correspondents after midnight.

=297. Big News.=--When big or unusual news breaks,--news about which
there is no doubt of the general interest,--the correspondent should
bulletin a lead immediately, with the probable length of the story and
the time of filing affixed. Thus:

Marietta, Ga., Aug. 17.--Leo M. Frank, whom the
Georgia courts declared guilty of the murder of
fourteen-year-old Mary Phagan of Marietta, was
lynched two miles from here at an early hour this
morning. Frank was brought in an automobile to
Marietta by a band of twenty-five masked men who
stormed the Milledgeville prison farm shortly after
midnight. Two thousand. 8:35. Sherman

Then--particularly if the hour is nearing press time--the correspondent
should follow as rapidly as possible with instalments of the detailed
story, without waiting for a reply to the bulletin lead. When there is
doubt about the length, editors would rather have one not take chances
on delaying the news,--would rather have too much of a story than too
little. Besides, a writer cannot get further than the second or third
instalment before specific orders will arrive from the paper.

=298. The Detailed Story.=--After the lead, the details follow as in a
normal story, the individual instalments being given the operator as
fast as he can take them, each one marked "More" except the last, which
is marked "30." Thus the continuation of the bulletin lead of the Frank
lynching just given would be:

Not one of the armed prison guards, according to the
best information now obtainable, raised a hand to
prevent the mob accomplishing its purpose. Frank was
taken from his cell and rushed to a spot previously
chosen for the lynching, about a hundred miles from
the prison. Not a soul, it is said, knew positively
whether the men were his friends or his enemies
until the lifeless body was discovered this morning.
More. 8:45 P. M. Sherman

Then the final instalment might read:

The rope placed around Frank's neck was tied in such
a way as to reopen the wound caused some weeks ago
when a fellow prisoner attempted to kill him by
cutting his throat. Loss of blood from the re-opened
wound no doubt would have caused his death had he
not strangled. Thirty. 9:15. Sherman

The "thirty" is the telegrapher's signal indicating the completion of