The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-24
SENSATION MONGERs
Work of Correspondents Employed
by the Yellow Journals.
Philadelphia Record.

Philadelphia Record.
For forty-eight, hours the public nav
dacities in regard to the Maine catastrophe
which ought to be sufficient in their extent
and variety to satiate the appetite of the
most VoraciouS of sensation gObblers. The
first account from Havana was so appalling
in its brief details of destruction to mo-
mentarily subdue the most impudent and
daring inventors of lingo fiction into decent
silence. But they were not long in recover
ing, and the want of any facts indicating
a probable cause of the disaster afforded
them q rare opportunity for plying their
nefariouS vocation. Wherever there is a
strong demand there is a supply, and In the
midst of well-meaning, but for the most
part inane, efforts to solve the dreadful mys-
terry in advance of authentic inquiry the
traffickers in sensational falsehoods have
found q ready market for their wares
The first story, coming from Key West
almost simultaneously with the earnest re-
quest of Captain Sigsbee for a suspension
of public opinion, was that a dynamite
bomb had caused the explosion. Next APP
peared the authentic statement that a
torpedo had blown up the great ship, on
the authority of two divers who had d4scov-
cred the wire attached to the torpedo as
well as an "eightsinch hole in the armor
plate of the Maine. This was presented as
startling evidence of the existence of q
submarine mine, worked of course, with
the connivance of the Spanish military Of
ticials shore. 1t was nothing that the
secretary of the navy stated that no divers
had been near the ship and that no news
from Havana afforded the least color for
the monstrous fabrication 1t was nothing
that nearly all the officers on board the
Maine concur in the opinion that the disas-
ter originated within the ship.
Having, as was thought turned thes public
mind to the horrible conjecture that the
Spanish government had been guilty of this
Unreasonable crime against human and
divine laws, the next cry of the sensation
mongerS was for war and vengeance. In
rapid succession were spread the successive
reports that Consul General Lee had been
assasinated; that the cruiseWENew York had
been ordered to Havana; that a meeting of
the Cabinet had been called I'm great haste
on Thursday night; that Congress was In
session considering the question OF war, and
that regular troops and militia were to be
sent Immediately to Florida for the invasion
of Cuba-all false, and most of the state
ments extravagantly absurd. Yet the
strength of these stories Governors of
States have sent dispatches offering to the
President material and moral support in the
With some of the authors of these reports
the object was to influence the money and
produce markets and to pick up a few dol
lars in the decline Of prices others sought
to excite the passions of the American peo-
pie to the pitch of war in the belief that
Spain had committed crime against this
country and the laws of humanity, and with
some the motive was nothing more nor less
than the qualification of a constitutional
habit Of lying. In regard to this latter class
the veterans of the civil war remember too
well the sensational rumors with which
these dealers in fiction often filled the camp
to the great embarrassment OF the COM
handing general. In his Campaigning
with Grant" General Horace Porter relates
that a correspondent wrote to New York
that General Meade had advised a retreat.
At the instance Of General Grant the de-
faner was seized placards were put upon
his breast and back with the legend: "A
Liar of the Press and in this condition he
was mounted on horse and sent through
the camp. few such punishments would
make the trade of sensation mongering
tremely Unattractive.
In gratifying contrast with the indecent
and unpatriotic attempts TO excite popular
passions and drag the country into a war
with Spain is the calm yet firm attitude
of the masses of the American people and
Of their government and representatives at
Washington. Where the sensation mOngers
sought to incite a thirst for vengeance
they have produced a feeling Of profound
disgust. There is almost everywhere a dis
position to await the results of an official
investigation of the Maine catastrophe.
Should 1t turn cut, against all probability.
that the Spanish authorities were respon-
sible for the destruction of the ship and
of so many lives, there would be no
warrior Spain could not make war on such
an issue. IT would be an execution; and
Spain would not only be compelled to with
draw her troops from Cuba with trailed
arms but to abdicate her title to a place
among civilized nations.