Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-16
A GREAT INSTITUTION.
The New York Press and It's Tire.
less Reporters.

less Reporters.
The universally accepted idea Of
newspaper reporter is that he is an i'm
pudcnt. dissolute person, who wanders
over the city until he finds some piece
of ncws-no matter of what character,
provided it will find readers. This he
takes to his office and writes out in
very bad English. Like many other
generally accepted conceptions of men
whose business brings them into public
notice, this is not q correct one. Not
only are u majority of newspaper re.
Portcrs upon our most influential me.
t~ropolitan papers men of education
and of culture, but their work is sys-
tematlzed and gathered through organ
lied channels of investigation.
The work of the reporter is given
him by the chief of the local news de-
partmcnt of the journal with which he
is connected, who is known as the city
editor. The duties of this editor re-
quirc untiring energy and the utmost
diligence and application. He must
see that his paper gives all the impor-
tant and interesting news Of the city
and vicinity while it is yet fresh, and if
possible before it has been published in
any other paper. Eternal vigilance is
tho price of his position. Every inn
portant and unimportant event in poll
tics, finance, society and crime he
must follow, and see that the reporters
under him investigate and present
promptly for the next edition of his
paper.
The city editor of a great New York
daily has the whole city under observa-
ton, as we'll as Brooklyn, Jersey City
and the adjoining country for fifty
miles around. He assigns one reporter
to each police court. Men are also de-
tailed to each of the other courts, civil
and criminal, from the district courts
to the Supreme Bench.
An important bureau of news gather
ing is the headquarters of the police
department. Two men from each
newspaper are kept watching the re-
turns of this department day and night.
Each of these journals has rooms in a
building directly opposite the police
headquarters in Mulberry street, where
che strictest observation is kept upon
all criminal matters. If a murder or a
crime of any kind is committed in any
part of the city, it is at once reported
by the police Officer in whose patrol it
occurred to the police station of his
precinct. Thence it is at once tele-
.graphed to police headquarters.
A record of every event of this kind
lis made ona 'blotter'' in the reporters
room at headquarters. The moment
this information is obtained, the re-
porter starts out to hunt up the facts.
He may have a whole day in which to
make his Investigations, or he may
have only an hour; perhaps but half
an hour. Whenever a fire breaks out
in any part of the city, or an accident
occurs, an alarm is at once sent to po-
lice headquarters. The same trans
mission strikes Il similar alarm in the
reporters building opposite. Ten Sec
ands after it has sounded-be it midday
or midnight-twenty men, represent
ing all the papers in the city, burst
out of the door and disappear in the
direction of the fire. They get there
very often before the engines.
If the victim of an accident is carried
to the hospital, the reporter visits the
place where the sufferer was injured,
and ascertains how he was hurt, and
chen goes to the hospital and learns his
condition.
In order that nothing of this sort
shall escape notice, reporters are sent
out after midnight to all the police
stations and hospitals from Harlem to
the Battery; for, as most Of the papers
go to press between half-past two and
half-past three o'clock in the morning,
there would be a perceptible loss Of
time while waiting for information to
get to police headquarters. Even five
minutes makes an important difference
in a newspaper office at two o'clock in
the morning. Another bureau of
criminal new is the coroner's office.
Any sudden death under suspicious or
extraordinary circumstances is at once
reported to the coroner and registered
for the reporters who cover that office.
They investigate every case for them
selves, or report it to their city editors
for their Judgment. So much for the
news obtained through the departments
of justice.
Each newspaper has also a reporter
who calls daily at the offices of all the
city officials. from the mayor and con-
troller down, and learns of any i'm
portant news that occurs in their de-
partments. Another visits the sheriff,
the district attorney and the county
officials, and II z%ealously watches the
City Hall, where a large room is furn-
ished with desks and tables for re-
p%orters.
a reporter covers the post-ofice
and the Federal court in that building
and obtains any important news there.
Another spends the day among the ex-
changes and brokers in Wall street, to
keep the public posted on financial af-
affairs, and one mans sole duty
is to keep a lookout on the water
front for marine news of any kind.
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