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13 HALF A CENTURY OF NEW YORK NEWSPAPER LIFE THE SUN, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1913. nr Miiior nr.onnn p. wii.mams. MY father was a Captain In the llritlsh iirin.v, my grandfather l( lil the same milk In the famous Scots Greys and par- Hcpalf! hi their historic cavalry charge at Wf" 1'ittnn. ' " .,f ii' r ,,,-! i' I W.IK iii r. i' under (Son. Sir Thomas w killed In the moment Mj boyhood days wore link of Olhrnltar, where 'ti the Island of Malta, In I -. and lliirnui, at Iter- Personal Reminiscences of Famous Editors of the Sixties How Tweed's Fire Engine Company Turned a Compositor Into a Reporter and the Seventh Regiment Helped to Serve a Warrant on Mayor Fernando Wood ,1 1 1, ii,. I .ira. on the Hold Coast u ,fi ,i .. 1 in the West Indies. , i was almost decimated by rt. r, ,,n the Islt.nd of Jumnlea, n, r .i olllcers and men dying . lUl , i , force of 650. I was one llf iv mi- lmt recovered, at did m,ni i i Mien present. To save r from nnnlhllatlon It wait ,, I ii m nd the command to the Island ef H.irbados for convalescence In . i.i M camp, nnd finally to Nova ,tw mlinc a month under enn xa, w iti 'iarkcd on what was known 0 a ' v-f.inr gun frigate, the AVI1I Lun I arccly had the huge ship ..i5.-eil ii ef i-lKht of land when It cn-(dunti-r.il a terrific hurricane, which 8i' .a ' 'i w the frigate to near the coa-i f franco. Though very close to Kndaii'l. military red tape naturally itt.t us ' i! to IS.irbndus, where we ar fi.nl .ifvr a tempestuous voyage of jiM) -the das. Disembarking, wo again ilwJ urUr tents for a fortnight while the r!i.j wis cleaned and refitted. hur hi: Ihi month of November, 1848, the re in. nt arrived at St. John, N. B., ut tin li.iy of Fundy. Destined for II.i ,U the command had to march ovei laiiil M that city, where all the win tt r i : 'Vug awaited us. The children Kir. i .1 wli.it Is called the "commls iloncd and enlisted lines" here encoun tered t'uir llrst snowstorm, almost per ish. ni: with the cold. The elder boys lriftrrd marching with the troops to fretzitiE !n the baggage wagon train. I shall noer forget the suffering of that twenty-f ar days tramp, though I sub i(qunt y made many a fatiguing one durlnp tin civil war. Two years after the regiment was transferred to Canada, where both of my parents died from the effect.- f sudden nnd acute change In climate, leaving me an orphan at the I gt f 13. Knttring a newspaper ofllce, I learned all liran. hts of the printing trade, un cun"' . i.- " becoming a rather fast type letter During 1S56 I found myself a Journeyman printer In the city of Buf f.i!i am In July of that year arrived In Nuv Yak city. There were no sleep ing act. 'lntnodatlons In the trains of th si days, passengers passing the nn; .i- Vst they could In the uncom fortable coaches as they were then ca ! M r l'ernando Wood was at that tlni' v j; nn war on the tab drivers, wli' wni lleeclnu the public In about the amc wa a our tal companies lia recently been cl ing. A mere boy of 13, with a small trunk and only three ta" -ed dollars in my pocket. I left the H i - 'ii Htver Railroad tram at Kiev tnlli avenue and Thirtieth sired not V" w.ng that each car was hauled by a il b rse team to the Junction of Hud (on ii 1 Chambers streets- Taking a cab f r I.ovejoy's Hotel, corner of Park How nl lieekman street, the driver dtnitt. ln ) from me as his fare. In 'una I appealed to the hotel U ng htm to pay the man and w itch as security. d llars?" exclaimed the clerk. n .settle that." r going to the Kldewalk we " at the cabman had dlsap tlie fellow knowing that he 1 i heavy fine and loss of license, i ej my money. ' "un the hotel windows began .n as several cannon shots were lid succession before the City 1 ng the cause I was told that Its . ins of Tammany Hall (now S building) was tiring n salute Mayor Wood was an unscrupulous politician of the old Bchool nnd his aim was to create n body of men In visible authority to control the polls at elec tions, lie at the same time made the streets safer nt night and human life was a trllle more Bccurc, hut only a trine. Hereafter I will show how the downfall of Wood and his bluccoatcd thugs enmo about. Good compositors were scarce when I enmo to the city, so I soon found cm ployment. The newspapers were Thc Sun, Herald, Tribune, Times nnd 7.c tung as morning Issues. The World came soon nfter. The l'.xprcss and Commer cial were the evening papers. The morn ing sheets Issued a four page tdltlon a. 2 nnd 4 A. Mj., containing two or three columns of into current news. Each regular evening paper began the diy at 1 o'clock, with all the fresh newi on Its blow was the first struck misled the foreman and I found tnjself Inconti nently dismissed from my case. Angered by the injustice 1 ran down stnlrs Into Nassau street about mid night, Just as over a thousand volun teer firemen nnd their attendant run ners were rushing downtown with twenty or thirty hand fire engines and hoso carts. Boyllko I Joined the mob, only to discover that the tiro was n trifling .one near the comer of John street. The fact thnt there was nothing to do gave leisure for two rival engine companies to fight one of them being "Hlg Six," nfterwnrd famous for hav ing Illll Tweed lis Its foreman so they turned their hose streams on each other, "washing" ns It was called. From water tnc combatants next resorted to their steel hose wrenches, until several pis tol shots brought silence upon the wild scene. In those days the newspapers relied upon a little chap named I'epper for At saloon bars nnd restaurant or hotel tables, In street cars nnd on rail road trains, In church vestibules und hotel corridors; over the shop counter und nt the bank window, In the machine shop, nmid i oar of wheels nnd shafts; on tho farm nnd nt the crossroads, where men met on their way to mar ket or meeting house; In lawyers' olllces nnd the courts of law, In Jury rooms, whero men forgot the evidence they were considering to nrgue on political issues; In the family circle und on the street, in stock exchanges nnd on the curb, at the village blacksmith's forge and post olllce; In the burn and the liny Held, In the iiulet country store nnd the tavern, warm argument was the ruling passion. Yet few Imagined that the nation was In danger of an in ternecine war. Fernando Wood was an ardent supporter of the Southern view of tho i bayonet und driving Wood's policemen out of the building Duryee saw tho warrant duly served. Mayor Wood then surrendered, nnd the Seventh pro ceeded on Its way to the steamer char tered for the excursion. During the following month nearly every man In the old force asked for a Misltion In the Metropolitan ranks, only those who could provo good character being ac cepted. Tho morning newspapers were nt thnt time rigidly confined to eight pages of the same size ns those now used, the evening Journals being blanket sheets of four big square pages. The Hoe six, eight, nnd finally ten eytilnder revolv ing presses had lieen Introduced In the early '50s und were believed to be the acme In thnt direction of mechanics. Compared with the web perfecting presses these cylinder machines would now be thought only lit for the Junk heap. They had a capacity of 1,000 copies per cylinder per hour nnd con sisted of a huge central drum, on which forbade throwing away 600 whenever Bonner choso to so spend the money. A day camo when the Times, Sun, Her ald and Tribune printed eight page sup plements filled with llonncr advertising. 1)111 posting was conducted on free lance principles in the early '60s, though tho "regulars" respected each other's paper, one day Homier employed some outsiders to post 50,000 rostly Illumi nated posters, which were promptly covered over by the "regulars." Un daunted by this move llonncr adopted new tactics. Hiring forty or fifty men he guvo them 100,000 one sheet bills, printed In red Ink. and asking: "Have You Bead tho New York Lcdgcrf Working In the early morning hours tnesc men covered every poster In sight on hoardings and fences, so thnt nt mm. rise the entire city, from Central I'ark to tne nnltery, wore n garment of scar iei. m course mere was a row, and nonner nail to promise not to repeat nm ii iui limin e, ivnicn ne eolilil very wen uiioru 10 un. ii lias lieen s.ild that accustomed style. That afternoon Mr. Baymoiid called me Into bis room, and pointing to the objectionable editorial requested me to go over to the Tribune olllce. see Mr. Oreeley nnd politely re mind him thnt he had broken through the bounds of courtesy. I found the otd gentleman almost burled In a muss of exchanges, somo covering his desk. On hearing my mes sage, which I had to twice repeat before ho understood, the cpieer old fellow broke out with his customary profanity. "You go back, young man, nnd tell Henry," said he, "thnt he has been an editor long enough to know that there are damned fools In every newspaper otllee und this one Is full of them. When I wrote that article I Intended to treat Henry very gently, but those damned compositors upstairs put everything upside down." Mr. Hayuiond laughed heartily over Greeley's quaint Ingenuity In th is con fessing himself ns the real offender, but the latter never transgressed In that way again. The founder of the Herald wus a glut ton for news, subordinating to that feature the editorial matter. He also liked advertising. One night the pres sure of Important news and paid matter was so great that William F Sinythc, the Herald night editor, began throwing out the Wall Street und market columns ir m a. i rkrk tak 1 W " .foil' 1 pi ai rlfch 1 o I .1 , rat' i fin ii II,. (.'apt Tlir ! Lower Broadway f 1 - ns m honor of the landing of our 1 r. '( i States Minister to Kngland. Jami- HiKhanan, who had recently been mailt the nominee of the Democratic part f t I'resiilent. It was quite a colr.i luire that Mr. Buchunnn and I iliou I arrive In town on the same day. M r Wood had been, like many a wan ' f n ,-md after him, elected as n refunu i and he began his ndminlstra- ,t!on 1, nniving a radical change in the city's i ' e organization und regula tions, In those days of tlfty-odd years, bko Am. ric ins were averse to wealing , unit iui initslde of the regular army mil ' militia no man could be In dui i J tg wear anything except citizen's dri i, hi die idea of organizing a police In uniform made a stir. Up to that tltm the in Us of the State were policed by iivn wiuise only distinction was a hii- iss star, worn on the lapel of a ra , r illaplduted coat. It was a very con luuiit nriungement, for when the ior - he "ii Hti I, wer "w.i Mr , 1 I uli , on i ' T i M r (ii , nr , IllM con l Oil I' trbi i, l"i tiani wanted a glass of whiskey 1 slip his brazen star Into his i id indulge his desire with 1m- 1'erniindo Wood's advent there 1 more than 100 of theso i' i" on duty below Canal 'I'll y were commanded by a i plain, who only saw his men i went out on post or came In ' n Moved, and not always then. w York police as organized by V "1 numbered about l.L'OO men. W Mntsell was chief, with ten ' 'i captains nnd twice us many i' Chi! service rules were of unknown, appointments being ' "y made by the Democratic dls 1 i'TH, It was'thereforo not sur "at the rank and fllo was par u posed of what aro now known n and gungsters. llrst page, the remainder of the sheet being filled with matter "from our sec ond and third editions of yesterday." This old matter was discarded in suc ceeding Issues to give space for after noon news. But readers were satisfied. It was considered a hardship among morning newspaper compositors tl.at they were compelled to work on the Sabbath, and conscientious typos fre quently avoided it by engaging substi tutes, paying them half a dollar or more ns n bonus. On the Sunday after my arrival I was offered u night's work on the Times with full cases and u bright half dollar In hand. To my 3urprisu I found that my rate of setting type ranked nbout second among tho t.ilrty- five men on the floor. This leJ Vj m being miido a "regular" on tho first va cancy, and I held the stick and rule for over a year, wheli a trivial clrc-Jmstance caused a complete chango In my sphere of employment. Tub Sun wuh then In Its twenty-third year and occupied the top floor and part of the first floor of a building on tho southwest corner of Fulton nnd Nassau streets. The Herald, twenty-one yearn old. had absorbed two or three four story buildings, originally dwellings, at the northwest corner of tho samo streets. Theso had been, from time to time, rudely connected with each other, no two floors being on the name level. The Tribune, now In Its fifteenth year, was located In a rather dilapidated brick building standing on tho slto of Its present towering edifice. Tho Times, having struggled for five years, had only recently moved out of Theatre alley to the corner where the lieekman Nassau Building now stands, and It ro malned there until It moved In 1857 Into Its new edifice on tho Kite of tho old Brick Church. Ono of the strictest rules In composing rooms nt that time (and for nil 1 know It may exist now) was that In the event of u light tho man who struck the first blow was Instantly nnd peremptorily discharged. A very good rule, but It so happened that In a dispute my fellow compositor struck me first, and as I had my steel rule In my hand when I struck back It cut his Up. This fact and tho assertion of bystanders that my ordinary fires. Now It so happened that two men were wounded during the pis tol shooting nnd I followed their lioar trs to the hospital In City Hall I'ark, where I secured the names of the wounded firemen and other necessary details. My being a discharged typo made no difference to Ned Moore, the Times s night editor, for he accepted my half column story of the battle. None of the other papers had a line nbout the trngedy ono of the men dying during the day. A "beat" counted for a good deal In those days, and I never set type afterward, Mr. Raymond promptly placing tnc on tho Times editorial staff, nnd I became the sixth member of the happy little brotherhood. The chnnge from a fast compositor to a cub reporter made a decided reduction In my income, but the new life had more charm for me, ns against the drudgery of typesetting. Tho Presidential campaign of 1856 w.ib an exciting one. The new Itepub- Iican party, destined to hold national power for over thirty years, had Just sprung Into existence, making Gen. John C. Fremont its nominee. Kvery body was talking nbout tho Missouri Compromise. The Dred Scott slave de cision and the nrrcst of fugitive staves In several free States had Inflamed men's minds throughout tho Kast and tho West. Violent demands inndo by the cotton States and members of Con gress that slavery bo extended into Kansas and other United States Terri tories Inflamed veins of the body poll tic, while what was called the "Border Ituffiun War" added fresh fuel to n fierce, though smouldering fire. For tho first time political processions took on a quasi military character, tho Republicans turning out tolerably well drilled and partially uniformed bodies of men. Mr. Iluchanan's election was a foregono conclusion, but the new party had shown unexpected strength. The controversy over, the extension of slavery became heated and violent In both houses of Congress, pnrty ties wcro loosened In men's minds nnd a feeling of uncertainty reigned. Senator Chnrles Sumner was assaulted In the Chamber by Preston Brooks, nnd this coupled with bitter threats by Southern members on the floors of both houses of Congress, gave new impetus to the hostile feeling throughout tho North and the South. It was a portentous epoch, and political discussion among all classes of men was heated and acrimonious. existing situation, nnd he did not scruple to use his police force to break up city Republican meetings. So nrbl trary was the Mayor that he roused the State Legislature, irrespective of patty, in 1S57. to pass the Metropolitan xillc act. This bill created n force having authority In New York and Brooklyn, with nearly all of the territory now known us Greater New York. The usual legal devices were resorted to by Wood in hopes of defeating the act on grounds of its "unconstitutionality; In junctions were obtained from conven ient Judges und local unarchy seemed Impending. Finally tho court of Inst resort de cided In favor of thn bill, when tho new commissioners called upon tho Mayor to surrender authority over his police force. Ho defiantly refused, so n wur runt was Issued for his nrrcst, which was placed In tho hands of Capts. Car penter and Dllks for service. These In trepid otlicers started for tho City Hall with 150 Metropolitans on one hot July day to servo tho warrant, though It was known that Wood had assembled over COO of his uniformed rulllans In the basement and corridors. In rear of tho City Hall there Is still a flight of steep steps, then surrounded by n high Iron spiked fence, with n nar row open gate. Having been detnlled to report tho proceedings and being de nied admittance to tho hull because the Time was Inimical to Wood 1 rather foolishly sat down on theso rear steps awaiting tho outcome. Curpcnter nnd Dllks boldly ascended the stops, closely followed by ubout half their straw hatted force, Then troublo begun, for several hundred men of tho old pollen rushed out nnd gave (lerco buttlo. Ono of tho Metropolitans was fatally wounded and many badly hurt. During the mcleo I received a crack on tho heud from n club, and how 1 got over that six foot railing I never knew. News of Mayor Wood's armed resist ance was telegraphed to Oov, John A. King, who took advantage of tho pres ence of the Soventh Regiment In Broadway, It being on tho way to Bos ton to Join In somo celebration. Tho command was halted by tho Governor's ordis at Chambers street and Col. Ab-am Duryee marched his knapsacked con oanleH Into tho park. Taking pos session of all the doors and approaches to the City Hall nt the point of the were clamped, on a quarter section, heavy Iron frames called turtles because of their convex type surfaces. Koch page of type, cleverly bound together, became wedged Into u solid mass, and when the big drum revolved the forms were Inked as they encountered Impres sion cylinders carrying wetted separate .-beets of paper, which fell to n table underneath. Tho llrst set of forms consisted of the second, third, sixth nnd seventh pages, containing advertisement.'', financial nnd market reports, with the earlier news. This side went to press about 11 o clock, the second reaching the pressroom at 3 A. M. with the latest Intelligence, the half printed sheets being handled over again. When tho customary news columns could not accommodate all the night's supply of real news the needed space was only obtained strange as It may appear to advertising managers of the present day by throwing out whole columns of advertising already paid for. This cramped condition of press facili ties continued until the beginning of tho civil war, when stereotype plates were Invented, which permitted the Issue of supplements. During 1856 Robert Bonner began pushing tho sale of his New York Lcdtier by filling columns and pages of tho dally papers with small four line reiterated announcements saying that Sylvanus Cobb or Funny Fern wrote for tho Ledger. Henry J. Raymond was fond of printing In tho Times a special original article by somo well known au thor, but l.o never complained when his night editor omitted these urtlcles to avoid throwing uslde paid udvertlse. incuts. Ono morning nn entire pngo was taken up by Bonner's repeated ndver tlsemenls, when tho founder of tho Times rose In wrath and 1u a fierce edl torlal announced that while the Times had no objection to aiding the Ledger's circulation there was a limit to pa tlenco, so Mr. Bonner could In future, and at double rutes, have only three columns per day for his benefit. Bon ner of course took ndvantago of this freo advertising by filling his threo col umns in tho next day's Time with a small advertisement headed "No You Don't, Mr. Raymond," In which the edl tor wuh told that the Ledger would never desert him. Raymond was naturally furious over this ridicule, but his business instincts this incident originated the slang phrase1 of painting the town red. While on the subject of advertising It Is well to remember that when Hill, the theatrical manager, went to Boston with Denniau Thompson he filled un entire page of every newspaper In the Hub wltli a big typo announcement of the play. Mr. Thompson happened to be a personal friend of the leading Boston pastor, who asked tho nctor If ho had any share In the pecuniary profits of the piece. "Of course I have," was the reply. "Then why do you r.Ilow your mnn nger to waste money on whole news paper pages when one-tenth of the space would do as well?" The nctor took the samo view and suggested thut Hill bo less extravagant. "Say, Thompson," thundered BUI, "do you imagine your friend the domlnlo would havo even noticed our play If wo had not put In a handbill instead of the usual ten line 'ad'? Why, man, that hlg 'ad' Is n surety for full houses dur ing the whole engagement." Thompson did "see" und never again Interfered. Newspaper comment was often very bitter In those days, the editorship being of a decidedly personal character. The Herald was known ns "Tho Satanic l'ress." Greeley edited the Tribune ns "The Whltccoatecl Philosopher" and Raymond had earned the nlcknamn of "The Little Villain." Such phrases us "our esteemed contemporary" had not yet been Invented. Whenever the Times, Herald und Tribune assailed each other, and they were always nt It, tho fiercest Invective dropped from the pens of the editorial rivals. Readers seemed to enjoy these philippics, und It became tho custom to usl; "Have you seen what Raymond or Bennett or Oreeley ays to-duy?" Henry J. Raymond was a very mild, equable tempered mun, though ho could often uso vigorous,- vituperative lan guage oil paper. He never scolded while finding fault, speaking apparently moro in sorrow thnn In anger, his re proof having all the mora effect. As tho yeurs rolled on all of these famous editors happened to meet at the funeral of a distinguished citizen, the melan choly occasion leading to peace among them. But Horace Oreeley, being forgetful and absentmlndcd, one day forgot the compact and pounded Raymond In his and finally every editorial. "Doug" l.o vieii, ono of the editorial writers, loudly complained at tho sacrifice. Mr. Ben nett's reply was: "It's a very glide paper, Lovlen, and ye needn't complain. Why, mon, dlnna ye notico thu ndvartlsements'.'" Sarcastic in mood and temper, Mr. Bennett possessed a keen seliM1 of humor. He had u horror of typographi cal errors and Invariably complained to his foreman, frequently demanding the dlsmlss.il of the offender. In such cases the foreman often protected a valuable man by asserting that tho error had been committed by a "sub" compositor who held no regular situation, the ex planation In lag accepted In silence. One afternoon the old gentleman climbed upstairs to the composing room to examine some mechanical Improve ment, lie was met on the way by a young man who dodged to and fro until he was told to stand still. Hurry ing past the editor went on, then stopped and demanded: "And who are ye?" "Oh, I'm nobody. Just a sub." "I'.h, mon, let us line a look at ye. I never saw n. sub before" The Associated Press was at that time In its Infancy, Mr. Raymond and Frederic Hudson having frequent cause for exchanging notes concerning It. Sent ono day with one of these notes I met on the Herald stairs, which were dark and unllglited, an old gen tleman who seemed to be Iii a hurry. As wo stumbled together he shouted: "And where are ye going? Canna ye let u body pass?" "All right," was my reply. "But if I owned Ibis oflleii I'd liavo these stair lighted and the steps mended." "Mil, but that's weel thocht of," said he, and disappeared. The following Saturday T went again to the Herald building to meet ono of the reporters for a fishing excursion on tho Harlem River, then famous for such sport. As I entered thu city room I saw the same old gentleman coming from Mr, Hudson's sanctum. "Kli. young mon, we ban had the gawso put In und the stairs mended. Dlnna yo mind that?" said he, whim sically. "Yes, Blr," I replied, confusedly, now reullzlng that It wus Mr. Bennett, "nnd I'm glad of It." There was an expression of nwo on very reporter's face as 1 spoke.