Battling reporters or scooping the competiton!

One afternoon I got a call from someone who said in a whispery voice, "Be at the Village Pump tonight at 7 for a good story."
The phone then "clicked" as the person on the other end hung up.
As a reporter for a newspaper in a two-newspaper town, bet I was going to be there! The two papers published in the afternoon, by the way! That meant you, as a reporter, had to make sure you didn't get beat!
I showed up at the Village Pump (a bar) early just to be safe. And guess what? A reporter from the other newspaper sat at a booth! Hacked? Angry? You bet, and more. I'd hoped to have the story to myself!
The reporter told me someone had called his newspaper asking for me. That's how they'd learned of the story that was supposed to be at the Village Pump.
I didn't sit with the reporter. I wouldn't. We were too, competitive. I just went to another booth while my mind churned trying to figure out how to get the reporter from the other paper out of the tavern. It hit me!
I casually walked to a telephone and called back to my newspaper (where we had a 24-hour operator). I told the operator to call the Village Pump as soon as I hung up and ask the bar tender to page the other reporter, Greg something or other. When Greg got to the telephone, our operator was to tell him: "Go to the Regulator right now for the story." Then I told her, "Hang up!"
I barely got back to my seat when the bartender paged the reporter from the other newspaper. He got up, disappeared, and a few seconds later he returned. This time he did not take his seat. He just hurried out the door! Yes, he went out the door!
Wow! He's gone!
Well, I can't recall now what happened as far as the "big story" went. Whatever it was was not big enough to stay with me.
What I do recall is about 30 minutes later the bartender paged me to take a phone call. I picked up the phone, and Greg What's His Name was on the line!
"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!" he kept saying! He didn't sound serious. In fact, I think he sort of liked the trick in a way.
Me?
I only wish now I'd kept him going all night long. Another call to the Regulator, and I could have sent him to who knows what bar and on and on!
Oh, well, as they say hind sight is 20-20.