Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-06-11
THE SOURCE OF NEWS
NEWSPAPER MEN WILL NOT ALWAYS
 DlvULGE IT.
if It Would Betray Condolences or Involve the Personal Word of Honor. Interesting Cases to Illustrate the Point. Fine .Innrnnlisfin Nicfnries.

| or Involve the Personal Word of Honor.
 Interesting Cases to Illustrate the Point.
 Fine Journalistic Victories.
 | Special Correspondence.l NEW YORK, Juno 5.-Tho recent re- | fusal of several newspaper correspondents | to disclose to an Investigating committee of the United States senate the names of
 the persons who gave the information which was tho basis of what is commonly known as the Sugar trust investigation
 caused great interest to be aroused in Washington and throughout tho country. The correspondents were bluntly told by the senators who composed the con- mittce that they could not refuse to di- vulgc thcso names except that by so doing they might tend to incriminate them selves. Behind that assertion lay the chance of imprisonment as refractory wit neSses until the information should be given. Yet the correspondents still persist cd in declining, stating that they had been advised by counsel that tho senate had no legal right to compel tho disclosures, and that to divulgc names would be to bctray condolences and obligations involving per sonal word and honor something that if donc or if compelled to be done would cause the press of tho United States to sink to the unimportant relation to the public of being tho nero chronicles of routine events.
 This incident has served to recall other and very exciting experiences of newspa- per correspondents in tho past when called upon to mako revelation of sources of in formation that was of great public impor- tance.
 At the time of tho civil war all of tho leading papers of the United States sent special correspondents to tho field, with somc of whom the generals in command had moro or less trouble. General Shcr- man, for instance, threatened to try by drumhead court martial and shoot core spondcnts found guilty of sending infor- nation of movements designed to be sc- crct to their newspapers, and had it not been for the patience and good sense of President Lincoln 1t Is possible that some of them might havC been severely dealt with. MT. Lincoln, when appealed to, took tho ground that, while for the success of tho cause it was at times necessary to takc great and even stern precautions against tho premature publication of plans, nevertheless, as the war was tho peoples war, they had q right to know what had been done as soon as 1t was done, md that the cause itself might bc greatly aided if the people had accurate information as to its progress.
 After that tho war correspondents were afforded facilities, grumblingly by Somc generals, cordially by others, It is no sc crct in military circles that tho popular favor that went out to some generals at the time of tho war was due partly to the pen pictures from the field correspondents, and it is also fact that much of the un- pleasant impression that existed early in the war about General sherman was duo to a considerable extent to his treatment of and manifest contempt for tho COrrc spondcnts. Later sherman became more cordial and in the latter years of his life very companionable when with newspaper writers.
 The only occasion when n correspondent ever got into serious difficulty during the war happened to bc not in or near q battle field, but in New York. A newspaper writer was, as he always claimed imposed upon with fraudulent draft of a proposed proclamation for q day of fasting and prayer by President Lincoln. He caused 1t to Do published in several newspapers. Its publication caused intense excitement, since it was looked upon as a last despair ing cry from tho president. The authori- ties at Washington at first believed it was a trcaSonablc attempt to paralyzc the gov crnmcnt'S work on the hattr1irld, and thCrCforc SupprrsSCd the newspapers that published the proclamation and commit ted the correspondent to Fort Lafayette.
 4 very brief investigation revealed that there was no plot behind the forgery, and that it was a thouGhtlcsS imposition, the predecessor of some of those sensational untruths that have caused the word flake" to be invented. The newspapers wcrc per mittcd to resume publication, and in a fow wnHy2 the SnrrrSnOndpnf HfSSh0rpCl from the military prison.
 Tho most famous case of imprisonment of newspaper correspondents for refusing to testify before an Investigating commit tee took place during the administration of General Grant as president. Commits sionors had negotiated tho treaty between tho United States and Great Britain, by which tho court of arbitration was ap- pointed to decide the damages if any, that Great Britain should pay to tho United States for negligence in permitting tho Confederate cruiser Alabama to be built in and to sail from a British port. Mir. E. l.. White and II. J. Ramsdcll at that time were tho Washington correspondents of tho New York Tribune They procured Q copy of the treaty while 1t was under consideration by tho senate in executive session. Its prcmaturc publication caused intense excitement and has always been rc gartled as one of the finest of journalistic | victories.
 \ committee of the senate was appoint | cd to learn how copy of that treaty rcach- | cd these correspondents. Mcssrs. White | and Ramsdell were summoned before the l committec. They admitted that they had | procured the copy, but refused to disclose l from whom they received it. They wcro | brought beforC the bar of tho senate and | again asked to testify and again declined. | and then they were ordered under arrest, | to rcmain as prisoners until they gave the | testimony sought.
 Tho incident created a national inter- est, and the daily life of the imprisoned | correspondents was the subject If dis patches in all tho newspapers of the coun try. They Were not sent to jail, but con fined in a committee room, being deprived of nothing but thoir liberty.
 At last after several weeks of such con- flnement, they were released by order of was never obtained by tho senate nor was it ever made public by tho correspondents, both of whom are now dead.
 It Is the common belief in nowspaper circles that thero never was a revelation made upon the witness stand by Q news paper correspondent of condolences given except in cases whero human lifo or tho liberty of innocent persons depended upon It, and then only by order of a judicial tribunal. k. J. EDWARDS. From Paris to Berlin In Thirty-five Minutes.
 Between Paris and Berlin mail matter s now transmitted in S5 minutes by tho