The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-25
SURPRISING THE NEWS.
DIFFICULTY OF SECURING DE-
TAILS OF RAILROAD ACCIDENTS.

News of Accidents Fad With Rail-
road Msn-A New Idea Advanced
BY Railroad Cfncial-An Obsolete
BOOK OF Rules the Stumbling Block.
From the WASHINGTON Star.
One Of the most difficult tasks that confropts
reporter on daily paper Is the securing of
details OF a railroad accident. No matter how
direct or accurate rumor OF the disaster may
be to have It confirmed is almost an impossi-
oility. The usual reply to query put to a
railroad official is that he knows nothing Of it,
while in fact ne is loaded to the eyes with in
formation and is secretly bewailing his bad luck
that his division should be the scene of the
wreck.
The agents of steamship lines give out all the
news they possess as regards the detention OF
an overdue steamer, but this can be accounted
from the fact that they know no more than the
questioner, and therefore, give away some
thing they are not custodians Of. With q rail
road 1t is different looking at it from an official
standpoint.
Some years back when railroading was far
from the nearly perfecI state it has now reached
and dollar was appreciated at its full value by
the railroad corporations, nervous people were
known to return the tickets already bought, de-
mand the refunding of their money and 90 back
home on q rumor reaching their ears that a
wreck had occurred on the road over which they
duLlClphJSu lnlS caused an ORDER TO
be issued to the effect that no information as
regards accidents OF any kind was to be given
to the public and this order can still be found
upon the pages OF the obsolete order books.
But it still holds good, coming down from de-
cade to decade in a verbal manner. and 1t has
now become quite a hobby for railroad man
to know nothing about a matter he has kuowl-
edge OF from to u.
A STRIKING ILLUSTRATION.
Among the good things printed in the Christ
mas publications that aptly illustrates this
point was the following:
The scene is a nursery. Fours boys of ten
der age are playing with two trains of cars.
They have things iammed together and are
quarreling among themselves as 60 where to
place the blame. 1t might be added they are
the sons of high railroad officials. In the midst
or the dispute the father OF one OF the boys
quietly enters the room, takes seat and calls
his son to his SIDE
81 see, Bobble,'' he said, that you got train
of cars for Christmas and they have had an ac-
cident. Tell me all about it,
II can't say a word, replies Master BobbIe,
with a sagacious shake of his head. "You see,
l am one of the officers Of the road"
This story is told at the expense of one OF the
most prominent railroad officers in the country
and emphasizes the old saw like father ike son,
How often has the average traveller come
across the scene OF q depot crowded with enx-
ious inquiring people. half distracted over the
situation of loved ones out on the road on which
wreck is reported to have occurred. First
one officer of the line and then another and
another are questioned until the entire gamut,
from the superintendent to the colored porter,
has been run, but the unvarying negative reply
is always forthcoming.
Many of the railroaders consider this the
wisest course to pursue under the circum-
stances, no doubt basing their opinions on the
ground that where there's life there's hope"
and q prompt and perhaps erroneouS report Of
an accident might lead to fatal results to the
questionsr from shock.
a reporter of the Evening Sfur, in the course
OF chat held recently with prominent
IUhf INIT has Fnf
pressing news about wrecks and inquired the
why's and whereforeS.
AN OLD ORDER THAT STILL HOLDS GOOD.
you are right" he said, "aoout an old order
being issued TO that effect many years back and
still holding good. l have never received Or
ders to suppress news as regards accidents on
the road, but it is one Of those things that are
understood, Some years back 1 was shown
curiosity in the shape Of an old book Of rules,
and one of the most important orders therein
was the one dealing with the suppression Of
news about WRECKS and accidents. have no
ticed that the elevated railroad employees in
New York are, If possible, more strict than we
in this matter, and I'll venture the assertion that
the prime cause OF the 'know-nothingism is the
old one--an aversion to losing patronage. The
west is leading US IN regard TO taking liberal
view Of such matters. Not long since an order
was issued on one OF the roads running into
Chicago from the west to the effect that all In
formation as regards wrecks and accidents was
to be given to the public as soon as possible
This is q move in the right direction, but 1t will
take special order TO get the employees of the
eastern roads out of the old rut of keeping back
the news.
''Then. again, 1t would rob many OF the minor
employees of the opportunity to appear i'm
portant in the eyes of the anxious public 1t is
strange anomaly, but nevertheless true, that
the smaller the position tbs greater the dignity
when the opportunity affords. / have known
several of the car cleaners out here in the depot
to hold crowd spellbound with the recital of
the horrors of q particularly disastrous wreck
about which the public was anxious, while in
reality they were as ignorant of the details as
child unborn.
WHERE THE REPORTER GETS HIS NKws.
1T fs from this class of employees that the
shrewd reporter generally secures his news.
say shrewd, because IL he goes TO an official of
any prominencs and inquiries about the particu-
lars OF q wreck and the official feels SO inclined
he will tell him the bare facts, while the subor
dinate, although he may know nothing, will call
upon the innermost recesses of his Imagination,
and the result is a story totally at variance with
the true state Of affairs, but still a good story
IL is beginning to dawn upon the railroad off,
cfals, who possess small mite OF Solomon's
wisdom, that q closer utilization between the
railroads and newspapers should be brought
about. and when that time comes the inner
workings of a railroad system will be like an
open book to the reading public. There is no
cause for the mystery that surrounds a rail
roads management, and the quicker it is dis
PEELED the better it will be for all.
II know Of frequent endeavors on the part of
the reporters to secure news of a reported
wreck that have been dire failures, but then
again am also aware of cases where the news
papers have had moro news in their papers
than the railroad officials possessed themselves.
These cases are, OF course, rare, but worthy of
mention.
''Some four or five years back, l think about
1897 q wreck occurred on our road in which
several persons were killed and many injured
The names Of the unfortunate passengers were
hard to secure; the road so jammed with trains
that all the wires that could possibly be used
we're taken possession of for the purpose of get.
ting matters righUed again, and as a result verv
little news came to the city papers, where there
were many anxious friends clamoring for de-
tails.
ut came to our knowledge afterward that
one of the papers had on its staff an old time
telegrapher, who had forsaken the key for the
pencil. As soon as the wreck had been reported
this man was one of the first to be assigned the
task of writing 1t up. Many people would con-
slider his task only an ordinary one because he
might lounge around the telegraph Offices aud
hear the details a. they passed over the wire
from official to official. But this man was
handicapped by the fact that he was well known
to almost every operator on the road and upon
be screwed down and the messages taken from
the relay.
''He was fully conversant with the obstacles
he had TO overcome and like q good newspaper
man decided to do his best TO secure what be
was sent after.
HOW ONE MAN GOT SCOOP"
"walking into the main depot he greeted
several Of the attaches OF the road with whom
usual they were Immediately on their guard
an rafttea6 10 tatk Walkfny idly about az