There is so much to know about Winifred Sweet. Whether the focus is upon her bravery, talent, creativity, determination, her name in general, or her impact on the world as a whole, there is no real way to focus upon just one aspect of her. She was a journalist, but she was also an author who had many book
published in her time of being a writer.
To begin, Winifred was a female journalist back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Her career held up for 50 years, showing just how successful she truly was. She was also known as a “Sob Sister”, which was a journalist who wrote human interest stories with sympathetic pathos. Very often she focused upon opinion writing, which had its advantages and disadvantages in the field. She passed away in 1936, but crazy enough she was working right up until her death. She had a piece published in The Examiner the week before she died. This was a clear indicator to everyone that she was the hardest worker you could find.
She spent much of her time working for the Chicago Tribune first and then her work moved to The Examiner. She was offered a position in New York as well, but this was working for her ex-husband. She turned this offer down quickly, though it was a great opportunity, and moved to Colorado to continue her work instead.
There were not many successful women in journalism at this time. In fact, Winifred had to do some pretty crazy stunts and charades in order to be noticed or confirmed as successful. Her two craziest stunts were during the Hurricane of 1900 and her "Emergency Test".
To start, her stunt during the Hurricane, or tidal wave, of 1900 was to dress as a young black man in order to ride upon the ship that brought her to the scene. Without this incredible disguise, she couldn’t have gotten onto the boat at all to report. Not only was she the only female reporter that was able to cover this story, she was also the very first reporter on the scene. This gave her quite a jump ahead of the others. As she approached the scene she was able to see the fires begin and in addition was first-hand experiencing the “deadliest natural disaster in American history.” Interestingly enough though, her goal was not just to cover the full story of what was going on during this time. Her main goal overall was to raise money to relieve the damage that had been done. She also spent coverage time defending policemen and firemen claiming that they were doing their best in a situation that was so difficult to handle. She had hoped she could bring a more positive light to these people who were working so hard.
As for her"Emergency Test", this was an even more in-depth stunt for her reporting. Within this story, she fake- fainted in front of a carriage. This drew lots of attention to her and ended with police sending her to the hospital. As this occurred, she was rudely treated by hospital workers (this was the norm for women whenever they were brought into the hospital, workers had never been kind to them). After her “drama”, she uncovered a large scandal and discovered many problems with emergency services. This stunt of hers brought a brand new respect to her name considering other reporters did not often go to these lengths to get to the bottom of a story.
Winifred was incredibly passionate about her profession, which was what led her to do the incredible things she did. “I'd rather smell the printer's ink and hear the presses go around than go to any grand opera in the world.” She stated, explaining that her love for writing was stronger than anything else there was. This was a clear indicator of the type of person she was and the work ethic she was producing which makes it evident why she was such a phenomenon nationwide for so many years (even after her passing).
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