Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-04
A HEROINE IN PETTICOATS.
Remarkable Experiences of Pttsburg Lady During the
War-Adventures in Field and Prison Pen

tions that cause nations to boil. Dumas
hero, the Count of Monte Christie, gives
thrilling experiences sufficient to make the
reader uncomfortable, though conscious that
the creation is fgment of the imagination,
but lady in Allegheny City, Mrs. Lottie
McCaffrey, known to old-time newspaper
men as Mrs Lottie Bengough, and previ
ously as Miss Lottie Riley. can tell story
that, with little embellishment, would rival
Dumas, leaving the diamonds and improb'
able situations out, for, hers is story o.
sober fact and not fiction, attested not only
by herself, but by documentary evidences
and that of living Witnesses in this city and
in various parts of the Union.
But before telling Mrs. McCafrey's story,
it may be we'll to introduce her to the
reader. Der maiden name was Riley. Hel
fathers name was William Riley. She
has sister living in New Castle, Jane
Riley Graham, distinguished for scholar
ship acquired under the tutelage of DR..
John Black, father of Colonel Sam Black.
A brother, Harvey Riley, began active life
under General Albert Sidney johnson,
when he went to Utah to suppress Brigham
Young, Amelia g Co. Harvey subsequently
served in various capacities, semi-military
and civil, and was az one time in charge OF
a street railway company in New York.
Of the military bent in the family and in q
great measure elucidative Of Mrs. MeCaf-
frey's narrative, it is pertinent to remark
in this place that Of brothers, brothers-in-
law and other immediate relatives, there
we're IA enlisted in the Union army during
the Civil War.
When quite young girl, Mrs. McCafrey
enlisted for three years, or during the war;"
to serve an apprenticeship to the art Of
typesetting, and she speaks feelingly and
animatedly Of her associates, many Of whom
have laid down the composing stick here
and may now be scrambling for fat takes
upstairs, "where the wicked cease from
troubling" and where, 1t is supposed, none
are ever under the necessity Of carrying
the banner"
Some Here, Others Over Yonder.
Asa compositor. Mrs. McCafrey's asso-
ciates were the Hon. Russell Errett,
James M. McEweh, William Anderson,
Judge" William Ramsey, D. B. Fergu-
SON, B. B. Hunnecutt, BARLEY Campbell,
Captain Smith, David L. Fleming and
others well known % years ago, but gener-
ally out of harness now. Mrs. McCaffrey
says the happiest period of her life was the
time she spent as q compositor working
among 80 to 35 men, who always treated
here with the Difference due a woman. She
was the only woman in the Office, and says
she extorted fair treatment simply because
she never presumed on account of her sex
to ask for privileges not accorded to all.
She states that she never scrambled for fat
takes, but took the lean with the fat, and
set manuscript or reprint as the case might
be. Once when asked TO help break strike
she agreed to work If paid the wages de-
manded by the Typographical Union,
and her persistence broke the strike
the other way. Mr.. McEwen tells Of
a time when strike was made against her
simply because she was woman. He was
a strenuous member of the union himself,
but, ss foreman at Haven's, demanded
something more specific than an objection
on account Of sex He states that Lottie |
had been black balled on her application !
for membership in the union, and as no
member thereof would file charges against !
her he refused to discharge her, and spirit /
of gallantry finally won the day in her be- |
half. As a newspaper compositor Mrs. Nc |
Caffrey states that she made as much money |
as the average compositor, 500 to S25' week, |
and she evidently took better care of her |
earnings than the average printer, as she |
owns considerable real estate and her name |
would go a considerable distance on paper
where she is known. Mrs. McCaffrey says
her experience proves that women can getthe
same compensation as men for work, but to
do it they must do the work as men do, and
if they neglect to cultivate the necessary |
physique, they will fail. Many times, she
states, she was 18 hours out of "a on her
feet and at times they were so swollen that
she stopped with Hughey, on the Sixth
street bridge, and taking her shoes off
walked over barefoot. Frequently when
some male compositor felt ''tuckered out"
she took his cases and subbed for him. and
when Josiah Copely finally asked her to set
type for 50 cents thousand, because other
women would do it for that money. when
45 cents was paid to men, she walked out of
the Office and finally fell in with Mr.. Nc
Even. at Haven's, and there formed a
with him that is likely to subsist
until mortality puts on immortality. She
got $1S a week there, and remained two years
with Haven's, when she was enabled to
fix herself so as to be able to work for her
self and has been her own employer since.
Married Info the Profession.
When IS years of age Miss Lottie Riley
married John T. Bengough, an old-time city
editor, and this union was the occasion of
her forming the acquaintance. not only of
many notable people in this State, among
others Simon Cameron, with noted officers in
The Union army, but also with the chiefs of I
:he Southern Confederacy, and it came
about in this wise: Governor Pierpoint, OF
West Virginia, saw q chance to change a
Democratic paper to the Republican side of
he fence, and induced Bengough to buy it. ,
It was named the Fairmont National. By ;
ind by Bengough's military ardor got the
,etter OF him, and he enlisted in the Twelfth
Virginia Regiment, and was stationed at
Winchester. Mrs. Bengough took charge of 9
he paper, putting man named Boyd, from
Weeeling, next in line. About Q
his time her tribulation began. The q
women Of Fairmont ruled that it wasn't the /
hing for a woman to thus run business and 0
be lost caste. Soon after that the foreman, '
Joseph Powell, said: "Mrs. Bengough, s
lere is printer who would like to get a
YORK, but ne Is Democrat and a rebel" s
Mrs. Bengough said, jokingly: IT don't q
;now that it will look well to employ him."
md he didn't get work. A few evenings a
ater Mr.. Boyd invited Mrs. Bengough to b
pend an evening with his family, about 300 !
ards from where she lived. She remained 3
Until 10 o'clock, when Mr.. Boyd offered to r
scort her home. Her previous nighthawk t
Experience made her slight the offer, t
ut as the night was inky dark Fl
nd times were unsettled, she took Il
ne middle of the street, trusting
0 her trained ear to hear anv v
hing suspicious in order to escape it. Pres b
ntly she thought she heard something at 2
ne side Of the street, and looking that way d
hought she saw white-faced cow. She A
uickened her pace and noted that the white Il
atch did SO also, and soon she OWNED that Il
was the white shirt front of someone who c,
Ias taking more interest in her movements b
han she appreciated. She knew she could cl
IN, and she broke for home with thorough Il
cquaintance Of the route. The white patch se
and with such celebrity that be q
tumbled against her door just as she turned | K
n. - L. - IL 4 - - = / -