The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-18
THE CENSOR AT KEY WEST.
Sharper Than a Fox and Up tOsAIl
the Reporters Games.

From the New York Tribune.
Key West. May 1.-THE cable Office in
Key West has recently been the most in
teresting spot on the island The most
important man by all odds here is the cen
ing, two stories high, with large cocoanut
palms growing on either side. The palms
spread their great branches. above the
building and form a perfect arch over the
red-tiled roof. 1t is only few yards from
the door to the government dock. In fact,
1t is only few yards from amy place on
the island to the water, and when the
tide is at the highest the sea sets back
through most of the streets. leaving q
white fringe of salt along the cutters.
Up through the narrow streets which
lead from the wharf to the cable office
some exciting races have taken place dur
ing the last few weeks. When the news
paper dispatch boats come in from the
Gulf they always land as near the cable
office as possible, and when correspondents
land at the same time the race for the
cable office is more interesting than any
steeplechase ever run. Some of Them otter
a long cruise, go staggering and Keeling on
their sea legs like drunken men. Others
are weak from seas,ckness, and sun others
are limping from bruises received from be-
ing pitched about by the rough sea. But
sickness and bruises are forgotten when
land is reached and every effort is put
forth to be the first to "file copy" If it
be late at night five seconds gained in
the race from the dock 10 the cable office
may mean an exclusive story for one of the
great newspapers in the North Gable
transmission is necessarily slower than
sending over land wires, and the CORE
spondent who files 5000 words al midnight
is pretty sure that no other paper will be
able to get anything for it's morning edi-
lion from Key West that night.
But after the copy has been filed the
correspondent trouble is not at an end.
Every word of it must be read and passed
upon by the censor. No matter how much
time, hardship or expense it has required
to get the story, II, in the judgment of the
censor, it ought not to be printed, it cam
not be sent. If 1t gives any Information
as to the movements of the fleet or the
army it cannot go.
There are something like $50 newspaper
correspondents in Key West, and, while
most of them appreciate the wisdom of the
government censorship of news, some of
them have grown impatient in their eager
ness to tell the interesting stories that are
to be told, and have tried all manner of
ingenious schemes for getting their copy
past the censor. Usually, however all
plans have been detected, and the appa-
rently innocent or stupid dispatch has been
returned to the writer with mo" written
in red ink across it.
The most trying period for the CORE
spondents was the day the fleet started
on It's cruise eastward. Every newspaper
man in Key West knew that the great bat
tleships were steaming away from before
Havana in quest of big Spanish game.
Eve was IN he lint
not a word would the censor permit to
pass. From a hundred papers in the
North came the query, Has the fleet
started?" Even the answer, yes" to this
inquiry was not permitted to go. Some of
the correspondents had arranged a cipher
code with their home offices, but the code
was useless. Everything that had the APP
pearance of cipher-everything that was
not absolutely plain and explainable-was
stopped.
One correspondent worked out a plan
which he thought would give the desired
information to his paper, but he failed.
Early in the morning he filed dispatch,
the first line reading as follows: 1.-THE
newspaper fleet sailed this morning to-
ward Porto Rico" An hour later he went
to file a personal note to his editor, read
ipg:l" Correcton-Omit second word in last
dispatch" When he handed in the second
message the censor met him at the recev-
ing desk and with a quizzical smile,
handed back the first dispatch, with these
words written across it: IAN fleets look
alike to me-"
The censor has had some amusing ex-
periences with other than the newspaper
men. Repeated he has held up private
messages. which he believed to be cipher
dispatches for newspaper use. The pro-
prietor of one OF the gambling rooms here
cabled North for a new roulette wheel.
He gave full description of the kind and
size of board he wanted, and requested an
immediate answer. After waiting twenty
four hours without receiving any reply. he
went to the cable office to see if his mes
sage had been sent He found that The
censor had held it. The censor apologized
and let the message go through. An
answer came back within a few hours. and
the proprietor had a bright new roulette
table within a week
The censor, however Is greatly liked
by the newspaper men, and spends most of
his time chatting with them on the great
porch OF the Key West hotel He is an
officer Of the regular army, and simply
discharges faithfully and well the duty
assigned to him. Such Of the correspond
ents ais have attempted to send nothing
bur verified and undisguised facts have
Jared best "a his hands.