The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-10
KNOX TELLS A GOOD STORY.
Mr.. BENEFITS Enterprise and the Gov
ernment's Resentment.
FROM the Philadelphia Press

12I' OehHeULS enterprise ana the GOV-
ernment's Resentment.
From, the Philadelphia Press.
NEW YORK, May 81 notice that three
New York papers have increased ths price
of their Sunday issues each Of them now
charging 1c. more than formerly. And that
reminds me of an incident connected with
the time live years ago, / think WHOM the
Herald reduced its price TO &c. Tic owner
cablei instructions from tho mouth OF the
| Ganges, or from some other end of the earth,
| to his minioa3 20 make the price of the
Herald Be, and to announce the fact in
white paint On every ock, barn, fence and
other blank spot within radius Of so miles
| OF Manhattan Island. "Spare nothing that
will hold paint Darn the expense" was
the concluding line of the dispatch.
Half hundred men went to work and
soon the legend, New York Herald, &c"
seemingly impossible places. Mr.. Bennett
had country place on which was the hand
soonest barn In New York State. This barn
was among the first things on which the
| advertisement was painted. The care-taker
of the place was wild with rage and indig-
nation and Immediately sent dispatch to
| Mr. Bennett, advising him of the outrage.
| The remarks that the latter made on the
subject by cable to the New York Office
were so hot that they made the Atlantic
! Ocean sizz.
One morning the mariners who sail that
! part or the ocean blue that lies between
! Long Island and Staten Island, were amazed
to see looming up out of the fog, the ia
| miliar an. I. Herald, &C." in letters 20 feet
high. These letters were painted on the
| walls of old Fort Lafayette. The painting
| had been done quietly during the night.
| The solitary sentinel who guarded the old
| fort did not know how it was done; he said
| he thought ''shpirrits did be havin' some
| thin to do wild it, l dunno" AS he was as
| full as goose when relieved in the morning
his superior officers agreed with him, but
they thrust him into a donjon cell all the
| same The Major reported to Gen. Han
cock, who reported to the War Department
at Washington. The War Department
called in its typewriter and on Form A,
Exhibit B, rebuked Gen. Hancock for al
! lowing the dissertation, and called on him
to investigate and punish the vandals. Gen.
Hancock rebuked the Major in due military
form and ordered him to investigate and
report. The Major censured the Sergeant,
| and the Sergeant went into the donjon keep
and kicked the sentinel until his toes ached.
lkThen the editors of all the other New York
| daily papers wrote little pieces about the
| Her0td'S vandalism, in which might have
| been detected such words as "desecration,
outrage" proclamation" "old landmark"
''historic pile" etc. The War Department
asked Gen. Hancock to ask the Major to ask
the Herald what it meant by such conduct.
| The Herald was indignant and said that the
DETACHMENT of the fort was the work of some
| one of its 1iendish enemies and proposed to
| join the government in Offering a large re-
| ward for information that would lead to
the.arrest of thescoundrel who did the foul
| deed.
All this time the paint was drying and
int hoe NFE ,lEkg,Y ltsNG
fort. The Herald, like "Brer Fox" lay
| low aud kept dark The War Department,
after resting day, asked the Herald to
| investigate and report. 1t took tine Herald
over week to find out that it knew less
about the matter than it did before.
was up from Texas visiting New York
at the time. Mr.. Henry, then the business
manager of the Herald, invited me to go
| down in his yacht to Governors Island,
where he was to meet the officers represent
| ing the War Department. He told me that
| he would not have delayed reporting the re-
| suits of his investigation so long if he had
known that the paint was soaking into and
making itself lid with the brown stone.
Mr. Henry is very considerable man.
| heard him talk with tho army officers
and never heard any one express indigna-
ton more fuently and freely and with more
embonpoint, if | may be allowed the ex-
preston, than he did. He said very bitter
things regarding the villain or villains I'M
known who committed the outrage, and he
stated that he was free to say that person
ally he would not have had 1t happen for
81 so. Then he proposed, on behalf of the
Herald, and as evidence of it's good faith
and of its love for the government, that the
Herald would, at its own expense, wash off
the obnoxious advertisement.
His voice was actually husky with emo
ton or something when he said this.
The facts in the case were then comBauni-
Gated to the Major, who laid the matter be-
fore Gen. Hancock, who sent all the accu-
mulateI documents to the War Department.
The Secretary of War Strengthened them
out, indorsed them in red ink, tied a string
around them and sent them back to Gov
ernors Island with his approval of the
HeraLd'S proposition. Then half dozen
men were put to work with brushes ard
soap and water to wash out the paint. |
heard Mr.. Henry tell them that he expect
ed them to do good job but that he did
not wish them to fatigue themselves unne-
cesSarily.
Mr. Henry is one of the most considerable
men ever met.
They worked four weeks but the paint was
in the pores of the stone and the brushes and
the soap and the water only dimmed its
brightness and did not obliterate it. The
Herald, however, felt that it had done its
Whole uuUy ana III gave Jne JnlnS up linen
the Government of the United States of
North America got mad, spit on its hands
and tackled the job itself 1t worked with
chisel and mallet for weeks to cut the OBJ
noXious letters out, but the only result was
that they were craven permanently in the
stone, and there, so that he who runs may
read stands New York Herald, &c - on
old Fort Lafayette even unto this day.
j. ANNOY Knox.
A THREE MILLION PLUM.