The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-01-29
CHANCE HE DIDN'T COUNT.
instance In Which Newspaper Scoop
Was of No Account

Il never pick up a newspaper now
adays and read about one of the gei
OF the famous Domino winning a race
but it recalls the time / worked il q
newspaper Office" said an old-tinl
telegraph operator the other day. III
was back in the days when the great
Domino was the star 2-year-old of the
keene stable, and with one exception
was acknowledged as the greatest 2
year-old of the season. The excep
ton was Richard Croker's flyer DOB
bins. These two finally met in the Flu
turity and although the keene horse
won, with Dobbins third, the latter
owner was not satisfied with the re.
suit OF the race and match was quick.
~ arranged at the Futurity distance
for $4,000 a side. Now the paper
worked on was an evening paper,
and it was the sole object of the man
aging editors life to beat the oppo-
sltlon evening paper and get the news
OF great event like this on the street
first.
The other fellows had beaten us
good and hard on the Futurity story a
few days ago, and the boss made no
secret of the fact that he was going
to get hunk and in such manner as
to leave no doubt that he could beat
the other paper when he started out
to do it, Accordingly he laid all mis-
plans a day ahead, and although we
did not know at the time what they
were we felt sure by the way that he
strutted around the morning of the
race that he had the winning combna-
ton UP his sleeve. Along about noon
of that day he called me into his Of
flee and told me that as the match
race was the fifth on the program he
wanted me to have one of the other
operators take the result of the fourth
race. and he wanted me to get wire
in good working order and prepare to
get the result of the big race
A1'S' yIhiiS, went usual anu
| was kept busy taking the general
story of the crowd at the track and
the results of the first two races and
had almost forgotten about the match
race when the managing editor came
over to me and reminded me of his
instructions. He was a little bit of
n fnlJ
ever met. He couldn't keep still a
moment under ordinary circumstances
so you can imagine what a state he
was in when the fourth race was over
and took my place at the key to wait
for the big race to be run. One thing
that | noticed as l sat down was that
nearly all the compositors had left
their places, and while some had gone
out to get drink others were loung-
ing about the place. All this was 50
unusual that I asked one of them what
it meant, and when he told me knew
why the boss had given them all per-
mission to do as they pleased until he
got out the great beat on the other
paper.
Tho scheme was to have two press
es set and all ready to start. One of
them was to read in big scare type
'Dobbins Wins the Big Match Race
the other read just the same except
that Domino was in the first line in
stead of Dobbins. The Dobbins extra
was on press No. l and the Domino
extra on press No. .. Whichever horse
won the boss was to call out No. 1 or
No. :, and the press would be started
in quicker time than it takes to tell
it. Everything had worked to per-
lection up to that time, and it wanted
but one of the horses to win out The
great scoop.
Il smiled as | watched the boss
walking nervously about waiting for
the start, just like Il man would do
who had bet a couple thousand dol
lars.
Suddenly the key of the instrument
began to click, and the boss quickly |
stopped in his walk and looked anx-
iously at me, but /. only proved to be |
the operator at the other end testin,,
Learning this, the boss at once re |
sumed his walk up and down the room
but his steps were getting shorter and
it was apparent that he was working
himse'l int" suck a state that | bega |
20 wish that they would start soon for
it didn't seem possible that he could |
himself much longer. He
looked at me like a man who was sui
fering, so great was the strain on his
nerves. While | was Watching him
from the corner of my eye wondering
what would happen if the race wasn't
started soon, the key began to click
again. This time the horses were
on the way to the post. The next we
heard was that they were at the post
and would be off soon. This inform,-