News Writing Part 12

=205. Series of Speeches.=--When reporting a series of speeches, as at a banquet, convention, political picnic, or a holiday celebration, it generally is the best policy to play up at length the strongest address, or else the speech of the most important personage, then summarize the remaining talks in a paragraph or so at the end of the story. If all are of about equal importance, the lead may feature the general trend of thought of the different speakers or else some single startling statement setting forth the character and spirit of the meeting. The story may then proceed with summarizing quotations or indirect statements of the individual speakers, giving each s.p.a.ce according to the value of his address. Where the body of the story is made up of direct and indirect quotations from several speeches, the speaker's name should come first in the paragraph in which he is quoted, so that the eye of the reader running rapidly down the column may catch readily that portion of the story given to each person quoted.

=206. Banquets, Conventions, etc.=--Not always, however, are speeches important, or even delivered, on these social, political, and holiday occasions. If not, the reporter must devote his attention to the occasion, to any unusual incidents or events, or to the persons attending. In reporting banquets, it may be the persons present, the novelty of the favors, the originality of the menu, or the occasion itself that must be featured. In conventions it may be the purpose or expected results, certain effects on national or state legislation, or any departures or new ideas in evidence. In reporting conventions of milliners, tailors, jewelers, and the like, one can always find excellent features in the incoming styles. The public is greedy for stories of advance styles. In political picnics the feature is practically always the speeches, though sometimes there are athletic contests that provide good copy and may be presented in accordance with Part III, Chapter XVI. In holiday celebrations also the feature may be speeches or athletic contests, or else parades of floats, fraternal orders, soldiers, etc. Usually, however, the occurrence of some untoward accident that mars the occasion itself furnishes a story feature of greater importance than the monotony of the parade and the contests.

=207. Current Magazine Articles, etc.=--News stories of articles appearing in current magazines, books, government publications, educational journals, and the like are of the same type as stories of addresses. The lead may feature the theme, the t.i.tle, the author, a single sentence, an entire paragraph, the society or organization publis.h.i.+ng the article or report, or even the motive back of the article. And the body follows usually with direct quotations summarizing the whole. Such news stories generally are very readable, particularly if they are timely. But the reporter must be careful to avoid extended a.n.a.lysis or learned comment. A long catalogue of errors with the page on which each may be found is good in scholarly magazines, but worthless in news columns. The reporter's office is to write for the entertainment and enlightenment of the public, not for the instruction of the author about whose article he is writing. Hence he should report only those details that are of interest to the readers of his journal.

=208. Courts.=--Court, trial, and inquest stories are but a combination of the methods of handling interviews and speeches, the questions and answers of the attorneys and witnesses being the interviews, the arguments of the lawyers and the decisions of the court being the speeches. The writing of the court story as a whole follows closely the method already outlined for interviews and speeches. The lead, however, varies greatly accordingly to the stage of the court proceedings. If a verdict has been brought in, the guilt or innocence of the defendant, the penalty imposed, or an application for a rehearing may be featured, and the body of the story continues with a statement from the prisoner, quotations from the speeches of the opposing attorneys, and the judge's charge to the jury. If the trial has reached only an intermediate stage, the lead may feature the cause of the court proceedings, a significant bit of testimony, the name of an important witness, the point reached in the day's work, the probable length of the trial, any unusual clash of the attorneys over the admission of certain testimony, or possibly the prisoner's changed att.i.tude resulting from the long nervous strain. Then the body, as in reports of speeches, may follow with interesting bits of quotation from the testimony or from the arguments of the attorneys, with summarizing paragraphs of the evidence and the proceedings as a whole. Occasionally, in order to bring out significant points in the depositions, it may become necessary to quote verbatim questions and answers in the cross-examination, but generally a more readable story may be had by reporting the testimony continuously and omitting the questions altogether. Even when playing up a court decision, it is rarely wise to quote large extracts verbatim, owing to the heaviness of legal expression and the frequent use of technical terms. Only when the form of the decision, as well as the facts, is vital, should the language of the decree be quoted at length. And even then it is better, as a rule, to print the entire decision separately and write an independent summarizing story. When writing up trials continued from preceding days, one must be careful to connect the story with what has gone before, explaining who the persons are, the cause of their appearance in court, and where the trial is being conducted. Only in this way can readers who have not kept up with the trial understand the present story.

=209. Humorous Court Stories.=--A word of caution must be given against the temptation to write court stories humorously at the expense of accuracy and the feelings of those unfortunate ones drawn into public notice by some one's transgression of law or ethics. The law of libel and its far-reaching power has been dwelt on in Part II, Chapter X, and it need not be emphasized here that libel lurks in wrong street numbers, misspelled names, misplaced words and phrases, and even in accidental resemblance between names and between personal descriptions. But the reporter should be cautioned against warping facts for the sake of making a good story. Those who stand before the bar of justice, no matter for what cause, how wrong or how right, are keenly sensitive about even the publication of their names. Indeed, it is fear of newspaper notoriety that keeps many a man from seeking and obtaining that justice which is due every individual at the hands of the law. The present writer has seen many an innocent person in a state of nervous collapse over a barbed thrust made by a satirizing humorist in the columns of a paper. No criticism is made of true reports; objection is made only to those warped for the sake merely of producing a good story.

In a leading Southern paper appeared the following:

=FROGEYE HAD A RIVAL= Come er lef'! come er right! come er rag an' shawl! Come to yo' honey-bunch straight down de hall! Up towa'd de front do', back towa'd de wall, Gimme room to scramble at de Potlicker Ball! "What's this?" demanded the judge ferociously. "Another Potlicker row? I'm going to have to do something about you folks. You're always in hot water." The defendants--a weird a.s.sortment of the youth and beauty of the Black Belt, their finery somewhat damaged after a night behind the bars--s.h.i.+fted uneasily on their respective number nines. A cross-eyed mulatto had the courage to speak, albeit a trifle morosely. "Us ain't in no hot water, jedge," she drawled. "Us ain't been doin' nothin' but dancin'." "What's your name, girl?" inquired the clerk. He was answered by Frogeye, who celebrated his latest release from gaol by attending the Potlicker Ball. "Dat's Three-Finger f.a.n.n.y," stated Frogeye in a voice of authority. "She done start de hull rucus." Three-Finger f.a.n.n.y bridled. Before she could open her mouth, Frogeye plunged into the tale: "Ef it hadn't er been fo' dat three-fingered, cross-eyed, blistered-footed gal we'd er been dar dancin' yit. But she an Bugabear spill de beans. She come up ter me an' say, 'Mister Frogeye, kin you ball de Jack?' I tells her she don't see no chains on me, do she? An' we whirl right in. Hoccome I knowed she promise dat dance ter Bugabear? We ain't ball de Jack twice 'roun' fo' heah he come wid er beer bottle shoutin' dat I done tuk his gal erway. I'se 'bleeged ter 'fend mahse'f, ain't I, jedge? Well, den!" The conclusion of Frogeye's story lacked climax, but apparently the judge got the gist of it, for he said: "It seems to me all of you dancers need a summer vacation. They say there's nothing like a little arm work to improve the grip. Thirty days, everybody!"

But every reader knows that in one round-up of negro malefactors, characters such as Frogeye, Three-Finger f.a.n.n.y, and Bugabear are not going to be arrested at one "Potlicker Ball." The story is a good one if the reader will suspend his sense of realism sufficiently to enjoy it.

But in its purport to be a true account of an arrest and a trial of certain persons, it makes one doubt first the story, then the newspaper that printed it, and finally newspapers in general. And so develops one of the main causes of criticism of the modern newspaper. A reporter must resolve to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. A journal loses its power the moment it is wrong.

XV. ACCIDENT, CRIME

=210. Accident and Crime Stories.=--Accident and crime stories are grouped together because they are handled alike and because they differ from each other only in point of view, or in the fact that in the one some one is guilty of lawbreaking, while in the other the partic.i.p.ants are merely unfortunate. The two, of course, frequently overlap, since a death or a wreck which at first may seem purely accidental may later prove to have been the result of a criminal act. In this chapter, however, accident stories will be taken to include fires, street-car smash-ups, railroad wrecks, automobile collisions, runaways, explosions, mine disasters, strokes of lightning, drownings, floods, storms, s.h.i.+pwrecks, etc. In the list of crime will be placed murders, a.s.saults, suicides, suspicious deaths, robberies, embezzlements, arson, etc. Of the accident cla.s.s, the method of writing a fire story may be taken as a type for the whole group.

=211. Lead to a Fire Story.=--Ordinarily the lead to a story of a fire should tell what was destroyed, the location of the property, the extent of the damage, the occupants or owners, the time, the cause, and what made the loss possible,--answering, in other words, the questions _who_, _what_, _when_, _where_, _why_, _how_, and _how much_. Thus:

Fire originating in a pile of shavings crawled across a 100-yard stretch of dry Bermuda gra.s.s at an early hour this morning, destroying the cotton warehouse at 615 Railroad Street, owned by J. O. Hunnicut, president of the First National Bank. The loss is $25,000 with no insurance.

=212. Lives Lost or Endangered.=--The fire lead may feature any one or more of a dozen individual incidents. Loss of, or danger to, life, unless other features are exceptional, should take precedence over every other particular.

Six women are dead and ten seriously injured as a result of the destruction by fire, Tuesday morning, of the Gold and Green Club, 1818 Chestnut Street, entailing a loss of $30,000.

=213. Lists of Killed or Wounded.=--In writing a story where a number of persons have been killed or injured, the reporter should observe the following directions:

1. Separate the names of the dead from those of the injured, putting the list of dead first.

2. Record the names in alphabetical order, placing surnames first.

3. Put each name, with the age, address, occupation or business, nature and extent of the injury, and any care given, in a separate paragraph.

4. Underscore the names with wave lines so that they shall be printed in display type.

=BOYS SMOKE IN HAYLOFT= Three boys borrowed their father's pipes and took their first lesson in smoking yesterday in John Cadie's hayloft on the Anton road. =The Dead= =Heinie Pindle, 8 years old, charred body found in ashes of the barn.= =The Injured= =Olin Swendson, 9 years old, burned about face and arms while trying to save Heinie Pindle.= =Ben Adams, 9 years old, leg broken in jump from the hayloft.=

=214. Acts of Heroism.=--Acts of heroism involving danger to or loss of life are always good for features.

Remaining at her post through the thick of the fire that destroyed the heart of Necedah to-day, Wisconsin's only woman telephone magnate, Miss Hazel Bulgar, proved the heroine of the day. While the flames threatened her building, she took the switchboard herself, called the fire departments of all neighboring cities, and transmitted calls for help.

=215. Remarkable Escapes.=--Remarkable escapes from burning buildings, in their appeal to the elemental struggle for life, make valuable features.

Using a window blind and a single thread of telephone wire as a means of escape, Carl Hardiman, 24, 216 Northcliff avenue, swung himself into s.p.a.ce four stories above the level of the street at 8:00 o'clock this morning and crawled hand over hand from the burning wax factory to a telephone pole across the street.

=216. Humorous, Pathetic, or Daring Incidents.=--Humorous, pathetic, or daring incidents are worth featuring strongly, particularly when they involve children, aged persons, or animals.

Tige, aged 4, was only a collie dog, but he will have the biggest funeral to-morrow ever given a member of the Lilliman family. He dragged two of the children out of the blazing kitchen at 487 Birmingham avenue and was so badly burned trying to save the nine months baby, Dan, that he died this morning. Every hair was burned from his body.

Just inside the front entrance, within six inches of G.o.d's fresh air and life, the bodies of 21 girls, ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, were found this morning after the fire that destroyed the St. Patrick's Girls' school.

=217. Cause of Fire.=--The cause of the fire, if unusual or mysterious, may be featured.

A set of cotton Santa Claus whiskers and a Christmas candle caused the death Wednesday night of Allen Palmer, 18, 1416 Magnolia Avenue, and the destruction by fire of the Lake Mills Methodist church.

=218. Buildings or Property.=--The particular buildings, if especially valuable by reason of their age, location, or cost of construction, may be features.

Historic Grace Episcopal Church in South Wabash Avenue, considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the city since it was erected nearly fifty years ago, was destroyed to-day in a fire that did damage estimated at $500,000. The main building of the Union Switch and Signal Company, of the Westinghouse interests, at Swissvale, where thousands of sh.e.l.ls have been manufactured for the Allies, was swept by fire this afternoon, entailing a loss estimated at $4,000,000. Officials of the company said that the origin of the fire had not been determined.

=219. Other Features.=--Similarly, one may feature any one of a number of other particulars: as, the occupants of the building, the owners, any prominent persons involved, the amount and character of the damage, the amount of insurance, how the fire was discovered, how it spread, when the alarm was given, the promptness or delay of the fire department, etc. Any one of these particulars may be featured, provided it has unusual importance or interest.

=220. Body of the Fire Story.=--The body of the fire story may continue with such of the details enumerated in the preceding paragraphs as are not used in the lead. Somewhere in the story the extent of the damage and the amount of insurance should be given. Those are sufficiently important particulars to be included always. Greater emphasis and action can be given the story, particularly in case of loss of life or great damage, by quoting direct statements of eye-witnesses or of persons injured. A janitor's account of how the fire started, or how he discovered it, or a woman's story of how she knew the night before that something terrible was going to happen, always adds greatly to the interest.

=221. Rumors at Fires.=--In reporting a fire, however, particularly a big one, the reporter should guard against the wild rumors about the extent of the loss, the number of persons injured or burned to death, the certainty of arson, etc., which usually gain currency among the spectators. Such stories are always exaggerated, and they account for the fact that first news accounts of fires are frequently overdrawn. The reporter should never take such stories at their face value, but should investigate for himself until he knows his details are accurate. Or if he cannot prove them either false or true, he should omit them entirely or record them as mere rumors. Above all, he must keep his head. With the hundreds--sometimes thousands--of spectators pushed beyond the fire lines, the roar of fire engines, the scream of whistles, the wild lights, and the general pandemonium, it is often difficult to remain calm. Yet it is only by keeping absolutely cool that one can judge accurately the value of the information obtained and can put that information into the best news form. Only the reporter who at all times retains entire possession of himself is able to write the most forceful, interesting, and readable fire stories.

=222. Accident Stories in General.=--Accident stories in general follow the same constructive plans as those given for fires. The lead should play up the number of lives lost or endangered, the cause of the accident, the extent of the damage or injury, the time, and the place, answering the questions _who_, _what_, _when_, _where_, _why,_ and _how_. Any one of these may be featured according to its importance. If a number of persons have been killed or hurt, and their names are obtainable, a list of the dead and the injured should be made as indicated on page 150. Then the body of the story may continue in simple chronological order, reserving unimportant details until the last. The following is a good ill.u.s.tration of an accident story:

=DU PONT BLAST KILLS 31= Wilmington, Del., Nov. 29.--Thirty-one men were killed and six fatally injured to-day in an explosion of approximately four tons of black powder in a packing house at the Upper Hagley yard of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., on Brandywine Creek, three miles north of this city. The cause of the explosion is not known. One official says, "There is not a thread on which to hang any hope that the origin will be definitely ascertained." After the blast, termed the worst in the last twenty-five years, it was recalled that notices recently had been tacked on trees and fences near the yards, and even on fences within the plant, warning workmen to quit the mills by Jan. 1. At the time, the posting of the notices was believed to be an attempt by German sympathizers to intimidate the men. Extra guards were ordered about the plants and the United States Secret Service began an investigation, it was reported. Du Pont Company officials have ordered a searching investigation, and every employee who was near the destroyed building will be put through an examination in an effort to get some clue as to the cause of the explosion....[21]

[21] _New York World_, December 1, 1915.

It is worth noting, in this story, the shrewdness with which the reporter plays up the probable cause of the accident, adding to the actual facts and promising possible further developments in to-morrow's paper.

=223. Stories of the Weather.=--The weather takes its place in the accident division of news stories because of its frequent harmful effects on life and property. Men's pursuits are all a gamble on the weather. Usually a story about the weather depends for its value largely on the felicity of its language, though when there has been severe atmospheric disturbance, resulting in loss of life, destruction of property, or delayed traffic, a simple narrative of events is sufficient to hold the reader's attention. The following are different types of weather story, the first being of the pure accident type, the second, of the more commonplace daily routine.

=TERRIFIC STORM KILLS 4= Rain, hail, snow, sleet, gales, thunder and lightning combined in an extraordinary manner early yesterday to give New York one of the most peculiar storms the city ever experienced. Four persons died and scores were injured. Unfinished buildings were blown down, roofs were blown off, and signs demolished. The storm played havoc with the railroads, delaying trains and adding to the difficulty of moving freight. It made so much trouble for the New Haven that the company last night issued a notice saying that "on account of storms and acc.u.mulation of loaded cars" only live stock, perishable freight, food products, and coal would be carried over portions of the line. Adrift in the gale, fifteen ca.n.a.l barges and cargo scows from South Amboy, N. J., went ash.o.r.e at Sandy Hook after those on board, including twenty women and children, had suffered from exposure and one man washed overboard from the barge Henrietta had been drowned. The California and the Stockholm, with pa.s.sengers on board and inbound, were delayed by the storm and will reach port to-day. The wind in Newark unroofed the almshouse, injuring two aged women, blew down buildings, smashed windows, and crippled the entire wire service of the city....[22] (Then follows a detailed account of the dead, the injured, and the delay of traffic.)

[22] _New York Herald_, December 27, 1915.

=COLD WAVE ON WAY HERE= Indianapolis to-day stands on the brink between rain and snow. Before to-morrow dawns it may bend slightly one way or the other, meteorologically speaking, and the result will be little flakes of snow or little drops of water. It is forecast that to-morrow its feet will slip entirely and it will be plunged into the abyss of cold weather. The forecast is the work of the weather man, who has some reputation locally and elsewhere as a forecaster of questionable accuracy. Cold weather is drifting this way on northwest winds, says the weather man, and soon will be hard by in the offing, ready to pounce on Indianapolis. The fate of Indianapolis is to be the fate of Indiana also, and of the entire Middle West, for the weather man is no respecter of localities, and when he once gets started forecasts with utter abandon.... The Northwest has experienced a drop of 20 degrees in temperature and the cold wave is rapidly sweeping this way. It is due to reach Indianapolis to-morrow morning. The local forecast is for cloudy to-night and Wednesday, with probabilities of rain or snow, and colder Wednesday. It was the same for the state, but rain was predicted for the south part and snow for the north. The temperature in Indianapolis at 7 o'clock this morning was 38 degrees, a drop of 6 degrees being recorded in the last twenty-four hours. The coming cold wave is expected to give this part of the country its first real touch of winter. The temperature hovered near the zero mark in the northwest. The weather bureau reported snow in Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota.[23 ]

[23] _Indianapolis News_, October 28, 1913.

To write this second type of story interestingly means that the reporter must exert himself especially, since the daily routine of weather reports soon becomes wearing in its monotony,--so much so that one finds it exceedingly difficult to present with any degree of originality the same old little-varying facts from day to day. Yet one's readers are always interested in just this item of news, and one can be sure of more expectant readers for this particular story than perhaps for any other single item in the paper.

=224. Deaths and Funerals.=--Stories of deaths and funerals may be included in the monotonous cla.s.s of accident news. There is this additional difficulty in writing death and funeral stories, however, that in attempting to write sympathetically, appreciatively, of the person who has died, and so meet the expectations of surviving friends and relatives, one is running always on the border line of bathos. It is probably easier to make oneself ridiculous in such stories than in any other kind of news article. As a result, most newspapers require their reporters to confine themselves to bare statements of facts concerning the dead person's life.

=225. Content of Death Stories.=--There are a few facts which all death stories should contain. The person's name, age, street address, and position or business should normally be included in the lead, with possibly a statement of the cause of his death. The duration of his illness may well follow. Then may come the names of surviving relatives and any relations.h.i.+ps with persons well known, locally or nationally. If the person is married, the date of the marriage, the maiden name of the wife, and any interesting circ.u.mstances connected with the marriage may be recalled. The length of residence in the city should also be included, with possibly a statement of the person's birthplace and the occasion of his settlement in the city. If the person is a man or a woman of wealth, an account of his or her holdings and how they were acquired is always interesting. The story may close with the names of the pallbearers, the time and place of the funeral, the name of the minister officiating, and the place of burial. The following story of the death of Justice Lamar, while not observing the order of events just given, is an excellent ill.u.s.tration of a dignified presentation of the facts in a man's life. (The article has necessarily been abbreviated because of its length.)

=JUSTICE J. R. LAMAR DIES= Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., Sunday.--Mr. Joseph Rucker Lamar, a.s.sociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died to-night at his home in this city after an intermittent illness of several months. The immediate cause of his death was a severe cold, which he contracted ten days ago, and which proved too great a strain for his weakened heart. Justice Lamar's health began to fail early last summer and he was obliged to absent himself from his duties on the bench. His physicians advised a long period of rest, as they feared that over-work would seriously affect the action of his heart. Accordingly, he spent the greater part of the summer at White Sulphur Springs and returned to Was.h.i.+ngton about two months ago feeling much improved. His condition was not such, however, that it permitted him to attend the sessions of the Court, although he was able to take outdoor exercise. Two days before Christmas he contracted a heavy cold and was obliged to go to bed. Specialists were consulted, but he gradually grew weaker until this afternoon, when he sank into unconsciousness and pa.s.sed away peacefully just before nine o'clock. At his bedside when the end came were Mrs. Lamar and their two sons. Chief Justice White arrived at the Lamar home within a few minutes after the death of his colleague. The funeral ceremonies will be in accordance with the custom of the court. It is probable that the services will be held on Tuesday and that interment will be at the family home in Ruckersville, Ga. Justice Lamar was born at Ruckersville, Elbert county, Ga., on October 14, 1857, the son of the Rev. James S. and Mary Rucker Lamar. He attended the University of Georgia. He was graduated from Bethany College, West Virginia, in 1877. After a year in the Was.h.i.+ngton and Lee University Law School, he was admitted to the bar at Augusta, Ga. There he lived until appointed to the Supreme Court. He was a cousin of the late a.s.sociate Justice L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, who was a member of the United States Supreme Court from 1888 to 1893. When Justice Lamar went on the Supreme Court bench he was little known beyond the borders of his own state. Mr. Taft became acquainted with him a short time before his inauguration when the President-elect was playing golf at Augusta. Justice Lamar had been a member of the Supreme Court only a few months, however, when his ability was recognized. His opinions were regarded as masterpieces of logical reasoning and applications for rehearings were made in few cases he helped to decide. Justice Lamar was selected by President Wilson as the princ.i.p.al commissioner for the United States in the ABC mediation at Niagara Falls in 1914 between this country and Mexico over conditions in the neighboring republic. Justice Lamar made many notable contributions to the legal literature of his state. Among them were "Georgia's Contribution to Law Reforms," "A History of the Organization of the Supreme Court," "Life of Judge Nesbit" and "A Century's Progress in Law." More than two hundred of his opinions are embraced in six volumes of Georgia Reports. Justice Lamar married, on January 30, 1879, Miss Clarinda Pendleton, a daughter of Dr. W. K. Pendleton, president of Bethany College. He is survived by his wife and two children, Philip Rucker Lamar and William Pendleton Lamar.[24]

[24] _New York Herald_, January 3, 1916.

=226. Obtaining the Information.=--The gaining of information about a man who has just died is not difficult. One should be cautioned, however, against seeking details from members of the family. If the person is of little prominence, one should go first to the undertaker.

He will have all the details about the funeral--the names of the pallbearers and of the minister, the time and place of the funeral, the place of burial--and probably all the facts about the person's life that the family wishes made public. If the undertaker does not have this information, he will be able to tell the reporter from whom it may be obtained. Additional facts may sometimes be had from the county and state directories, and even from the city directory. Old residents or close friends, too, often are able to give interesting details about the person's life, his failures and his successes, and in this way a reporter can publish an appreciative account without editorializing on the man's accomplishments. If the one who has died is of decided prominence, the reporter can find accounts of him in the various _Who's Who_ volumes and probably a rather full obituary all ready in the morgue. One must be careful in using the morgue write-up, however, to bridge naturally and easily the gap between the new and the old material, so that the reader shall not suspect he is reading a story partly written years ago. The following is an ill.u.s.tration of poor coherence between the two parts: