Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-16

front, they put spurs to their horses and
galoped straight for the town, taking
bitches, fences and other distractions as
they went. AS they c!attered up the main
street it suddenly dawned upon them that
Colonel Huling had not yet reached the
town. and, more disquieting still, they sud
denly caught glimpses of the Spanish troops
entering it from the rear. They pulled uI
their painting horses and were in guam
dairy as to the best course to pursue. Be
fore they could decide the situation relieved
itself In less time than it takes to tell ii
they were surrounded by the terror-stricken
inhabitants, who rushed into the streets
waving handkerchiefs, tablecloths, and even
uncomfortable articles of apparel anything
in fact, that was white, in token of their
submission. They mstook the correspon-
dents for the advance of the American cav
airy. The Spanish troops, who were in a
state of panic. were also seized with the
same idea, and believing they had been
caught between two fires they threw down
their guns and surrendered. The town of
Coamo and several hundred Spanish infan-
try, therefore, actually surrendered to five
newspaper correspondents. When the cor
respondents realized what had happened
they FASTENED to the alcaldes residence,
pulled down the Spanish flag and divided it
between them then and there.
War News in Washington.
But the reporting of a war does not rest
entirely upon the shoulders of the war cor
respondents in the field. 1t entails just as
much vigilance at home, especially for
paper like The Evening Star, printed at the
seat of government, where all the Official
reports of the commanders in the field are
received. AS a matter of fact advance in
formation of every big event in the Spanish
war reached Washington before the details
arrived from the correspondents at the
front.
Many big scoops were scored here by The
Star and other papers through the personal
and confidential relations which existed be-
tween newspaper men and cabinet or other
high officials of the government AS was only
natural, all sorts of schemes were adopted
to secure information, some of them repre-
hensible, it must be confessed, and excusa-
ble if excusable at all, only because of the
fierce rivalry which existed. AS all the in
formation reached Washington over the
telegraph it was from this source that most
of the leaks occurred. One big metropoli-
tan daily employed an old telegraph opera
tor who could read dispatches as they were
licked off by the instruments, and for weeks
he sauntered around the corridor of the
Navy Department near the telegraph room
listening to the messages as they were re-
ceived and sent. Most of the messages
were in cipher, but many were not and the
substance of a good many found their way
prematurely into the daily above referred
to. The source of the leak was at last sus-
pected and clever trap was set One day
the operator inside having received the tip
that the Suspect" was standing in the hall
near the door, quickly disconnected his in
strument from the wire and clicked off the
following message:
LONDON, June Day, Secretary of
State, Washington Hong Kong reports
that Manila has surrendered to Dewey
(SigneD HAY"
The bait worked. The next day the first
page of the metropolitan daily was covered
with the startling news that Manila had
surrendered. This was two months before
the town actually fell to General Merritt
The correspondent was overwhelmed with
congra lula lions by his paper, but his ex-
ultation was later turned to deepest morti-
flea ton.
Enterprise of The Evening Star
1t was at the War and Navy Departments
In this city that all the official reports of
the operations of the army and navy were
secured by the vigilant and sleepless news