The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-15


cases"
mo; have tried it and failed miserably.
! | can't explain the sympathy that exists be-.
tween the marked page and my mind.
only know, WITHOUT beng able to account
for it, that it is to me what the ope ing of
a book at marked page and reading from
| it would be to another person"
| A case parallel to Col Bakers is furnished
in l.. H. Upper, one of the most brilliant,
| eccentric aud erratic geniuses that ever
! helped to fill the columns of great New
| York daily paper. Tupper's history is inter
eStirg. de halls originally from IL inois, and
! raduated from Cornell University, New
! York, in the class with enry Tyrrell, one
of the editors OF Frank LeStie'S Illustrated
| Newspaper Upper was ambitious to en-
| ter che journalistic arena, and after leav-
| ing college lod q sort of bohemian existence
i'll New York. He had no money, and
! his only acquaintance in the big city was
! Mr.. Tyrrel, who had tlen secured q position
as prCof-reader at z ank LeSlie's. | remem-
/ er hearing upper tel how uis first article
| to appear in print was accepted by the New
! York UOWd He had sent in story after
story that lad been carefully consigned to
the waste-baSket. At last he mustered up
| courage enough to take into the 81 lctum of
! the editor-in-c chief the manuscript of an
article on THE City's Poor" William
Henry Hurlbut, then editor-in-chief, told
| him to ''leave itn But "Tup," as his
friends call him, had been on the ragged
| edge" of anxiety long enough. He insisted,
| politely, but firmly, that the manuscript be
either accepted or rejected at once. Some
thing in his manner or conversation i'm
pressed Mr. Hurlbut favorably, and he took
up the manuscript to pass upon its merits.
| He glanced over u couple of pages, and
| great big frown began to gather upon his
| face. In proportion to the spread OF the
frown Tup's hear sank lower and lower,
and when the last page had been read he
mechanically reached out his hand to re-
| ceive back his manuscript. Mr.. Hurlbut
brought his fist down uD n his desk with a
bang. Tears started to Tup's eyes. He was
hungry and out at the toe, and hope with
him was at low ebb. Mr.. Hurlbut looked
at him for moment and then exclaimed:
'D---n it, young man, you're a genius!
A man who C. uld read that article without
feeling his heart swell with pity is a vii
| lain!"
Then he wrote out check for SIS and
haN de6 it to Tup, who was too much over
come to do anything but bow and back
| cut. He cashed the check as he passed
through the counting room, and as he
stepped olt on tie street was accosted by
| ragged urchin who was soliciting aims to
| buy food for his mother, who he said was
sick in a ranlshackie house on Cherry Hill
| Tup went to the sick woman's house and
| gave her $40 of the S15 he had received
| from the World. This little incident illus
trates the mans character, and his career
since has been Frightened by many similar
| acts of charity. lup OH after secured
| employment on a New York paper as a re
porter. and it was in this capacity that his
| marvellous memory and the total lack of it
| at times created comment. He was sent on
| one occasion o interview several prOmi-
| nent men and returned to the office without
written word of the iutert iews-wita
| nothing in fact, but rough etcnlngs of the
persons he had been to see.
"Gor good story| queried the city edi-
| tor when Tup showed up.
"Wou, I've got the material for one,
thiok."
What did they have to ssyp
'I-er-h-m-I don't remember exactly,
bat they talked freely, and l was quite in
terestad by what they said"
| Let's see your noCes."
Notes l forgot to take any,"
"Never took any! Why, how in the hot
| place do you ever expect to write the inter
views? 1t seems that I've assigned blank
idiot to the best story of the day. Well,
don't stand there gaping. Write some
| thing, blank it all. Cover the story some
how. It's too late to send another man for
| it,"
Poor Tup went TO his desk with woe
| begone expression on his face and stared
medi tatively at his inkstand for awhile
| Then he mustered up courage and wrote the
| introduction to his story; but there he
| stuck Tosave his life he couldn't recall a
| word that had been said. just then one of
| his felow-reporters banded Tup cigar,
and in 10 king for a paper to make a light
| of he by chance picKed w the piece on
| which he had sketcned the heads Of the men
he had interviewed. Like a fash all tnat
they had said came to mind, and as rapidly
as hand could transcribe thought Tup
| wrote 1t out
The city editor was very much surprised.
| SIS this bona fide or a fake!n he asked.
Tup didn't know what fake meant then,
and went home without saying word, be-
lieving that ne was being guyed.
| Next day the managing editor received a
note from one Of the parties Tup had inter
| viewed. 1t comDllmentd the paper on
having been the only journal to correctly
report him.
Tup has told me since that he made the
| drawings without purpose while the gentle
mel were talking. Many times since then |
| have known him TO return to the repor
| torial rooms with half dozen disconnected
sentences in his notebook and as many etch-
ings, and write from the whole a three
! column story remarkable for its accu acy.
! From these facts am led to believe that
| the brain works something on the order
that Edison has put into his phonograph
| and that each occurrence it records may be
| produced by chance or premedltated con-
tact with any object with which we
may have associated it at the
! time of record. In the case Of the
| phonograph, the thing is evolved by turn
| ing a crank; in the case of Col. Baker, it is
done by turning the leaves Of book; in
the case Of Upper, by simply looking at
his etching of the man whose conversation
he wishes his own brain to repeat for him.
A Terrible Misfortune.
1t is a calamity Of the direst kind to feel that