The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-09
SOURCE OF NEWS
NEWSPAPER MEN WILL NOT ALWAYS
OIvulGE IT.

OIvulGE IT.
Especially II IL Would Betr2y Condolences
or Involve the Personal Word Of Hsnsr.
Interesting Cases 20 illustrate the Point.
Fine Journalistic Victories.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, June 4.-The 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 the basis of what is commonly
known as the Sugar trust Investigation
caused great interest to be aroused in
Washington and throughout the country.
The correspondents were bluntly told
by the senators who composed the COM
mittce that they could not. refuse to di-
vulge these 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
ed in declining, stating that they had been
advised by counsel that the senate had no
legal right to compel the disclosures and
that to divulge names would DO to betray
condolences and obligations involving per
sonal word and honor, something that If
done or if compelled to be done would
cause the press Of the United States to
sink to the uEimportant relation to the
public of being the mere chronicles Of
routine events.
This incident has served to ra,all other
and very exciting experiences Of newspa-
per correspondents in the past wha n called
upon to make revelation of seurcas of in
formation that was Of great public imper-
lance
At the time of the civil war all Of the
leading papers of the United States sent
special correspondents to the field, with
some of whom the generals in comm and
had more or less trouble. General 81 YER
man, for instance, threatened to try by
drlfmhead court martial and shoot corNe-
spondents found guilty of sending infor.'
nation Of movements designed to be Sc
cret to their newspapers, and had it not
been for the patience and good sense Of
President Lincoln it Is possible that some
of them might have been severely dealt
with. Mr.. Lincoln, when appealed to,
took the ground that, while for the success
of the cause it was at times necessary to
take great and even stern precautions
against the premature publication of plans,
nevertheless, as the war was the peoples
war, they hae a right to know what had
been done as soon rs it was done, and that
the cause Itself might be greatly aided if
the people had accurate information as to
its progress.
After that the war correspondents were
afforded facilities, grumblingly by some
generals, cordially by others. 1t is no Sc
cret in military circles that the popular
favor that Went out to some generals at
the time Of the war was due partly to the
pen pictures rom the field correspondents,
and it is also fact that much Of the I'M
pleasant impression that existed early in
the war about General Sherman was due
to a considerable extent to his treatment
of and manifest contempt for the CORE
spondents. Later Sherman became more I
cordial and In the latter years of his life
very companiOnable when with newspaper
writers.
The only occasion when a correspondent
ever got into serious difficulty during the
war happened to be not in or near battle
field, but in New York. A newspaper
upon with fraudulent draft of proposed
proclamation for day of fasting and
prayer by President Lincoln. He caused
it to be published in several newspapers.
Its publication caused intense excitement,
since it was looked upon as a last despair
ing cry from the president The authori-
ties at Washington at first believed it was
a reasonable attempt to paralyzA the gov
Sho hot
therefore suppressed the newspapers that
published the proclamation and commit
ted the correspondent to Fort Lafayette
A very brief investigation revealed that
there was no plot behind the forgery, and
that it was thoughtless imposition, the
predecessor Of some of those sensational
untruths that have caused the word fake"
to be invented. The newspapers were per-
mitted TO resume publication, and in few
weeks the correspondent was discharged
from the military prison.
The most famous case Of imprisonment
of newspaper correspondents for refusing
to testify before an investigating commit |
tee took place DUNG the administration |
of General Grant as president. Commits |
sioners had negotiated the treaty between |
the United States and Great Britain, by |
which the court Of arbitration was ap- |
pointed to decide the damages, If any, that |
Great Britain should pay to the United |
States for negligence in permitting the |
Confederate cruiser Alabama to BE- built |
in and to sail from British port. Mr.. q. |
L. White and II. j. Ramsdel at that I,
time were the Washington correspondents |
of the New York Tribune They procured |
a copy of the treaty while IL was under |
by the senate in executive |
session. Its premature publication caused |
intense excitement and has always been re- |
garded as one of the finest of journalistic |
victories
A committee of the senate was appoint
ed to learn how a copy of that treaty reach |
ed these correspondents. Messrs. White
and Rarsden were summoned before the /
committee. They admitted that they had /
procured the copy, but refused to disclose
from whom they received It They were /
brought before the bar Of the senate and \
again asked to testify and again declined, |
and then they were ordered under arrest,
to remain as prisoners until they gave the
sought.
The incident created q national inter
EST, and the daily life OF the imprisoned
was the subject of dis
patches in all the newspapers Of the coun-
try. They were not sent 20 Jail, but con-
lined in aronmittee room, being deprived
VI nothing but their liberty.
At last, after several weeks Of such con-
fnement, they were released By order OK
he senate, and the information sought
vas never obtained By the senate, nor was
{ ever made public by the correspondents,
10Th Of whom are now dead
IL is the common belief In newspaper
,ircles that there never was a revelation
made upon the witness stand By a news