New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-09-26
CANADIAN NEWSPAPER SENSATIONS.

English newspapers are periodically eloquent
over thu American passion for sensation, and
dsdainfu! filings at American newspaper-maRerS
for catering to o deprayed public taste are
indispensable to the success OF the traVei
sketches in which enlightened BritonS record
their impressions of this benightcd land. What
ever else Canada may have derived from the
mother ountry, she does not seem to have IN
herited her adherence for modern newspaper
methods. Indeed, more extraordinary eX-
hibition of sensation-mongering than that now
offered by the Toronto press has never been
exce!led in the widest quarters of our own
"Wodly West" and if there are any stray
cockneys at present in Ontario, their delicate
srsceptibiities must have received permanent
and irreparable shock.
Last February there was found lying IN
Canadian swamp the dead body OF youth
named Benwell, the son of retired Amy oncer
in England. lie had been shot in the head,
An Englishman named Birchall had induced
Benweps father to send him to America and
nav for his acceptance as a partner in an al
legged horse business controlled BY Birchall.
This person. since identified as o bogus lord
who masuueraded in the Dominion in 1888,
was arrested for the murder and is now on
trial The Toronto papers, without exception
and with contemptuous disregard for public
opinion in the old country" have set out to
edo themselves proud" For days previous to
the opening of the court special reporters were
stationed at Woodstock. the seat of the trial, to
describe, with painful elaboration, every visible
movement of the prisoner every detail of his
surroundings, and everybody and everything
that was connected or was likely to become
connected with the case. directly or indirectly.
Birchalps portrait and the portrait of his wife
have been published in full-face. three-quarter
face and profile The public has been per-
mttod to gaze on more or less faithful repro
auctions of the heavy features of the detectives
concerned, the haggard lineaments OF con-
sumptye railroad conductor who happened to
have charge of a train in which the prisoner
or the victim travelled, and the ferocious scowl
of a trucuent clerk Of tae court.
The opening of the tf1al has filled the pages
of the leading "oreans" and precipitated
perfect eruption of cuts. One journal dcvotes
sixteen columns to evidence and addresses Of
counsel. The details of Birchalls costume are
categorically recited, down to the turned down
points of his collar, his "pointed, highly pol
ished shoes" and the one gold stud in his shirt
bosom. Honorable mention is made of the
keeGer's dog "Carlo." who frolickcd with him
on his way to the courtroom and word OF
commiseraton is bestowed on the common
looking prisoners" who stood near the young
exquisite as he "held his unlighted cigar be-
tween the first and second fingers of the left
hand and pointed to the cuts in the news
paper that pleased him. If they were all on
par with those in the copy in which this inter
esting narrative appeared he must have felt
that there were compensatiOns even in imprls-
onment. for into the sixteen columns referred
to there are sandwichcd one three column, eight
double column and eleven singlecoumn cuts,
and three column map or diagram. The IL
Illustrations include realistic portrayal of the
body living in the swamp, a likeness Of the
Sheriff in his coclcd-hat. and picture of Ben
wells grave and the barbcd-wire fence around
it. Among his other accomplishments. Birchall
includes a knack OF skctching in water-cOlOrs,
and the least Objectionable of the cuts delineate
a brace of mermaids, and include caricatue
of a street musician and two really spirited
horse pieces.
Future numbers of the same journal will I'M
doubtedIy satisfy the popular craving for in
formation as TO the exact state Of badness OF
individual jurors, the doorman's appearance be-
fore and after u crush, and tho cOurt-crer s
success with cosmetics. wel-known Ca
madam editor. aiterward Cabinet Minister,
once deplored sensationalism as the "curse of
| modern journalism' What would he have said
| if he had lived to see in Canadian newspapers
fac-silniles of the handwriting Of murdered
man on the cigar-case found on his body