Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-12

flowers are on the lace strings.-
Harper's Bdzdr.
How a Newspaper Secured a "Beat.o
To correspondent of the Indianapo-
lis journal Mr.. Henry L. Stephens has
told the following, story: at was about
1860. The Illustrated NetCs. published
by Demorest, and Frank Leslie's Illus
trated Newspaper had been fighting for
months over Sickles' trial and the John
Brown trial and execution; and it was
about nip and tuck, for the Ne1bs had
Mast. Then came the Heenan-Sayers
prize-fght in England. 1t was a
mortal struggle between the two pa
pers. Both sent artists to England.
About the time the fight was to
come of, and a week OF two before we
could possibly hear of it, for there was
no cable then, the Illustrated NetDs
came ont with the announcement that
they had sent Mr. Thomas Mast to En-
gland to draw picture of the fight,
and Mr.. Anthony to engrave it on
wood on the Vanderbilt while coming
home, and that it would be published
on the very day of the steamers ar
rival. Something must be done to save
us from wreck. Next morning the
Governor (Mr. Leslie) called me to a
vacant room up stairs, and locked the
door as l went in. we must have a
picture of the fight. said he, 'on this.
And he laid his hand on great block
on the table, large enough for a four
page picture. Said he: Take this
room. Keep it locked. Admit nobody
but me and the two OF three other
artists that you will need, and compel
us to give a certain specified signal.
We must knock the NelOs out of time.
He told me to call for anything or
any man / wanted. ] sent for Perkins,
who was English. and who knew the
low country around Farnsborough.
Leslie, who was English too, thought
the fight would come off on level
ground, with background of English
farms. Perkins was sworn on the
horns of Highgate, and then he struck
the ring and laid out a vague per
spective with English trees and hedge.
| rows.
"Then we cent down to The Pewter
Mug for Brown to represent Heenan.
Brown was strapper, standing at least
six feet three inches and weighing moi
less than two hundred pounds. We
got Thad. Glover to do Savers He
was g very lively and pretty sparrer.
They went at it hammer and tongs, as
waited, crayon in hand, to catch theiI
attitude when it was right. / can see
them now skittering and hopping
around the little room, driving onf
another into corner, and getting one
another's heads in chancery, and finally
when Heenan Brown gave Sayers Glover
a vicious side-winder on the ear, taking
pains not to hit him though, the Cover
nor cried stopH and they posed in thai
attitude, and I caught it on paper
Then the pugilists went out and took ;
drink. l drew the faces of Heenan anC
Savers on the bodies; then put lot Of
figures and heads, and then sent fol
Violin, an Englishman, and he put in ,
dozen or so typical English heads, will
English hats, ETC., and then l sent fol
Twaites, and he added great lot o
English spectators. l took it then ant
finished it up, and then the block wa
sawed into sixty pieces and divided
among sixty artists to be engraved
About half of it was sent to Philadelphia
and Boston. OF course, they didn'
recognize their own work when tn,
paper was out. Then the whole wa
electrotyped, and an immense edition o
the paper was printed on one side
ready for the type on the other.
"When we came TO write out the ac
count of the fight we made it yer
vague, making much of the preliminar
les already known here, with biograph
les of the men, etc. Everything wa
ready. One morning came dow
town and found the streets flooded wit
Frank Leslie's Newspaper. 1t SCENE
to me there were millions of copies.
never saw so many papers in my life
1t was the biggest success there eve
was. The Net0s, with Nast's picture
was not out till six hours afterward
and then the whole picture made onl
two pages, and looked mean enough b
the side of our four-page cut. And tn
best of it was that we had ten times a
much landscape and perspective a
Mast, his picture showing nothing bu
, conventional tree tops over the heads {
the spectators, while we had miles an
miles of mead and woodland.
"Leslie was delighted. never sal
him in such a happy frame of mind. H
must have made thousands Of dollar
that week. Whats the sense of dc
nouncing such pictures as bogus sal
he, when we have ten times as good
! picture as that, taken on the spot
! The beauty of it was that by accideI
,, we placed the men right-Heenan
, back to the sun, as it actually was in tn
. fight, though of course we couldn
know he had won the toss. This pui
, zled even those who knew we must hay
made the picture here, and everybod
/, was bewildered.n - --
4 A correspondent of the Count,