Patrolman Wilson talked with Police Sergeant William Strong about the broken wire on Depere Place near 75th Street about 3:15 this morning. As he did not report to the police station from the patrol box as usual at 3:35, it is assumed that he was killed shortly before that time.
“There’s a live wire hanging down from a tree on Depere Place,” said Wilson to Sergeant Strong when they met shortly after three o’clock. “I’m afraid someone will be killed. I’ve been watching it all night. I believe I will try to fasten it up in the tree so that no one will run into it.”
[Pg 110]“You had better be careful; you may be killed,” suggested Strong.
“No danger of that,” he replied. “The wire is insulated.”
“Well, you had better get a rope at the car barns, anyway,” urged the sergeant, and Wilson agreed to go over to the barns on 75th Street for a rope. He was last seen alive when he left the car barns with some rope about 3:20.
Evidently he threw the rope over a branch of the tree, and then tried to put the deadly wire through a noose in one end of the rope so that it could be drawn up into the tree out of the way of passers-by. The wire must have squirmed around unexpectedly striking Wilson on the back of the hand and killing him instantly.
Wilson, who was 27 years old and had been on the police force for five years, is survived by a wife and two small children.
Stories of Crime. Accounts of crime, or “police news stories,” are constructed on practically the same principles as those of fires and accidents. In all crimes in which human lives are destroyed or endangered, the essential points are the names of the persons involved, the nature of the crime, its cause, its results, and, if the perpetrator escapes, clues to his identity and whereabouts. In murders, attempted murders, suicides, and defalcations, the motives for the crime are always matters of great interest. The value of what was stolen or what might have been stolen should be given in reports of robberies or embezzlements. Ingenious methods used to gain entrance to places robbed make interesting features. In defalcation or fraud peculiar means of deception employed may be “played up.” The “human interest” in the accused or the victim must not be overlooked in crime stories. When either individual is well known, his name is the important “feature.”
The reporter must always remember that a person charged with a crime is not a criminal until he is proved guilty in court. Unless he confesses, the person charged with crime is presumed to be innocent until convicted. In writing police stories, therefore, the reporter should always make it plain that the person involved is “charged” with a crime, and that he is “alleged,” or “said,” by the police to be guilty. While he is charged with the crime, he may be said to be, not “the murderer,” but “the alleged murderer”; or not “the embezzler,” but “the alleged embezzler.” The reporter should present both sides of the case by giving the prisoner’s version, as well as that of the police, not only because it is just to do so but because it is usually good news.
Stories of crime, like all other news stories, should be told in a simple, direct style that presents in an accurate and interesting manner the account of the crime as it was actually committed. Exaggerated and sensational stories of crime or those in which attempts are made to arouse sentiment for or against the perpetrator or his victim, have no place in the news columns of reputable newspapers. If readers are to be appealed to to right a wrong, such appeals should be made in the editorial columns and should not be allowed to color the facts in the news stories. The actual facts truthfully presented make the best possible appeal. To try, in the newspapers, a person accused of crime, before or during his legal trial, is not to give him the fair trial to which he is entitled.