more to his liking, and, indeed it was here that he did his
first real work and showed his first promise. For nearly
three years he did general reporting and during this time
gained a great deal more personal success than comes to most
members of that usually anonymous profession. His big chance
came with the Johnstown flood, and the news stories he wired
to his paper showed the first glimpse of his ability as a
correspondent. Later on, disguised as a crook, he joined a
gang of yeggmen, lived with them in the worst dives of the
city, and eventually gained their good opinion to the extent
of being allowed to assist in planning a burglary. But before
the actual robbery took place, Richard had obtained enough
evidence against his crook companions to turn them over to the
police and eventually land them in prison. It was during
these days that he wrote his first story for a magazine, and
the following letter shows that it was something of a
milestone in his career.

PHILADELPHIA.

August, 1888.
DEAR FAMILY:

The St. Nicholas people sent me a check for $50 for the
"pirate" story. It would be insupportable affectation to say
that I was not delighted. Jennings Crute and I were waiting
for breakfast when I found the letter. I opened it very
slowly, for I feared they would bluff me with some letter
about illustrations or revision, or offering me a reduced
subscription to the magazine. There was a letter inside and a