The morning call., 1895-01-15

in the back room would place the
stolen messages in the drawers and at the
proper time they would be removed by the
trusted employe of the concern and
handed to the editor in the other room, to
be sent to the newspapers subscribing to
the agency. To further deceive the regu-
lar operators and other persons that might
be in the other room, these stolen mes
sages were written on regular telegraph
blanks, which Brewer or his assistants had
in some way obtained.
On the wall of the building at 1872 Wash
ington street, next to the Herald, is tele-
graph cable, one end of which is connected
with the wires running into the Herald
Office. 1t was placed there by the telegraph
company for convenience. Inside Brewers
office, near the right-hand window IN
room 81, was what seemed to be
piece of the withholding which had
been broken off or left incomplete. In
reality this was tin tube painted to re-
semble the holdings and intended to
serve as conduit for wires which should
be attached to the Herald's cable. To the
detective one of these men in Brewers
office said that these rooms had been Sc
lected solely with view to using the tele-
graph cable on the wall outside.
Gradually, but surely, the detective
worked up the case. He picked up piece
of paper on which the operator of the
crooked telegraph instrument had written,
and found that the handwriting was the
same as that on copies of the stolen mes
sages filed with the telegraph companies.
The operator admitted that he knew he
was working a tapped wire. Various en-
ployes in Brewers Office confessed that the
news was being stolen. When the evil
dence was all in hand, it was decided to
make Brewer himself expose his surrepti-
tious methods.
From the Daily News of April II, 1886,
was clipped an account Off awful cyclone
which struck Kansas City that day, and
demolished the great iron bridge, blowing
many dwellings down and killing num-
Der of people. The tale was blood-freezing
with horror, and was great news except
for the fact that it was eight years old.
This item was started out about II o'clock,
over one of the circuits which was supposed
to be manipulated or tapped and all
the other newspaper offices or cities were
cut off, in fact another wire was substi-
tuted for the wire that was usually in use
and the item was sent sin the air" and
the thieves not knowing but that they
were copying the usual matter, copied the
item and rushed it to their clients through
out the country.
Following it went another fatal item,
stating that the Governor of Iowa had
called out the militia during the stay of
Kelly's army in Des Moines and bearing
the date of Des Moines. This news was
condensed to meet the requirements of the
small daily papers served by this "combi
nation" and was sent throughout the
country. The only United Press paper in
Chicago used the story, with a ''scare
head, and all the afternoon the newsboys
cried: 'Extral All about the Kansas
City cyclone" That occurred eight years
ago.
The Detroit Journal and ST. Louis Chron-
icle, United Press papers, also had the
''news." This news was sent on the wire
in the afternoon, and about 8 o'clock the
representatives of this combination"
became alarmed and Immediately sent
kilograms all over the country to the
newspapers they served warning them not
W USE lllS 4lCI1I3 Llli1 IL W do UtllI QCs DuO
it was too late, most of the newspapers had
gone to press with news from eight to
twenty years old. Some of them, how
ever, had time only to insert a note stating
that it was since learned the dispatch
was greatly exaggerated.
The wiretapper, whose work made this
news stealing possible, is notorious in this
line of work. He is charged with all sorts
of offenses of this character. He is the
man who, it is said, obtained for the
bucket shops the Board of Trade quota
tons when all Geographic instruments
were excluded from the exchange.
Brewer, the head of the association, is
telegrapher and was an employee of the
Associated Press many years ago, but was
discharged for irregularities. Brewer had
been in New York at the time referred to
in this story, but he perfected his scheme
and left it in trustworthy hands before he
went away. He induced wealthy New
York man, Alonzo Rothschild, to invest
money to become president of his Union
Associated Press. Mr.. Rothschild was not
aware of Brewers peculiar methods of get
ting news.
The punishment for tapping wires in
this State is a fine of $500 to $500, or not
exceeding one year in jail. Hon. Luther
Latin Mills said this evening:
''The extent of the evil exposed in the
Post newspaper article this evening on
overlapping cahnot be overestimated.
1t exists throughout the country in
an alarming degree, affecting the in
terests of not only the safety of
confidential communications between per-
sons, but on the vast organization for the
public dissemination of news. The situa-
ton is a serious one, and, while it is pro-
hibited by the local statutes of many of the
States, it seems to demand Federal legisla-
ton based on the interstate commerce act
which shall supplement such statutes, and
it is probable Congress will be asked to
take action in the premises"
TAILOR HAS SAILED AWAY.
Ind NO1U His BOudS9ne0 Hill Re 4s6ed