The Washington herald., 1907-10-20
By DEXTER MARSHALL.

W. promised to present the correspondent
10 his father. and the newspaper man
tucked himself into his berth at about
midnight feeling fairly safe about the
next days work
But the weather was against him. A
terrific thunderstorm with plenty of rain
was in progress when he fell asleep and
all night the train plOwed its way through
a perfect deluge Of falling water. At
about daylight a washout was encoun-
tered and the train was ditched. narrow
y escaping "a plunge into the Mississippi
River. There were hours of delay and
il fell out that instead of pulling in at
St Paul union station at Z o'clock or
thereabouts. the train arrived at high
noon. Naturally the correspondent
couldn't go to find the Great Northern's
head until after lunch.
That meant o'clock or thereabouts.
It was Saturday. The railroad PRESIDENT s
son had disappeared and when the CORE
spondent had reached the Great Northern
building it wa closed However. he
found a watchman on guard, who said
Mr.. Hill, "a friend, and a few clerks were
in his office on an upper floor The ele-
vator wasn't running, but the CORE
spondent could climb the stairs and try
70 see the boss if he cared to do so.
Does Not Fear Notebooks.
He did and. after half an hour OF al
tentative waiting and cajoling the boy
at the gate. succeeded in getting his card
taken in
To ask about the future Of the North
west was the message written on the
card, though with some doubts as TO its
effectiveness. In a moment Hill appear
ed, sat down in a wooden chair, ana bade
the correspondent sit in another.
But / can't talk long" said the rail-
road man. I have left a man from Mon
tana in my office, and must go back to
him in a few minutes"
The correspondent had 20 ask one cues
tion only TO start the flow Of talk. II
came 50 rapidly and was SO fun OF new
facts and new ideas that he drew his
notebook but with fear and trembling.
for notebook chilIs the flow of some
big mems talk completely.
1t didn't freeze Hills however. IT is
doubtful whether he knew the notebook
slackened the correspondent was ali
ready with another question: the flow
continued, and 50 it " eut on until the
rays of the sun were shining level through
the window-till they disappeared-tiu the
electric bulbs began 20 glow. Then the
talk stopped abruptly.
Bless my SOUL" exclaimed the builder
OF the Great Northern, brushing the cigar
ashes from his front. I've forgotten all
about that man from Montana. You
really must excuse me"
lie fed hastily, but the correspondent
was willing. for he had got his inter-
view.
Not So with Uncle joe
II won't do 20 draw a notebook on
Uncle Joe Cannon. The same CORE
spOndent once made arrangements after
rather elaborate negotiations to inter
view Speaker Cannon In Washington.
Uncle Joe received the writer in "the
Speakers room" and was cordial in his
greeting. II was in the spring and an
open coal fire was blazing cheerfully in
the CRATE. The Speaker stood with his
back to the fire and began IN his char
acteristic way. He talked rapidly and
the notebook came out. II was nearly q
fatal move. Uncle Joe'N became tongue
tied al once The even run of idiomatic
American-English became halted and
stilted- The Speaker Observation-Disclosures
stopped. More promptly than It was
brought forth the notebook was thrust
out Of sight and after a little Uncle
Joe" Tegained his composure.
Beyond doubt the notebook had given
him stage fright, something that the ex-
perienced head OF the Lower House can
face an audience Of any size and anv
grade without experiencing. Il took him
ten or fifteen minutes to forget il. but
once it was forgotten he slashed away i'm
great style, saying many things that
would have stirred up some folk might
ily had be been willing 10 have them
printed, which he pointedly and speci6-
cally was not
Hr. Mitchell Particular.
There are men Of prominence who court
the notebook when submitting 10 An in
teryiew Dr. 5. Weir Mitchell. Of Phil
adelphia, novelist, specialist in nervous
diseases, gunshot wounds. and snake
poison, is one OF them.
He has prided himself almost all his
life on being inaccessible to newspaper
men, but few years ago, under the in
fiuence Of a letter from friend. con-
sented TO talk After explaining that he
dreaded being misquoted above every
thing else, he asked rather aggressiveIv
If the reporter wrote shorthand. The re-
porter didn't but said he felt equal TO
the task OF recording the doctors words
in lOnghand. Besides he would submit
the report before IL was printed. and the
interview proceeded, but with many inter-
ruptions that he might read back" his
notes to the doctor.
The late Abram S Hewitt would not
talk at all If the reporter took notes. He /
was as afraid of being misquoted as Mr..
Mitchell Is, but Mr. Hewitt declared the I
notebook and pencil made him nervous. 1
Newspaper interviewers should have good
enough memories 10 carry the longest 1
conversations, he thought. or else get 4
out or the business. He wouldn't look at /
the copy after it was written in order
10 make any corrections that might be
necessary. either but he made il a rule.
he declared, not 20 talk the second time
70 reporter who made any serious
blunders.
Morgan and Pettus.
The late Senator Pettus. the aged Ala
bama solon, never was known to shy at
the intervfewer's notebook, nor was his
colleague, the late John 7. Morgan
afraid Of It. Senators Pettus and Morgan
were easy men to interview, both pre-