The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1903-01-15
he SPOILED HIS STORY


NhlNl NJ OlutT NEWS
writer Is aware Of, the reporter is will.
ing 10 go sleepless and foodless and
10 undergo all kinds Of perls In order
tnat by all means he may get his piece
OF cSc'usive news.
such a man was Ezra Hemming,
VINO worked on western paper-on,
OF the Kind which would now be de.
nominated as "yellow"-and frequent
~ thrilled his town with startling sto-
rles OF fact. Hemming had a reputa-
ton for alertness which was second
10 none, and as he had large circle
OF friends who made 1t their business
10 INFORM him upon privately known
aifairs, he was seldom at the short end
OF an exclusive" story. One day John
J3oyd, who was sheriff of the county,
captured a horse thief who was badly
wanted by community in the int.
rlor OF the state. The deputy from the
county, the officials Of which were af.
ter the thief came down to the metro
polls, and in his cpn, ersation with
Boyd intimated that there would be a
lynch'r 6 when he got home with the
prisoner Foyd told Hemming Of The
threatening aspect of thlLgs, and the
reporter rad long talk with the dep
uty. To his dismay, he learned that the
prisoner would not reach the rural
community which wanted to do bust.
ness with him until 2.45 in the norm
ing, an hour which precluded the pos.
Fibility of a good story Hemming wac
a man Of resources, though, AMI us
there seemed to be little question Of
Tie details Of the coming event, he
went to the Office aud wrote a three.
column account of the lynchlng, men,
tioning the names Of prominent "a
Zens present and adding fourishes and
concentrations. To stretch out 10 i'm
posing length, he caused one man,
whom he was prudent enough to jesig-
nate as unknown" to mount 4 BOX
and make an appeal in behalf Of the
culprit.
Despite the prayer Of Hgginson's
tenderhearted advocate, however"
Hemming wrote, "the farmers who
had suffered from his depredaticns in.
sisted on wreaking their vengeance"
An9 he went on in this strain for sew.
eral pages, making the intercession
& strong point.
He explained to Crawford, the city
editor, that there was no doubt Of the
thing coming out Just as he had writ.
ten it, but to be sure ne would wire a
Yes or mo" from the station when
his train reached the town, for he
planned to accompany the deputy.
At three o'clock in the morning
Crawford received this jubilant bull
letin:
big thing. Five hundred people
Mile or more Of rope. Now headed for
tall sycamore tree"
And just as the foreman was send.
ing to the press room the page with
Hemming's glorious exclusive story
came this announcement:
tits all off; they're not going to do
it."
Hemming came back looking like a
mailman. For two days he roved |
around, stopping at odd times to butt |
his head against something hard. At
last he was induced by Crawford to
explain.
when we got there" he said, ut |
was sure thing. They had it all ready, |
and took Higginson away from the |
deputy with a yell, Then sent my
first bulletin. They rushed him to the
sycamore and were Just going to swing
him up when 1t occurred to me that
II would spoil the story IL somebody |
didn't rise up and make an appeal for
mercy for the thief | waited, hoping
for the usual intercession, till the dan
ger line, and then as nobody else
showed a sign of talking for him |
jumped up on something and started
in on 1t myself. just wanted to make
the facts fit my story had written, so
| made the speech had attributed to
the unknown. At first they didn't want
to listen, but soon they quieted, and
| poured 1t in, thinking all the time
how lucky | was to have written the
thing. jumped down then and .
stepped aside to let the regular pro.
gram go on. AS | did so somebody
yelled: BY thunder he's right And
another voice declared 1T would dis.
grace the town, boys!' And a third
called; Let's take him back to jaill'
And before | knew 1t that lot OF
chumps had turned tail and rushed my
thlef-my private horse thief, my own Z
whom I had spread myself
over three columns, back to the town
and to iail, where they left him and
dispersed.