Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1895-11-22
BIG THINGS DONE ON The sTARTLER
swapping Condolences About Notable
Newspaper SCOOPS"

Newspaper Scoops"
Talk about newspaper ENTERPRISE -
said the young man with soiled cuffs
and briarwood pipe, did 1 ever tell
you about the big thing we did on the
STARTER year or two ago? No? Well,
1t was great drive and well worth the
telling" notes the Boston Transcript.
There hadn't been a murder for three
days, and not one of the mysterious
disappearances amounted to hill OF
beans. Wed got to have sensation.
put what 1t was going to be was more
than any of us could guess.
Tom Skipper, our local man, was so
much concerned about the matter that
ne actually offered to commit suicide
TO help the paper out; but old Cutter,
one of the desk editors, happened to
think just in time that If Skipper sui
clded there would be nobody left to
write the thing up in Shippers inimita-
BILE STYLE
Then somebody suggested that in
stead of killing himself Skipper kill
some other fellow; but that wouldn't
be much better, for Skipper would be
locked up beyond the reach OF his scis-
sors; so the whole business was drop
ped. But aon1athi,1g must be done.
FINALLY our literary editor got an
Idea. OF course it was of no use to
him; couldn't use ideas in his depart
ment, you know. So he gave it to the
city editor. The idea was a novel one,
as might have been expected from a
man who spends the heft of his time
reviewing the title pages of fictional
literature. 1t was to print few chap
tiers OF the Bible under scare head
and with lots of cross lines.
well, sir, we did it and there never
probably was such an excitement
among our readers. 1t was brand new
to the nineteen-twentieths of them and
the way they besieged the office for
copies and the way they Dragged about
the STARTERS enterprise was a caution.
can tell you. Why, sir, we sold more
than 100000 copies of that days issue
and, even then, we were wholly unable
to meet the demand"
Not so bad" said the young man
with the moth-eaten mustache, ''but
nothing to the little stroke of enterprise
we did awhile ago ON the Shark. Just
as you had done. SO we. too. had tried
everything we could think of for sem
,sation and everybody was at his wits
ends. Nobody could suggest anything
that was worth trying.
1T began to look blue at the Shark
office. 1t was the first time, you know,
that we had ever been strapped for an
idea. We began to think we'd have to
suspend publication, for it was useless
to think of issuing the Shark with no
sensation in it.
Luckily, however, our office boy
came forward with tip. We get most
or our suggestions from our office boy,
you know. What do you suppose his
idea was? 1t was simply this. that we
issue number of the Shark with not
so much as single lie in it!
well, sir, the thing was done; it
was wearisome work, but it was done.
The paper was printed, but it didn't
take at first; our readers couldn't un-
derstand it. But after awhile a few of
them got onto it and then the news
spread. Well, sir, to make a long story
short, we sold 100000 copies of that
paper. We tried it again next week.
but the folks wouldn't buy. They said
once would do for sensation, novel
ty, but for regular thing they pre-
ferred the Sharks regular vintage"