Post that evening. Herbert had been proud to have given them the
tip-off, and told the story in three pubs that night. Then he forgot
about it. Three months later he got a check for fifty pounds from the
newspaper.
With the check was a statement which read: “Two shot in 250,000 raid”
and gave the date of the robbery. “leave it out, Charlie, if she won’t
make a complaint, forget it..
The following day Herbert had stayed at home and phoned the Post every
time he picked something up on the police wavelength. That afternoon he
got a call from a man who said he was deputy news editor, who explained
just what the paper wanted from people like Herbert. He was told not to
report an assault unless a gun was used or someone was killed; not to
bother with burglaries unless the address was in Belgravia, chelsea, or
Kensington; not to report except when weapons were used or very large
amounts of cash stolen. proceed to twenty-three, Narrow Road, and He got
the idea quickly because he was not stupid, and the Post’s news values
were far from subtle. Soon he realized he was earning slightly more on
his “sick” days than when he went to work. What was more, he preferred
listening to the radio to inking boxes for cameras. So he gave in his
notice, and became what the newspaper called an earwig.
better give me that description now After he had been working full-time
on the radio for a few weeks the deputy news editor came to his house-it
was before he moved to the studio apartment to talk to him. The
newspaper nan said Herbert’s work was very useful to the paper, and how
would he like to work for them exclusively? That would mean Herbert
would phone tips only to the Post, and not to other papers. But he would
get a weekly retainer to make up for the loss of income. Herbert did not
say that he never had phoned any other papers. He accepted the offer
graciously. sit tight and we’ll get you some assistance in a few minutes
Over the years he had improved both his equipment and his understanding
of what the newspaper wanted; He learned that they were grateful for
more or less anything early in the morning, but as the day wore on they
became more choosy, until by about three P.M. nothing less than murder
in the sbt or large-scale robbery with violence interested them. He also
discovered that the paper, Like the police, was a lot less interested in
a crime done to a colored man in a colored area. Herbert thought this
quite reasonable, since he, as an Evening Post reader, was not much
interested in what The wogs did to each other in their own parts of
London; and he surmised, correctly, that the reason the Post was not
interested was simply that people like Herbert who bought the Post
weren’t interested. And he learned to read between the lines of police
jargon: knew when an assault was trivial or a complaint domestic; heard
the note of urgency in the operations-room sergeant’s voice when a call
for assistance was desperate; discovered how to switch his mind off when
decided to read out great lists of stolen-car over the air. 4
The speeded-up sound of his own alarm clock I, came out of the big
speaker, and he turned the deck off. He increased the volume on the
radio, then dialed the Post’s number. He sipped his tea While he waited
for an answer.
PAPER “Post, g’morning.” It was a man’s. voice.
“Copy ta please,” Herbert said. There was another pause.
“Copy.”
“Hello. Chieseman here, timing. at oh seven fifty-nine.”
There was a clatter of typewriters in the background. “Hello, Bertie.
Anything doing?”
“Seems to have been a quiet night,” Herbert said.
EIGHT A.M. TONY cox stood in a phone booth on the corner of Quill
Street, Bethnal Green, with the receiver to his ear. He was perspiring
inside the warm coat with the velvet collar. In his hand he held the end
of a chain which was attached to the collar of the dog outside. The dog