In the Pink

Sometimes human beings do things that are too much for even the most indurate newsgatherers of the daily press to contemplate without shuddering. But newsgatherers must tell all. The more terrible the scene, the faster news of it will travel, if not by direct word then by dark references, glances over shoulders, ominous silences. It is a newsgatherer's duty to make his report before hints and half-facts have gained currency, letting his editor decide whether the report should ever be made public.

Last week a correspondent of the Pittsburgh Press had to report a happening in the coalfields near Sharon, Pa. From the stereotyped "slayer" headline slapped on in the office, from the position given the item on the Press' pink-page, it was difficult to tell whether Editor J. Y. Chidester of the Press appreciated how hideous an event had actually taken-place or with what powerful, self-controlled simplicity the correspondent had done his duty when he wrote the following:

"Sharon, Pa., Feb. 14.--Entering a crowded room at Mine No. 5 school between Mercer and Grove City, at 2 p.m. today, Mrs. Jack McCall, aged 30, wife of a coal miner, pulled a butcher knife from beneath her long coat and drew it across the throat of her 7-year-old son, Lawrence, severing the boy's jugular vein and causing his death in a few moments.

"The child was seated at his desk, perusing his school books, when the mother entered and walked directly to his seat.

"Without saying a word as the boy gazed up at her, the woman pulled the knife and slashed the boy's throat, then hastily turned and left the building.

"She was captured a short distance from the school by residents of the mining town who ; had heard the screams of the school teacher and other pupils, and is being held for the sheriff.

"The woman made no statement after being arrested and would answer no questions.

"The father of the boy was at work in the mine nearby when the tragedy was enacted."