7. Causal Clause.—Should the cause of an action or an occurrence be attractive enough for the first line, a for or a because clause may begin the lead. "Because a tinsmith upset a pot of molten solder on the roof of pier No. 19, two steamers were burned, etc."
This does not exhaust the list of possible beginnings. There are a dozen possible constructions for the beginning of any story; these are merely the commonest ones. Anything unusual or of doubtful grammar should be avoided because of the many possible alternatives that present themselves. And in every lead correct grammar should be considered above all else. If a lead is ungrammatical no clever arrangement of details can make it effective or other than ludicrous. For instance, this lead, taken from a newspaper, illustrates an unfortunate attempt to crowd too many details into a short lead:
Bitten by a rattlesnake, Myrtle Olson's leg was slashed with a table knife, washed the wound with kerosene, then covered the incision with salt by her mother. Myrtle still lives.
Another paper tried to arrange it more happily, thus:
Bitten by a rattlesnake, Myrtle Olson's mother slashed her daughter's leg with a table knife, washed the wound with kerosene, then covered the incision with salt. Myrtle still lives.
There is evidently something wrong in this. It would be a good exercise to try to express the idea grammatically.
Before we go on to the consideration of the body of this story a few Don'ts in regard to writing leads may be in order.
Don't begin a lead with a person's name unless the person is well known. We are always interested in anything unusual that a man may do or anything unusual that he may suffer, but unless we know the man we are not at all interested in his name. Suppose that a man performs some thrilling act or suffers some unusual misfortune in a city of 100,000 people. Probably not more than one hundred people know him, and of that number only one or two will read the story. Then why begin with his name when his action is of greater interest to all but a few of our readers? And yet every reader wants to know whether the victim is one of his friends. Therefore the man's name must be mentioned in the lead, although it should not come at the beginning. On the other hand, if the man is prominent in the nation or the community and well known to all our readers, his name adds interest to the story and we begin with the name. There is a growing tendency among American newspapers to begin all of their stories with a name. The tendency appears to be the result of an attempt to break away from the conventional lead and to begin in a more natural way—also an easier way. But the name beginning is after all illogical, and any reporter is safe in following the logical course in the matter. If the name is not important begin with something that is important.