Bridgeton pioneer., 1884-03-27
NOTEWORTHY sTENoGRAPHER

j. j. McElhone, the chief of the Off
clal stenographers of the House, has
been In the service of that body as an
Official reporter since 1849. He was an
expert stenographer when mere boy.
When he was eighteen years old he
was reporting the official debates.
Dennis Murphy, the chief of the Sen
ate staff, began his official work for
Congress six months earlier than Nc
Elhone. Both are from Philadelphia.
McElhone is a very tall, straight, Wig
orous, young-looking man. He has
more the air of dashing soldier than
that OF civilian. His eyes are clear
and resolute, the nose straight, while
his military mostache and imperial
accentuate his appearance of vigor
and energy. He is a very cultivated
man, and few members have such a
thorough knowledge of public affairs
as McElhone. 1t is strange that none
of the younger stenographers of Wash
lngton who are looking forward to fill
the places of the official stenographers
of Congress are not doing something
to qualify themselves for the work.
The average stenographer looks.only
to the mechanical part of his work,
without a thought of how necessary to
his final success is the possession of a
thoroughly broad and comprehensive
education.
Mr. McElhone explained to me the
other day his method of working. 1t
will probably be a revelation to the
average reporter. He pays no atten-
ton to the mechanical part of his
work. He writes the Pitman system
in its simplest forms. When he is re-
porting a speaker he follows his every
sentence, criticising it and taking in
fully it's sense, while his hand follows
his thought like a bit of exquisitely
trained mechanism. The result is
that he has never yet met a speaker
who can talk too fast for him. When
he meets man who can think faster
than he can, then only will McElhone
be at a loss. He says that in the last
House the three hardest men to re-
port were Thompson, of Iowa; Black
burn, of Kentucky, and Ronney, of
Massachusetts.
The hardest piece of reporting ever
done by McElhone was during the ex
citing incidents of the counting in of
Hayes by the House of Representa-
tives. When Beebe, of New York, i'm
mortalized himself by jumping upon
his desk, perfect Bedlam appeared to
have been let loose. To report what
was said with twenty or thirty Mem
bers apparently talking at once, must
have seemed almost an impossibility.
In less than second McElhone saw
that his reputation as one of the great
est of living reporters was at stake.
He seized his notebook and dashed
right into the centre of the excitement.
The voice of every Member was famil-
lar to him. Without turning his head
he stood erect amid the widest con
fusion, and caught with rigid accuracy
the words of the most distant speaker
He was very nervous over the result,
because if any Member at that time
had by chance been omitted from the
page of history of that day, McElhone
would have been the subject of many
row. None of the Members believed
that he had been able to get them all,
yet when his report came out in The
Record next day, no one had a single
word of fault to find. In fact, it is
the only perfect picture of that excit-
ing period. 1t was one of the great
est feats of stenographic reporting
ever done in Congress. When Neil
hone had finished he was bathed in
perspiration from head to foot, and
was as weak as if he had been running
in a ten-mile match. - Washington Post.