“How would this do for a starter?”
Jeff handed him two typewritten sheets. The night editor read them through. He looked straight at Jeff.
“Can you back this up?”
“I can.”
“But—what about those affidavits?”
Farnum grinned. “We'll take care of them when we come to them.”
“It's your funeral,” Jenkins admitted.
The whole front page of the World next morning was filled with the Farnum story. As part of it there were interviews with Alice Frome, with Captain Barclay, and with other passengers. The deadly note from O'Brien to Green of the Nancy Hanks occupied the place usually held by the cartoon. Beneath it, exactly in the center of the page, was a leaded box with the caption “A Challenge.” It ran as follows:
The editor of the World does not think his reputation important enough to protect it at the expense of a woman. Yet he denies absolutely the import of the charges made by the Herald and the Advocate. That the matter may be forever set at rest the World challenges the papers named to a searching investigation. It proposes:
(1) That the names of five representative citizens of Verden be submitted to Governor Hawley by each of the three papers, and that from this number be select a committee of five to sift thoroughly the allegations;