Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-06-15
CAUGHT IN A TRAP.
How a Pilfering Newspaper Was Recently
Exposed.


AS has already been stated, the COM
petition between the New York news
papers is exceedingly fierce. There is,
perpaps, no other line of business in
existence in which the competition is
fercer.
The New York public is very intel
ligent. 1t is keenly alive to passing
events, and for its information looks
to the newspapers. What it wants
is the most correct news at the earli-
est possible moment. There is no SEN
timent about the matter with New
Yorkers. They fully recognize news
as commodity, and they buy the pa
pers that have most of it to sell. Ap-
probation of this fact stirs the news
papers to their utmost endeavors, and
this is where the fierce competition re-
ferred to comes into play.
All the big New York papers have
correspondents scattered all over the
world. Some of these correspondents
are specials, while others have general
commissions at so much per column
for such of their matter as might be
used. The war, of course, has neces-
STATED the sending out of scores of
specials, and the big New York news
papers follow up the movements of the
navy with from one to a half dozen
dispatch boats each, and the army
with scores of correspondents.
Some of the papers, in fact most of
them, are honest about the matter,
and will not appropriate the news of
the other papers without due credit.
No paper objects to the use of its mat
ter by another, provided due credit is
given. But other papers are not so
particular. Seeing in a rival news
paper an important piece of news
which may have been sent by a special
correspondent, some of the papers
make it a practice to steal such news
outright and palm it off as its own.
The fercest competition in New
York is between The World and The
Journal. The Journal has the largest
and most efficient corps of correspon-
dents in the field and collects the larg-
est amount of news. The World,
however, does a great deal of blowing
as to its achievements, and for some
time there has been reason on the part
of the other papers that it has been
stealing news from all of them, especi-
ally from The Journal. And here be-
gins the story. To test the matter,
last Wednesday, The Journal set a
trap for The World. In its afternoon
edition it printed the following:
Colonel Reflipe w. Thenuz, an Aus
trian artillerist of European renown, who,
with Colonel Ordonez, was defending the
land batteries of Aguadores and the ar
to Santiago, was so badly wounded that
he has since died. Colonel Ordonez's in
juries will not prove fatal"
Next morning The World came out
with the following paragraph, alleged
to have been sent by its special cor
respondent on board the Three Friends,
off Santiago, by way of Port Antonio,
Jamaica, and marked copyrighted:
Colonel R. w. Thenuz, an Austrian
artillerist, well-known throughout Eu-
rope, who, with Colonel Ordonez, was
defending the land batteries of Aguado-
res, was so badly wounded in the bonn
bardment Of Monday that he has since
died. He performed many acts of con-
spicuous gallantry. Colonel Ordonez was
injured, too, but he was able to continue
fighting and encouraging his men,"
In its issue of Friday morning The
Journal explained fully how The World
had swallowed the bait. 1t explained
that all of its original paragraph was
correct except that relating to the
Austrian colonel, there being no such
man. Then it went on to show the
matter up more fully this way {:
"Refipe w." was intended to be read
backward, thus: ave pilfer," and
Thenuz, in plain spelling, meant "The
news" making The World confess in
its columns: ave pilfer the news"
1t was a pretty hard lick on The
World but it did not stop there. The
Associated Press also bit at the bait,
in the dispatches sent out to the papers
on Thursday there was statement to
the effect that the celebrated Austrian
artillerist, "Thenuz" had died from
the effects of his injuries.
The incident, of course, is not with
out value. 1t is calculated to make
all the papers be more careful in their
stealings and try to stick more closely
to what they know to be facts. 1t is
a hard lick on The World especially,
but that paper got no more than it
deserved. A newspaper that will steal
what costs another labor and money
to procure would, if it had the oppor-
tunity, steal that labor and money
even before it had been turned into
news, and when the public is satisfac-
torily apprised Of such dishonesty, it
is not slow to visit, so far as it can, the
same punishment it visits on other
thieves.