New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-04
CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY.
THE STORY OF BUTCH" MILLER, A NEWS
PAPER HERO. MADE FOR AN
EMERGENCY

thrills responsive to a story Of Conspicuous
calamity. even in this story the heart Of the
dyspeptic and cynical Mayor warmed up over a
newspaper made hero. The active business man
whose intellectual mint excogitates dollars likes
20 cease a moment from that enhancing
eupation to read journalistic tale Of daring
nerolsm. 1t seems sort Of emotional cock
tail in humdrum life. This. then. is the story
Of newspaper story
1t was over eight years ago, in the winter OF
1SSS. that terrible fire consumed tenement
block at Sixty-seventh-st. and Tenth-ave There
- not much variety about fires Any newspaper
man can group them into three four main
elassifcatons This typical tenement
house fire. and behaved strictly according to
Fule. 1t destroyed no lives. There
pecially thrilling incidents about It. But II
turned out into the streets a bitter cold night
twenty families who had saved not an atom Of
their belongings That the feature Of 1t.
TO speak In the reporters jargon.
Every newspaper in the city had reporters at
the fire. AS is usual in the case Of large
nagrations. they co-operated, each Of them pur
suing the elusive item the gross result OF the
gathering to be the common property OF all.
Cooperation implies confidence. Although
porters are "alien Of end and Of aim. which
means. although each of them makes his life
scraps Of exclusive information in his secret
place Of reserve, up his sleeve"-yet when they
tacitly agree to work together they act fairly.
surrendering the misery hoard OF facts for the
common benefit
In this case when all the ends Of the story had
been covered" and all the facts had been care
fully garnered. the reporters met to make their
contributions to the common stock One, how
ever a Mr. H did not make his appearance.
They all waited patiently about an hour or 30
for Mr. H. He had agreed to ascertain the
Insurance on the burned buildings. Before he
had departed this errand he had obtained a
good general idea Of the story Of the fire, and he
soon came to be suspected Of a purpose-"scor-
ing a beat" on the other papers by keeping the
Information to himself
The waiting reporters. however. determined
Shat they, not Mr.. H would have the beat"
The war was unequal. Mr.. H simply one
man with few facts his weapon. Against
him were half a dozen men with fairly active
and trained imaginations.
They determined to make the feature or the
whole story a heroic rescue OF an in'irm woman
from one Of the burning buildings One Butch
Miller, a boy Of nineteen or twenty VINO hVeo
N the neighborhoOd, had been Oh great AS-
distance to the reporters by furnishing lhiorihA-
don regarding the fire. Butch Was maze
Aero on the SPOT He took the transformation
q his character and a couple OF glasses ol peer
With equal ease and GOODNESS. Mrs Gallagher
was the old woman gallantly saved by Butch'
vho rushed into the burning building and up
Alazing stairway after her, and in general did
those things the brave young man always does
m the course Of the orthodox heroic rescue
The tenement house fire made d hrst-pase
story, with screaming headlines. Every paper
.xcept the one for which Mr.. Il worked toio
t,e story Of Butch" Mers Conspicuous gal
1antry." They were loud in their laudations OF
him. and the New-York public felt momentariiy
Extraordinarily better that there should lie
found in these days Of dollar seeking one capa-
Die Of oldtime deeds Of bravery.
The next day it would have been forgotten Out
sor a good hearted cynic, who sat In the Mayor
chair Cynicisn Is q hard thing to reckon With
n is likely to melt into sentmentality at a mo-
uent's notice So Mayor Hewitt, reading the
60 think that New-York could not afford to for
get such hero in a day lie sent Tor the re-
Aouhtable Butch" himself Butch" was
youth Of courage enough TO have mace tne
rrscue. even though he did not. and be pre-
eented himself before the Mayor without the
lea;t abashment The newspaper men who had
made him famous were present at the confer
ence and even Mr.. H was there to write up
Che hero's history day late. In his paper.
The Mayor made Butch" tell over again the
storv Of the rescue. Butch" did 1t without
Areak The Mayor patted him on the shoulder
And spoke words Of kindly praise and he said:
>.D,. ho,, euch consDicuOus gaantry as