Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-14


One OF the most interesting il not the most
profitable features Of the fair which Columbia
Typographical Union has been conducting for
the past two weeks was Our Composing Sick-
| daily newspaper. To this publication u num-
Der of ex-printers contributed original matter.
principally in The nature of "reminiscences.
Some of these stories of interest only 60
printers, but several Of them are of character
generally readable and valuable.
MR.. puSNELLs HISTORICAL sKKrcs.
"Horace Greeley has been accused by some
| of his enemies" wrote Mr.. f. G. Dunnell chief
of the New York Times bureau. with having
been dreadfully frightened at the time of the
draft riots in New York. At the time Of those
riots when the neighborhood Of the T,ibune
| Office, on Printing House Square. at all
times beset by crowds that were now moved by
spirit of destruction and again dissolved into
| curious throng that was intent upon reading
the bulletins of exciting events up town OF at
gettysburg, Greeley was reported o. have fed
precipiiately from the Office and the city and 20
have been IN such alarm and fear for his life
| that he kept within doors at his farm house at
Chappaqua- In those July DAYS of 1868 was a
printer in the book house of Baker & Goodwin.
| IN the Tribune building. 4 part of the
establishment was on the same floor
from the book room We could look through a
yentilator hole. cut by Greeiey's order. upon
the form of the old man as he sat with his heels
ON his desk reading paper, or with his fist
fourishing in the air as he was lashing Foreman
Hooker for some errancy Of the types In the
morning issue.
ut was the second dav OF the riot. early in
the morning, and the crowds were fGming in
City Hall Square, rushing negroes out OF the
cars as they were discovered riding up or down
town, the policemen all ont of sight in their
station houses. stages and cars rapidly disal-
pearlng from the streets. shops on Broadway
closed or closing, and an air of apprehension
pervadlng all places. The story OF Greeley's
flight had already been heard He WIS sup
posed to be at Chappaqua. up in Westohester
county, far from any phase of the riot. We
boys were busy carving muskets from the
landing at the street to the rooms above, where
they were to be put in the window corners in
readiness for an expected assault There was
little work being advanced The compositors
were all excited. takes came in slowly proofs
were bad, and there were abundant evidences
on their face of preoccupation of the mind of
the compositors.
Those muskets were heavy, but the Young
fellows who were carrying them felt so i'm
portant with the sense Of constructing a for
tress that they undertook more than they we're
really able to perform. The writer picked up
out OF the stack at the door four of the most
convenient Of the guns and started up the iron
stairway. At the landing just below the book
room and between the Tribune editorial room
and the counting room Greeley stopped me-
he was as calm as man could be. Look here
said he In his sharp, querulous voice, Us lac
took two of the muskets out of INV arms. won
have no business to be carving all of those
muskets. lou take two of them upstairs and
come back for the others And he waited in
the hall with those muskets held in his hands
until came back
1t was that same night. I think. that the
rioters made an attack upon the office. burning
the counting rooms and breaking the windows
OF the building far up toward the composing
room OF the Tribune. The next morning
Greeley was in his editorial room. as could
tell by listening and not by seeing. and his Ian
guage on some subject WAS violent that il
flashed through the little window with some
thing OF the vividness of chain lightning He
became calmer later on, and he went through
the rooms. now fortified at the windows with
bundles of paper piled in front of Them and
inspected the arrangements made to receive the
next assault. He was particularly pleased with
the troughs. made by mailing two planks to-
gether at the edges. which were to be run out of
the windows when the crowd appeared and
over the heads of the rioters, and employed
as cutters down which the hand grenades with
which We were supplied were to be run. Then
he went from window TO window to see that each
stack of muskets had its supply of cartridges.
but he was not so interested in these defensive
preparations that he did not stop to give a care
less Office boy sharp wigging for allowing an
accumulation of 'pi' on window sill out of
sight of the foreman. He was the least excited
person in the building otherwise.
There was no opportunity to use those hand
grenades. That afternoon the rioters swarmed
down Chatham street in a mass. with horrible
imprecations upon the abolitionists and Greeley
IN Particular, and began a demonstration. upon
the Tribune Office. in which they were SO much
inf fol hot -har Al.
proach of body of police from Beekman street
station. There was a quick meeting There
was not pistol drawn. With night sticks in
hand the police swept down upon the rioters.
and for brief space the clubs beat rafting
tattoo upon the most convenient heads Five
minutes cleared the square. 1t was gratifying
sight to Greeley, who saw il from the Tribune
windows. III he remained away from the Office
after that, during the riot il was probably not
from fear SO much because there was no
public conveyance running until the close of
the week. and it was too far for him to walk
through the enemies country"
SENATOR HASsBRoUGH AND HIS FRIENDS.
Then Senator Hansbrough of North Dakota
contributed.
"0ne of the never-failing sources Of astonish-
ment to me, said the Senator yesterday, sis
the great number of printers who claim to have
known me before the days of my descent into
p0ntlcs. Nhen was elected to the House of
Representatives il seemed TO me that every
printer in the country knew me and was busily
engaged in writing "reminiscences of our friend
ship for publication. When North Dakota sent
Inc to the Senate my reminiscent friends came
TO the front once more and in great force. One
of these peripatetic specimens told great story
about me-absolutely untrue. but fair sample
of the hundreds that succeeded in burglarizing
their way into the newspapers. He said that
we were travelling in company, and that 10 re-
lieye our weary limbs We stole freight-car ride
from Chicago to st. Paul. Then we were al
legged to have 'subbed' around until il
became tiresome, whereupon we again
TOOK the road, walking from st. Paul to
Fargo-a distance of three hundred miles.
When We arrived at Fargo, said my unknown
historian, it was a question as to which of us
had the cleanest shirt. We carefully inyesti-
gated the matter and the conclusion was
| reached that his garment was a trihe more
Clearly than mine. Mine, therefore should be
washed first and, in order to obviate the evil
dent necessity Of my going shirtless until the
operation could be performed. he loaned me
his shirt and remained in bed while mine was
being scrubbed and made presentable. Pleas
ant little story, but devoid of the first princi-
Piles of truth.
II never was in but one strike" continued
the Senator, but that was a big one / was
working in San Francisco and il was during the
Franco-Prussian war. All telegraph stuff was
double loaded. and the heads, which were al
most a yard long, went on the hook. We were
getting * tbou and tb. h,