Two girl thieves not more than twelve years old and small in stature for their age have been operating with great success in the different stores in the neighborhood of Amsterdam avenue and Seventy-ninth street. Five or six thefts, etc.—New York Telegram.
After a chase along Forty-second street and up the steps of the Hotel Manhattan, a woman, who said she was Sadie Brown, thirty-three years old, of No. 215 West Forty-sixth street, was arrested early today on suspicion of having picked the pocket of a man at, etc.—New York Telegram.
Present conditions of robbed bank (second paragraph of an embezzlement story):
Banking Commissioner Watkins this afternoon declared that he found the bank perfectly sound, that all commercial paper was found intact, that none of the accounts have been juggled and that no erasures of any kind were discovered.—Philadelphia Inquirer.
Unusual sort of burglar:
Wearing a Salvation Army uniform, a burglar was caught early yesterday in the home of Walter Katte, a vice-president of the New York Central railroad, at Irvington-on-the-Hudson.—New York World.
3. Murder.—The reports of crimes of this sort can hardly be classified, for there are so many things that may be worth featuring in any murder case. The story itself is usually of such importance that the mere fact that a murder has been committed gives it news value even if there is nothing unusual in the crime—just as in the case of a featureless fire story that begins with "Fire." The handling of a crime depends upon the character and circumstances; the reporter must weigh the facts in each case for himself. However, we usually find a feature in the number of persons murdered, the manner in which the crime was committed, the name of the victim, if he or she is well known, the reason for the deed, or in some of the many attendant circumstances, such as arrest, pursuit, etc. One rule must always be followed in the reporting of a murder story: the reporter must confine himself to the necessary facts and omit as many of the gruesome details as possible. He must tell it in a cold, hard-hearted way without elaboration, for the story in itself is gruesome enough. Just as soon as a murder story begins to expand upon shocking details it becomes the worst sort of a yellow story.
Examples of murder stories from the newspapers:
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