New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

twenty miles away. That Office
would close at midnight. To ac-
complish my "beat" on all the other
papers I must make that twenty
miles in three hours.
But no horse was to be had at anv
price. Five hundred dollars was
my offer for hand-car and a husky
man to help me run it, but sthe
car belonged to the government.
ihat statement gave me an idea ::
the government had telegraph wire
out there with an operator, I
would not confess what this "idea"
was except to make this narrative
complete, and, furthermore, to il
lustrate that spirit Of enterprise in
reporter which may tempt him
sometimes to adopt desperate meas
ures IN the interest of his paper.
knew that no messages except
those strictly on government bust
ness and under military control
were ever permitted over one of
these wires. Nevertheless, / was
bent on ''subsidizing" that operator
at whatever cost, to send out lust a
ew~words to The Tribune Bureau
at Washington.
Even as l discarded this plan an
other suggested itself. The Hon.
Charles A. Dana was personal
friend of mine, and was Assistant
Secretary Of War. If I could get
him on the wire something might
possibly be done; so I wrote a dis
patch to him, officially, as follows:
Il am just in from the front.
Left Grant at four o'clock this
morning."
(This, by the way, was all that
had told anybody, lest any real
news might ''leak.") A response
came Immediately, but from Secre-
tary Stanton:
where did you leave General
Grant?"
Trying to Make
A Deal With Stanton
What? Even the government had
no knowledge Of events at the
front? l had stored away under
that faded cloth hat all the inforna-
ton there was of the momentous
movements across the Rapidan. But
l would be modest and generous:
if Mr.. Stanton would let me send
one hundred words over the gov
ernment line, I would tell him all
that l knew. On repetition of the
demand, in more peremptory terms.
replied that my news belonged to
The New York Tribune, and that
he would have to negotiate with
them for it's release. But I renewed
my offer
Five minutes afterward, at call
from the operator, the post COM
mander came in. He looked at
telegram handed him; and he then
Informed me that Mr.. Stanton had
ordered my arrest as spy unless |
would uncover my news from the
front. OF course that settled it. I
would not have told him one little
word to save my life. But here was
at the end of my resources. 1t had
been my purpose, if he finally re-
fused my offer, to start afoot for
Alexandria in frantic effort to
make the twenty miles by midnight,
but now there was nothing to be
done but to submit. This news.
that the whole country was lying
awake for, was tied up with a strip
of dirty red tape.
Lincoln Accepts
Without Hesitation
Then something occurred that
l cannot explain. I knew nothing
CT the telegraph code, yet, as a mes
sage was being licked off on the
tape some subtle current of in
f1uence touched my apprehension.
knew that it was for me. / sprang
to my feet.
What is it?" was my question
to the telegraph operator.
"Mr. Lincoln wants to know if
you will tell him where Grant is"
l repeated my offer-to commu-
nicate whatever information I had
for the use of the wire to transmit
one hundred words. He accepted my
vr,Sty 4