that a person will be charged in court with his offense "this morning" rather than the fact that he was arrested "last night," constitutes the feature of the first morning edition of the afternoon paper. Stories of trials, conventions, investigations, legislative sessions, and other events extending over a number of days or weeks can often be given a new turn before anything new actually has been done by setting forth in the lead what is to be done. The early morning resumption of a search abandoned because of darkness the night before can be played up in the rewritten story of a drowning, disappearance, or similar occurrence. A midnight railroad wreck reported in a morning paper, it is safe to say in the morning editions of the afternoon papers, will be investigated by the railroad company and by inspectors of the state railroad commission in order to fix the responsibility. Conjectures as to his successor may be made a feature of a rewrite story following the announcement of the resignation of a public official. To look forward to what will happen is practically to give the news before it actually happens, and this can frequently be done.
How without any additional facts the next development of a piece of news may be anticipated and the time changed from "last night" to "this morning" is shown by the rewritten leads following:
(1)
Lead of First Story in Morning Paper.
Fire gutted the warehouse of the L.
C. Whitney Seed Company, 113 Canal
Street, shortly before midnight, causing
a loss of $75,000. Robert S. Wilber,
a night watchman employed by
the firm, was reported missing and is
believed to have lost his life in the
fire.
