The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-05-02
TREACnERY OF TYPE.

lRLACllEKi OF TYPE.
Cases Where Newspaper Men IInyo Beer
Made to Say Things They Did Not Iutcut
To.
Chicdgo Times.
The fear OF typographical blunders is
always present in the mind OF the news.
paper man. II he holds a responsible
position his feelings arc Mt any time
liable 10 receive q rude shock :; and even
the new reporter is not fond OF seeing
his early efforts mangled aud marred
when they appear in print. Some Of
the errors arc SO outrageous and idiotic
RS to suggest collision OF mendacity be-
tween the compositof and proof.readpr,
1t being almost incredible that thew
could have originated otherwise than
in a most diabolical and deliberate in
genuity. This theory, however, is not
borne out by facts.' Nobody in a news
paper office ''nakes mistakes on pur.
pose" They arc more frequently at.
lr!butable to blind manuscript. than to
any other cause, but Of some the origin
Cull never Do traced. o.
One Of the most amusing and at the
same time appalling blunders that ever
came under my observation was caused
by the Overcarelulness OF a country cor
respondent. The correspondent was q
lady and wrote n rather scrawly, indis.
tinct hand. She sent in an item refer.
ring to q Rev. Mr.. Chase, and 10 make
sure Of having the name appear correct.
ly, repeated it in parenthesis in her
manuscript, thus: "a donation party
vas given the Rev. Mr.. Chase (Chase)
Thursday evening"" &c. The item ap.
peared in the paper as follows:
"a donation party was given the Rev.
Mr. Chase (colured) Thursday evening,
at which many friends were present."
&c.
The horror that filled the mind Of the
correspondent, the clergyman and the
editor may well be imagined. The mails
were kept busy for the next few days
carving questions and explanations to
and fro. But the thing was done, and
could not be undone. Time alone served
to heal the wounded feelings OF all con.
cerned.
Another correspondent sent in a re.
port Of high-school exhibition. One of
the essays was on Potential Energy"
The essayist had the pleasure of seeing
himself reported as haying delivered a
dlsQuisition on Oatmeal Energy" Bad
copy was primarily responsible ior the
error, but the proofreader was "called
down." His explanation was that the
copy looked rs much like Oatmeal" as
potential" and he supposed the essay.
list was perhaps treating, in q humorous
way, some phases ofthe Scotch character.
One day a patent medicine "reading
notice" got mixed UP with the proceed
ings Of Congress, This was the fault of
the foreman who made up the FORMS"
The result was that the debate in the
House Of Representatives was reported
as having taken the following remarka.
BILE course:
"Mr. Smith, OF Ohio, moved to amend
by striking out the fourth section. He
said the measure in its present shape
was open to constitutional objections.
"Mr. Jones. Of Kentucky, seconded
the motion and said the criticism was
we'll taken.
"Mr. Dusenberry, OF New Jersey,
writes: My wife suffered with the
itch for seventeen years and was finally
cured by using strawberry ointment
THE amendment after discussion, was
adopted without division"
A literary editor on a prominent daily
once wrote IN elaborate review of a his
torical work. 1t was carefully and schol.
alrv throughout, and ended with the
Latin words ''illum fuit." The writer
had put forth his best efforts aud look
ed forward with considerable pride to
the appearance of. his article. But the
remorseless types got in their fiendish
work. The review proceeded smoothly
enough to the end, when, instead OF
ilium fuit, appeared these remarkable
and mysterious words: Thumbs first
The author Of the book must have
been co siderably astonished at this
close Of an article that was on a some-
what lofty plane OF thought and treat
ment, while it is quite conceivable that
the writer OF the review was for a time
plunged into gloomy aud hopeless views
Of the question whether life is worth
living.
A lamentable case Of misit occurred
when u patent machine notice became
attached to the obituary OF an estimabie
lady. The result was that after the fact
of the death had been stated, together
with some remarks OF u eulogistic
character, the article proceeded as fol.
lows;
"For l have descended into the vale
OF tears, she said, but what care l as long
as Salvation is only Is cents q bottle ~
Another obituary notice In the same
paper solemnly announced that "the
King Of Tunis had invaded the house.
hold"
There seems to be no excuse for ei!he,
the compositor or proof.reader when q
paper OF high standing was made to refe,
TO the ""Tichborn CLAIMANT as the "Jrist
born clam out" Equally without pal
%liation was the description OF a sick per
son as appearing very much "emanci
pated" Qnstead Of .'emaciated.n ny 1t il
not gratifying to have the types make OF
editor refer to- the superintendent o
public destruction when he writes "in
struction !" and | remember q Journals
who fairly CRASHED his teeth when in al
article on Easter he was made to say
death Is the miserable end OF all"-
having written "inevitable" instead o
miserable"
A curious case Of "false relation" oc
Cured when the foreman besmirche,
two pages Of copy on subjects foreign +
each other. The result was that the fol
lowing editorial paragraph puzzled thos