Irwin 's biggest story and the feat that made him a professional writer was his absentee coverage for '' The New York Sun '' of the San Francisco earthquake of April 18 , 1906 . Weigle and Clark described his activities : Irwin was hired by S.S. McClure in 1906 as managing editor of '' McClure 's '' . He rose to the position of editor but disliked the work and then moved to '' Collier 's '' , edited by Norman Hapgood . He wrote investigative stories on the movement for Prohibition and a study of fake spiritual mediums
San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
William Henry Irwin