Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-01
DEATH DUE TO
NEWSPAPER PLAN
LATEST LONDON CIRCULATION
SCHEME CAUSES IT
Rush to Get Tramwsy Tickets In Cir
cuIation Increasing Scheme Leads
to Girls oennise--Investlsa-
ton to Be Made
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald.
LONDON, June 30.-"Ticket Craze
Girl Killed in Searching for Prize Num-
bers-Newspaper Censured"-such are
the (for an English iournal) lurid head
lines over a store describing a coroner's
inquest over child whose death result
ed from the latest scheme of certain
newspapers, that are here classed as
sensational, to increase their circula-
tions. Needless to say the journals en-
gagged In the gift enterprise business
suppress all mention of any connection
between 1t and fatal accident to little
girl.
The hunt OF buried treasure. which as
device for increasing newspaper sales.
ran its course some months ago. was
imported into the United States. but it's
successor can hardly be tried there be-
cause buses were long ago abandoned
as too dead slow for Americans and
street cars do not issue tickets Here
every passenger who rides on a motor
Dus, horse bus, or tram, as street cars
are here called, receives a numbered
ticket from the conductor on payment
of his fare. The tickets are simply
issued as check on the honesty of the
conductors and are retained by passen-
gers until they reach their destinations
on the chance that "spotter'' NAV
come along and demand to see them.
Passengers were in the habit of
throwing away their tickets on alight-
ing, until some circulation boomer hit
upon the idea of offering prizes for cer-
tain numbers. AS these winning num-
pers are not announced until the day
after, and In some cases the week after,
their ISSUE the chance of getting some
thing for nothing-however slight-pre-
vents them from being treated as waste
paper until the prize winning numbers
nave been inspected. Several papers
are now working the scheme for all it
Is worth, the prizes offered daily rang
ing from e1o ($50) to five shillings
$1.25), at the lower figure, of course,
the more numerous are the prizes One
halfpenny daily paper announces that
the prizes 1t offers for omnibus and
tramcar tickets amount in the course
Of a week to $4,000 Cs10,0OO) and a
weekly paper goes $4,000 beyond that
figure.
OF course. children are the most eager
collectors of tickets. They swarm at
every bus and tram line terminus like
1lles around honey pot, and beg tickets
or the passengers. 1t was at one such
terminus that a little girl tried to pick
up ticket that had fallen under a bus.
Ignorant of the fact that the child was
between the wheels, the conductor gave
the signal to start and she was run over
and killed A policeman who gave evil
dence at the inquest said that the lives
of boys and girls were frequently i'm
periled in the attempts of the young
sters to get possession of the tickets.
When busses and trans STOP he said,
''it takes the police all their time to
prevent the children getting under the
wheels To their verdict of "acci-
dental DEATH the jury added a rider
condemning the papers that are en-
gagged In this latest gift enterprise
scheme.
The matter has been brought to the
attention of the home secretary, Her
bert Gladstone, son of the Grand Old
Man." who in response to a question
In the house of commons stated that the
craze was undoubtedly Contrary to the
public interest" but whether it was
contrary to law he could not tell until
the legal luminaries of his department
had gone into the matter.
OF course, the newspapers concerned
counted on recouping themselves for the
prize money expended by their in
creased circulation, but it is doubtful If
the game pays them.