Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-10-11
Iliegible Writers.

The most celebrated exponent f 6ad pen.
mapship Ia America was Rufus Choate,
whose signature has teen Nptiy compared to
"a gridiron struck by lightning" ana whose
handwri il e was IN many cases, absolutely
undecipherabe, even hy the writer bimself
On one occasion Mr Choate was having bis
house repaired, and mads arrangements to
have carved mantlepiece put up, promis-
ing TO send the model Fsing to obtain
ore 10 cuit him, be wrolelo his woikman to
that Ell CT Tne carpenter, after study ing
the missive-whch looked as If spider
wsd ing In iEk had crawled across The paper
at leaglb concluded that il must be the
daei.ed plan, and forthwith began fae htoo'
lag probably the most original mantel piece
mat ev r orDameDted room. This story
ls almost equal to hat told Of the great Ma
poleon. VINO was such wretched writer
That it i'd said his letters frcm Germany to
Josephine were at first taken for rough maps
of The seat of war.
1t is related of the late Dean Stanley that,
q snort time before HE death. he was invited
by the editor of one Of the New York maga-
mes to contribute an article TO it's pages on
some timely topic The paper was prompt
ly written and duly received but, to the
cous; ernation of the editor, no one could be
f.und VINO was able to decipher the hand
@ritine. Finally, in despair, the editor was
Obliged to return the manuscript to Eng.
land, 20 be rewritten for publication. In
f,c, the good dean, like Choate, did not
write, but merely made few arbitrary
strokes with pen on paper.
No mention cf remarkable penmen would
~ complete which did not include the Dame
Of Horace Greeley, whose chirography was
ouce terseIy described by new competitor
10 he Tribune office in The savage remark,
ib, rally inteIspers, d with profanity If
Bslshszz.r had seen this handwriting on
hs wall be would have been more terrified
than be was" OF the numerous anecdotes
related OF inc "modern Franklin's" chro
graphical eccentricities, the following is
fair example,:
MIR Greeley. becoming disgusted With the
biuuders Of one of his type settlers, sent
uotv up 10 the foreman quesliDg him to
discharge the man at once, rs he was too in
efficient workman to be any longer en-
poyed Gu the Tribune The foreman
Eyed instructions, but before leaving the
typo" managed to get possession OF Mr..
Greeley's note, aud Immediately went to
rival offiae aud applied for work, showing
lUS uOto dS q mo AoiO-
man 10 whom be applied scanned the note,
and said "Oh, see-'good and efficient
npositor'-employed d long time on the
Tribune Horace Gret tley," and immediate
y set him to work on the strength of Greel-
ey's certif cation Of his iDcapacity, after
having been 'out of 10" for the space OF
about fifteen minutes.
somewhat similar story to this is tod
of Mr.. Brooks, q manager OF the New YORK
Central railway, who once wrote to man
liviog on the line of The road, threatening
to prosecute him if he did not move barn
be had built on The company's land. The
recipient was unable to read the letter, but
succeeded Ia makiog out the signature, and,
concluding that be had been favored with a
free pass over the road, used it as such
fol- nearly two years. no conductor being
able to dispute his privilege by decipheriDg
ths supposed pase.
Tue audwriting OF Horsce Greeley was
plaiu compared with that of MIR. Bloss, OF
the Cincinnati Enquirer, who was, beyond
doubt, the worst penman who ever occupied
an editorial chair. This remarkable jour.
nalst was peculiar in all his methods, but
in none more so than In his manner of writ
ing His pen was held at the extreme end
OF the holder, aud the strange characters
which he mace we're sometimes almost ae
unnteligible 70 himself as to the world at
large. His writing was simply series OF
hierogIyphics, but he made his characters al'
ways alike, and in course of time by close
study one could learn to decipher them.
When it was known that Mr.. BIoss was dead
the priuters in the Enquirer news.room lost
90 time 10 rummaging the waste paper bags
for specimens of his chirography, until in
less tpan an hour not scrap of his manu-.
script was to be found in the ofice-&.
Louis Globe Democrat