The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-06-04
EDITORSs AS M DREERERSs;
IA eva III ire Rec1slessI IN
iii lrftix Z. ~

sAfsSIss eNswspnpcrAAr re- - - N
n insrs on Gel BIZ 8
he asi thor rt ofs
lie Scalp EIuraters read Nv az tSother
people though q i1oi,t him no fewer
an three SAYS Pearson's Week.
hi is hi tial emise', took plnce.
ssSljlrin s tie Mexican war. Next, one
nrl1s7o, the ew York papers put
1 on aoI1rning for him, having gravely
j ied him the previous day.
5ssssI d spite of this fact, however, ne
lived to read get a further notice OF
slif q !. and on his actual deathbed
n -Tawed he meant to live If only to spite
the Journalists.
sA no ther author, the late Robert Louis
s7SteNens frequently pcrused his oblt-
aua &s TIe8related once to q visitor to
Samoa that reading the various no
tees caused him much interest and
4 amusement, but that MS the climate
was SO admirably suitable he had no
doubt that he would be able to supply
/ his editors with copy for many years
iss Yhen at last the news OF his death
reached England in December, 1S9i,
Fleet street was mostly incrcdulous.
gItswas the old cry Of "Wolf! Volf!'
over gain, said the editorial sanctums
But confirmation followed quickly
instances are on record in which the
pnblicat Of premat ure obituaries has
cost the Offending newspaper dearly.
Some time ago a man was killed by
failing out OF train in North Wales.
There were no papers by which he
acoultl be identifi but the discovery
some sketch books in an empty com
B B pa rt1nent OF the train, belonging to q
well known London artist, led TO- the
assump ton that he must be the dead
IMAM, and d telegram to that effect was
& published in the papers.
us III might have ended happily had
Y mot one Of the evening papers publish
Sssed an account Of the artists life, IN
which it was pointed out that greater
Iisplnys OF zeal on his part would have
4 placed him$in far better position rs
pen and ink artist
sAs5the artist in question happened to
ne very much alive, however. he natu-
:sssraII resented such remarks and 1nsi-
s. tuted an action for libel, which. al
though settled out Of court, cost the
Daper8n consid cradle amount.
$$5Hs One of the most remark able expert
ences perhaps is to write ones own
obituary, vet this is what Miss Har-
riet Martineau accomplished in 1856,
3 ina CHING that the end OF her career
WAS at hand. She was for many years
leader writer on the staff of the Dali
Va News, and her obituary notice lay In
Ia pigeonhole Of the office for twenty
! on ssyenrs. It appeared in 1916. in pre-
85eisely the same form in which 1t was
RI tten in three and a half columns Of
the journal to which she was so de-
voted a servant.
Tn this account Of her career she
stated that3"she had small imaginative
and suggestive powers and therefore
uSapproach to genius" and that "she
u could popularize,'' though .'she could
neither discover nor invent Few
y have the faculty to take SO judicial
and impartial n view Of their abilities
as this gifted authoress
Not SO long ago Hazells ANIMAL re-
corded the death of G. Z. Burgin. and
Il tha + writer of great promise wrote to
3 HE papef,saying ..the report of his
Sleathsw greatly exaggerated Alas,
there are no original jokes left! Both
Kard Charles Beresford and Mark
Twain denied their premature demise
I'm exactly the same words,