The Dawson journal., 1886-08-12
"THIlSTY WASIN -
Newspaper Story That Might be
True Even if it is Not

LII Is a well-known fact that
newspaper men, as a rule, do not
get credit for being susceptible to
anything like the feelings that or
binary human beings have, but
one case is on record of a man
worn out with hard work, and
perhaps some dissipation, who
showed to the few that knew him
a nature more like woman's than
the blase newspaper man that he
was. He had his office at the
TIME III an over-heated and badly.
lighted room, such as are often
made to do duty as newspaper
Offices in New Hampshire city.
lie was the telegraph editor" on
morning paper, and all through
the evening and morning hours
he cut the sheets of manifold, dot
ted the is,ppt in periods, straight
ened the twisted sentences and oc-
caslonally swore at the operators
that made such copy. His name
matters not. He had been one of
the brightest reporters at Chicago
at 70, and had worked in St. Lou
IS and a dozen other cities during
the ten years that followed.
He was at The time I knew him
strictly temperate, as 1 afterward
learned, due to the fact that while
in New Orleans he had fallen in
love with a young girl in moder-
ate circumstances, who had prom
ised to become his wife when he
should consider himself in cir
cumstances to warrant such step.
H. never told me Of this, but Of
ten spoke Of freferring to live in
a small city, away from the boys,
and where he could save money.
He had a picture Of a young lady
that was always on his desk, and
often in the night his eyes would
wander from the manifold" and
look for five minutes on the face,
that of a sweet-faced girl, with
dark hair and big eyes that in the
picture seemed deep and liquid.
One night, or rather morning,
for it was nearly time for the pa
per to 90 to press, the night editor
came in and said: "Mr.--,how
is the report coming?' The Wes-
tern Union "kid" had just brought
in the last sheet Of copy, and the
telegraph editor replied: "Thirty
is in" When the telegraph OPP
orator receives the last dispatch
fer the night, he writes under it
the conventional sign $50" The
night editor said unless there was
something important to kill it, for
it was getting late.
My friend, with his pencil in
His fingers, ran hastily through it,
and when he reached the last par
agraph stopped short, and for a
moment turned pale as death,
while his pencil dropped from his
fingers. But he recovered him.
self in n moment, and in a reply
to the night EDITORS question,
said YEARLY: "There are two
paragraphs-one on the Beecher
trial, and another about some
young lady being struck by light
ming in q town in Louisiana;thatS
all" "Send up the one about
Beecher and kill the other" SAID
the night editor; nobody in this
part of the country cares a d-n
about any young lady being killed
1000 miles from here--not at this
time in the morning"
My friend wrote head for the
Beecher story, and put the rest Of
the manifold paper in his pocket
He put on his coat with a tired
ar and left the Office, passing the
police reporter in the adjoining
room with brief goodnight
Next evening he did not show
up at the usual hour, and the
night editor swore, for he had to
handle the telegraph himself. 1t
was two days before l saw or
heard from my frientb and tLen