"THE TERROR"

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1932, Page 3

"THE TERROR"

WALLACE HIMSELF

CAREER AS AN EDITOK

EVENTFUL YEAES

When Edgar. Wallace wrote his story, "The Terror," he unconsciously adopted the nickname given him by the editorial staff of the London "Evening Times," writes B. Edwards in the Sydney "Daily; Telegraph." During the brief existence of this paper copy boys poked their heads round the door of his office cautiously, and if not assailed_ by ink or paste-pots as a reward of their temerity walked in to inquire his pleasure. '". Typists and reporters who knew his "funny little ways" entered the editorial sanctum sanctorum through his private secretary's door, thus evading well-aimed pots containing blue-black, red, violet, and green ink, or paste, and aimed by a gifted hand. ■ Owing probably to the thousand-fold worries of an evening newspaper that wag admittedly "nothing, founded on nothing," the temper of the now worldfamous novelist became badly frayed after a few months of ding-dong fights with his previous employer, Lord Northchffe. ■ Differences of opinion betweenEdgar Wallace and the newspaper magnate, when the former held a responsible position on the London "Evening News," led to an open rupture,, and the author of the "Four Just Men," his first successful, novel, walked out, vow: ing to start a paper that would shake the "News" to its mizzen. The result was that London saw for the first time -.an evening. paper that produced eight editions a day, the first appearing; on the street, when England was playing Australia in1 the Commonwealth,- at 8 . a.m. Every subsequent hour or hourahd a half saw a new. edi"tion while the Tests lasted; but this sort of thing ran away with much of the initial £250,000 raised by Wallace, among his hosts of friends. Working frequently twenty hoars a, day caused Wallace's nerves to crack, and even the imperturbable B. B. Falk, who was -then hews editor, and such m»n as Sam Moseley, Keg. Harris, H. H. van Loan, and others who joined the Wallace brigade, developed "nerves." COURTING DANGER. To enter the.editorial -room ■without knocking; or receiving a summons to enter meant disaster. Four' huge cutglass inkpots and a ; two-pound pastepot on the editorial desk proved such potent weapons that none but the most ease-hardened' Daniel would beard the lion in his den. ■ ."' ■'■ '. Copy-boys in suits costing a few shillings (pre-war prices) left the den bearing the. inky; scars of battle, and waved golden sovereigns to their mates, in proof bf,their courage; for Wallace frequently • scored bull 's-eyes: /with his pots, then cheerfully paid for the damage after he had cooled. Typists with inky blouaesr'and reporters.-with pastesmeared1 suits also retired to report that "The- Terror" was again abroad. .-■' Behind the barrage, Edgar Wallace, whose hair was in those days dense and black, and who sported a stiff military moustache, sat with a: foot-long- cigarette hblder, adding the fumes of innumerablo Turkish "ta.gs"4' to the f°ggy air all day. He would summon every morning Falk, who afterwards represented "The Times" in China during the Chinese revolution; Harris, who later became the first news editor of the Labour s'Daily Herald.;. Sam'Moseley, who was \yar correspondent in Egypt for the -Northcliff e>; > combination, -arid van Loan;, an American, who -'. maido thousands out of scenarios .at Hollywood; and all thought themselves lucky if they were not sacked before they left; the daily conference. • -!'; Secretaries and confidential typists were regularly dismissed and- reinstated within a few hoiirs;- aiid rejiqrters, who slept .one we.ek. in cipmfort^in the West End and the next on the* Thames Embankment, passed in.and put of the office man endless procession. , .:.':■ UPS AND DOWNS. /W'allace'sv'tempeiameutai^V'putbursts. were no doubt due, as has'been said, to the vicissitudes of his papers The late Lord Northcliffe 'did not fight competitors with the gloves on/ Following the 'scoop "by Wallace over the, alleged "confession" of the - murderer Cripp en—-which sold over a.' million copies of the ''Evening Times"' in one day—unaccountable things began .to happen on the mechanical side of that journal. ' ' - ; Derby Day, with its r,ush to'get the great race result on the /street first, ended in-disaster for Wallace's paper. Just as the:"s_top:preßs' y results were set; into operation someone "accidentally" dropped a huge spanner about 2ft long into the cylinders of the great press. ... .' ■■■ .-,■'■.' • ■'-■••■. :'.■ .. ':'■,' -, - ■:■■.' An hour later the;'f Evening Times"got on the street, but. the .world knew, all about the race long before that.' Oh "Oaks Day" someone; let out the "air from all the tires of ' the ' "Evening Times'' push' bicycles' and cars, which were to carry the papers into London; and when the result of the ."Association Cup," England's great football event, was about to go to press it" was found that water had leaked into the paper room, and that all the great rolls were soaked and useless. ;. .' .. , How: Edgar Wallace'kept; Msv sanity and the paper going for eighteen months isstiU a mystery to those who worked with him in those, dark days; but lie managed just the same to dictate new novels, write editorials, manage a great paper, and contribute long articles to periodicals. Making no secret that he' was a foundling, who never knew either his mother or his father, Edgar Wallace had an intense love for his foster-par-ents (the foster-father was an aged shoemaker), who adopted him after he was left on their; doorstep. "EAR^BITERS." /This probably had a lot .to do with his great humanity,to copy-boys and struggling young journalists; for Wallace graduated from the ranks of the copy-boys himself, and was never happier than when helping some jouralistic I lame dog over a stiff.stilei He would throw an ink-pot at a boy or a man in the heat of the moment, or sack a man with ferocity, then cool down within a few minutes and express the greatest contrition. . . . With a great fund of general knowledge, it wide circle of the niost influential friends, and the keenest appreciation of both mob and individual psychology; Edgar Wallace rose from obscurity to fame in less^ than twenty-five years. He had a greater retinue, of I'Earbiters" than any other journalist in London. A keen student of human nature, he could tell instinctively whether a tale had a, genuine ring or not, and would frequently send a reporter out to buy a meal^for and get Tin inter- «? eW t* from some ' poor specimen from the EmDankment or a "fourpenny dosshouse" who had bailed him up, in the street. ;. ■ A. big man, with a great heart, despite his (at times) formidable temperament, he will always be remembered by those who worked with-him in those old days as a wonderful journalist, a brilliant. organiser, and, above all—a man.