The herald., 1898-06-19
CENSOR'S BLUE PENCIL THE BUGABOO
Lieutenant J. D. Mey, Of the Fifth United States Artillery
the Most Sworn at Individual at
Key West

KEY WEST, June 12.-(Specal to The
Herald) If the recording angel is not
treating war correspondents with leniency
and overlooking their use of language not
in accordance with Sunday school bring
ing up, there will be long black catalogue
against them during the time they have
been at Key West. The cause of it all is
q good looking gentleman, wearing the uni
form of a first lieutenant in the Fifth
United States artillery. and armed with
nothing more formidable than a huge blue
pencil, sharpened at both ends.
The good looking individual is Leuten-
ant ]. d. Miley, aide to General Shafter,
and the first man to occupy the newly Gre
ated position of censor of newspaper dis
patches. If the people of the United States
could only see what glorious war news
.hey are missing in consequence of the
ruthless blue pencil of Lieutenant Miley
having denied it transmission over the
wires, there would be an anti-censor cru
sade organized in short order The sleep
less nights and anxious days that have been
rendered fruitless by the elimination from
the news dispatches of the information
that required so much work to- get: the
splendid "beats" that elated the scribe as
nothing else in the world can, and have
never been transmitted to the offics where
center the hopes of the war correspond
ent who obtained the news by irccssant
wa,chfulness and the practicing of ali the
arts and wiles known to the craft; the
despotic authority exercised by the censor
who decides what is information that may
60 and what is not leaving the result If
the reporters work a mere lottery. These
are the things that eat into the souls of the
scribes who toll here. and make them pray
that the arm of the censor may fail pow
erless at his side the next time he attempt
to blue pencil their best paragraphs.
There is no remedy. 1t may be asked by
these net familiar with the rules of the
censorship: "Why not send the dispatch by
mail, and circumvent the tendish purpose
CT the censor?" Alas, the penalty for print
ing anything that has not been censored
is so terrible that no one dares to send any
thing to the office of the newspaper he
serves un,ess the censor assumes the re-
sponsibility of saying htat 1t Is In accord
ance with the ideas of the government re-
garding what is and what is not allowable
II news gets into the respective paper If the
correspondents here that is known 70 haze
ccme from Key West in defiance Of the
censor, the newspaper offending will he
shut eff from the privilege extended to the
members Of the press, which means that
the meager chance he has of getting news
through will be gone, and ne might as well
pack m and be gone for all the good he
will do here.
So strict Is the censorship that not even
illustrations can be sent through without
the official 20 X" of Lieut.. Miley affixed
to the drawing. The accompanying sketch,
which was made by your artist, William
Bengough, shows the awful lieutenant at
work on a reporters manuscript After
: Mr.. Bengough had sketched the censor he
had to take the drawing to him to receive
the official mark, which is shown at the
foot before 1t could be sent through the
mails. Imagine the feelings of the artist
who had to submit to the original Of his