Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1905-11-04
LA PRENSA'S GREAT BEAT.
How 1t Got the Cars Dispatch to
Witte.

This is the story of a newspaper
story showing how, during the Ports
mouth peace conference, a compare
lively humble newspaper corresponds
lively humble correspondent for far
away newspaper beat the world and
how the world never knew it.
La Prensa is published in Buenos
Ayres. 1t is a newspaper. of conse-
quence in it's home diggings. 1t owns
a tremendous building; it makes a
business of entertaining all distin-
guished persons who visit Argentina /;
it does a great many other things
which the newspapers of the great
capitals do not pretend to do. When
the peace conference proceeded to
Portsmouth, it cabled to it's news bu
reau in the United States, and Camil-
10 Cianfarra, young man who works
as city editor of local Italian news
paper here, was sent up to follow the
envoy.
The other correspondents noted II
as a matter of marvel that a news
paper away down in Buenos Ayres
should send correspondent all that
distance. Otherwise Mr.. Cianfarra at.
tracted attention mainly by his pleas
ant ways and his eccentric manner
of working his kilograms. He is the
master of five tongues, and the editors
of La Prensa are also multilingual. 1,
cost AZ cents word to send press
matter to South America and Clan
farra had to be careful about words
He wrote his dispatches first in Ital-
ian. Then he reduced them to "slkel-
eton," which means cutting out all ar.
ticles, most propositions and all other
unnecessary words. AS every one
knows, every language has certain
terse words expressing an idea which
takes four or five words to express in
every other language. When he had
his dispatch in the very thinnest skel.
eton, Cianfarra would go over it and
turn it into a tumble of French, Ger
man, English, Spanish and Italian
with the end of getting the greatest
number of ideas into the fewest posi-
BILE words. They were the queerest
dispatches the operators at Ports,
mouth had to handle.
In the second week of the confer
ence there appeared at Portsmouth a
certain Botha Pavlovsh, a Russian
agent for the North German Lloyd
That company had five steamers wait
ing in the Baltic to bring back the
Russian prisoners in case peace was
declared. Pavlovski was there to
shoot the latest news across to the
company, as eN cry day the steamers
were held meant money to them. He
was a man close "in." He knew the
Russian suit and he was in an excel.
lent position to know just what was
doing on the inside of a very tight
shut proposition. Cianfarra managed
to get the confidence of Pavlovski.
1t will be remembered that the
peace agreement was reached Tues.
day, August 20. The last previous
meeting had been on Wednesday
August 20, when the Japanese had
made modified offer. On Thursday
there was a feeleing about the confer
ence that peace might be brought
about. On Friday there came a sud-
den wave of pessimism. The Rus
SLAMS cancelled Professionally all So
cial engagements. Some Of their SER
wants began to pack up. Witte said
openly, some of the Japanese guard
eddy, that there seemed to be no hope
Betting against peace would have
been about 10 to / with no takers. No
one could quite explain the feeling, al
though every one knew that some
thing had come either from st. Peters
burg or Toxic.
l. L.