Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-10-08
The Lure of Lucre

At the conclusion of it's sensation
al article on the poisoning mystery,
the News-Budget remarks: This ar
ticle is not an advertisement and we
would consider as an insult any IN
timation that it was or an offer to
pay us anything for it"
Why this strenuous denial before
anybody has an opportunity to make
a charge? Is our community SO cal
luminous that an honest man must
needs wear a sign or carry a BAH
ner emblaZoned, Il am not a thief
On this matter of accepting filthy
lucre for publishing articles, we are
not sure that We agree with Bro.
Bell. If a man should come to US
with a statement or an argument
which he wanted published and want
ed to pay for, and the article were
decent and unobjectionable, we would
find it hard to refuse.
Speaking of getting pay for things,
if not too inquisitive, We would like
to ask Bro. Bell a question. Didn't
you get some pay for sending zoe
word message to the Grand Rapids,
Mich, Press, Aug. 18th, relating to
the death of Mrs. Mccormick? And
wasn't it therein stated, "a cOroner's
jury after a long investigation into
the death of Mrs. Jennie Matthew
son Mccormick found that she came
to her death from strychnine poison
taken with suicidal intent? And
when you sent that dispatch didn't
you know that the first jury spent
only two hours investigating" and
that they did not use the word sui
eide or suicidal in the so-called YER
dict? And hadn't you, before the
sending Of that message, published in
the News-Budget the fact that a Sec
ond jury was investigating the mat
ter? And didn't some one in your
office send a message to the same
paper Sept. oath, stating that the
mystery was wholly cleared up by
the finding of the imprints on the
tablet? Were these things uncom-
pensated labors of love?-Journal.
The NeWs-Budget was careful to
state that the article that the Jour
nal throws such a fit about was mot
an advertisement" for the reason
that, with all the stories in circula-
ton regarding Mr.. McCormlcks
wealth, we thought some there might
be who, like Bro. Maloney, are very
free with their insinuatiOns, might
think that the inspiration for the
Bro. Maloney terms it. We thought
such people might even see in the
publication of the article an addi-
tional suspicious circumstance point
ing to the guilt of Mr.. Mccormick
that he was trying, in other words,
to buy public sentiment in his favor!
Now the writer is just as keen to
annex all the simoleons he can and
keep out of the penitentiary as the
next man, but an article of that kind
we would not write for financial re-
ward-we retain a few ideals as to
how a newspaper should be conduct
ed that we live up to. We believed
and still believe Mr.. Mccormick in
nocent of the terrible crime some
would lay at his door. We would
rather our confidence in friend
and fellow citizen be misplaced than
to make the other mistake and mis-
Judge an innocent man when all the
world seemed turned against him.
Popular sentiment is a peculiar
thing, terrible thing sometimes. 1t
will free a murderer, of whose crime
there is no doubt or denial, on some
whim of sentiment, and again will
hound an innocent man to a mercl-
less death. The Gross on Calvary
bears witness as to what public SEN
timent run riot in a community will
do and what legions of innocent men
have been crucified on the cross of
public opinion! The Leo M Frank
case is a recent illustration. A MUIR
derer's punishment is certain, even
though he may hide his crime from
man, but God help the man who