The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-09-05
4 NEWSPAPER SCOOP
,,ow IT WAS OBTAINED WITHOUT
nv ANY DEPARTMENT LEAK.

Information of Which
SOU ,,ort and Quick Witted Corre-
ondent Is Always Ready 10 rake
.,;mate Advantage.
arr4rv once in awhile one reads in
=, newspapers of the determination
tne one of the high government
VI ,oIs N discover the source OF the
olii ,., Of = niece of news which it was
ie' desired should be given out at that
~. .;o,lor time" remarked an old
Rl~ raIiton correspondent, land with
"4' ,;,.ino the solution to the secret
wv aones of public information, as they
eorr will tell you of one instance
. I serves to show how news APP
noars in print in what is considered by
r, concerned to be a very mysterious
arror Like all mysteries, when un-
rorpled II is wondered that it was not
.,'a,,cbt of before. My story is en-
.iroly = part of the secret sources of
,rformation which all correspondents
haro more or less at their disposal
and which often comes from the out
";ao and not from the inside of the
departments.
1son,e time ago-the precise time is
.o+ essential to the story-a very i'm
nortont public matter was up for de-
.ormination by the president. All of
+be largor metropolitan dailies were
particularly interested, as it did not
hove 70 do especially with Washing
ION and the entire correspondents
world at the capital was on the 'qui
vive TO get it, including myself. All
channels which were usually tapped
nv tle initiated were found to be as
barren as a desert stream in midsum-
mer Telcgrams from the home offices
nourcd into our various bureaus here
couched in imperative language that
+be news must be obtained, evidently
in tbe belief that all correspondents
have ia do is to go out, ask officials
for fine desired information and re-
ceive it. coupled with good cigar and
a bottle of wine. AS matter of fact,
when officials wish to keep secret
piece of information, all possible loop
holes Of escape are securely padlocked,
and it is the exception that it gets out.
Il had about given up hope of secur
inc a beat in this particular instance,
though I was, of course, as vigilant as
ever. The time for the maturing of the
project was close at hand, and any day
it might by official announcement be-
come public property. One night as l
was sitting idly in the lobby of an up
town hotel. half doing in my chair,
waiting for the appearance of senator
with whom had an appointment on an
matter, overheard one
of two gentlemen who were sitting be-
hind me drop the words the president
The high backs of our chaiys nearly
touched. and by instinct my drowsy
senses became clear and woke up.
1.-The president remarked one of the
gentlemen, said that it was his inten-
ton to adopt that course irrespective
of the consequences either to himself or
the party
"'But you pointed out to him what it
meant to us-that he was clearly in err
ror" replied the other gentleman.
Elaborately,' responded the first
speaker, but the president said that he
was convinced that accruing results
would prove that we, and not he, were
in error
"'rhen we may as well go back to
New York tomorrow was the answer,
and both gentlemen arose and walked
toward the cafe, apparently in very
respondent frame of mind.
Il was an involuntary listener to this
scrap of conversation, in which, it will
be observed, not single word was
dropped as to the subject matter there
of. at once jumped to the conclusion
thai the government, through the presi-
dents action, intended to take the af-
tirmatiye of the proposition, the news
side Of which the correspondents had
50 long and earnestly endeavored to
ascertain. With straight tip as to the
N"H'N' VI tuC luc SOlA
spondcnt could do the rest, while with
the wrong tip he could not only make
his paper ridiculous, but would in all
probability lose his position; hence the
care in making a scare head, page wide
story.
In the furtherance of my conclusion
my paper had the beat of the season
the following morning, as l stated the
facts as though they came from official
sources, as, indeed, such | considered
them. To my mind, as correspondent,
II was as clear as if the president him.
SELF had given me the information. Two
days after a member of the cabinet
gave out officially what | had wired
over and with it the announcement that
The leak had occasioned much annoy
ance. and its source would be investi-
gated thoroughly 1t is here given cor
reeIly for the first time" Washington
Star.
1OOt THAT Al kAnCT TAI KC