The Washington herald., 1911-01-22
SERVANTS BRIBBD>
TO SELL SCANDAL
London Times ASSailS Meth
ods of Yellow Press.
PRINTS LETTER TO A BUTLER
Woman Seeks to Buy Copy About
well-known Britons Whose Names
May Appear in Ccart-Spicy Stories
Wanted of Those In Exalted Sta
tf0n-The Thunderer Roars.

London, Jan. 1.-THE full weight of
the heaviest wrath of London's leading
newspaper descended to-day upon an
American woman who is attempting to
introduce the lowest methods o. yellow
journalism for procuring intimate news
OF English society,
The Times. unfortunately, does not
give the offenders FUN name or address
1t is content to describe her as Harriet
Blank 1t seems she wro.e a letter to q
butler who advertised for situation
wherein she said
Il shall be pleased to hear rom you
if you, have half 81 noCr TO spare once
or twice a week and would care 10 turn
il into cash by writing ne long, COS
stpy letter about weN-known people in
English society VINO stay in houses
where yS1 ere employed. I nay hberalfy
and settle each month 1 write for some
American papers which insist On having
current gossip. amusing stories, &c,
about weil-known people over here and
l buy large quantities of such letters
regularly. If you think you would care
to double or treble your salary in this
way, write me a good specimen letter.
1 will then write you more fully al to
terms.
Wants SIander Case Report.
TO give you idea Of what l buy, {
may say that just now anything about
Lady Gerard and the de Forests is good
copy Oh account of the Slander case be
tween them now coming on; also about
Diller, the jockey. on account Of the
Marie Lloyd divorce suit. in which ne
is named; also about Lord Howard de
Waldens' suit for libel against Lomis
If you write, / wish you would tell me
if you have any friends with whom you
could put me into communication among
the staff of Howard de WaIdens. Lady
de Ford, Baron de Forest Sir Thomas
Upton, Sir Ernest Cassel, Mrs. George
.>eppel. or her brother, Sir Archibald
Edmonstone, or of Mrs. Leeds, who has
taken Mrs. keppels new house in Gros-
Venor street"
1t may readily be imagined that moth
ing can so stir the British ire to its
depths as such a low attempt as this
to violate privacy. The Times heads
Scorching leader on the .ietter "A New
Post of Society," and says:
The letter is a complete revelati ton of
the existence of d system, the exist
ence of which has often been suspected
but never so fully exposed. 1t will shock
and disgust every decent person and eS-
pecially those of the same sex with the
debaSed journalist who wrote the letter
We suppress her surname and address,
not wishing to give her and her system
an advertisement or to direct venal DOS
SCISSORS of the news she asks for to a
market for their worthless wares The |
letter suggests the source of many of |
those stupid or exaggerated stories of |
English society
Low Standards of Life.
The story and the letter throw a |
lurid light upon the tastes ideals and |
standards of life which flourish in a !
modern democracy and which We re- |
gret to say are fostered by a demo-
cratic press.
The heirs OF all the ages are thus |
taught every morning to interest them |
selves in uttletattle about a world with |
which they have nothing in common and |
TO cultivate a Snobbishness of which !
Thackeray never dreamed What a |
chance for new and fercer Thackeray |
to make the readers of this tainted stuff |
thoroughly ashamed for they know now, |
II they did not before, that ii is tainted |
1t Is bought with the price of corruption |
1t is got by means deliberately designed |
to violate the most elementary of So
cial rights, the rights TO preserve ones
privacy.