State

Page Fourteen THE STATE 1935 Reporting Under Difficulties EPORTIXG note* to- R.Jay i* quite ca»y com¬ pared with that of the late nineties; the auto¬ mobile, the telephone and the airplane have come to speed up everything. A story i* no good unless the writer can gel it to the editor in a hurry. In those old days many excellent reports * failed to reach their destination in time for use. There were telegraph offices and wires but often times inadequate or out of condition. Xcwsgathers were of the rough and tumble type, and did not mind small inconveniences. Nowa¬ days, when tables, ehairs and special wires are provided, reporters have noth¬ ing to do but write and puss it out to messenger boy-». At the Shemwell mur¬ der trial at Lexington, in the summer of 1895, representatives of the press sat on the floor, or bar steps. They were net the recipients of special favors. It was a case of root hog or die. Had Few Typewriters Very few newspaper offices in North Carolina were «quipped with type¬ writers. Paper and pencils were to I'¬ ll ad but nothing grander. In the winter of 1895 in a coal mine disaster at Cumnock, be County, approximately 50 persons were killed. The mine was located several miles from Sanford. Getting details out of that little com¬ munity was a real problem. I drove to the scene of the trouble, and remains'! there day and night for about я week, watching rescuers recover badly burned or dead bodies, and seeing loved one» identify them, but transmitting the in¬ formation gained to Charlotte was my most difficult task. There was plenty to write about, heart-rending details, but getting a place to sleep or food to eat was almost impossible. Today, if such a calamity should occur in Wales, North Carolina newspaper- would have detailed stone» about it. But, the Cum¬ nock tragedy, with dozen» of dead and dying in the homes of the little mining village, got little publicity. A fire damp explosion caused the disaster, and in addition to those killed outright many of those brought out alive were so badly injured they could not live. Brief news items written out of there were dis¬ patched from Sanford or otln-r nearby towns. Mil. BRYANT describes some of the handicaps and obstacles in obtain¬ ing the news in the “good old days.” It was quite different from the ex¬ periences of your modern reporter. tty II. F. C. BRYANT A Familiar Case A murder trial of unusual interest was held at Elizabeth City, one of the lively communities of eastern North Carolina. A pretty girl, with a turn for music and dancing, disappeared from her home. She ju»t dropped out at 11 o'clock at night and was never seen alive again. Almost a month later her water- -oaked body was fished out of a large body of water near her home. Her sweetheart, a man much older than she, -was arrested, tried and convicted of slaying her. Her disappearance made a nation-wide news могу. Her parent* had lived in New York before going south, and w-er* well connected there. Metropoli¬ tan paper» hurried their crack reporter» to the scene. After two or three weeks, when e (Torts to locate her failed, interest in the story lagged. Then the tody was discovered, and the press of the country begged for new.. Later, came the trial. On my arrival there to rover the case I went directly to the telegraph office to see what sort of arrangements it had for wiring lengthy reports. 1 had orders for about 5,000 words a night. To mv Же there was no Western Union tal office in Elizabeth City. The wire service consisted of a single line, owned locally, to Norfolk. But, I found a very accommodating operator, the only one in tow n. He had been pressed into service by eager Now York paper* for news. When I told him that I would load him down every night he -aid if I would help him furnish brief stories to his little string of papers he would get my stuff through. I offend to pay him extra for his time, but ho would not hear to that. Full of Writers . In a few days the city was full of eager, anxious scribe» and that one tele, graph operator slaved for two week* without much let up. He wa* busy until the wee small hours, trying to clear his desk. Norfolk was some distance, more than fifty miles, and the only war to get there in a hurry was by local train. Once press copy got there it could be distrib¬ uted rather rapidly to the rest of the country. Re¬ porters bad plenty of worries. They had to write on their knees in court and after their stories were filed they were afraid to go to bed lest the operator could not translate them or get them through. Still later, wire troubles hampered reporters. When the Allens — Klovd Allen and his fighting kinsmen— shot up the court at IlilUville, Virginia, just a crow the line from Mount Airy, scores of high-powered reporters were ru-hed into that out of the way neck of the woods for stories. Official» Slain Coming like a flash of lighting from a clear sky tho slaughter of court officers caused a nationwide demand for de¬ tailed reports. Many Washington cor¬ respondents, being nearest the center of trouble, went to IlilUville. A rainy •pell Lad made the roads into that town almost impassable. Tho only mean* of communication was a onc-line tele- Cne. To get better connections one logo about twenty miles, and then, the wires were inadequate for such an emergency. For days reporters, with heads and pockets full of note» and in¬ terviews, tried to got their copy to their home offices. Those who knew the lav of the land backed out of IlilUville to Mount Airy, across the mountain, or to larger Virginia towns. Rode on Mule» Getting away from IlilUville was a desperate job. All available teams were being used by officer» of the law to run down the Allens who had taken to the fastness of the mountains, and it was al¬ most impossible for strangers to hire any sort of conveyance. .V» a last resort the more agile scribes hired mules, and rode to active communities, to be told when they arrived, the wires were rlogged and if they went to other places they would find like conditions. That was one instance where the newspaper man who remained far from the scene, and grabbed what he could get by telephon¬ ing to the surrounding country, was more fortunate than his rival who plunged to the heart of the disturbance.