Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-12
STORY OF A SCOOP.
One Practical Joke Which
Turned Out Wrong.
The Old Newspaper Days in WASH
ington.
Reporters Matched a Plot With a
Boomerang End.

Ieteh.lS entertained a few present day
reporters pv relating to them some of his
experiences of twenty-odd years age. At
that time. he said there were three daily
papers. including the defunct National
Republican and the Critic, and three or
lour SUNDAY papers. such as the Herald,
Gazette. and Chronicle. Connection was
sharp and the reporters were few and
| poorly paid.
Saturday afternoon and night were very
| busy times in local newspaperdom The
| boys were on the keen hunt for news to
| MI the Sunday columns, and every nook
and corner of Washington was secured
| Tor any stray item that might be obtained
Every trained reporter" said the old
| timer. knows the value of "A scoop. and
| there were few hardships he will not en-
dure to dig up "a good story and get
| ahead of the opposition sheet | do not
| recall that | ever received any pecuniary
| compensation for SCOOP for then. as
| now. city editors and managing editors
paid for those things by jollying the boys
| along, but the satisfaction of seeing two
columns in print which the other fellows
| failed to get was reward enough for the
reporter in my time
After the big assignments of the after
| noon were written and interviews with
congressman and distinguished visitors
were turned in on Saturday night, then
came the watch and hustle for late news.
The boys used to congregate at the old
guardhouse on louisiana avenue be
| tween Ninth and Tenth streets and man,
WIZ thC HtoiltS tOlu anu pTdctlcdl jokes
| INDUCED in by the reporters to pass away
| the time. Judge Christiancy, reporter
on the Critic, and John Doyle, who rep
resented the Sunday Herald. were the
other boys. among whom We're Billy West
| and John McCarty. the latter of the Bal
| Doyle, but it was a long time before any
| of the jokes planned were carried
| through.
! zone night I think in February dur
| ing storm when the streets We're ankle
| deep with slush. a plot was Matched
| against Doyle, which promised good re-
suits. 1t was raining, and a thick fog
was rolling up from the river, making a
% cock iPst ntb ev9ni an Ab@t
| came into the guardhouse. and very mys-
| terously held a short conversation with
| the desk sergeant. in which certain in
| formation, which he possessed, seemed to
| be confirmed. The judge cast a signiii-
| cant glance at John McCarty, as he went
| out and the latter proceeded to put on
| his oveEcoat and rubberS to join Chris
tiancy outside They were heard talking
| few seconds at the door when they
| hurried off together. | held a whispered
| talk of three or four minutes with the
| sergeant and also went out.
The others left one by one, and finally
| Billy West and Doyle were left alone in
] the room. Doyle was by this time get
/ ting restless. being sure that something
| was happening that he ought to know
about. West told him that he knew what
| the boys We're after. and added confiden-
| TALLY that some negro out in the first
ward had killed his wife. West stated
| that he had heard the bare fact early in
the evening and had written enough to
| cover 1t. because he did not feel like 60
| ing out there on such bad night
| Doyle bit the bait. and fearing that he
| would get left on some of the details
prepared for the long tramp through the
Vests account of the crime had been
purposely obscure. and Doyle knew al
most nothing. He had simply been
thrown off his guard by the departure of
the boys, as he thought, for the scene of
the murder. Doyle had his suspicious as
to who the guilty man was, and he pro-
ceeded by the most direct route to the
house of notorious negro in the vicin-
| ity of what is now r and Twenty-second
| streets. to investigate the story
| within half an hour the boys were all
back again in the guardhouse, having
gone only few squares away until Doyle
should be well out of sight. The weather
| was so bad that it should be said to the
| credit of those participating in the joke
| that they seriously considered going af-
ter him and bringing him back Some
| of Doyle's jokes however, We're recalled
and it was decided that the Herald MAI
| was getting no more than was coming
to him: About an hour later the boys
| went home chuckling over Johnnie
| Doyle's tramp out into the unsurveyed
| area of the northwest section.
| But nobody laughed the next morning
when the newsboys began to yell through
| the streets. Brutal murder on Twenty
second Street! All about how Jim Muir
ply killed his wife, Murphy was an I'M
| ruly mulatto, who lived in an old house
| on the borders of civilization in those
| days. and for some time he had given
trouble to the police. He had been ar
| rested several times for beating his wife.
and on this particular night he had gone
home in an ugly mood and had killed the
| woman. Doyle suspected him from the
moment he heard that murder had been
| committed in that quarter of the city. He
had gone patiently over the Intervening
miles of mud and slush, and had been re-
warded by the story of the winter
| perhaps some of you can tell by what
| action of mental telepathy or some other
| 'pathy practical joke had been invent
| ed by the boys in the guardhouse to fit
| exactly into circumstances happening
| about the same time, but of which none
| of them knew a thing. The facts as told
| to Doyle came out literally true both as
| to the happening and the location. He
| had two columns of the narrowing de
| tails of the tragedy in the Sunday Her
aid and he had not faxed word of it.
| The boys had simply scooped themselves
and some of us had a hard time squaring
ourselves with our respective papers next
day.
Il remember another instance in which
a scoop nearly cost one of the New York
correspondents his position. The cores
pondent of the New York Herald who
had been in his position for several years
was noted for the fidelity with which he
could write up the details of executive
sessions in the United States Senate He
knew most of the senator's and was so
well versed in the regula ton work of
Congress that he could set down very ac-
curately the doingS of any given eXecu-
tive session in the upper House.
''One night the New YOrk<World CORE
Spondent. who had not been here long
and who was personal friend of the
Herald man, came to him in some distress
of mind saying that he had been unable
to get line on the executive session of
the Senate that night al the Capitol. The
Herald man knew. or thought he did
that no executive session had been held
that night. and he quietly smiled to him
self, thinking that he would play little
joke on his friend. Accordingly he die
tated column and a half of the pro-
ceedinSs of the executive session which
he supposed was slated for two days aft
erward.
When it was finished the Herald man
told his friend of the World that there
had been no executive session of the Sem
ate that day, and that he had better hold
the story until the thing came off The
World man, however, was certain that
there had been such a session, and he
teiegraphed the story to New York 1t
turned out that the senators did hold
their session that night secretly, and that
the New York World was the only pa
per in the United States that had a line
about 1t. The CONSERVATION of the Her
aid man was complete the next day when