THE CABLE GAME
THE ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN
PRESS-BOAT IN TURKISH WATERS
DURING THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
BY
STANLEY WASHBURN
BOSTON
SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY
1912
Copyright, 1911
Sherman, French & Company
TO
ALICE
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The writer gratefully acknowledges the constantsupport and unlimited backing accorded him by THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS,the paper for which he worked, and MR. VICTOR F. LAWSON, its Publisher,whose never failing enterprise in the realms of World News made thisnarrative of THE CABLE GAME possible.
INTRODUCTION
It has seemed worth while to set down the account of the experiencesreported in the following pages, not because they represent anyimportant achievement, nor yet because they are conspicuous for anyunusual enterprise, for none realizes better than the writer that theycomprise nothing more than the day’s work, for the dozens of newspapermen that wander the earth.
As a lover of the Profession these few little adventures are narratedin the hope that they may serve as an interpretation to the lay readerof the motives of the men that go forth to gather the news of theworld. Fame, money and reputation are all secondary considerations tothe real journalist and what he does he does for his Paper and for thepure joy of the game that he plays.
What the writer has tried to portray is the atmosphere and fascinationof THE CABLE GAME—the game that takes a man far from home ’midst alienraces and into strange lands and makes him stake his all in his effortto win that goal of the journalist’s ambition—A World Beat.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I | From War to Peace in Manchuria—Peking—A New Assignment, “Russia Direct”—Shanghai | 1 |
| II | The Race for the Situation—Ceylon—Across India—Stalled in Bombay—Russia via the Suez Canal | 20 |
| III | Constantinople at Last! The Threshold of the Russian Assignment—A Nation in Convulsion | 35 |
| IV | We Charter a Tug and become Dispatch Bearers of His Britannic Majesty and Learn of Wi |