Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-04-17
IN THE PRESS GALLERY.
The Folks who Keep the Public In.
formed of Cong ressiOmal DOfmgs.


OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES WRITING BEFORE
THE wAR-HOw THE NEWS OF THE BATTLE
OF BULL Run WAS GIVEN TO THE NORTH.
The ears of the public, whereby they are in
formed of the goings on in the popular branch
OF Congress, are located just over the Speakers
chair in,the gallery. There the correspondents of
the various newspapers throughout the country
are "all ears and eyes" to everything that is
going on. The average newspaper man in the
House gallery does NOT, however, keep his ears
strained perpetually to the hum that
arises. His attitude generally is that of ind IT.
or by instinct he has learned to hear only that
which is worth knowing, and that never es-
In the gallery or in Writns in the repo 91esS
room he manages to know whenever anything
Of interest is being said or is doing. The
back of the gallery. The end Of q
wire Is run into an item Of news as soon as it
and shs T. out OF
grow on the wires. These are generally the
most interesting because they are ingeni-
and the s' f the the sha paper and the ises
and the sofa that the very tired man lies on. are
All Furnished by the government, and besides
scissors and a bottle Of mpciiage. The place Is
thoroughly equipped. There is q comb and
There are four different styles Of pens, and
paper OF three different colors-green, blue and
yellow.
Forty years so ago there were not SO many
facilities for correspondents. They conveyed the
news To their papers then by mail, and 1t took
twelve hours to get letter to New York. Now
IL taxes but few minutes to echo the voice Of
Congress all over the country.
THE PERIOD OF LETTER WRITING,
at Its best, was from 1S4O 20 1850, but during
the last five or six years of that period the tele-
graph had begun to be used considerably tor
news correspondence. w. b. Shaw, who is
at he fol
AT that time correspondent for the New
York Herald, is said to have been the first man
He began "wIring' in 1852. The letter writer's
on these days, ''befO the wo.,'' were u corps Of
men as able as any the country has seen. From
dSfO until 1901 Sargent wrote letters to the
Philadelphia Inquirer over the name of SOLVER
Oidschooi;'' j. E. Harvey wrote to the Philadel-
writer, correspondent with the Philadelphia
Ledger and Baltimore Sun, signing observer"
Eiiab kingman then wrote for the Baltimore
DIR. George b. Wallis was the CORE,
Spondent of the New York Herald; james
BROOKS afterwards member of Congress) for
the New York Express. Horace Greeley used to
come mere sometimes during the session of Con-
gress and write letters to his paper. Most of
these sent off letters every day; some only three
times week. The telegraph was not used
but the rivalry was sharper, probably, than
now. Shaw began his work here writing let
sSVeral country papers in 1850, and began to
Write for the New York Herald u year later.
LcticTs tIen nau 10 De mailed at O'Clock In
the morning to reach New York at that hour in
the evening. About 1852 Shaw got permission
from the Herald To send
THREE OR FOUR LINES
oy telegraph, when anything very important
occurred after he had sent his letter. These
messages cost the paper ten cents word.
After tine Herald had done this for a year or
TWO the New York Times and Tribune took IL up,
j. W. Simonton sending to the Times and j. +.
Harvey to the Tribune. Thus a rivalry was
frnI
Boston, some from the west, and led on
10 the present almost exclusive use of
lines were all paper would allow
to be sent by wire, but as it approached the
breaking out Of the war all limit To quantity
was raised, provided the matter was exclusive.
Ihen the rivalry was sharp, each correspondent
striving to beat the rest. But the correspond.
entS had no offices here then. There was no
headquarters or bureau OF q paper as there is
now, until just about the outbreak of the war
wnen two or three leading papers opened little
Ounces on 14th street, where it has since be-
come known as Newspaper Row." In 1861
White!aw Reid came here for the Cincinnati
Gdzette, ana j. b. Mccullough some years after
city.
WAR CORRESPONDENCE.
When the war broke out Washington became
the principal headquarters for war news AS
sistants were sent to the correspondents of the
several leading papers here, and men were mt
out IN the Held to report the military opera
lions. They penetrated to the picket lines of
newspapers with nu go1 up system OF trading
rhiladeiphia papers, for those from Rich
mond-and In this way got Information ahead
Oh the government. Having the first news from
Washington OF the first bait lie of Bull Run made
the reputation OF the Philadelphia I,,0uirer
n ihs noa 'n M O'Clock In the morning OF
recent years became prominent "a railroad
operator; $: p. HanscOm and U. Ii. Painter
sented the New York Herald. Painter repre.
senteo the inquirer. They got on high ground,
from which they had a view of the surroundings
and Kept posted as to the battle. When the
order came to fall back, they all started ior
w ash1ngton, except Painter, who was captured
Dy the confederates. The rest wrote up tner ac-
counts OF the battle and the rout OF the Union
forces, and filed long dispatches at the telegraph
oince, where they fell into the hands Of the CEN
sor and never got further.
HOW THE NEWS WAS CARRIED.
Painter was held by the enemy at Centre
Vile. He was taken TO the hospital by the sur
geon and designated as his assistant, SO that he
mad perfect freedom within the lines That
nlght he picked UP horse astray ON the battle
nelu signify wounded, and with il got tn
Washington just in time to catch q train for
Philadelphia. He thought the cOnfederates
would come at once TO Washington. and he
wanted 10 get out OF the way. When he ar
rived in Philadelphia and told mis- story it was
printed in the Inquirer, and that was tine first
news in the north OF the battle. owing 10 the
Geographic censorship in force, o
The stirring times OF the war caused the
nyeilest competition to get the first news. The
authorities would permit-and since then
nearly all the news has been strung on wires.
There Is very little news correspOudence by
mail now. The letters written by correspOn.
dents are not upon matters of news, but are
mostly Interesting sketches. The corps of cor.
respondents grows larger every year and n early
every breath Is caught up by the wires.
Concerning Pennsylvania Avenue.
To the Editor of TAE EvENINa STAR
An English writer in the February number of
the forfai1itty ReUieao, after referring 10 what
he calls the sporadic nudity" of our national
capital, observes that pennsylvania avenue
lined with fine trees and mean houses will suo
gest the Champs Elysees only TO q very unre.
Lentive memory" The remark OF the RritisI,
traveller Is u very just one. That avenue ma.
turally one OF the finest streets in Washington
Is daily becoming more and more discredilabIe
10 the national capital. While marvellous i'm
proVernentS have taken place in nearly eyerv
quarter OF washington. within the last fifteen
years, the greater part of Pennsylvania avenue
remains about as 1t stood at the close of ri he
war. Few of the houses which line 1t are worthy
Oh the great thoroughfare from which Strangers
receive their first aud most durable i'm pressions
OF the national capital.
Unfortunately the portion Of Pennsylyania
avenue nearest to the capitol Is the meanest in
appearance, and seems likely soon 10 become
the Cniuese quarter OF the town, il We NAV
judge from the fact that Chinese laundry signs
are numerous and conspicuous there. The
me buildings for offices and retail stores which
ought 10 auorn the avenue are all seeking and
1th streets 1t might be interesting to know
whether business is being driven Oft OF the
avenue by mistaken policy on the mart 81