Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-20
:. 9. Harding In the st. Louis Democrat
Ehc Louisville ledger.
now A NEWSPAPER Is RUM KENTUCKY.

HOW 4 NEWSPAPER Is Run IN KENTUCKY.
had the pleasure of assisting at the
birth of the Louisville Ledger 1t was a
powerful cast / don't remember the
exact number of editors employed on the
paper, but it was Immense. There was
an editor in chief, with two or three as
sistants. a news editor, a heavy corps Of
reporters and city editors. foreign edi-
tor, an amusement editor. fine art cdi-
tor nautical editor, legal editor, a
financial editor, and number Of mfsCel-
laneous. and unclassified editors. There
were so many editors, III fact, that the
building was badly crowded, and they
were ia each others way. There was
scramble for the lounge and the
Cincinnati papers. Many of these edi-
tors were amateurs with rather crude
ideas Of gentlemen of a
lcisurely literary turn Of mind, who
thought it would be a good thing to
stroll into the office once or twice a day,
draw off a kid gloye, dash off profound
editorial on national politics, and then
stroll jauntily out again, twirling deli
cate rattan cane with horses hoOf or
feminine LEG in ivory for handle.
Col NJ w Cluskey, formerly Of Mem
phis, was commander in chief of this
rabblc of courageous but undisciplined
ink-slingers Col Cluskey is an Irish
man, reared in Alabama, where he ac-
duircd a most delicious southern brogue.
Personally he is one of the highest
toned, kindest hearted and most chiyal-
rous of men, and in his time had been
recognized as one of the most vigorous
writers of the south A little work on
parliamentary law, of which he is the
author, is still quoted in Southern legis-
lative bodies. But at the time Colonel
Cluskey took hold of the Ledger, i'll health
had greatly impaired his usefulness. He
was a gallant soldier in behalf Of the
lost cause, and was literally shot to
pieces The only wonder was that he
managed to live Col Clusky made fran
tic efforts to discipline his rabble, and at
the same time endeavored to cultivate
agreeable social relations. 1t was one of
his theories that man employed on the
Ledger must necessarily be a gentleman,
and that man good enough to associate
with him in the Office was entitled to be
received at his house. About once
week the entire force was invited to his
elegant mansion to discuss oysters, yeni-
son, champagne, and other creature
comforts.
The earliest numbers of the. Ledger
were curiositles in their way. remem-
Der one night when the foreign editor,
intensely Prussian in his sympathies, had
written an article on the Franco German
war, and Dr. Breckenridge, who strong
" sympathized with the French, had
written one on the same subject. Of
course they conflicted, and each was
stubborn in insisting on committing the
paper to his own views. Col. Clusky
was appealed to. Gentlemen, said he
oracularly, ''you must make your ahti-
Giles consist. 1t won't do to have an
Article in one paht of the papah taking
one view of the subject, and an Article
in anothah column taking another view
They must consist. Now don't care a
coppah about the frog eatahs or the
Dutch, but the papah must be one thing
or the other. 1t can't be both. After
some further squabbles, the foreign man
and the doctor not being able to
come to an understanding, Colonel
Mike called out, g Heah, give EN- to
me-Ill fix EN- up myself. Taking the
two articles he cut the head off the
Breckenridge article, sliced a sentence
out of Prices and pasted 1T on. linen
he scooped out an inch or two OF Breck-
inridge and pasted it on to Price. Ana
so he continued taking alternate para
graphs from Breckenridge and Price I'M
til he had patched up the most remarka-
BILE foreign articles ever published IN the
United States, the whole thing ending
with semicolon.