Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-04-21
WROTE BIG STORIES.
A REPORTER WHO WAS A RO-
MANCER OF GREAT ABILITY.

A Bright Young Man Who Had Pen
chant for Turning Out Special News
That Startled PeopIe-The Pioneer of a
Class That Is More Common Today.
Crowley was redheaded, freckled
faced Irishman. He had the greatest
imagination that l ever knew of, and
could express himself fluently and grace
fully. He turned the quiet city of Roch-
ester upside down more than once by
his imaginary stories. He worked along
about 1890, perhaps a little before.
When he came to work he was put on
the regular apprentice lines, but soon
showed that he was too good a man to
be kept clubbing around after mortuary
notices and other truck of that kind.
He had a genius for writing imaginary
stories and locating them somewhere,
with the invariable effect of causing
people to flock to the place where his
fairy tale was alleged to have happened.
One night. when news was dull, the
city editor told Crowley TO write story
of some kind about column in length
to help fill up. Crowley sat down at his
desk and ground out tale about thrill
ing experience that he had in the north
ern part of the city which ran like this:
He was walking down in that part of
the city when he heard the bell in one
of the steeples near by clang. 1t was
late at night, and he wondered at it and
straightway proceeded to investigate.
He found the door of the church stand
ing wide open and went in.
Just as he entered the bell rang again,
and he heard noise up in the steeple.
He started to climb up, and when he
neared the top an enormous rock came
crashing down through the stairway
and nearly struck him. He climbed far
ther, and another rock came down. At
last he reached the top, where he found
an escaped maniac, and after desper-
ate struggle overpowered him. Absurd
as that story was, thousands of people
went down to that church on the next
morning prompted by that insane curl
osity that makes people flock to the
scene of any crime or casualty.
The success of this story gave Crow
ley cue, and it wasn't long until the
community was shocked beyond meas
ure by the details of horrible murder
committed on a canal boat tied up at
Fairport, which is a little village ten
miles from Rochester and ON the Erie
canal. The crime was described with a
minuteness and the names of the boat
and the man murdered and everything
given with such apparent candor that
the police officers of Rochester were
amazed next morning to think that they
had not heard of it before, and detail
of men was sent to the spot to investi-
gate. When they got there there was
nothing to investigate, and Crowley got
out of the scrape in some way or other
best known to himself.
His most famous story was the next
one; that is to say, the next big one, for
he was continually writing special arti-
cles. Forepaugh's circus came to Roches-
ter one summer, and on the night of the
show brilliant idea struck Crowley. |
He went to work, and in a couple of
hours evolved story about the escape |
of the rhinoceros from the circus. He
told graphically how it broke out of its |
cage, gored a couple of keepers and |
started for Lake Ontario. He located |
this story on the Brinker farm, which |
was then comparatively little settled |
portion of the city down in the north
ern part. He told of the chase that the l
circus men and residents of that section |
made after the animal, and described its
actions. He wrote a paragraph or two
on the damage that the immense beast
had done to property and eloquently por
trayed the sufferings of number of |
horses that it ripped up.
The whole story was over two columns
long and made great sensation. People
docked down to the Brinker farm to see
the ground on which the brute did its
bloody work, and while they found moth
ing, Crowley squared himself by print
ing another story the next day telling of
its capture, and as the circus was miles
away nobody knew whether it was true
Or not. This story was copied into every
paper in the country, and it gave old
Adam Forepaugh tremendous amount
Of free advertising. The old man was
tickled with it and deter
mined to make use of Crowley.
One night the reuheaded youth sailed
into the Office after his evening assign
nent and was told to do something or
other by the city editor. He started
1own stairs to the street and was met
BY messenger boy, who handed him
telegram. 1t read, .Come to Philadel-
phia at once to go ahead of my show
around the world" and was signed by
Adam Forepaugh. Crowley started i'm
nediately for Philadelphia, without
even waiting to go back into the Office
and resign. He went around the world
ahead of the show, was gone three years
,r more, and one afternoon walked into
me city room and said to the city editor,
If you don't mind, I'll go out and finish
hat assignment now."
Bright as he was, Crowley was dissi-
oated and died within comparatively
hort time after his return from his trip
around the world. AS writer of purely
stories that read like Gospel
ruth and as the inventor of schemes to
i'll up paper with sensational matter,
Crowley has never been equaled in this
state to my knowledge. If he had
aiken care of himself he would have
been earning big money today on some
metropolitan paper.-Interview in Buff
,alo Express,
Englishmen Are Slow.
Trains are not SO punctual as in the
United States. The enormous traffic has
something to do with this, but am told
hat the fault is somewhat due to faulty
that in fact the engine de-
)artment is too entirely distinct from
he conductors department There is
not on the engineer any great response
oility for being on time, but there is on
lim an immense care that his engine
,hall show economical use of coal, waste,
Ill, etc. By such return is he judged,