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Show II EUROPEAN YELLOW JOURNALS. I Yellow journalism In America pales Into nearly white when compared with the glaring yellowness of the journals of Europe, especially of n Franco and England. I Highway robbery, burglary, almost I V murder, violation of laws of every I kind, daring adventures, risk of their H own lives and the lives of othors for j the sake of a "story," antagonisms or the police, fomentations of discord and revolt mark tho careers of the , newspaper men of Europe. Tho ef forts at yellowness and sensationalism sensational-ism of certain papers In tho Unltod States appear dull and lusterless com-1 com-1 pared with sending men to commit 3 grave crimes In order to get a story. I To get Inside information on the in- f tentlons of public ofllclals or other personages whoso opinions or actions i are wanted by his paper tho Euro- J pcan reported will even go so far as j to secrete himself in tho homo or of- l flee of that official for almost any I? length of time. A reporter of tho Petit Parlslen shut himself up in tho ft office closet of a Judge In order to ' hear a private conversation between him and another of his profession. The crowning feat of ono reporter of ono of the European papers was performed when ho hung for a full half-hour suspended above two military mili-tary olllcers who wore fighting a duel. His position was a dangerous one, and Ills life was in triple peril, for I the two duelists had threatened that J no ono could see it without being i shot. Yet the reporter maintained II this position, hanging by his hands ' from a telegraph wire until the duel I was over and the scene was cleared. I At the time of tho flight of tho B Humbert family a representative of S the French paper Le Matin, who had U in some manner got wind of tho In- tended flight, took up a position behind be-hind a door of a hotel opposite and stayed there for two days and nights, or until tho family made off. He even had his meals brought to him and ate them while keeping watch. In order to make a sensational story ono European paper sent a man around the world. M. Stelgler took tho trip In order to show his paper was correct in a statement which it made and which was challenged by a rival paper. The trip cost over $4,000, but It filled a page of space In the newspaper for each of tho sixty-throe days and a few afterward and before t !1Q wnll It Is impossible to tell of all such voyages which have been taken to ; make news for tho newspapers abroad. Only a little while ago one reporter was given tho task of crossing cross-ing Asia on foot, and anothor went to tho Alaskan Klondike to get material ma-terial for a story on tho life of the gold miners of that territory. Many foreign newspaper men havo spent years of their lives ns amateur tramps, wandering in both cities and countries, to learn what could bo learned about tho lives of the tramps. European newspaper men have spent months and more working at different metropolitan occupations merely to be able to write knowingly for tho public about the rights, wrongs and experiences of those ways of life. A representative of one paper bought a horse and cab and spent a full year of his life hnullng people around the streets simply to get a slnglo two column story about the life of tho cabman. Later this same reporter securo'l a position as an omnibus driver and worked a long while driving a bus for tho sake of a slnglo article on his troubles and $ streaks of fortune. There is practically no limit to the list of Jobs at which these men havo worked. Some time ago ono of the Paris papers printed an editorial to tho effect that the conductors of tho street transportation lines were In a I position to defraud tho companies. This assertion was denied by tho companies and a few of tho papers. In order to prove their statement correct the publishers of tho accusing newspaper assigned one of their staff to secure a position as conductor. TI1I3 ho was able to do and, furthermore, further-more, succeodod In dofraudlng tho company of over $100 in a short space of time. In support of a claim to tho effect that tho police forco was inefficient one paper engaged a housobroiker to burglarize houses tho location of which was announced beforehand in tho columns of that paper. Each day this newspaper would tell on what street their man would work and would publish an account of what ho had accomplished tho night before. This was kept up for some length of time, and tho burglar was never captured. cap-tured. Indeed, ho soon produced a roipn of terror, for as a consequence of tho attention given his actions by tho police many others of his profession profes-sion were ablo to make big hauls, and their getaways and their deeds wore credited by tho police to tho employo of tho sensational paper. A woman reporter of a certain European Eu-ropean journal secured a job as chorus girl and remained in tho employ em-ploy of a big company for six months. Tho result of tho six months work was simply a story of the life of the show woman. Mme. Malvory, a newspaper news-paper woman, spent years as a working work-ing woman to learn of one's life. Again she spent a long time in the army of tho unemployed, going from ono employment agency to another, and slept nights in practically all of the refuge houses in France. Another An-other woman worked for a long while as a street cleaner to get an article on tho llfo of such a worker. In France the newspapers are constantly con-stantly at war with tho police. Time after time they sent their representatives representa-tives to commit crimes simply to show tho public how inefficient Is tho police service. Such examples as that of the housebreaker are not uncommon, un-common, and often the reporters have escaped tho officers of tho law. Georgo Daniels. In order to judge tho vlgllnnco of the Paris forco. dressed himself in tho skullcap and clothes of an "Apache" (a band of anarchist desperadoes) and for two hours walked tho streets with a valuable val-uable new bicycle in his hand. During Dur-ing this long walk not a single officer molested him or oven stopped him to ask whero ho got tho wheel. He passed many of the police, and his little adventure was used as tho basis for an attack upon the brains of tho force. Charles Valller of Petit Bleu pretended pre-tended to bo a lunatic and paraded un inil down tho boulevards crying out that ho was Napoleon returned. He nassod two guards unhindered before a third arrested him. Another French newsmper man feigned lunacy to get a story on llfo in an asylum and came near not getting out. M. Christian, ono ovenlng before tho gardens of the Louvre were closed for tho day, hid himself until after tho cry of "All out!" was sounded. He was not seen by any ono until he himself him-self cnlled attention to tho fact that ho had eluded them. Ho was arrested, arrest-ed, but ho had proved his point that the gardens wero insufficiently euarded. It does not require great courage of conviction to feign Insanity or to hld from tho police, but to throw oneself one-self In tho river, bound with ropes, In order to see whether you will be saved to write a story for .a paper, shows a nre lovo of sensation, One day in the middle of March a young man tightly bound and In all his clothes, threw himself from the ton of tho highest brideo over tho Seine "reappointed "re-appointed in Iovp," thought tho bystanders. by-standers. No; simply curiosity on the part of a reporter. He was the same M. Christian, who wished to prove the zeal of the dogs employed as aids by the river brlgado to help those In danger of drowning. Christian jumped Into tho water and waited vainly for aid from land guards of tho police force. They had just eaten their dinners and feared the effect of a plungo so soon after tho meal. They preferred to lot him die rather than risk hurting their digestion. di-gestion. Ho was pulled out, howover, by the llfo saving dogs that had been but recently declared incompetent by tho land police, and his story in tho next morning's paper reinstated tho dogs in their place of honor with tho public. DIddeford (Mo.) Itccord. o |
