NEWS STORIES OF UNEXPECTED OCCURRENCES
=Kinds of Occurrences.= Reports of unexpected occurrences of various
kinds may be taken as typical of news stories generally. Fires,
railroad and trolley wrecks, mine and tunnel accidents, floods and
storms, marine disasters, explosions, runaways, automobile accidents,
etc., form one large group of events in this class. Murders, suicides,
robberies, embezzlements, and all other crimes constitute the second
important division. The application to each of these groups of the
principles of structure and style discussed in the preceding chapter
will be considered separately.
=Fires and Accidents.= In news stories of fires and accidents, the
number of lives lost or endangered, the character and extent of the
damage, and the cause are the features in which readers are most
interested. Lists of the killed or injured are always included in local
stories, and should be sent in telegraph stories when the persons are
known in communities in which the newspaper circulates. The names, the
addresses, the occupations or business connections, and often the age
of persons killed, are given, and the same details are reported for the
seriously hurt, as well as the extent of the injuries and the hospital
to which each person is taken. The form in which such lists are
arranged is shown in the explanation of “boxed” lists (pages 86–88).
The extent and the character of the damage caused by a disaster are
important, particularly when the amount or the area affected is large.
Curious and unusual causes and results, remarkable escapes, pathetic or
humorous incidents, and novel circumstances generally are frequently
“played up,” particularly in telegraph stories of occurrences in which
the persons involved are known only locally. In such cases the peculiar
circumstances are the only reason for publishing the stories outside of
the community in which the events happen. Unusual incidents are also
good in the lead of local stories when the other phases are not more
important.
The chief considerations in writing the body of news stories of
unexpected occurrences are to select and emphasize important details,
to eliminate or subordinate minor ones, and to connect firmly the
different parts of the narrative. Whether the reporter is limited
to a given number of words or is instructed to write as much as the
news is worth, he must choose and reject particulars with great care,
remembering always that what he retains must be so arranged that to
the rapid reader the relation of one part to another will be perfectly
clear. In a complex story with a series of incidents taking place
simultaneously, different threads of narrative must be woven together
skillfully to make it evident how the several incidents took place at
the same time.
Greater life, action, and interest can always be given to accounts of
fires, accidents, and disasters that cause loss of life, by giving in
direct quotations the accounts of eye-witnesses and survivors. When the
magnitude of the catastrophe warrants it, every effort is made to get
interviews and statements from persons involved. Conversation between
those concerned in the event can sometimes be used effectively. Every
form of direct quotation gives variety and interest to the news story
and is therefore an excellent method to use.
In the excitement naturally produced by the news of a disaster, many
rumors quickly gain currency. The first estimates of the number
of lives lost or endangered and of the extent of the damage are
frequently too large. The young reporter must not let himself be
carried away by wild reports, and should discount liberally these
estimates. By keeping calm no matter how great the catastrophe and
attendant excitement, he not only can judge the more accurately of the
character of the information that he gets from others, but he inspires
a certain amount of calmness in those from whom he is getting his
information and thus secures the facts more accurately. He should not
accept reports of a disaster without question and investigation, or if
it is impossible to investigate them, he should give them as rumors and
not as facts. To magnify a catastrophe often means to cause needless
anxiety to many whose relatives or friends may be involved in it. As in
all reporting, a simple narrative, picturing clearly, accurately, and
interestingly the unexpected occurrence, is the best news story.
=The Lead of the Fire Story.= Because accounts of fires involve all the
points to be considered in the average news story, they are taken as
typical of the whole group of accidental occurrences. In fire stories
the feature to be “played up” may be, (1) the cause, (2) the extent of
the damage, (3) the danger to surrounding property, (4) the number of
lives endangered or lost, (5) prominent persons or places involved, or
(6) any unusual incident or phase. The following examples illustrate
methods of giving prominence to each of the significant details at the
beginning of the lead.
Cause
(1)
| Spontaneous combustion of turpentine|
|and paints caused a fire that completely|
|destroyed the one-story frame paint shop|
|of John Nelson, 213 Higginson Street,|
|shortly before midnight, causing a loss|
|of $5,000. |
(2)
| Candles on a Christmas tree set fire|
|to lace curtains in the home of|
|Robert Whitcomb, 1716 Charter Street,|
|last night, and before the blaze was|
|extinguished $500 damage had been done|
|to the house and furnishings. |
(3)
| The breaking of an incandescent light|
|set fire to a can of gasoline in the|
|garage of the Wheeler Automobile|
|Company, 731 Winter Place, early this|
|morning, and two taxi-cabs were badly|
|scorched. |
Damage and Danger
(1)
| Over a million dollars’ worth of|
|property was consumed on South Point|
|within two hours yesterday afternoon|
|when fire destroyed Elevator D of the|
|Consolidated Elevator Company, and the|
|docks and sheds of the Western Pacific|
|Railroad Company. |
(2)
| Nearly 3,000,000 feet of lumber were|
|burned at Mystic Wharf early this|
|morning with a loss of $120,000 to the|
|Export Lumber Company and the Atlantic|
|Coast Lumber Company. |
(3)
| About $2,000,000 worth of property was|
|threatened by fire in the manufacturing|
|district along the Ohio river front last|
|night when the plant of the Rockton|
|Woodworking Company was completely|
|destroyed with a loss of $125,000. |
Lives Lost or Endangered
(1)
| Nearly 300 frightened girls ran down|
|stairways, jammed themselves into|
|elevators, or jumped to roofs of|
|adjoining buildings this noon when fire|
|did $20,000 damage to the twelve story|
|building at 652 Bleecker Street. |
(2)
| Nine firemen were overcome by ammonia|
|fumes while fighting a fire in the cold|
|storage warehouse of R. C. Rinder, 48 to|
|52 May Street, this morning. |
(3)
| One person was suffocated, one fatally|
|and three seriously burned, and the|
|lives of many others endangered when|
|fire swept through the five-story flat|
|house at 122 West 127th Street today. |
(4)
| Three children were burned to death|
|this noon while locked in the house by|
|their mother, Mrs. Frank Lincoln, 1719|
|Belleville Place. |
Persons and Places
(1)
| Market Square Theatre was damaged by|
|fire to the extent of $5,000 late last|
|night, evidently the result of a lighted|
|cigar or cigarette thrown on the gallery|
|steps at the close of the performance. |
(2)
| Robert Camp’s summer home at Rockton,|
|L. I., was completely destroyed yester-|
|day by fire said to have been started by|
|tramps. The loss Mr. Camp estimates at|
|$25,000, fully covered by insurance. |
(3)
| Wilton C. McClay, broker, 71 Exchange|
|Place, was suffocated by smoke in his|
|rooms in the Oxford Arms early this|
|morning, when fire, originating in a|
|defective flue, damaged the building to|
|the extent of $1,500. |
Unusual Circumstances
(1)
| Overcoats used as life nets saved the|
|lives of a dozen women and children|
|last night when fire, believed to|
|be of incendiary origin, gutted the|
|three-story frame tenement at 137|
|Hoverton Avenue, Brooklyn. |
(2)
| Rotten hose, which burst as fast as it|
|was put in use, imperiled the lives of|
|firemen today in a fire that destroyed|
|the foundry of the National Tubing Co.,|
|Wilson and Pierce Streets. |
(3)
| More than 300 chickens and ducks were|
|cremated last night in a blaze in the|
|basement of the meat market of John|
|Holton, 16 Erie Street. |
(4)
| To rescue his money, which he hoped|
|would raise him from the rank of|
|workman to that of merchant, Woo Wing|
|Lee, Chinese laundryman, 3031 Nicollet|
|Avenue, ran back into his burning|
|laundry today and was so badly burned|
|that physicians say he cannot live. |
=Fire Stories.= After the lead has been completed, the main part of the
story remains to be written. The structure of the body of the story
offers no particular difficulties in arrangement as the incidents
usually follow each other in the order of time. In the account of a
fire, it is usual, after the lead, to give the facts concerning the
discovery of the fire, the sounding of the alarm, the arrival of the
fire department, the progress of the fire, and the different incidents,
with little or no variation from chronological order.
How a fire story is arranged is shown in the following example:
| By sliding down a swaying extension|
|ladder through fire and smoke, with an|
|unconscious woman in his arms, Fireman|
|Daniel Walter rescued her from death in|
|a fire that early this morning swept|
|through a five-story apartment house at|
|122 West Thirty-ninth Street, and caused|
|a loss of $15,000. Mrs. Mary Owen, the|
|woman saved, is in a serious condition|
|as a result of inhaling smoke, but at|
|the Harlem Hospital it was said that she|
|would probably recover. |
| |
| When the firemen on Truck 30 reached|
|the burning building, they saw Mrs.|
|Owen leaning out of a front window on|
|the fifth floor, screaming for help and|
|apparently preparing to jump to the|
|street. |
| |
| “Don’t jump,” shouted the firemen.|
|“We’ll be up there in a minute.” |
| |
| She stood motionless in the window with|
|the smoke pouring out around her when|
|the big eighty-foot extension ladder|
|began to rise slowly in response to|
|vigorous cranking. While the ladder was|
|swaying like a pendulum as it ascended,|
|Fireman Walter and Driver Frank Lawson|
|began to climb up. |
| |
| “Hold on just a second longer,” shouted|
|Lawson as he saw that Mrs. Owen was|
|again leaning forward as if about to|
|jump. |
| |
| When he reached the top of the ladder a|
|moment later, Mrs. Owen swayed and fell|
|back into the room. At the same instant|
|flames burst out of the windows on the|
|third floor and swept through the|
|ladder. |
| |
| “You go down,” called Walter to Driver|
|Lawson below him on the ladder. “I’ll|
|get her and slide for it. Be at the|
|bottom to catch us.” |
| |
| Lawson slid back through the flames,|
|and Walter climbed into the window.|
|Mrs. Owen was lying unconscious on the|
|floor with her dress ablaze. Walter beat|
|out the flames and then wrapped his|
|coat around her to protect her from the|
|sparks and embers that were swirling|
|through the window. |
| |
| Laying the unconscious woman on the|
|window-sill, Walter climbed out on the|
|ladder. Then he reached over and took|
|Mrs. Owen, placing her across his arms.|
|Seeing that a slow descent through the|
|flames bursting out of the windows on|
|the floors below meant certain death,|
|Walter wrapped his legs around the sides|
|of the ladder and took hold of both|
|sides with his hands, balancing Mrs.|
|Owen across his arms. |
| |
| “Catch us down there,” he shouted and|
|started to slide down the ladder through|
|the flames and smoke, as though it had|
|been greased. |
| |
| For a few seconds he was hidden from|
|view; then he reappeared with his|
|clothes ablaze but with his burden still|
|safe across his arms. Firemen caught him|
|as he reached the sidewalk, and took|
|Mrs. Owen who was still unconscious. |
| |
| It was all the police reserves could do|
|to keep the crowd from breaking through|
|the fire lines to congratulate Walter|
|and carry him off on their shoulders.|
|They cheered again and again as he|
|was hurried into the Harlem Hospital|
|ambulance. His hands and face were|
|scorched, but after his burns had been|
|dressed at the hospital he gamily|
|returned to his quarters in the fire|
|station. |
| |
| Mrs. Owen was the only occupant of the|
|house who did not succeed in reaching|
|the fire escapes in the rear of the|
|apartment and thus getting out safely. |
| |
| The fire started in the basement,|
|evidently from an overheated furnace,|
|and shooting up through the air shafts,|
|spread into the apartments on the third,|
|fourth, and fifth floors. As most of|
|the tenants left the doors of their|
|apartments open when they fled, the|
|draught swept the fire through floor|
|after floor. The interior of the whole|
|five floors was destroyed. Three alarms|
|were turned in and the fire was not|
|under control until 10 o’clock. |
=Stories of Accidents.= News stories of accidents are constructed on
the same plan as those of fires, and the features are practically
the same. The story of the accident in the subway (page 41) and the
following one may be taken as typical reports of accidents.
| In attempting to protect the lives of|
|others against danger from a broken|
|electric light wire, Patrolman Patrick|
|Wilson, 751 Erie St., was electrocuted|
|at 3:30 this morning on Depere Place|
|between 75th and 76th streets. The body|
|of the policeman was discovered an hour|
|later by Oscar Wilkins, a milkman, as|
|he was driving along Depere Place on|
|his morning rounds. A small red burn|
|across the back of his right hand and a|
|live wire with a rope attached dangling|
|from a tree a few feet away, showed how|
|Wilson had lost his life. |
| |
| Patrolman Wilson talked with Police|
|Sergeant William Strong about the broken|
|wire on Depere Place near 75th Street|
|about 3:15 this morning. As he did|
|not report to the police station from|
|the patrol box as usual at 3:35, it|
|is assumed that he was killed shortly|
|before that time. |
| |
| “There’s a live wire hanging down from|
|a tree on Depere Place,” said Wilson to|
|Sergeant Strong when they met shortly|
|after three o’clock. “I’m afraid someone|
|will be killed. I’ve been watching it|
|all night. I believe I will try to|
|fasten it up in the tree so that no one|
|will run into it.” |
| |
| “You had better be careful; you may be|
|killed,” suggested Strong. |
| |
| “No danger of that,” he replied. “The|
|wire is insulated.” |
| |
| “Well, you had better get a rope at the|
|car barns, anyway,” urged the sergeant,|
|and Wilson agreed to go over to the|
|barns on 75th Street for a rope. He was|
|last seen alive when he left the car|
|barns with some rope about 3:20. |
| |
| Evidently he threw the rope over a|
|branch of the tree, and then tried to|
|put the deadly wire through a noose in|
|one end of the rope so that it could be|
|drawn up into the tree out of the way of|
|passers-by. The wire must have squirmed|
|around unexpectedly striking Wilson on|
|the back of the hand and killing him|
|instantly. |
| |
| Wilson, who was 27 years old and had|
|been on the police force for five years,|
|is survived by a wife and two small|
|children. |
=Stories of Crime.= Accounts of crime, or “police news stories,” are
constructed on practically the same principles as those of fires
and accidents. In all crimes in which human lives are destroyed
or endangered, the essential points are the names of the persons
involved, the nature of the crime, its cause, its results, and, if
the perpetrator escapes, clues to his identity and whereabouts. In
murders, attempted murders, suicides, and defalcations, the motives
for the crime are always matters of great interest. The value of what
was stolen or what might have been stolen should be given in reports
of robberies or embezzlements. Ingenious methods used to gain entrance
to places robbed make interesting features. In defalcation or fraud
peculiar means of deception employed may be “played up.” The “human
interest” in the accused or the victim must not be overlooked in
crime stories. When either individual is well known, his name is the
important “feature.”
The reporter must always remember that a person charged with a crime is
not a criminal until he is proved guilty in court. Unless he confesses,
the person charged with crime is presumed to be innocent until
convicted. In writing police stories, therefore, the reporter should
always make it plain that the person involved is “charged” with a
crime, and that he is “alleged,” or “said,” by the police to be guilty.
While he is charged with the crime, he may be said to be, not “the
murderer,” but “the alleged murderer”; or not “the embezzler,” but “the
alleged embezzler.” The reporter should present both sides of the case
by giving the prisoner’s version, as well as that of the police, not
only because it is just to do so but because it is usually good news.
Stories of crime, like all other news stories, should be told in a
simple, direct style that presents in an accurate and interesting
manner the account of the crime as it was actually committed.
Exaggerated and sensational stories of crime or those in which attempts
are made to arouse sentiment for or against the perpetrator or his
victim, have no place in the news columns of reputable newspapers. If
readers are to be appealed to to right a wrong, such appeals should be
made in the editorial columns and should not be allowed to color the
facts in the news stories. The actual facts truthfully presented make
the best possible appeal. To try, in the newspapers, a person accused
of crime, before or during his legal trial, is not to give him the fair
trial to which he is entitled.
The way in which various phases of crime may be “featured” in the
lead without making the story in any way sensational is shown by the
following examples, in which some interesting or extraordinary phase
of the crime is put in the emphatic position at the beginning of the
story.
(1)
| After confessing to a shortage of|
|$21,500 lost in speculation, Robert|
|Crook, Jr., assistant paying teller|
|of the Security Loan & Trust Co., was|
|arrested this afternoon on the charge of|
|embezzlement. |
(2)
| “I played the ponies and lost,” is|
|William Dieb’s explanation of the|
|theft of $1,200 from Wilson Brothers,|
|clothiers, 121 Williamson Street, where|
|for eighteen months he has been employed|
|as cashier. |
(3)
| On the charge of robbing thousands of|
|women and other small investors of|
|nearly $25,000 by fake mining schemes,|
|Allan Gotham, a mining broker with|
|offices at 117 Chambers Street, was|
|arrested by U. S. Marshal Harshaw this|
|morning. |
(4)
| To avenge a beating, Giovanni Ricci,|
|a laborer, shot and instantly killed|
|Guiatto Cimbri, section foreman on the|
|Pennsylvania Railroad, this noon, near|
|Harcourt Road, just west of this city.|
|Ricci immediately disappeared among|
|the freight cars in the railroad yards|
|nearby, and as the other workmen were|
|unable to find any trace of him, it is|
|believed that he boarded a freight train|
|as it drew out of the yards. |
(5)
| By leaping from his aeroplane at a|
|height of 2,000 feet, Luis Reveri, a|
|young Spanish aviator, committed suicide|
|early today, following a quarrel late|
|last night with a young woman to whom he|
|is said to have been engaged. |
(6)
| Seized by thugs in broad daylight while|
|crossing the railroad tracks at the foot|
|of Washington Street, this noon, William|
|Williams, a stone mason from Chicago,|
|was robbed of a gold watch and $20. |
(7)
| With all the skill of professional|
|thieves, two neatly dressed little|
|girls robbed several stores in the|
|neighborhood of Amsterdam Avenue and|
|159th Street yesterday, by arranging|
|that the younger, about 12 years|
|old, should engage the proprietor in|
|conversation while the older, about 14|
|years, proceeded to take whatever she|
|could carry away conveniently. |
(8)
| Sticky fly paper pasted on show windows|
|to prevent the crash of falling glass,|
|was used by burglars who broke the plate|
|glass windows of three jewelry stores on|
|Third street last night, and got away|
|with about $15,000 worth of plunder. |
The following story of a robbery shows how various details are grouped
in the lead and in the body of the story:
| Westhampton, Ind., April 10.—By drill-|
|ing through a fourteen inch fireproof|
|wall of the vault of the temporary post|
|office from an adjoining store, expert|
|cracksmen got away with $18,653, all|
|in stamps, some time last night. So|
|skillfully did they operate that mail|
|clerks at work all night fifty feet away|
|from the vault knew nothing of what|
|took place. The police and post office|
|inspectors have no clue. |
| |
| The robbery was discovered at 7:30|
|o’clock this morning by Oscar Otter, a|
|clerk in the United States Furniture|
|Co., which occupies the store adjoining|
|the post office. When Otter was unable|
|to open either of the front doors of the|
|store with his keys he became suspicious|
|and called Patrolman Frank Parker.|
|Throwing their weight against the doors|
|they forced an entrance and found that|
|both had been fastened by large screw|
|eyes. |
| |
| On examining the store, they discovered|
|below the main stairway on the first|
|floor a hole in the wall about eighteen|
|inches square. An electric drill with|
|wires attached to an electric light|
|socket under the stairs showed how|
|the robbers had succeeded in cutting|
|through the fourteen inch fireproof|
|wall. Drills, chisels, and a small|
|bottle of nitroglycerine were found a|
|few feet away covered with dust. The|
|floor in front of the hole and the wall|
|about it were covered with blankets|
|and quilts taken from the company’s|
|stock, apparently to deaden the sound of|
|drilling. The bricks of which there was|
|a small pile had evidently been drawn|
|out one by one as fast as they were|
|loosened, with the aid of a small pulley|
|and tackle that were lying in the hole. |
| |
| Some footprints in the dust at the foot|
|of the stairs indicated that one of|
|the men had been stationed there as a|
|look-out to command a view of the street|
|through the big plate glass windows of|
|the store. These with the tools and|
|tackle were the only clues. |
| |
| Patrolman Parker notified the detect-|
|ives of the central police station while|
|Mr. Otter informed Postmaster White.|
|When the post office vault was opened|
|everything was found to be in confusion.|
|The stamp cases had been rifled to the|
|extent of over $18,000 worth of stamps|
|of all denominations. The cash boxes had|
|evidently been overlooked for they were|
|found to be intact. |
| |
| “At no time of the night was the post|
|office unguarded,” said Postmaster|
|White. “Arthur Cummings and Henry|
|Leister, mailing clerks, were in|
|the mailing and sorting rooms until|
|they were relieved by the day force.|
|Patrolman Cutting, a messenger, and mail|
|wagon drivers were in and out of the|
|office at all hours of the night.” |
| |
| Post Office Inspector A. B. Holmes of|
|Cincinnati was notified of the robbery|
|by telegraph, and Inspector G. C. Helms|
|of Fort Wayne, whom he detailed to|
|come here to investigate, arrived late|
|tonight. |
SUGGESTIONS
1. Find an interesting “feature” in every unexpected occurrence.
2. Give all the facts and stick to them.
3. Don’t be carried away by wild reports; investigate every rumor.
4. Keep cool, no matter how great the disaster.
5. Don’t overestimate the extent of the damage and the number of
persons killed or injured.
6. Remember that not all persons who appear in the news are necessarily
“prominent” or “well known.”
7. Avoid describing persons or property as “endangered” or “threatened”
when they are not actually in danger.
8. Don’t overload your story with minor details.
9. Give life and action by using direct quotation whenever it is
appropriate.
10. Include verbatim accounts of eye-witnesses or survivors in big
disasters.
11. Make clear to the rapid reader the exact relation of all incidents
to the principal event.
12. Look for the motive in murders, suicides, embezzlements, and
similar crimes.
13. See the “human interest” in police news.
14. Don’t call an accused person a criminal unless he confesses or has
been convicted of crime before.
15. Don’t try criminal cases in your news stories; leave that to the
court.
16. Give both sides; the accused as well as the accuser has a right to
be heard.
17. Avoid predictions of “sensational developments” when they are not
likely to occur.
18. Don’t put a “mystery” in your story when none exists.
19. Remember that the truth, and nothing but the truth, interestingly
written, makes the best news story.
PRACTICE WORK
1. Criticise and rewrite the following fire story:
In a fire which destroyed the plant of John B. May & Co., paint and
varnish makers, 20 East Harmon street, late yesterday, five men who
took desperate chances in escaping from the blazing structure were
injured and Mme. Celloni’s famous bohemian restaurant was temporarily
put out of commission.
Mme. Celloni’s, for twenty years renowned as a gathering place for
Chicago’s litterati, adjoins the burned building on the south. It was
flooded by water, shaken by explosions and overrun by firemen, who
fought to confine the flames to the May rooms.
The damage to the building, which was a three-story brick, and
contents of the paint house is $65,000. The loss on paintings,
decorations and furnishings in Mme. Celloni’s is placed at $5,000.
All is reported covered by insurance.
The injured men were employes of the paint company. Driven by a
succession of explosions to the roof, they were hemmed in by flames.
They slid down a rope to safety. The injured are:
Joseph Hinners, 312 North Wilson avenue; hands and face burned.
Michael Lorenz, 614 William square; hands burned, right wrist
sprained.
William Gee, 6651 North Washington street; hands cut and burned.
James Green, 84 New street; body bruised and contused.
Charles Speer, 916 First street; body bruised.
The men were at work on the third floor when the alarm was sounded.
The stairway was in flames and three explosions of wood alcohol
tanks in the basement and minor explosions caused by the ignition of
smaller containers of oil on the third floor drove them to the roof.
A line was passed to them from the street. Hinners, a foreman, made
it fast. He ordered his men to precede him down the rope. When he
undertook his slide for life the entire building was afire. The
flames licked the slender cord and, just before Hinners reached the
ground, it was severed.
Miss Mary Devine of Walnut Park, stenographer for John B. May, was in
the office of the building with Mr. May when the fire was discovered.
Although the other employes fled she remained and assisted Mr. May
in placing valuable papers in the safe before leaving. There were
fifteen persons in the building when it took fire, Mr. May said.
The fire is believed to have originated in the rear of the basement
where the wood alcohol was stored. The explosions splintered the rear
partitions and ceilings and spread the flames.
The building was an old one and burned rapidly. Within a few minutes
after the alarm was sounded the flames enveloped it. Twelve engine
companies were summoned and Fire Chief Classon took personal charge
of the work. Tenants of the apartment building on the north of the
paint company fled, but their rooms were not damaged.
The fire was fought with difficulty. Firemen “Jim” Moore and Samuel
Walters of engine company No. 11 risked their lives on a ladder to
keep the flames from an oil tank in front of the third floor which
threatened to ignite the top apartments of Mme. Celloni’s.
Firemen caused most of the damage to Mme. Celloni’s. Costly tapestry
and hangings were knocked down and trampled under foot. The place
will be reopened soon. It has long been the meeting place of the
“true bohemians” of Chicago’s literary world and art circles.
The building occupied by the May company was owned by Esther McNain
of Hyde Park.
2. Analyze the following story; can you improve it by rewriting?
Riverside residents’ New Year resolutions were jolted at the outset.
Just at the break of the first day of 1913 the 110 foot water tower,
sole source of supply for the town, burned to the ground.
From 5:30 to 10 o’clock no water was to be had. Then hard personal
effort by members of the village board resulted in fire hose being
connected with outlying hydrants of Berwyn, next village east; water
trickled once more into kitchen sinks of Riverside homes. There was
not sufficient power, however, to force the water to second floors.
The cause of the fire is unknown. It is believed to have been caused
by a defective chimney, as the fire originated near the roof. The
flare of light over the roofs and through the trees warned the
suburb. The citizens promptly filled bathtubs, buckets, pitchers, and
all other available receptacles. This exhausted the supply in the
mains and the firemen found they had no pressure of water with which
to fight the fire.
Half an hour after the blaze was discovered the tower was transformed
into a pillar of flame. The fire swept around it in a circling
whirlwind, crackling and snapping until it reached the top, when
it billowed into a black cloud. Most inhabitants of Riverside and
nearby towns came to the blazing tower. The firemen found themselves
helpless. In an hour the chemical truck from Cicero arrived, but the
fire had too big a start.
When the tank collapsed there was a dense smoke and a scattering of
brands, but the effect of the loosened water did little to extinguish
the fire.
The water tank was built in 1870 and was a landmark for many years,
especially valued by automobilists entering and leaving Chicago along
the Riverside road. There was $15,000 insurance, but the total loss
was estimated to amount to approximately $50,000.
During the interval when Riverside was without water children were
sent both to Lyons and to Berwyn for bottled water. Then John H.
Rogers, a grocery man, obtained wagons and automobiles and brought
2,000 gallons of water into the town from a nearby bottling works. At
the breakfast hour automobiles were lined up in front of his store
with customers waiting their turn to be served with water.
In many residences where hot water heat is used it was necessary to
let the fire go out. For the relief of these persons Arthur Hughes,
commissioner of public works, sent men to bring what water wagons and
sprinkler carts they could from the neighboring towns. Water for the
heaters and also for live stock thereby was provided.
The town board held an emergency meeting in the morning and made
preliminary arrangements for a new plant. The water is pumped from
two artesian wells 2,000 feet deep.
“We will have a temporary power plant in here by next Saturday,”
announced Henry G. Riley, president of the board. “When we are ready
to install our new plant it will be on a different plan than this
one, which was inefficient, anyway.”
3. Are the essential facts presented most effectively in the “leads” of
the following stories?
(1)
Belleview, Wis., Jan. 3.—William Schmidt, a farm hand of Branch
Township, confessed to-day that it was he who attacked Miss Lizzie
Martin of this city last Saturday, and injured her so severely that
she died a week later. Schmidt insisted that he had mistaken Miss
Martin for a man on whom he sought revenge, and that he had not meant
to kill her.
Until Schmidt confessed the police and the county authorities were
without a single clue as to Miss Martin’s slayer. Bloodhounds and
Belgian sheep dogs had been used to trace the slayer, but they had
failed. Several men, black and white, had been arrested, but each
one proved his innocence. Rewards totaling more than $2,500 had been
offered, but not until a day or so ago was the least clue found.
Then Miss Mildred Green, a trained nurse, attending a case on a farm
near Richland, noticed that a new farm hand was extremely nervous,
and that he talked of almost nothing but the Martin murder. He
discussed the probable penalty for such a crime, and was eager to
know whether any trace had been found of the slayer. The nurse,
convinced that the man, who was Schmidt, knew something of the crime,
told Dr. Henry F. Schley, a local physician, of her suspicions, and
last night Dr. Schley brought Schmidt here.
The physician got a room for Schmidt in a local hotel, and this
morning communicated with Prosecutor Frank Firling. The latter, with
several policemen, concealed himself in a room in the hotel through
the walls of which holes had been bored into the adjoining room, and
then Schmidt was led into this second room. There, under Dr. Schley’s
questioning, he gradually made a full confession, which was overheard
by Firling and the policemen, who entered the room and arrested him.
Schmidt took his arrest very calmly. In fact, he seemed to be
relieved after he had made his confession. He even whistled
cheerfully as he was taken to jail. Later he was arraigned before the
Justice of the Peace and held without bail on a charge of murder, to
await the action of the January Grand Jury.
Prosecutor Firling, beyond saying that Schmidt had made a confession,
was not much disposed to talk about the case. He said, however, that
Schmidt denied that robbery was his motive, and that the prisoner
said he did not discover that he had mistaken the woman in the
darkness for a man against whom he had a grievance, until after he
had felled her.
(2)
Paul Schein, said to have confessed to having illicitly distilled
liquor in his home at 421 Maryland street, was arrested today by
government officers and is locked up in the county jail. He confessed
to Marshal Weed this afternoon, according to the marshal. Held as
evidence is a copper tea-kettle still, found in his house. Schein is
25 years old.
The discovery of the outfit came as the result of a fire in the home
of the accused man. Detectives Harry Weiler and Arthur Winter found
the tea-kettle distillery. They took the apparatus to the police
station, learned its purpose, and notified the government authorities.
Special Gauger Frank Heiler was put upon the case, and the arrest of
Schein followed. Schein is said to have told Marshal Weed that he
made cheap brandy, using dried grape mash. He said, however, that he
has only been making the brandy for fourteen days, for his own use.
Schein is a wine-maker.
4. Rewrite the following story, giving it a summary lead and improving
it in every possible way.
Fresh from an evening of shopping in 125th Street, Mrs. Margaret
Werner started down Broadway about 10:30 last night, headed for her
apartment at 627 West 109th Street, and talking Christmas plans with
her friends, Miss Ethel Hinkey, of 421 Cathedral Parkway, and Jennie
Fielding, of 301 Harrison Avenue.
Their thoughts were full of the Yuletide and their arms were full of
bundles, and as they were walking down from 118th Street past the
long, lonesome stretch of the Columbia University buildings they were
so absorbed in their chatting that they paid no attention to three
men speeding to catch up with them.
Suddenly two of the men stepped around in front of them, and one
reached for the capacious handbag swinging by a strap from Mrs.
Werner’s wrist. The other two men devoted themselves solely to
keeping the other two women quiet, and Mrs. Werner was practically
left to fight it out with the highwayman. She was a pretty good match
for him.
Her first thought was to clench her fist grimly on the straps of her
handbag. Her second was to scream, and she carried this second idea
into such good effect she could be heard a block away, despite her
assailant’s swift reach for her throat. Once his fingers closed, she
did not make any more noise, but just struggled and twisted while the
highwayman thrust her against the wall.
But her first cry had been heard by a broad-shouldered muscular
stranger who was swinging up Broadway and changed his walk to an
interested run at the sound of the cries for help. He reached out a
long arm for Mrs. Werner’s assailant, and after wrenching him around
gave him a stinging buffet over the head.
Then the two men locked, and the highwayman’s assistants stood at a
nervous and respectful distance while the stranger did his work. He
finally had the chief offender so suppressed that his only remaining
weapon was his teeth, and these he imbedded in the rescuer’s shoulder.
This was the way matters stood when Mrs. Werner and her friends heard
the sound of Patrolman McDonald fairly racing up Broadway from his
post two blocks below, where he had been standing when he first heard
the cries. At sight of him the two minor highwaymen just turned on
their heels and fled, while McDonald closed on their friend.
The stranger, released from his chivalrous police duties, rubbed
his shoulder ruefully, and identified himself as Harry Rogers, a
civil engineer. He helped to calm Mrs. Werner, who was very much
wrought up, and not at all pleased to find that for all her valiant
self-defense two five-dollar bills were missing from her opened bag,
to say nothing of her eyeglasses. All her Christmas bundles were
intact, however, lying strewn on the pavement at the very spot where
she had dropped them and from which the highwayman had pushed her
over toward the wall.
As for the highwayman, he went peaceably enough to the West 125th
Street Station, where he gave his name as Arthur G. Duffy, his age
as 21, his occupation that of a driver, and his address, 961 West
Forty-fifth Street. Mrs. Werner’s money was not to be found in his
pockets, but her glasses were.
5. What are the faults in the following story, and how can you correct
them?
Charles Johnson of 641 Washington Avenue, Jersey City, who is
employed as a bookkeeper by the Harrison Felt Company in the
company’s Mill No. 3, 16 Erie Street, started out from the factory
yesterday morning to draw the money for the weekly payroll, following
his custom. An associate of Johnson who usually made the trip to
the bank with him was ill, and in his absence the bookkeeper was
accompanied by Edward Wiley of 412 Oak Place, Jersey City, the
19-year-old son of the manager of the factory, who is also an employe
of the establishment.
The man and the youth, carrying a small satchel, went first to the
New York County Bank, Fourteenth Street and Eighth Avenue. A part of
the pay roll was drawn out there, and then they went to the Gansevoort
Branch of the Security Bank, Fourteenth Street and Ninth Avenue,
where were withdrawn the remaining funds needed to make up the weekly
wages.
Ordinarily, the weekly payroll of the Erie Street mill reaches a
total of $3,000 to $3,500, but at the Christmas holidays a part of
the employes had been paid off in advance. As a result, Johnson and
Wiley drew from the two banks, instead of the usual amount, just
$1,194, in currency and specie of small denomination.
They proceeded west on Fourteenth Street one block to Hudson Street,
and south on Hudson Street four blocks to Abingdon Square. Here they
crossed the street from east to west, and, going two blocks further,
turned into Erie, rounding the corner where stands the saloon of
Schmidt Brothers. Scarcely a block away in the same street is the
factory of the Harrison Felt Company.
Jutting out on the north side of Erie Street from Schmidt Brothers’
saloon is a glass vestibule, and about ten feet to the west of it is
an iron railing fronting a five-story brown stone apartment house.
The railing and the vestibule form something like a retreat from the
sidewalk. As Johnson and Wiley neared this spot they saw two men
standing in the space between the railing and the vestibule, but took
no especial notice of them as they walked along, each holding to the
handle of the satchel, Johnson on the outside and Wiley next to the
building.
All of a sudden the two men who had been standing in the inclosure,
drawing blackjacks from their pockets, pounced down upon the pay roll
messengers. The foremost man made for Wiley first, got a wrestler’s
hold around his neck and sent him whirling to the pavement as the
bandit struck vigorously at his head. At almost the same instant
Johnson was attacked by the second robber, who sank his fingers into
the bookkeeper’s throat, and hurled him to the sidewalk. The satchel
remained in the hands of Wiley.
The bookkeeper and his companion fought valiantly, but Johnson was
quickly overcome by the short, heavily built man, while Wiley, still
clutching the handle of the satchel, was rolled over the edge of the
sidewalk by his assailant. Wiley was still holding to his satchel
and trying to keep it from the grasp of his assailant, when a third
man, wearing a gray overcoat, ran over from the south side of the
street and gave him a violent kick on the arm, releasing his grip on
the satchel. The man in the gray overcoat snatched it up and darted
off west on Erie Street to Greenwich Street, followed closely by the
first two assailants and a fourth man, who had been observed standing
on the south side of Erie Street. Johnson and Wiley, regaining their
feet, started in pursuit of the fleeing men, both yelling, “Stop
thief!”
The man in the gray overcoat, carrying the satchel, turned north into
Greenwich Street with another of the bandits close at his heels.
The other two, according to confused statements made by the pay roll
messengers, turned south into Greenwich Street. The first two men
leaped into a black five-passenger automobile waiting just around the
corner in front of Pietro Gatti’s barber shop, 551 Greenwich Street.
They were whisked away at full speed just as Johnson and Wiley turned
into Greenwich Street. They saw the fleeing automobile, several
blocks away, swing into Gansevoort Street. The second pair jumped
into an automobile waiting in Greenwich Street, south of Erie Street,
which started off also at top speed.
Meanwhile a large crowd had collected, but none of those who were in
the vicinity in time to see the struggle would venture to give any
assistance, because, as several of them afterward said, they thought
it was an affair between gangmen, and discretion forbade their
interference.
One of the first men to reach the place of the hold-up was Detective
Patrick Sullivan, who was standing at Eleventh and Washington
Streets, two blocks away, waiting to catch a car. He arrived in time
to see only clouds of dust cast up by the flying automobiles, but he
succeeded in getting from some of the eyewitnesses several license
numbers.
Mounted Patrolman Hartwig of Traffic Squad C reached the spot with
Sullivan, and while the latter was gathering information from the
spectators, the former telephoned the Charles Street Police Station
and notified Police Headquarters. The reserves under Lieut. Green
were rushed to Erie and Greenwich Streets, but arriving there too
late to make any arrests, withdrew, leaving the apprehension of the
highwaymen to Acting Captain Charles Du Frain.
Capt. Du Frain, after working on the case all day, said last night
that he could report but little progress. He declared that the
descriptions he had obtained from eyewitnesses were incomplete and
confused, and that the numbers of the automobiles were likewise
conflicting.
Julius H. Schnitzler, shipping clerk for the Scholz & Gamm pickle
firm at 665 Wilson Street, an eyewitness of the affair, said
yesterday afternoon that he had seen the hold-up and robbery from his
desk, which faces almost the exact spot where the two messengers were
first attacked. Before the attack Schnitzler declared that he had
observed two men standing across Erie Street. It was most probably
they, be said, who gave the signal of the approach of Johnson and
Wiley.
Schnitzler said that these men were dressed, one in a black suit with
a black derby, and the other in a blue suit under a dark overcoat.
The man in the black suit pulled a yellow blackjack, with which he
attacked Wiley, while the second man attacked Johnson. Schnitzler
further said he had noticed one of the autos when he went to his
office shortly before 8 o’clock. His story was corroborated in
practically every detail by Arthur Hansen, a clerk in the office with
him.
Another complete account of the affair was obtained from Mary
Harrigan, a maid in the home of Judge John R. Winch, 961 Greenwich
Street, across the street from where the first automobile was kept
waiting.
Johnson was able to continue his work at his desk. He corrected some
of the details in his first version of the attack, and declared
that he had not been struck with a blackjack. He as well as Wiley,
however, received a number of bruises in the struggle.
6. Combine the later bulletin (1) with the first news story (2) in
rewriting the following material.
(1)
Norfolk, Va., Jan. 4.—A wireless message received tonight from the
revenue cutter Apache says the British steamer Indrakuala rescued
six of the crew of the steamer Luckenbach, with which she collided in
Chesapeake Bay today. One of the men, W. M. McDonald, a coal passer,
died from the effects of the long exposure in the Luckenbach’s
rigging.
(2)
Norfolk, Va., Jan. 4.—With the abatement today of the wind and
snowstorm that raged over the eastern states last night, came
harrowing tales of shipwrecks at sea, thrilling rescues, increased
loss of life and damage to property.
Eight men, the survivors of the crew of twenty-two of the steamer
Julia Luckenbach, which was rammed and sunk by the British tramp
Indrakuala in Chesapeake bay, arrived in Norfolk late today, and
after being revived, started for New York.
The eight men clung to the rigging for six hours until they were
taken off by the crew of the steamship Pennsylvania. The Indrakuala
was badly damaged and had to be beached. She lies about two miles
from the Luckenbach, whose spars alone are visible rising out of
forty-five feet of water near Tangiers sound.
The eight survivors of the Luckenbach are George Hunt, first officer;
William Bruhn, second officer; George Little, first assistant
engineer; George Doyle, third assistant engineer; George Davis,
quartermaster; William Hoffman, fireman; and Theodore Losher and P.
Anderson, seamen.
Describing his experience Davis said tonight:
“None of us knew what hit us. I was knocked down and when I got up
water was pouring over me. I saw men climbing into the rigging and I
followed. I saw Capt. Gilbert swimming around the ship and calling
for his wife, who was an invalid. Both were lost. Waves that appeared
to be two hundred feet high broke over the ship and she sank in a
hurry. Lifeboats were lowered from the Indrakuala but none came
toward us. The ship turned her nose around and started for the beach.”
“We pleaded and cried for help,” said Theodore Losher, “but were
either unheard or ignored. The Indrakuala was less than 100 yards
away when she started for the beach. I thought every minute we would
be blown into the sea. The wind was terrific. Our chief engineer,
Kris Knudson, told me he could not hold on much longer, because his
hands were frozen. I told him to stick it out a little longer. When
the Danish steamer Pennsylvania hove in sight, I called to him, but
he was gone.
“We were six hours in that rigging. But there were men on the
Pennsylvania. When they saw our signals of distress they put away in
small boats in spite of the tremendous seas. The boats would get near
us and then be carried fifty feet in the air on the crest of a wave
and lost to sight, but those men stuck and took everyone of us off.
First Officer Hunt was unconscious when they reached him. He had
been holding on with one hand and holding an unconscious man on his
perch with the other.”
The Indrakuala is commanded by Capt. Smith, but the ship does not
carry wireless and no statement from him was obtainable tonight.
According to the survivors, Capt. Gilbert and the first and second
officers were standing on the bridge when the collision occurred.
There was no opportunity to give alarm to those below.
7. What are the objections to the first paragraph as the beginning of
the following story, and how can you improve it in rewriting?
About 5 o’clock yesterday morning a wagon load of thieves arrived in
front of the tenement house at 841 Holton Place. Leaving one of their
number to hold the horse, the others went to the roof of the house
and thence to the loft building at 837 Holton Place, on the top floor
of which are the store and show rooms of the International Jewelry
Company, of which Henry Hertel is President. The thieves cut a big
hole through the roof of that building and then with the aid of a
rope ladder let themselves down into the show room, where they packed
a dozen suitcases belonging to traveling salesmen with loot, the
value of which Mr. Hertel last night estimated to be about $5,000.
The International Jewelry Company is wired everywhere with burglar
alarms, but the directing mind of yesterday’s theft evidently knew
where all the wires were, for the hole was cut in one of the few
places in the ceiling which had not been wired. After packing the
suitcases the thieves retraced their steps over the roofs of 839
to 841 Holton Place, and then proceeding down the stairways of the
tenement house, deposited the suitcases in the wagon and drove away.
The theft was discovered when the place was opened for business
yesterday morning. An investigation was started, and tenants in 841
Holton Place told of seeing the wagon in front of that house at about
5 A.M. Detectives from the Reynolds Street Station are working on the
case. So far they have reported no progress.