The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-02-25
REPORTERS AND EXPORTING.
BY DIR. R. SHELTON MACKENZIE.

| REPUKIERS AND RfPURIlNGs
BY DIR. r. SHELTON MACKENZIE.
From the Proof Sheet, Philadelphia
The competition of reporters for
'eXclusive" bits of local news, is as
energetic in England as it is in this
country. In one instance, a reporter
had very nearly got into great trouble
| by his zeal. He lived a mile or so out
of town, and on one side of the road,
| for a considerable part of the way,
was thick grove. As he was return
| ing home late one night, after having
seen the paper to press, he observed
that one of the trees near the roadside
had an unusual appearance. Going
within the fence, he discovered that
| the body of man was suspended
| from one of the branches. Hurriedly
cutting it down, he drew the body in
to part of the grove where the un-
dergroWth was thick, intending to
conceal it. This done, he went home.
Next morning he was taken into GUS
| tOdy on a charge of willful murder,
and taken before a magistrate. A
gamekeeper, going through the wood
at early daylight, had discovered the
body in its place of concealment, and
some other person remembered that,
about midnight, he had seen the re-
porter issue from the grove. The case
was suspicious-Until a constable,
searching the pockets of the dead
man, discovered a written statement,
containing his name and place of res
| idence, and declaring that domestic
misfortune had made life so unbeara-
| ble that he had resolved to commit
suicide. OF course, the reporter was
| discharged. His explanation was to
the effect that, finding such a fine bit
/ of "lOcal' as this, too late for his own
paper, he had concealed the corpse in
order that the rival journal, which
was to appear on the next day, should
not profit by the newsI But for the
suicides confession, a pretty strong
case of circumstantial evidence might
have been made to the peril of the
knight of the pen.
Another of this class entered the
! editorial room, in an excited manner
and with rapid steps. "a capital IA
I tai accidentw he exclaimed. "AbOut
| ten minutes ago, my mOther-in-law
| tumbled down stairs and broke her
!
anything about il to the neighbOrs
until the morning, SO that we shall
have it exclusively for our paper"
/ His heart was in his calling, UndOubt-
edly.
I system of reporting cases before
the police magistrates has long been
in vogue among all the daily morning
papers in London. One gentleman
of the press attended at each Office,
reported one or two striking cases
each day, and, taking a sufficient
number of copies by the manifold pro-
cess, sent one to each morning jour
nal. Only this particular reporter
was recognized by the magistrates
and by the newspapers. The pay
ment was at the rate of three cents
for each line Of print, and no police
news except what was supplied by
other reporters, so often cOntemptu-
OUsly called "penny-a-liners," was
ever received by the Sub-editOr. Re-
ports of little interest were not insert
ed, and the pressure of parliamentary
or other news very often excluded
even good ones. This system, which
continues Except that the Times has
"a reporter of its own at each police
office, relieved the newspapers from
the heavy cost of regular salaried re-
pOrters. The average outlay was
small, but when half a dozen papers
paid for the same paragraphs, each
"penny-a-liner'' cOntrived to earn a
respectable income. In the event of
any greaG crime having been commit
ted, which public curiosity insisted |
on having reported in full, the lucky |
reporter in whose police court the |
charge was disposed of, might publish |
from one to three columns in each pa |
per day after day, while the interest |
lasted, and sometimes earn from fifty |
to hundred dollars per diem. The |
reporters at the Guildhall and Bow |
street police offices were reputed, at |
the time ] refer to, of severally max |
ing between 50, 500 and 81, 600 year
the heaviest cases being brought be- |
fore the committing magistrate here. |
Black-mail, or accepting money for |
suppressing names, has rarely been |
charged against these pOlice-reporters, |
who enjoy a singular monopoly.
am cOgniZant, however, of one in |
stance in which a London "penny-a-
liner" showed more sharpness than
prObity. 1t was in the autumn, a |
dead season for the London press, |
when the political, and fashionable, |
and professional classes are "Out of
town." A reporter, who had been |
called to the bar, but had never been |
employed there by any one, not find
ing any news resolved to make it. /
He invented a dreadful murder, at |
tended with romantic and mysterious |
circumstances, and described it, very /
fully, as having taken place in re-
mote suburban district, for which he
manufactured a Saxon name. He /
manifolded it to all the daily papers,
only one of which accepted it. He |
supplied additional details; gave evil
dence at the inquest before an imag-
mary coroner; published a verdict of
'wilful murder against some person |
or persons unknown" described the
funeral of the victim lengthily and |
legally went into cOnjectures as to the /
motive for the crime and the identity |
of the murderer, complimenting the
police who, he said, were on his track.
days, until the Home Secretary
thought it his duty to inquire into the
case, when he discovered that it was
a fiction from first to last. The news
paper was laughed at, but the imagin-
ative reporter, who had done nothing
for which the law could punish him,
was allowed to escape. Years passed
by, and the next time | heard of him
he was Attorney General in one of
the Australian colonies, finally rising
to a seat on the bench. I last saw
him in 1917, when he visited England
on official business, and we had a good
laugh over his remarkable murder
in Essex
Some forty or fifty years ago, the
Morning HeTd7d, a London daily pa
per which has just expired, obtained
sudden and remarkable popularity,
on account of its very amusing re-
ports Of cases before the magistrates
at Bow street police-Ofice. Mr..
Thwaites, the managing editor, acci-
dentally encountered, in stage coach
on the journey from London to Bir-
mingham, a Mr.. John Wight, ''a fell
low of infinite Jest" whose quaint
manner and racy wit made the long
Journey write of the ante-Sailway
time-appear very short. He had
him to dinner the next day at the
great mail-coach inn who has not
heard of The Hen and Ciicke7e?) at /
Birmingham, discovered that this IA
cetiOus gentleman was a struggling
patent ink-stand manufacturer, re-
solved TO convert him into newspa-
per man, and induced him to remove
fO London on q handsome salary. In