1898. j
stone residence of the man in question. I had but one alternative,
to see him and settle the matter once for all, or to return to my
office beaten. For a half hour I walked to and fro before that
house. Once I was on the verge of going to the nearest railroad
station and buying a ticket for the paternal farm; but I thought
better of it, and at length cut the knot by ringing the door bell.
A polite servant showed me into his master's library, where I
found a middle-aged man writing at a desk.
" Is this Mr. - ?" said I, abruptly.
" I am," said he politely.
" You are the Mr. referred to in this notice ?" I con
tinued, handing the clipping to him.
" I am," said he, when he had glanced at the slip.
" Are you the Mr. who was recently released from Sing
Sing ?"
He arose from his desk and stared at me. He looked very
stern and I thought I saw his hand moving toward a paper weight.
Then of a sudden a smile broke out on his face.
" You must be a new man," he said.
" Pirst day," said I.
We had a good laugh together, and he proved to my satisfaC
don that he was not the man I sought. We parted good friends.
The experience was never afterward repeated. I always found a
way to avoid such interviews.
Having proved his ability to write simple stories, to judge the
value of news and to get at facts, the new reporter generally
serves his term in a police court. Here he has a wider field. He
is beyond the beck and call of the city editor. The paper is trust
ing to him to choose from the scores of cases that pass before him
each day those that have value as news. Here, too, is his oppor
tunity to break away from the conventional news story and to try
his hand at character sketches and dialect. He learns how to
persuade the naturally reticent accused that it is to their interest
to unbosom themselves that " their side of the story may beconie
known tb the public."
By this time our young man is no longer a " journalist." He
calls himself a " newspaper man." He has an acquaintance with
some hundreds of policemen, he knows the captains of all the
police precincts, and all the dive keepers and all the clergymen in
the vicinity of the court of which he has become almost an official.
The Newsfiafter Man