The story of the Sun, New York, 1833-1918 / by Frank M. O'Brien.

396

THE STORY OF "THE SUN"

Four or five "rewrite men," the "long wait" and
his helpers, the "short waits," are slipping in and out
of the telephone-booths, taking and writing news articles
from twenty points in the city where the Mulberry
Street reporter, the police-station reporters, the Tenderloin man-who covers the West Thirtieth Street policestation, the Broadway hotels, and the theatrical district
-and the Harlem man are still busy gathering news.
From a room wisely distant comes the rattle of the
telegraph. Half a dozen wires are bringing in the continent's news. Half a dozen boys, spurred by their chief,
Dan O'Leary, carry the typed sheets to the proper desks.
The dramatic critic comes in and sits down at his
desk to write two-thirds of a column about a first performance. The music critic has sent down a brief
notice of the night's opera.
Most of the reporters finish their work and go out.
One or two remain to write special articles for the Sunday papers. A sporting reporter is spinning a semifictional yarn of life in Chinatown. A police reporter
is composing little classics of life in Dolan's Park Row
restaurant.
At one o'clock there is a rumbling of the presses in
the basement, and soon copies of the first edition come
to the desks of the news-masters. Lord suggests to the
night editor a shift of front-page articles. Clarke, his
pencil flashing, marks in additions to the story of a late
accident. A cub waits patiently for a discarded paper,
to see whether his piece has got in. An older reporter,
who wrote the story in the first column of the first page,
does not look at his own work, but turns to the sporting
page to read the racing entries for the next day-his
day off.
At 1.27 A.M. Clarke rises and goes home. At two
o'clock Lord closes his desk. Most of the desk men