The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-30
N BROUGHTTOBOOK
TUMBLE MUG JoURNLJLSM I'M
FAILED ON a Legal PIN.

bunco. the military tournament fake, and other
equally delectablee enterprises, and editor In chief
of that oxhumed defunct, the Ereninp telegram,
has been brought to book in the matter OF one OF
his schemes launched by that paper. Mr.. VIII
liam l.. Bass of 10 Court street, Brooklyn, a
representative of iron foundry interests, Is the
man who did 1t and who Is now in q condition Of
dire apprehension because Of the success Of his
suit to compel Mr.. Bennett TO send him around
the world, as per agreement. In spite OF his
fears, he is going to mako the trip, and Mr.. Ben
nett will have to pay up. This will doubtless DO
very painful to tho editor of tho Herald, and
cablegrams arc anxiously awaited in Herald
square.
Last year, somo time before election, the
Epentno telegram started one Of Its guessing
contests, the object Of the game being to guess
tho plurality of tho winning candidate In tho
Presidential election. The rewards and benefits
were thus set forth In the columns OF both the
telegram and the Herald for several weeks:
EVENING TEIEoRAM's GREAT OFFER
TRIE nrr AROUND TIE WORLD PROVIDED ron TIE
PERSON WHO EsrTMATEs MOST CLOSELY THE PLu-
RAIirY OF THE POPULAR VOTE ToR THE SUCCESSFUL
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
A trip around the world 10 the dream OF almost
every one who is fond OF travel This dream can be
realized by the person who is ths most successful in
the election contest started by the Erentno Telegram
This was followed by an announcement that the
forty-nino contestants who were next In tho
order Of correctness would be sent TO Washing
ton. free of charge, to SEQ the Inauguration. The
offer continues:
Tho following are the conditions Of tho coneesti
First-To the person estimating most nearly tho
plurality Of the popular vote of the successful Presi-
Dental candidate q trip around the world, free of all
expense from his or her home. will be given The ex-
pense OF the trip, including transportation In FIRST
class style, meals and hotel accommodations, guide
and Interpreters where needed. and all other things
necessary to q pleasant and comfortable trip viii DO
paid by the Evening Telegram.
Then follows tho second condition regarding
the forty.nine trips to Washington. Tho offer
continues;
All that the winner OF tho contest has to do In to
win and be ready to start on his journey on . given
date. The Evening Telegram will do the rest.
Then comes a vivid description of the wonders
to be seen on the route. which is to be from New
York to San Francisco, to Yokohama, to Hong
Kong, to Singapore. through the Straits Of
Malacca. the Indian Ocean, and the suez Canal
to Port Said. to Cairo, to Alexandria. through
the Mediterranean to Genoa, Paris. and London.
and then back to America. Every individual
guess, 1t should not be forgotten, was to be made
On q blank coupon clipped from Q copy of tho
Telegram
All that tho winner Of the contest had to do
was to win and DO ready to start on his journey
on q certain datei The only difficulty with this
was that the certain date" was not specified.
This did not occur to Mr.. Bass when he read the
offer. Being . young man and OF meagre e1-
perienoe in such matters, he actually believed
that the offer was made in good faith, and under
this impression earnestly set himself to win the
desired trip. To this end he purchased from
time to time TeleDrdns in large quantities, until
he had aggregated 80, 900 copies Of the paper.
Teleo, ans purchased In quantity may be had
astoundingly ~cheap-almost at the value of the
sheet-if one knows how to get them. Having
collected his SO. 700. Mr.. Bass set about flllng
in the coupons according to q Mathematical sys-
| tenn OF his own. So great was his faith In his
system that when the last coupon had been sent
In he said to his friends:
MAY as well bid me good.hy, boys. I'm
going to SEQ the world, and Jim Bennett pays
the freight"
1t did not occur to him that tho telegram
might not caro- to carry the matter any further,
having reaped its profit from the contest. As
has been stated, Mr.. Bass Is q young man and
no didn't understand freak journalism of that
variety so well then as he does now. After his
| coupons were in he went to Mexico. holding
himself in readiness. however. to return at any
time for the decentralization Of the globe. In
February. 1897, his confidence In his coupon
system was verified, as he learned that his cou.
pom naming Mckinley as the winner and 597.-
400 as the plurality was the nearest to the &C
tual figures. 697.3s9. although Mr.. Benefits
papers at first announced the award as going TO
another man on a coupon with tho figures 597,.
397. Mr.. Bass was put down as second in the
list. The other mans coupon, however. was
dated Nov. Q. while tho final date set for send.
ing in coupons was Oct. 81. Tho rest of the
story of BASES efforts is outlined in tho legal
papers in the case.
On learning of his success tho prospective
globe-trotter returned hastily from Mexico and
presented himself at the Telegram office to learn
about his trip. There he got some good advice:
to wait q while; not to be in too much OF a hurry.
together with the instructive and profitable, II
somewhat irrelevant. information that Rome
wasn't built In a day. Mr.. Bass didn't care
about the length of time consumed in the con-
struction of Rome. What he wanted was to get
to that city, or near 1t, at the TeIe0rdm's OK
pense. Persons in authority In the Telegram
Office gave him to understand that NO date for
the beginning Of tho trip had been specified. and
that he would do well to possess bis soul in
patience. Several times thereafter he returned
to tho charge and the telegram ofice, only to
meet with receptions of increasing brusqueness.
1t is set forth in his complaint, in a manner that
Is quito pathetic under the circumstances:
"That the plaintiff Is ready and willing and
AZ III LlLucb uNo DOcu ECaug Nv Wiling 10 uu-
dertake the trip around the world as aforesaid,
and on OF about the third day OF March. 1897.
and on divers other days duly demanded from
tho defendant that he DO provided with tho
transportation and other incidents to the trip
aforesaid, but tho defendant has wholly neg.
lected and refused TO do So"
In tho course of time Br. Bass became we airy
Of what promised to be a permanently station
airy condition and no remuneration for his sue
cessful guess and his outlay for 5000 valueless
Kilograms. 30 with great temerity he sued Mr..
James Gordon Bennett for $4,000. The sum-
mons was served on May u. and Mr.. John
with the telegram. There was u lapse OF over q
fortnight, SUFFICIENT for mails to go to Paris and
return, and on June B 1t WAS duly set forth
that
1.-THE defendant denies each and every allega-
ton in said complaint contained"
1t may be surmised that this was by ORDER
from tho overseer, but Mr.. Townshend Is a law
yer of experience, and 40 such saw the hopeless
state OF the case. Whether or not he communi-