The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-08-17
Remarkable Work of

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 Remarkable Work of
 Press CorrespomdemGs .m OCCASIONALLY there appears " in print the description of a battle in Europe so graphically writ ten that it compels attention. The average newspaper reader, grown weary of the dry, formal reports which are published from day to day, seizes with avidity on these "color stories" in which some master report CT has been given an opportunity to show what he can do.
 The Associated Press, the worlds greatest news-gathering agency, does not believe in the "star system of reporting. Its best men are unknown to the millions of people who read their articles, and even when some remarkably fine dispatch is sent from the front, in which the individualism of the writer is strongly felt, few persons outside of newspaper circles. have any idea who wrote it.
 As an example of newspaper writ ing which has real literary value, the description of the brilliant attack by which the Canadians captured Hill 70 and engaged the Germans on the western outskirts of Lens, is worthy of reproduction. It appeared in The Age-Herald yesterday:
 The attack began at 4:25 o'clock, just as the first gray streaks of dawn were appearing. All night the British big guns had been pouring 8 steady stream of high explosive shells into the German positions, great detonations overlapping one another like the rapid cracking of machine gun fire and swelling into mighty volume of thunder that shook the earth and stunned the senses.
 Then, a short time before the hour of offensive had arrived the batteries abruptly ceased and strange, almost oppressive still ness, fraught with the pretending cataclysm which must follow, crept over the country. which until then had been an inferno of death. It had been raining and gray clouds still hung low over the trenches where crouched the Canadian in- fantrymen waiting eagerly for the arrival of the moment which would summon them to attack
 Suddenly, 10 minutes before the time set for the attack. every Brit ish gun within range broke out with a hurricane of shelling and solid lines of crimson lightning belched from the German trenches as the explosives broke about them. To this lurid picture was added the unforgettable spectacle of the burning oil which the British threw on the enemy lines. Great clouds of pinkish-colored smoke rolled across the country from the flaming liquid and the murky sky threw back myriad colors from the confagra- tion below.
 The moment of attack arrived and, as the British guns dropped their protecting barrage in front of the Canadian trenches, the clouds parted and the yellow cres- cent moon appeared, Under the light of this beacan the Canadians leaped over the parapets and be- gan their methodical advance be- hind their barrage fire.
 Even finer specimens of newspaper writing have appeared from time to time in the press dispatches. Some of the war articles have been attributed to Robert Small, a distinguished Georgian and son of the evangelist, Sam Small, who is one of the Asso- ciated Press leading correspondents now abroad.
 Newspaper men yet recall the vivid account of the assassination of King Alexander and Queen Draga of Ser via, in 1903, which the Associated Press carried when this atrocious crime paved the way for present King Peter to ascend the throne of Servia. That was one of the greatest newspa- per "stories" ever written.
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 Best of Years For
 The State Fair
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