The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-09-02
Curiosities of Journalism .----I.

Having been engaged in journalism,
OF and on, for the past twenty-seven
years, have taken some pleasure now
and then In collecting a variety of
curious errors which have occurred dur.
ing that time in leading papers of the
United States and elsewhere. The
most common land most Unavoidable
class OF errors is that arising from
mistakes in punctuation +; and next In
order, errors resulting from defective
orthography. Hardly q newspaper in
the world, Of account, is there that has
not suffered in this way, and, as a
general thing, the errors most Internal
to the editor, but funny TO his readers,
are to be met with in the most infiu-
entail and best circulated sheets. This
fact is easily accounted forsa great
deal of the late matter of q morning
paper finding its rapid way into 'the
columns without the knowledge of that
indefatigable enemy of 'blacksmlths,'
the proof-reader. In the first place /
will present few of those oft occurred
errOrs-the result of defective pune
tuation. Some twcnty-one years ago
/ cut the following from the advertising
columns of the New York Herald:
'wAsrED-A gentle. sorrel colt, suitable for
young lady with a long tall
'HoUsKKEKPER-A highly.resr ectable middle
aged woman, of economical habits, who has
been hlling the above situation for up ward OF
eleven years, and who is now deceased. is anxious
TO meet with q similar one.
These lines were written nearly fifty years ago
by who bss for several years lain in the grave
for his own amusement.
The following is Philadelphia
Ledger advertisement
'wASrSD-At the Labor Exchange, two married
men and their wives to do farm work: also, four
single men to drive horses; also two stout boys to
milk four young girls, who must understand
general bousewort.'
This combination of defective pune
tuation and grammatical impurities is
not entirely confined to the Advertising
columns of our newspapers. Report
ers, who ought not to, are constantly
making their departments ridiculous
by such startling announcements as
follows, in al account of a steam boat
explosion
The captain swan ashore. ami subsequently
saved the life Of the stewardess; she was insured
for fifty thousand dollars, and was full of rail-
road rons
The inimitable Joe Howard. author
OF the bogus proclamation of Lincoln.
formerly of the New York Times, and
now of the Hrald, wrote of the Bill
Poole obsequies in New York, in 1855:
The procession was very fine. as was
also the sermon of the minister. He
afterwards inserted after the word tine
(by caret), and nearly two miles in
length forgetting that his aGition
would also refer to the sermon. The
pronouns are the source Of vexatiOus
c0ntretemps, and l select two at ran
dom from my scrap book
During the storm q COW was struck by light.
ming and instantly killed. belonging to the village
Old. 'A"' ""' A'0 : ''A"'''O III 'A'' ''''H "A;'
During the celebration a child was run over.
wearing short, red dress. which never spoke
afterward.
Persons unaccustomed to advertising
phraseology frequently express them
selves in language liable to exceeding
ly absurd misinterpretatioc. Thus, iii
Situations Wanted we read that a
respectable young woman wants wash
ing;' the proprietor of bone mill ad-
vertises that persons sending their
own bones to be ground will be attend
ed to with fidelity and Dispatch A
miller, In a testimonial to the merits of
q powder for destroying vermin, writes
Two weeks ago was full of rats. aud now 1
haven't one.'
The next most common class of err
rors 10 that resulting from mistakes in
orthography. Thos, upon gala oc-
casion among the 'strong-minded at
Rochester, N. Y. in 1859. Mrs. Stanton
declsimed violently against what she
called white males But the next morn
ing the Democrat had it white mules.
In all probability the word mules was
perfectly satisfactory to the pertinac-
ious Il. G. s. aforesaid. The Wash
ington Chronicle, during the early part
of our late civil war, had occasion to re-
fer to Governor Stewards little bell.
etc, and made the sentence read.
The Secretary returned from the
War Department, and raised little
hell = etc, which was Indignately con-
tradicted. In Mr.. Curtis's Grafton at
the unwilling of the Sedgwick
Monument at West Point, some
years ago he used the familiar quot
alton, "Uh l,bertds Di patria" Where
liberty is there is my country ! ]
Imagine the astonishment of the cele-
brated author of 'Prue and l. when
perusing his address in the Standard
the next morning, TO meet:
You lie libertas be patria A most
villalnous kind of newspaper error is
that which results occasionally from
mixing up of two or more articles.
While 'benzine' has something to do
with these mixes sometimes. they
are GENERALLY the effect of rapid
.msking-up' of forms in the myster-
ious midnight preparation of daily
morning paper. One of the most pro-
voking things of this kind appeared in
Senator Anthony's excellent newspaper,
Providence Daily Journal, in 1858, aud
resulted from mixing up Of two
articles, (for which an old typo named
Ned Angell secured mis- walking papers,)
which raised dreadful commotion the
next day throught the State of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations
The articles mixed up were the an
nouncement of the departure for
Europe of the prominent and beloved
pastor of C-Church and the descrip-
tion of the peculiar movements of
dog affected with hydrophobia As it
appeared in the Journal:
The Rev Mr.. R. after many years cf faith
ful service in the cause Of Christ, whl take his
As t0 he