Americana - circa 1940

Back Then

The City Editor gave an assignment to a green reporter who had been boasting of his college training the few days that he had been a member of the news staff. The assignment was coverage of a scheduled excursion for several hundred children on one of the river boats, and the editor expected a routine story with heart interest so it was the sort of story usually handed out to cub reporters. About 11 o'clock the cub reporter called the editor and said that he was at the waterfront but that there was no story to hand in because the excursion had been postponed. Asked the reason why, the reporter answered that because of an explosion in the ship's boilers which had illed and injured over a hundred of the children, the postponement was necessary and so - no story. [Folklore of Newspaperdom cont.]