The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-05-06

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.
Other reporters visit the various mu-
nicipal departments-the Department
OF Parks. OF Public Works, of Charities
and Correction. One man is kept at
the quarantine station in the Narrows
to telegraph any important news of
newly-arrived transatlantic steamers;
another visits all the theaters each
night-not to criticise the play, that
comes under another department of the
paper-but to learn of any important
changes in the cast of a performance,
or to obtain any interesting informa-
ton pertaining 70 the stage. The re-.
porters also visit all the leading hotels
to get the names of prominent men
from all over the world, from the hotel
registers.
From great many of these places
no information worth printing is OBJ
tanned once year; but a newspaper
takes no risk of being ''left'' on any
matter of news. The large newspapers
have each a reporter in Brooklyn, Jer-
sey City, Newark and Paterson, who
does not report at the office, but sends
in his ''copy' by messenger. Besides
these out-of-town men, reporters are
kept by each paper-one on Long
Island, one on Staten Island and one to
travel daily in Westchester County. up
the Hudson between Sing Sing and
New York, to obtain the news from
those places.
But all these are merely the routine
reporters, who do the same work each
| day. Besides these, there are the men
| who do general work." as it is called
who are sent to religious meetings
and prize-fghts; who interview great
men and women; who attend funerals;
| who obtain obituary sketches of men of
prominence, whether living or dead;
who write sketches of street occur
rences; attend important trials in the
courts; report sermons and lectures
and hangings; investigate rumors, and
do thousand and one other kinds of
work that goes towards filing the local
| columns of the great dailies with cur
rent intelligence. If a well-known
citizen is dangerously ill, reporter is
sent to some friend or relative of the
suffering man, to obtain the main facts
OF his life for an obituary sketch, in
case the man should die. If the sick
man RECEIVERS, the sketch is written and
put in type. with blanks left for the
date of his death, when it occurs at
some future day. Then proof-sheet
of the article is filed away in the obitu-
ary department of the paper, known
among newspaper men as ''the grave
yard, y and retained until the promin-
ent citizen does die. In these '.grave-
yards" of the great newspapers, there
are kept obituary sketches of the most
prominent men and women of the
world, ready to be filed in with the
date of death and published as soon as
the subject of the sketch, as must hap
pen sooner or later. is claimed by the
King of Terrors.
When noted citizen is dangerously
i'll a reporter keeps watch for his death
each night, until the paper goes to
press. Should the death take place,
the reporter telegraphs at once to his
city editor; the blanks in the obituary
sketch are filed in, and the sketch of
the mans life appears in the paper the
next morning. Commodore Wander
bilt's last illness was so long, and his
death so lingering that the newspapers
hired a room for their reporters in the
vicinity of his residence, and during
his illness the old man sent jocose
messages to the men who were waiting
for his death.
When a great accident occurs in the
city, such, for instance, as the crush
of the East River bridge after it was
first opened to the public, when thir-
teen persons were killed, number of
reporters are sent out to work on the
case. Each reporter is detailed to give
only one portion of the account that
shall appear in the next mornings pa
per. For example: When the East
River bridge tragedy took place one
man was directed to obtain such in
formation as would enable him to give
the introduction to the sketch and a
general description of the tragical
scene at the time of its occurrence.
There his work ended. Another re-
porter was detailed to ascertain mi
nutely the cause of the accident This
he was to do and nothing more. A
third was sent to the police station,
where the dead were carried, to describe
the sad scenes there. Another reporter
was detailed to visit the hospitals where
the wounded were, and to ascertain late
at night their condition and chances for
recovery. Among five or six other re-
porters was divided the list of names of
the dead and wounded who had been
carried to their homes; and that list,
which comprised names from all over
New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City,
was absolutely verified by a personal
visit to the house of each victim. Two
reporters were sent out to interview as
many eye-witnesses of the tragedy as
could be found, and to give each mans
description Of the scene as it appeared
to him. The different sections of the
article were then given to the city edi-
tor, who joined them together in their
proper sequence. In this way each
paper the next morning had long and
a reasonably accurate description of
the ira ,rndy