Reward raised for a fourth time after latest submission proves to be a photograph of a hat.
Empire City — This newspaper has now published four hundred and six articles concerning the masked figure known to readers as the Dragonfly, and has illustrated all four hundred and six of them with the same drawing.
The drawing was made in 1998 by a courtroom sketch artist who was not present at the event she was sketching and who has since asked that her name be removed from it. The Times has honored that request. The drawing remains.
Accordingly, and after a meeting of this newspaper's editorial board that ran to eleven hours and concluded without a vote, the Times is raising its standing reward for one clear, verifiable photograph of the Dragonfly.
The Times will not be printing the new figure. It will say only that the figure is larger than the previous figure, that it is a great deal of money, and that it is written on the wall of the photo desk in a hand nobody at this newspaper recognises.
“We are not asking for much,” said Desmond R. Quail, who has served as photo editor of this newspaper since 1994 and who has never once photographed the subject. “We are asking for a photograph. Of him. In focus. That is the entire specification. I have written it on the wall.”
Mr. Quail has written it on the wall.
Submissions To Date
Previous submissions have included a photograph of a heron, a photograph of a different heron, a photograph of the number 14 crosstown bus, and, last Thursday, a photograph of a hat resting on a bollard on Pell Street.
The hat was submitted eleven separate times by eleven separate readers, all of whom requested the full reward and four of whom have since retained counsel.
Mr. Quail described the hat as “the closest we have come,” and confirmed that the Times has no reason to believe the Dragonfly has ever worn a hat, owned a hat, or been to Pell Street.
A twelfth submission, received Monday, showed the same bollard without the hat. It was accompanied by a note reading “he has moved.”
Terms
The Times will pay a great deal of money for a photograph it can print. It will pay nothing for a photograph it cannot print, and it wishes to note that it has now assembled a filing cabinet of the latter.
Herons are no longer eligible. Weather balloons are no longer eligible. The number 14 crosstown bus is no longer eligible, individually or as part of a wider composition. Hats are under review.
Photographs should be sent to dragpix@empirecitytimes.com.
This is not a real offer The Empire City Times is a parody website. There is no reward and no money. Nobody is collecting photographs, and the address above is decorative text that reaches no inbox.
The Times wishes to be clear that it does not endorse, encourage, or accept any responsibility for the methods by which readers obtain photographs. It asks in particular that readers stop climbing the water tower on Lasker Avenue, which is not municipal property, is not tall enough, and is now insured against readers of this newspaper specifically.
What We Know
He is described as tall by short witnesses and as short by tall witnesses. He is reported to be silent, though four separate readers have written to complain about his volume.
Dr. Helena Vosk, professor of applied optics at Empire City Community College and the region's only certified aerial-insect analyst, told the Times that the difficulty is fundamental.
“You are attempting to photograph a moving object at night, at distance, with equipment purchased for photographing a bench,” Dr. Vosk said. “I have explained this to Mr. Quail on nine occasions. He has written that on the wall as well.”
The Times continues to investigate and has assigned two reporters to the matter, one of whom has been reassigned to the Vandemeer Crossing and one of whom is on the water tower.