A postcard from the early 1900s showing Santa Claus, as he may have looked when he sat down to chat with an Eau Claire newspaper.

Back in 1903, a reporter in Eau Claire got what must have been the scoop of the young century: an exclusive interview with Santa Claus!

Just a few days before Christmas that year, under an all-caps headline declaring “SANTA TALKED,” a journalist for The Daily Telegram described his journey from Eau Claire to the North Pole to interview Santa himself.  “Your correspondent was invited into Santa Claus’ private office,” he wrote. “On his desk there are thousands upon thousands of letters from boys and girls from everywhere” – including about 200 from Eau Claire children.

 Santa claimed to know what most of the kids in Eau Claire looked like because their photos were published in the newspaper, and said he’d sent assistants to department stores and schools to find out what local kids really wanted.

The piece continued: “I think the boys and girls can write good letters,” Santa said. “In fact, they can write better than those of any other city in the world. They must have good teachers.” 

It turned out almost all of Eau Claire’s children were good, but at least eight had been naughty: Santa recounted their infractions, from quarreling about washing the dishes to skipping school. However, the correspondent added, “(Santa) refused to give the names of these children, because he said they might be better by Christmas.”

If there’s a contemporary lesson from this extraordinary report (unearthed a few years ago by Eau Claire author B.J. Hollars), it may be that it’s never too late to get off Santa’s naughty list. Readers, if you fear you might be on it, you’ve still got a few days to turn things around!

Here's the full text of the Dec. 22, 1903, article from The Daily Telegram: