<P> Pulitzer's approach made an impression on William Randolph Hearst, a mining heir who acquired the San Francisco Examiner from his father in 1887 . Hearst read the World while studying at Harvard University and resolved to make the Examiner as bright as Pulitzer's paper . Under his leadership, the Examiner devoted 24 percent of its space to crime, presenting the stories as morality plays, and sprinkled adultery and "nudity" (by 19th century standards) on the front page . </P> <P> A month after taking over the paper, the Examiner ran this headline about a hotel fire: </P> <P> HUNGRY, FRANTIC FLAMES . They Leap Madly Upon the Splendid Pleasure Palace by the Bay of Monterey, Encircling Del Monte in Their Ravenous Embrace From Pinnacle to Foundation . Leaping Higher, Higher, Higher, With Desperate Desire . Running Madly Riotous Through Cornice, Archway and Facade . Rushing in Upon the Trembling Guests with Savage Fury . Appalled and Panic - Striken the Breathless Fugitives Gaze Upon the Scene of Terror . The Magnificent Hotel and Its Rich Adornments Now a Smoldering heap of Ashes . The "Examiner" Sends a Special Train to Monterey to Gather Full Details of the Terrible Disaster . Arrival of the Unfortunate Victims on the Morning's Train--A History of Hotel del Monte--The Plans for Rebuilding the Celebrated Hostelry--Particulars and Supposed Origin of the Fire . </P> <P> Hearst could go overboard in his crime coverage; one of his early pieces, regarding a "band of murderers", attacked the police for forcing Examiner reporters to do their work for them . But while indulging in these stunts, the Examiner also increased its space for international news, and sent reporters out to uncover municipal corruption and inefficiency . In one celebrated story, Examiner reporter Winifred Black was admitted into a San Francisco hospital and discovered that indigent women were treated with "gross cruelty". The entire hospital staff was fired the morning the piece appeared . </P>

What were newspapers like in the late 1800s