Hattiesburg daily news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1907-1908, 1907-06-25

not Ananiases," said one of the oldest
and best newspaper men in Washing
ton, but we have some who are very
sRaring with the truth. President
Roosevelt is in the wrong pew about
the men who write for the papers
Then the old newspaper man went
on to say that it was generally the
amateur in newspaper work who
worked off the biggest and most un-
reasonable lies on his papers. The lies
are generally backed up by so many
reasonable details that they pass cur
rent with even the elect. Many purely
original and Imaginative sensations,
social political, and otherwise, have
originated in Washington. Political
fakes have become SO numerous from
Washington that anything of this ma
ture from here is discredited from the
start. but the correspondent must earn
his money.
A White House society item sent
out when your Uncle Grover occupied
the chief executives chair caused a
big sensation and put the hustle"
makers out of commission. One night
news was distressingly slow on old
Newspaper Row. Several of the CORE
spondents had gathered in the office
OF a writer for a Kansas City paper,
and were discussing the dearth of
news. Boys" said a correspondent
for Southern paper, 81 really have
hrst-class piece Of news-a sensa-
tion-Dut hale to give ii up; | want
1t exclilsi rely lie worried the Eel.
lows While and after several visits
to Shoomaker's, where the boys fell
oyGr themselves to SGT 'em ur. The
man with the sensation told them that
he had inside informs tior that Mrs.
Cleve land had determined to cease
wearing hustle and had SO an
nounced to several of her friends.
Mrs. cIeveIand's Buste.
That was sufficient, and straight
way the correspondents fastened off
and padded the story for all it was
worth, and more, too. OF course it
was printed under "scare neads" and
double loaded. Mrs. Clevelands dis
cardihg the hustle was the sensa-
tional Dew9 OF the papers next day,
and throughout bustledom the ladies
who had been devotees of the "hur,ip'
followed suit and left them off. The
truth Is that Mrs. Cleveland had not
determined to &C bustleless, but she
never denied the yarn, and week af-
ter it was printed she appeared on the
streets without that h -retofore SEEM
ingly indispensable part of her ap-
parel And, 1t may be added, the men
called her blessed.
1t has only been about six years
since a Washington correspondent set
out a long story to tue effect that Sec.
Rotary Wilson, of the agricultural
department, was banking heavily on
skunk farming as sure road to for
tune. The writer went into details
and the article was the cause of sim
ply flooding, swamping the secretary
with letters Of inquiry about skunk
farming. 1t was necessary for the
good-natured secretary to deny through
the press that the article was true
However, after this skunk farming did
become 4 most profitable industry.
Edgar Allan Poe, whose fame as
poet will never die, had printed in a
New York paper the famous story of
trip across the Atlantic ocean in a
flying machine. This story was be-
lieved until French scientist, whose
name Poe gave, denied the story.
In the same paper about twenty
years later was story saying that
Paris, We, was entirely showed under,
and man who escaped through a
chimney and went out for relief. had
brought the news Citizens denied the
yarn through the press, but occasion
ally some paper refers to the time
when Paris, Va, was completely
showed under"
During 1878 the Southern Cole
gian, the organ of Washington and
Lee University. Lexington, Va. print
ed lurid account of the burning of
the Natural Bridge, near that village.
The hoax was written by a student
from Alabama named Edmunds. The
yarn opened with a statement claimed
to have been made by farmer who
had just come in from the bridge,
which was reported to be in full blaze
and crumbling into lime. An inter-
view with the professor Of chemistry
OF the-university backed up the farm
ers statement. The chemist referred