The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-01
/, % ~, e. q word rather than miss the


,no-rv Of this correspondent. who stole
,,ilway hand car at midnight, and. with his
vouno brother to help him. rode eleven
miles through q binding snow storm ana
obtained the particulars. was the only
paper which had the story. In those Gays
! sensational murder was made much
more of than it is now. and the scoop
n beat as the modern word Is. was
easily worth 2 hundred dollar bill. Il was
worth much more than that 70 the Young
man who made il, for il brought nm 70
the city and made successful Journalist
Of him. 4@s
Country correspondents ere, as rule,
ambitious and alert. | should say that q
LARGO majority of the best pail newspaper
r,ca I'm Chicago New York and the other
large cities we've once country correspond
cuts. Many Of them were farmers boys
who went into town 20 learn the prin-
tor's trade. and thence 70 reporting FOR the
local paper Metropolitan editors are
4uicl. ~ recognize good and faithful scrV-
ices I'm @ country correspondent, and pro-
motions often follow. The great trouble
vith the country correspondents IS IN re-
e.raininc them ILoy are SD ambitious
o. get everything that they habltuaHy
send many items which are not wanted.
ont 30 Smitlvillo a. grocery tore burns.
Tho loss j. total u. proprietor is ruined.
there being but $500 insurance on > .~0p
stock. OF course Smithville gets excited.
Business - suspended and the people 90
nothing but talk about the fire. Tho cor
respondent. affected by his Surroundings,
imarines the whole world is learning 20
hear the particulars Of the fire IN Smith.
+ vile. lie rusles % the telegraph Office
and fires I'm. rs the word is. lurid dis
natch of 500 words OF course Il Is not
printed.
10 restrain those correspondents editors
send ont circulars Of instruction. nwhlcn
they set forth the classes of news which
tIev do NOT want The Tribune docs not
report fires in which the loss Is less than
~. 500. and hero is other news which 1t
does not want
Fatal or other accidents % conductors brake
ucn. swi,chm.1. or persons no., identified. OF
persons 30 obscure positions 10 l.fo except when
two ~ mers fatalities resale fr0n The aame acci-
lent. or thcr /. great loss ~ property involved
30 The accte-.
Trivial ec-i.ert-. s,:ci e. the t-ealing q legs,
l-7ilg ~ fingers By moving machines, or o-aer
Ike events.
Insignificant r9bs,ries, bursiariss, til tap
pings. etc.
Obltuarc5 oforli-cry individuals BIT dcctAs
. riea ~ atate OF national rc2lte should be- no.
tccd.
I R1ues. ab0riio-s or sellc-ons, except Wi'n
parties of mar. I'd pr0Uiuence are involved and
then Or careful 90 give 11l ss-s that are il proof
through Judicial procedure. Cases Of incest are
never wanted
Reports q O., celebration or Observance q
holidays czcsr- when persons ~ s.ate ~ No.
to-ll importance c-e Cd speak, end g. such cases
-ivc advance not.ce by mail ana receive ias-ruc-
tons
Daily accounts % testimony ia murder trials,
unless on Instructions
Specials rcsar ling sporting matters except
after first asking aul obtaining Instructions
Wrestling ialfc1-5. bicycle races cll walking
contests ere rsve- waa.ed.
Accounts ~ County fairs. b., s'-cc.l-, reports
o. openings . SITE .alrs may De sent
Theatrical ~ 0taer amusement notices. except
~ The case " str0po.ltlu cities ana artists Of
national rcpr.c, l-,- productions ot important
plays or Operas or other r0tewC rtly evsDts, and
in cu such cases instruction should Pr askel Tor.
Reports ~ he mee-.rr3 " secret societies, exc
cept On special Instructions.
A large majority Of the country corre-
spondonts are required % send queries be-
fore placing IN ir news on tho wire. One
Of these bulletins from o small town in
Michigan reads. Man found In old well.
Murder mystery. Supposed % be pr0mi-
nent farmer. How uucA.' Nothing,
thank YOU. is the reply sent by tie ed
itor Bur In few minutes along comes
this bulletin. Rawlings, Wy. T. Ru-
r0red train robbery on the L. p. Posse
ia pursuit OF thieves. How mUchy This
dispatch is not received till late 10 night
IT, FIVE minutes the night editor has half
% dozen kilograms on the wire % The
Tribune correspondents in all the rr0mi-
nent towns along the Union Pacific road.
asking for details VI tho robbery II four
or five reports come IN, all substantially
alike. no matter. The paper is deter
mined 20 have the particulars. and ex-
ponsa is not . De spared. Telegraph tolls
are not very high n0wadays and papers
use the wires as freely as they ike The
average cost per word of ne. 4 aper dis
patches, excluding cables, 5 not 10
exceed one-,hirl Of o cent. For inquiries
scnr in by correspondents, and orders
from editors tog specials the telegraph
companies Go not charge But if III ed
itor tclegraphs e correspondent not %
send q special he mus. pay i3r d.
OF course many Of the correspondents
in the smaller towns DO not earn much.
IN item O. two D month is all they can
find in their dull li.tle town. The POO
local correspondents Of Tho Tribune are
paid abou, $1,000 week In addition to
these there are CORES ponlon,5 40 such
important points as Boston, Vow York,
Cincinnati. Montreal San Francisco,
Omaha, ETC., who covcr several states.
These men have access To the dispatches
received by some morning papers in their
towns, Tho Tribune granting like courtesy
20 the representatives of those journals in
Chicago. 1h1s The Tribunes c0rre-
sy0ndent in New York has access % the
proofs in Tho Herald Office. and The Her
aids Chicago man has the run Of Tho
Tribune Each paper thus strengthens
the other and itself
between New York and Chicago The
Tribune has q special wire. IL is the
same wire which firm Of stock brokers
use during the day, The Tribune's use Of
it being confined to night. At o'clock
three telegraph operators sit down az the
New York end of the wirc and begin
sending eastern news, while three moro
sit down at this end and begin taking.