deceive anybody and too
transparently perpetrated to pass even for
inventive cleverness. The day of sensation
journalism in New York has passed by, and
sensations are at a discount. Time was when
the Bohemians affected-led by one or two
brilliant leaders-to control New York journal
ism, and really did control, to the sorrow Of
their finances, several dailes. In due season,
however, these brigadiers Of Bohemianism died
and Git is supposedly were buried, though in
proof of the burial there exists no competent
evidence. This broke up the band of those
literary vagabonds whose sole principle of
ethics was to consider the public as an oyster
to be opened for their especial eating; and in
due season the time came when the oyster
persistently refused to be opened, and the
Bohemians, father and son, were in danger OF
starvation.
Too lazy and unreliable for journalistic pur-
poses, they had recourse to sensation writing;
and New York now teens with garish illus
trated covers enclosing their lucubrations of
prurient verbiage. In due time, also, it
was found that for sensation accounts of that
which never happened the members Of this
ragged regiment were excellent additions to
the staff of a third rate newspaper. Moreover,
they were hungry; their services were mex
pensive IL unreliable and they would If
needful supply themselves with pennies by
outside operations Of rather questionable hon
esty. In other words, they would turn a
penny with puff occasionally, and thus sup
port themselves while providing the paper with
some sort Of printable and sometimes exceed
ingly original copy Their employers pro-