At the end of three months he discharged me as incompetent." From The Record Richard went to The Press, which was much 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.