Original: The story (a version of which appears in the Hearst-inspired Orson Welles film Citizen Kane) first appeared in the memoirs of reporter James Creelman in 1901, and there is no other source for it.
Simplified: The story (a version of which appears in the Hearst-inspired Orson Welles film Citizen Kane) first showed up in the memoirs of reporter James Creelman in 1901, and there is no other source for it.