The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-10
One Way to Get the News Without
Paying 'FOr II.
ROBBER RUN DOWN
Special Dispatches Sent to the
Standard" Which the Butte
Miner" Gets by Fraud
Without Even Thanks.

the ulstrtsSlnE aCfluent TWO bepble iost
their lives and several passengers were
seriously injured. The train was on its
way Ia Missoula. In that city the STAND
u has an alert rcporter..wbosc entire
lime Is cmpIoyed IN behalf of this news
paper and who has no engagement or re-
htion will amy other newspaper in Mon
inna.E. This gentleman had the good for
mne TO rcach the. scene of the disaster
promptly. taking the special train that
fastened from Missoula To the wreck.
Returning To Missoula he wired, late at
night. a full account Of the affair, and il
was printed in these columns on the
morning Of Tuesday. IL happened that
the STANDARD secured n much more CON-
piete story Of the accident than any OF its
Montana contemporaries, outside of Mis-
soula, were able to obtain, although some
OF i6cm tried during Monday hight TO get
the dctails.-- L,
p. Tuesday morning of last week brought
the edition Of the Butte Miner with a full
account Of the Drummond accident, which
was announced 10 he "a special dispatch To
that paper,and which said hat the inform
alton il contained was gathered by n re-
porter for the Miner who visited the
scene. In items, in detail, in arrange
mcut and in certain errors which were
originally sent out. the Butte newspapers
dispatch was a very close copy of the
s1eciaId dispatch sent by the STANDARDS
reporter at Missoula. The business Of
flee of this newspaper fastened 10 make
iuouiries and found that no special dis
match regarding the accident "A sent
from Missoula to the Miner on the night
i'm question. AT frequent intervals since
last October. the STANDARD has been SER
iousIy annoyed by the publication else
where Of special kilograms which were it's
own priyatc property and the manner in
which the thing was done has, ia instances,
remained somewhat of a mystery. II was
clear that the Miner put itself in possess
sion of stolen property g il obtained
the Missoula dispatch of Monday night,
and vigorous measures were at once I'M
,ler,akcn Ia run the thing down. The
STANDARD is gratiiled To add that the ef-
fort has been finally successful.
In a quiet way the STANDARDS dispatch
was traced on the journey il made To
reach this office. IL was sent To Helena
from Missoula and there repeated 10 this
city. After n preliminary investigation,
The matter was formally brought to the
attention Of Manager Patterson of the
Western Union telegraph Office in Butte
last Sunday afternoon. That gentleman
naturally felt perfect confidence i'm all the
operators under his charge, at the same
time he set out with energy and earnest
ness in the effort to find the source of the
trouble. Examination Of the records in
the Western Union Office revealed no
copy Of the Missoula special, although il
should have beer found. had the dispatch
gone through that Office In regular form.
II appeared also from the books In the
telegraph Office that no charge was ever
made against the Miner for the cost OF the
Missoula dispatch. A consultation with
Mr.. &. l.. Iaig, business manager of the
Miner, resulted in the formal extension of
the inquiry into the office of hat news
paper. At a late hour Sunday night n tel
cgram received in the STANDARD oilic.
said. among other things:
Iiay. lust seen Hail, telegraph rditnr of the
Minor. lie says he received the cutir. special
hy telephone from Mr.. - of the Helena Ipdd-
panddL. lie offers la produce documentary
proof IT II.
This was u good enough story for "A
little while. but only for "A very little while.
ID prompted a hasty trip Ia Helena. how
ever. bya representative of the STANDARD,
who was curious tn test the remarkable
merits of long.distancc telephone service
in transmitting stolen news. The STAN
DARD prefers not To use the name of the
gentleman in Helena which was unwar-
rauiably connected with "A petty larceny
transaction. The texture of the telephone
explanation was so delicate that, in Hele.
ma. IL wouldn't bear washing and ironing.
Meanwhile. several agencies were co
operating to lead the investigation un'
crringly Ia It's close. Just then one of the
persons who knew all about the affair
made a full and frank statement about IL,
and 50 the facts came out. They ar,
these: IL appears that the Miner had no
special dispatch relating 10 III,
accident on the night in question
Ii did not send out the usual formal ~
quest for information, but its Office mad,
inquiries at the Western Union Ollie,
whether any news was going over the
wires relating To the accident. Al "A lat,
hour, the STANDARDS special was sent Ia
this office. II "A in fact, 2::p O'Clock
Tuesday morning when its details wer,
received here. Every word OF IL could b,
heard over the ticker in the Western
Union office i'm Butte.
A little later Mr.. Hall, of the Miner
called at the Western Union office and re-
ccivcd in an envelope n dispatch which
except the introductory sentences, was m
exact copy of that which the STANDARD
had just received and which was I'll,
STANDARDS exclusive property. tn,
Western Union operator says that. IL
handing the dispatch to Mr.. Hall, he told
him 4, was the STANDARDS special an,
that he caught il on the wire. He sayi
that Mr.. Hall, response vas an assur
ance that everything would be all right
The operator also says that the copy h,
handed to Mr.. Hall included the scntcnc,
that IA STANDARD reporter went will
physicians and Others To the scene OF til,
accident, and that, in the copy, hc under
scored the name of this paper. Of course
when printed in Butte this was made {,