The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11
WITH A YELLOW JOURNAL
SOME OF THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCES
OF A YOUNG HARVARD MAN.
Devices by Which Reporters Obtain
Photographs of Reluctant VIC
tims-Other Shady Tricks.

himself, as he finished the letter. II wish
could have a good long talk with him
once more" Then he turned to me.
Mr.. Curtis he said, do you suppose
you could get job in dry goods store,
anywhere in this city?'
IF you cam" he continued, 81 earnestly
advise you to take it, or any other position
! you can get, rather than come into this
| business. / can-if you are determined II
| you have made up your mind-I can. as
Jameson says. get you into it. / can take
| you up to the city editor there. and In an
hour you will be on the street looking for
photograph of some poor woman who has
given birth to triplets or tried to drown
herself If it happen TO be the latter, you'll
be expected to write of her as beautiful
Teresa O'Flaherty weary of life, and in
vent love story for her. But you'll learn
it all soon enough.
IL have been in this business as many
years you have been on earth.' he went
on, after short pause, in which 1 said
nothing. land / have been, think | may
say more than ordinarily successful.
have served in every capacity from cub
| reporter to managing editor, and knowing
the business as L do, earnestly advise
| you to take any work that chance may
offer rather than this. 1t is the only pro-
fession know of in which mans use
| fulness ceases just about the time he has
mastered his trade. These young fellows
around here call me the old man., the
| doctor and the professor They mean it
kindly enough, to be sure, but know what
it signifies. A man over forty-five is of
no use on such papers as this. If he is
all is
small-salaried sinecure. l amor L was
ar 0 o'clock last night-in good standing.
For all L know there may be dlscharSe
notice in that box for me now: II there
is what is there for me TO do! Nothing
but go up 10 the city editor and ask Tor
an assignment the same as yourself 1oa
needn't look surprised. Such an lnc1den:
would cause no comment in the once. Ii
is rare for a man to hold one of the
higher positions more than six months,
and when he loses 1t he begins as re-
porter. 1 was Sunday editor or a chicago
paper for year one time, and II was SO
unusual that everybody about the paper
was making bets from week 10 week as TO
whether I'd last until the next sunday.
GLOOMY PREDICTION.
81 have little hope that you'll heed what
L say. When L went into it, l was advised
in just the same way, but could not bear
to follow the plodding routine which falls
to the lot of the beginner in other profess
sions L know just how you feel. You
want the excitement You want the now
city, You want to meet famous people.
You want to be in the whirlpool of events.
Well, you'll have it all, but you'll swallow
it with dust and ashes all the same.
This reception was hardly what L ex-
pected. Nevertheless, L didn't back out.
The two years since left college had been
passed as private in the Cuban war, and
as a sort of knockabout on tramp steam
WI around
world. l had an uncomfortable feeling
| that my people were beginning to look on
me as ne er-do-wen, and l. was anxious
I to settle down III permanent occupation.
| My choice of a yellow" journal came not
| from any preference, but from the fact IL
was the only one which offered an 1mmed1-
| ate opening. / didn't konw then what
| constituted the essential characteristics of
| yellow journalism, nor what sacrifices
| OF self-reSpect IL eXacted from It's devotes.
| My first assignment was TO get a story
about a mysterious wedding ceremony that
had taken place on ferryboat crossing
| the river between two States. The name
] OF the minister, the time of the ceremony
late at night-had already been published.
| L was to supply the names of the wedding
| party and their reasons for so unique
| ceremony, and most important of all, get
| their photographs. l failed utterly. The
minister refused fatty to tell the names
| of the party, and L could so no farther.
| L was made to feel that this failure put
me under a cloud. For several days L was
kept at the work known as "hustling for
pictures
| Pictures were the ruling passion of the
Yellow Planet The city editor would
/ break all the ten commandments to get a
| picture to adorn story, and he expected
| his reporters TO be ready to do the same.
| ''Picturesi Picturesi! Pictures!,!' he
| would say TO each reporter as he gave out
| the assignments. A story too trivial in it
| self to be printed would find space if
| picture accompanied it, story in which
| the facts took only two lines of space
would be accompanied by picture two
| columns wide.
IN THE ART DEPARTMENT.
One day the city editor sent me out to get
| a photograph of a fifteen-year-old girl who
had run away to become an actress. you
know the bluff we put up in case like
that" he said. interrogatively, as l turned
to go. Tell the mother that the police de-
| partment has requested it, and persuade
her that If we print picture it will aid in
| finding the child Another time he said.
| eff they don't want to give you the picture
| of the bride, tell them already have
picture in the office, but it's an old. rather
| homely tintype. and we'd much prefer to
have a good picture. That bluff generally
| works.
| To go to a friend of the original of
coveted photograph and tell plausible
story about being sent by the original to
get photograph because the latter had no
| more left was device used almost daily
! and often with much success. The profess
| sional photographers of the city had been
Vctimized so often by false pretense, and
| by the bribing of their employees, that they
were on their guard, and only few of the
| less reputable ones could be depended on to
| furnish copies of photographs in their pos
/ Sc ssion.
| Late one night an old reporter, who was
| lounging about the local room, after writ
| ing his story, took me under his wing and,
| in a spirit of benevolent helpfulness to a
| beginner. gave some pointers that were
| truly enlightening. He was the star man
| of the paper. His associates spoke of him
| as a smooth guy with wonderful ability
in gum shoe stunts" Translated. this
| meant that he was a skilful liar and was
| good at accomplishing tasks that required
| deception and secrecy. He was a middle
| aged man. corpulent, with gray hair and
| a benevolent countenance- Twenty-Five
| years of perpetual false pretense had failed
| to rob his features of an appearance of
| frankness which won the confidence of
| everyone he approached. His whole ap-
| pearance suggested the middle aged bank
| er, lawyer, doctor, minister, or any other
| of the many characters he often assumed,
| rather than the typical reporter. A dis
tinguished bearing, impressive manner,
| glib tongue and smattering knowledge
| of everything under the sun, enabled him
| to deceive all but the most astute-
A SKILLFUL LIAR.
This matter of getting pictures is an art
| in ITSELF he said. Every case requires a
different method If some kid has done a
e.