Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/401

 and a piece of

cloth from the clothing of the would-be murderer. The button was stamped "Brooks, Boston." Going to that city White found that there was only one tailor by the name of Brooks and that he still had his roll of cloth like the sample cut from the trousers. Investigation of the order books proved that material for only one pair of trousers had been cut from it. It was com- paratively easy to find, by means of the tag number of the roll, the name and address of the man for whom the trousers had been made: the address was the business office of Norcross at Boston. White, on going to this office, learned that Norcross had been away for several days. He then went to the home of Norcross in Somerville, where he found that the man had been missing for several days and that his disappearance had greatly worried the family. The parents of Norcross recognized the sample of cloth- ing and came to New York with White, where they identified the head of their son.

Many other illustrations might be given of the excellent work that the press has done in the field of detection of criminals. Every police commissioner in the city of New York who has proved himself competent to hold that office has frankly ad- mitted the great assistance of the press. In every great city there is only one thing members of the police department fear, that is, the exposure of their incompetence by the daily press. Pub- licity for the defenders of the law has accomplished almost as much good as publicity for the offenders of the law.

PRESS VS. PRESIDENTS

The question of a presidential third term again came up for discussion in the press in 1880. Grant had returned from a most spectacular trip around the world and his friends again started a movement in the newspapers for a third-term nomination. There is every reason to believe that Grant in this instance did not desire such an honor, but was used simply as a tool by Roscoe Conkling, the senior Senator from New York, to prevent the nomination of James G. Blaine, who had become such an im- portant Republican leader that he was disputing the field with Conkling. The struggle was even more bitter than in a former contest. Editorial pages in the opposition press fairly bristled