Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-09

minute for extra work? The came game was
played as TO the receiving of messages. The
western Union manager at Nashville would
forward business dispatches to people at Pine
Ridge and the palm Of the government
operator was always upward when the dis
patches were delivered A ten-word prepaid
message from Washington called for as much
money when delivered as it cost to transmit ii
from the national capital to Rushville. The
faoied Ali Baba and his forty hght-fngered
followers were mot in it,
GETTING NEws AT THE FRONT.
And now a few words about the newspaper
men, When the excitement was at its height
the company of news gatherers numbered fully
twenty-five individuals They were busy peo-
pie, for the most part, but the great majority
of them were .'tenderfeet' in all that the word
implies. There is nothing wrong in being a
Notwithstanding riminal-because it Is en-
tirely involuntary and cannot be helped. 1t is
merely condition which time alone can cure.
But it is not desirable condition for man
to be in who is really anxious to secure the
facts that are turned loose in time Of trouble
on the frontier. He may not be nervous, but
be will be deceived, and while under the in
fuence of this deception he not infrequently
sends as news that which will not bear intelli-
gent scrutiny.
THE DELIBERATE FAKER.
Worse than the tenderfoot, though, is the
man who knows his stories to be flakes" That
man was at Pine Ridge, too. He heard "heavy
cannonading just across the hills north Of the
agency: he saw the stealthy hostile shoot burn
ing arrows into infammable ROOFS he called
into the field regiments that have not existed
since the army was reduced to its present size;
he, in the solitude of his chamber, diurnally
interviewed ''the prominent army officer" he
counted the slain by uncertain arlthmetica1
methods, weighed the situation as in balance,
and at least once a week rode fearlessly through
the hostile camp unarmed and unattended. His
keen vision perceived the signal rockets that
shot up from the distant hilltops (although no
one ever saw rocket in the possession OF a
Sioux. and to him were the minds of cunning
warriors as an open book.
THE MAN WHO STOLE NEWS
The injury done the profession by these wild
publications can never be estimated, but that
was a matter of no moment to the imaginative
gentlemen, nor did they have any regard for
the relatives Of soldiers in the field when they
sent cut vague rumors of great slaughter, ru-
mors for which the writers knew there was not
even the slightest foundation. On more than
one occasion the military authorities discussed
the adyisability OF removing four or five of the
most conspicuous sinners from the reservation
and one man was practically elected. 1t was
his habit to loaf in the telegraph Office and the
allegation against him charged that he took ad-
vantage OF his skill as operator to capture
messages ana use them as news. He also reaped
where he sowed not. for when another cor
respondent sent dispatch the specimen in
question took the substance of it as it was be-
ing transmitted; an easy way to gather news,
but hardly an honest proceeding. The same
game was played at Nashville by the same indi-
yidual. He may have thought il smart, but it
was not creditable and its effect was decidedly
detrimental to the reputable laborers in the
news field.
More than one Of the newspaper men made
friends at Wounded Knee by helping the troops
out The testimony in this regard is little
confused, but it is certain that Kelley of the
Nebraska State Journal handled a gun with
effect. His grit was one Of the
marked features OF the fight.
A PRACTICAL JOKE.
Somebody played a practical joke on Guy
Butler OF the Duluth Tribune, which was not
appreciated by the victim. The Joker sent a
dispatch to the Tribune stating that Butler was
missing and had last been seen in the neigh
borhood Of the hostile camp. The Tribune
people telegraphed Cen. Miles calling on him
to rescue Its representative but the general said
that if Mr.. Butler visited the hostile camp he
did so in violation of strict orders and upon
his own responsibility. Scouts were however,
sent out to look for the lost one but the lost
one found himself. When he was supposed to
be prisoner he was being comfortably shell
tered and fairly well fed in a Rushviiie hotel
GEO. II. HARRIEs.