, 1898-11-26
THE SIEGE OF PARIS.
HOW LONDON FIRST LEARNED THAT
IT HAD ENDED.

Story of the Reporter Who Got the
"scoop" and Who Then Induced
Bismarck to Allow Him to Send Out
the News Over His Private Wire.
During the Franco-G erman war, from
Oct. 10. 1870, to March !, 1871, 1 was
attached to the headquarters of the
crow prince, whu occupied ali unas-
Stunning little villa called Les Ombragos,
in an outskirt OF Versailles, his august
father residing throughout the invest
ment and siege of faris in the prefecture
Of the whiI3m "royal bu1gh," and
Count Bismarck, with his staff of coun.
cilors and secretaries. in a detached
house of the Rue de Provence. l often
met the chancellor out of doors, walk
ing or riding, during that long and bit
ter winter, but sedulously refrained
from soliciting audiences, being well
aware that the visits of a war CORE
spondent, who had everything to ask
and nothing to tell, could not possibly
be welcome 10 so desperately overwork-
ed . statesman as Bismarck.
BY what means I need moi explain in
this place, l had been made acquainted
with the precise terms of the capituIa-
ton of Paris at an early hour of the
morning after the conclusion of the
armistice, and had, moreover, good rea.
son to believe shat the conditions of the
surrender had not been communicated
to any other correspondent of an Eng
lish or even . German newspaper at
headquarters. Having obtained the su.
premely important item of news, what
was ! to do with it? Unless it could be
forthwith transmitted to The Daily Tel
egraph office by telegraph, my chances
Of forestalling my fellow correspondents
would be annihilated, and there was 10
wire at my disposal-or, for that mat
ter, at that of any foreign journalist
within the vast radius Of the lines of
investment.
The situation appeared an utterly
hopeless one, until suddenly the hap
piest Of ''happy thoughts" flashed
through my mind. Perhaps the all pow.
erful chancellor, newly created a prince
Of the young German empire, would
authorize the transmission to London
Of my dispatch over his WI official
wire. by means of which he was zen
rapport with every European capital
except b%eleaguered Paris. There was no
time to lose. Before 8 a. m. | had taken
down the articles of capitulation from
the lips of my informant, within half
an hour l had copied them out, "large,
bold and handsome" on two pages of
fp01cCup aud hol ,uala p,,-,1f prnp,,t,
BILE.
At O'Clock l presented myself at the
street door Of the house in the Rue de
Provence and sent up my card to Coun-
cilor Lothar Butcher, with a penciled
request that he would allow me to speak
to him in private. Almost Immediately
he came down to the waiting room on
the ground floor, into which l had been
shown, and asked me what he could do
for me. Can you procure me a five
minutes audience Of the prince;" l re-
piled. II don't know" was the rejoin-
der, "but III try. The chancellor is ex-
tremely busy, but perhaps he'll see you
II you can assure III that the matter is
really urgent" l declared tina. for me
it could not possibly be more SO, where
upon Butcher left mel confess, in a
fever Of anxiety-and was absent for
about a quarter Of an hour, at the ex-
piration of which he r%cappeared and
beckoned to me to follow him up stair
In an ey boudoir on the first fioCr
converted into q sort of office l fourd
the chancellor awaiting me. After the
briefest Of greetings he said, PRAY, tell
what you want in the fewest posi-.
BILE words. for l have no a moment to
lose." I produced ny dispatch, handed
it to him and asked him if it was sub
stantially correct.
After looking through it he answered.:
Eyes. it is. don't know how you got
your information, and l don't intend to
ask, but these are the terms Oh which
Paris s%urrenders. What them When
l besought his permission to forward
the message over his wire, he laughed
rather grimly, saying, "You must be
mad to ask such "A thing!"
I urged upon him hat the tension of
public feeling in England with respect
to the fate { Paris vas very painful
many peoples sympathy being tempo
rarily averted from Germany by harrow
ing accounts of the sutferings undergone
by the population of the French CAPT
tai. "That tension would be considera-
bly, relieved, SIR" replied, ''by the
knowledge that the siege Of Paris il
come to an end and that the victors
have accorded merciful terms to the
vanquished." Prince Bismarck held out
against my importantly for about u
couple Of minutes, but he yielded at
last, only STIMULATING that l should
efface my name ut the end Of the dis
patch.
ION no account cal l allow you to
sign a message sent over my wire. If
your people in London do not believe it
to be authentic when it reaches them,
that il their affair. But it must GO un-
signed or not ut all" 1t did go unsign-
ed; it was accepted as authentic, aud
its publicati IN that very afternoon in a
special edition of The Daily Telegraph
proved to be one of the greatest journal
istio comps effected by any London
during the Franco German
wAr.-London Telegraph.
naKpiPe Music.
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