"MELANCHOLY SUICIDE—a Mr. Fred A. Hall…put an end to his life on Sunday last by taking laudanum," read the first headline in the very first issue. Young Mr. Hall, the story revealed, was about to be shipped off to Indonesia by his father to end a romance. Unable to bear the separation, he took his life. "He was about twenty-four years of age, of engaging manners and amiable disposition, and one whose loss, even under less affecting circumstances, would have been deeply lamented."

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 31