Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-27
09io, Statesman, NJ n
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY
The Ohio Statesman Company.
SUPPRESSION OF A NEWSPAPER.
How the Military Took Possession Of
"The World" Office.
OF THE AFFAIR.
from the New York World J

About 101a o'clock the officer notified the
editor in charge that he had now peremptory
orders to stop work in the establishment,
and that while he was in command he would
be responsible for all the property in the
office. Thereupon word was passed to the
employees to close their work and leave the
office. The reporters who were writing
out their notes of meetings which had Oc-
Cured in the evening, and of events that
had taken place during the day left their
reports in their desks, the accounts of war
movements from every point of military
opel ations from the Associated Press and
from our special correspondents were laid
aside, the dull record of Congressional pro-
ceedings was cut off in the middle, part in
type and part in manuscripts; the editors
postponed the articles they were penning
to more convenient season; the foreman
of the Office ceased to give out ''copy;;" the
busy compositors stopped the selection of
type, and laid down their stakes" carefully,
not knowing that it would be ''dead" matter
before the paper should be issued again;
no more copy came up in the box, no more
"ads" of amusements, of auctions, of meet
ings, of goods for sale came in; the press
under the sidewalk, ready for the reception
of the 'forms" from the composing-rOom,
was deserted; all the various machinery of
large newspaper establishment was stop
ped, and the military took supreme and
peaceable possession.
The employees remained at place OF
meeting which had been named until 2
o'clock, in anticipation of an order from
Washington allowing the paper to 60 on,
| but the administration had determined that
| The World should be stopped
On coming down stairs again the officer
said to the clerk, "You must stop work."
The clerk protested, but of course it was of
no avail. Numbers of people came to the
doors bringing advertisements and news,
but the soldiers uniformly denied them ad-
mission; nor would they allow the recep-
ton of papers, kilograms, or other news
matter. The officer took seat in front of
the. counter until about twenty minutes
past ten, when an orderly or officer came to
him with paper, which is supposed to
| have been an order from General Dix.
After reading it he approached the clerk
and said "You will have to leave" Just
| then the mis- h. clerk arrived, and was about
entering at the front door when soldier
| presented revolver at his forehead. The
clerk inside called out, ''That is the night
clerk; don't shoot him." The clerks then
left, remarking to the officer that they left
the office in his responsibility.
THE CARRIERS COMING IN THE MORNING.
About four o'clock the carriers began to
come, as usual, for their papers. They
were considerably astonished to find the
office under military guard. AS the first
one walked sleepily along he did not notice
ANYTHING strange till actually at the door of
the office. Coming suddenly upon soldier
he asked, "What is the matter?" "That's
what's the matter" replied one, drawing
his revolver; ''what do you want?" II
want my ticketr replied the carrier. 'ETll
give you ticket out of this" said the SOL
dier, aiming his revolver at the carriers
head. The other carriers and news-agents
were similarly turned away, aud nobody
whatever was allowed to enter thcbHilding.
PANIC AMONG THE MILITARY. "|
The detachment that took possession ofIhe
Worlds press-room came very near getting
in genuine hot water by reason of their
promptness in eSpelling all hands, includ-
ing the engineer. The latter objected to
taking himself off Immediately, remarking
that the boiler, upon which he is accustom-
ed to rely for steam to work our powerful
lightning presses. required some farewell
attention from him. The guard, however,
did not wish to have any ''tender scenes
and made him "move on" briskly. A half
hour or so later, the sentries in charge of
the entrance to the press-room were ap-
preached by the disciple of Fulton, who
quietly informed them that he "guess-
ed that he had left steam enough on
down below to blow the neighborhood
up some time during the next twenty min
utes." This seemed to affect the nerves of
| the guardians of our liberties, and III the
| kndest manner possible the engineer was
invited to step down and nip the impend-
| ing calamity in the bud. But he politely
declined the invitation, and, turning on his
| heel, moved elsewhere. This information
soon spread throughout the camp, and anX-
| ious glances were taken at the clock within
| cur publication office. The officer in charge
| seemed inclined to offer reward to the
man who would volunteer to go down
stairs and settle the approaching difficulty,
but contented himself finally with merely
looking up the vamosed informer. For a
| long while the soldiers evinced a remark
able uneasiness; the conviction that they
were standing on ticklish ground seemed
to oppress them and the rumble of dis
tant car wheel acted as one would expect
| the symptoms of an earthquake would up
| on their fine military bearing. However,
they stood their ground unfinchingly, and
found relief in perspiration, when the ap-
pointed twenty minutes had expired and
their terms of mundane service had not.
That the boiler failed to explode, we be-
lieve, is due to the fact that a secret en-
trance to the press-room was made use OF
| NY buC pIdCOlOdl JOhihE ShSihSSA, WhOrouh
reptitiously turned off steam and extin-
guished the fires. va -'.'V '''.-i
r ..t. CoNFISCATIoN.
Upon regaining possession of our prem
ises it was discovered that things, were not
i'll all respects ''in statu quo ante belI,rp" In
our editorial rooms. Two overcoats, with
the varied contents of their pockets, were
missing, together with some small articles
of office furniture. One of the coats belong
ed to our special correspondent, who had
arrived from the Virginia battlefield on
the day of the suppression. qv,
His copious notes of the nine days cam
paign, q valued pistol, which had lain In
waitfor guerrillas, in aside-pocket, together
with some private letters and a few cdrtes
de visite offis friends upon General Wright's
date General Sedgwick's) staff were among
the contents of the coat thus confiscated.
| An empty flask, absorbed of its contents In
the last demoralizing rainstorm before
1 SpottsylyaAia, and bottle OF quinine pills
which the thief doubtless stunned as
poison, were exempted in disgust and
thrown upon the floor.
l9ii3I It should be noted that all accesslto oul
editorial, composing, publication, and press
rooms was on Friday denied even tothbst