The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-15

CENSOR AT KEY WEST
EXPERIENCES OF CORRESPONDENTS
WITH THE GOVERNMENT EDITOR.
GAIL Fleets Look Alike" to Him-No
Ciphers PermissibIe-Race When
Dispatch Boats Come In.
Copyright, 1898, by the Associated Press.)

Copyright, 1885, by the Associated Press.)
KEY WEST, Fla, May IL, (by letter to
New York 1.-THE cable Office in Key West
since the world became interested in war
talk, has been the most interesting spot on
the island. The most interesting, the most
important man, by all odds here, is the CEN
sor. One naturally comes to associate the
two together. The cable Office is a small
brick building two stories high, with large
cocoanut palm growing on either side. The
palms spread their great fronds above
the building and form a perfect arch over
the red-tiled roof Great clusters of cocoa
nuts are suspended from the green arch,
and all day swing and rustic in the swarthy
leaves whenever the lazy south wind comes
up from the harbor. 1t is only few yards
from the door of the cable office to the gov
eminent dock. In fact, it is only a few
yards from any point on the island to the
water, and when the tide is at the highest
point the sea sets back through most of the
streets and leaves white fringe of salt
along the cutters when the tide goes out and
salt-soaked earth dries
Up through the narrow streets which lead
from the cable Office to the wharf some very
interesting and exciting races have taken
place during the past few weeks When
the newspaper dispatch boats come in from
the gulf they always land as near to the
cable office as possible, and when CORE
spondents land at the same time the race
for the cable Office is more interesting than
any steeple chase ever run. Some of them.
after long cruise, go staggering and reel
ing on their sea legs like drunken men.
Others are weak from sea sickness, and still
others are limping from bruises received
from being pitched about in the rough sea.
But sickness and bruises are forgotten when
land is reached and every effort put forth to
be the first to file copy" If it be late at
night, five seconds gained in the race from
the dock to the cable Office may mean an
exclusive story for one of the great dailies
in the North. Cable transmission is neces-
sa:ily slower than sending by overland
wires, and the correspondent who files 5000
O words at midnight i is pretty sure that no
for its morning edition from Key West that
night But after the copy has been filed
the correspondents trouble is not at an end.
every every word of 1t must be read and passed
upon by the censor. No matter how much
time, hardship or expense it has required
10 get the story. II, in the judgment of the
censor, it ought not to be printed, il cannot
be sent. If it gives any information as to
the movements Of the fleet or the army it
There are something like $50 newspaper
correspondents in Key West, and while
government censorship of news matter,
some of them have grown impatient in their
eagerness to tell the interesting stories that
are to be told and have tried all manner of
ingenious schemes for getting matters past
the censor Usually, however all plans
have been detected by the censor, and the
apparently innocent or stupid dispatch has
been returned to the writer with mo"
written in red ink across it.
spondent was on the day the fleet started
on its cruise eastward Every. corre-
spondent in Key West knew that the great
battle ships were steaming away from be-
fore Havana in quest of the big Spanish
game. Every newspaper man was eager to
send the story, but not a line, 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
mitted to go. Some of the correspondents
had arranged a cipher code with their home
Offices but the code was useless. Every
thing that had the appearance of a cipher,
everything that was not absolutely plain
and explainable was stopped. One CORE
spondent worked out a plan which he
thought would give the desired information
to his paper, but he failed. Early in the
morning he filed a dispatch, the first line
reading as follows:
"The newspaper feet sailed this morn
Ing towards Porto Rico"
An hour later he went to file a personal
neSSage to his editor reading:
"Correction-Omit second word in last dis
patch"
When he handed in the last dispatch the
censor met him at the receiving desk, and
with kindly smile handed back the first
dispatch, with these words written
across it:
"All fleets look alike to me-"
The censor has had some very amusing
experiences with others than the newspa-
per men. Repea tedly he has been severy
rebuked for holding up private messages
which he believed to be cipher dispatches
for newspaper use. The proprietor of
one Of the gambling rooms cabled North
the other day for new roulette wheel. He
gave full description of the kind and size
OF board he wanted, and requested an inn
mediate answer. After waiting twenty-four
hours without receiving any reply he went
to the cable office to see if his message had
been sent. He found that the censor had
held it up. believing it to be a cipher mes
sage to a newspaper. The censor apollo
gized and let the message go through. An
answer came back within a few hours and
the proprietor had a bright new roulette
table within week The censor. however.
is greatly liked by the newspaper men, and
spends most of his time in 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 duties assigned to him from Washing
ton Such of the correspondents as have at
tempted to send nothing but verified and
undisguised facts have Jared best at his