“Wait a minute; wait!” cries the editor-in-chief.  “Don’t say another word.”

Turning to the night editor he says, “It will be necessary to change the first page.  A new head will have to be run, and the leading story will have to tell of the murder of the Attorney General.  This news is national.  I think I had better go to the press room and do this work myself.  The press will start in twenty minutes, if you give me the word ‘Go ahead!’”

“Go ahead,” is the laconic reply.

Down the winding staircase that leads to the composing room, and then to the basement where the presses are located, the chief runs.  He sets about his work with a calmness and speed that is remarkable.  The first page is put on the composing table and the form opened.  The head lines are removed and the copy that the editor is turning out a dozen words at a time on a page, are instantly set up and put in place.

In eight minutes the form is keyed up and the stereotypers have it in their hands.  Three minutes later the pressman has the stereotype plate.  A minute later the press is in motion.

With the first half dozen copies of the edition wet from the press, the editor rushes back to his office.

In his absence there has been nothing startling reported.  He breathes a sigh of relief and sinks exhausted into his chair.

At a score of desks men are writing special portions of the news.  One is telling of the startling murders, another of the unusual accidents that have claimed a dozen prominent men as victims.

The strange story of the hanging of an Ex-Justice of the Supreme Court Judge is being written by one of the sporting reporters; the assassination of six Senators is the theme of another special writer.  Every one is busy.

The chance that always comes to the young reporter is at hand.  He is entrusted with the important work of writing the story of the deaths of five railroad magnates.  His face is a study.  It is scarlet and beads of perspiration run down his cheeks.

Even the copy-boys are alive to the fact that a night of unusual import is passing, and they carry copy without being called.  A boy stands at the side of every reporter and runs with the pages to the desks where the copy readers scan it and write the head lines; it is not a night when copy is carefully read and “cut.”  Everything is news, and the responsibility for the accuracy of the writing is upon the heads of the reporters.

Surrounding the bulletin board in the City Hall square, a crowd of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand has gathered.

The lateness of the hour is forgotten.  Men and women stand through the chill hours of the late night and early morning waiting for news.  There is an ever varying stream passing in front of the Javelin office.  Early in the afternoon the police have taken control of the streets and compelled the people to keep moving.  There is fear that the disorderly element will start a riot.