or
failing to send in stuff. Then I restored him to his former status,
first making him sign a pledge on honor that he would abide forever
thereafter by the censorship rules.

Another young man who represented a Cincinnati daily, walked into the
express office in Tampa one evening and gave the agent a package saying:

"Say, old chap, have your messenger running north to-night give this to
the first operator after crossing the Georgia line and tell him to send
it to my paper. It's a big scoop and I want to get it through."

Of course, the "old chap" was built just that way. He took the message
and in five minutes it was reposing gently in my desk. I then quickly
sent out a telegram to all my censors taking away the correspondent's
privileges until further orders.

That night full of innocence--and beer--he walked into the Tampa city
office and handed Censor Fellers a message for his paper, just as a
sort of a bluff. Fellers grinned at him quietly said:

"Sorry, Mr. J--, but Captain B--has just suspended you from use of the
telegraph until further orders."

In a very few minutes Mr. J--appeared at my office, blustering like a
Kansas cyclone, and demanded to know why I had dared to treat him thus?
I simply picked up his copy and showed it to him, saying:

"This is your handwriting, I believe, Mr. J--."

The props dropped out from under him and he said:

"Well, by thunder, you censor mail, telegraph and express; I reckon if I
attempted to send anything by carrier pigeon you'd catch it and put that
d--d old 'rejected' stamp on it."

"No," I replied, "but I might possibly use it on a mule."

In spite of his pleadings and promises he was hung up for ten days.

It must be said, however, that such men as these were rarities: most of
the men, especially those representing the great dailies, were only too
willing to abide by orders. They kicked hard--naturally and
rightfully--because news that they were forbidden to send from Tampa was
sent broadcast from Washington as coming from the war department. Oh!
yes they kicked so much that it seemed as if my auburn locks would turn
gray, but the protest was against the censorship in general and not
against me. I was enough of a newspaper man to fully appreciate their
position, and more than one message went from me to General Greely
asking if Washington could not be censored as well as Tampa. No! Army
officers had no power to stop the mouths of the high civil officials of
t