St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-26
WONDERFUL FEAT.
Chas. H. McGurrin Breaks the
Worlds Record for Writing
a Memorized Sentence.
He Attains the Wonderful
Speed Of Writing 204
Words in One Minute.
Some of His Previous Achieve
ments in the Line Of Rapid
Typewriting.

G. II. McGurrin again broke the
worlds record for typewriting memo
rized sentence yesterday afternoon in
the presence of witnesses at his rooms
in the court house building, says the
Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph. He wrote
204 words in one minute, using the SEN
tence, "Now Is the time for all good men
and true to come at once to the aid OF
the party" The test was made in the
presence of w. A. Forbes. county clerk;
Ashley Clapp, county school commits
sioner; A. K. BursOn, circuit court
crer; Louis f. Allardt. publisher, and
Clyde ID. McGibeny, of the Daily Tele-
graph. The time was kept by Mr.. Nc
Gibeny, who used a stop watch which
had been accurately tested.
Mr.. McGurrln made several trials,
one of them giving result of 205 words
per minute, but this was rejected, mas
| much as the work did not exhibit the
desired neatness; and the test which
was finally accepted, as stated above,
was remarkable for its neat appearance.
only two slight errors being discovered
| i'll the entire 204 words.
This test was sworn to by the above
| witnesses before notary public. The
| instrument used was the Remington
| No. 2. a machine which Mr.. McGurrin
| has previously used in making his
| records. The performance of MIR. Nc
| Gurrin yesterday was remarkable. AL
| though Mr.. McGurrin has previously, at
| St. Paul, done nearly as well, yet it
! should be remembered that aside from
| this trial at st. Paul. 10 one claims thus
! far to have made a record approaching
| this within twenty words. Kalamazoo
should he proud that one of her residents
thus far eXcelS all the expert type
| writers.
| An interesting fact in connection with
| this is, that up to the beginning of this
| year the record was held by f. E. Nc
Gurrin, of Salt Lake City, Mr.. McGur-
| rims brother.
The first public test made by Mr.. Nc
! Gurrin was at Lincoln, Neb., on the 7th
| of January, 1882, an account of which
| appeared in the Daily Telegraph at that
| time. The record up to that time was,
as stated above. held by Mr.. F. E. Nc
Gurrin, and it was from memorlZed
sentence. 154 words in minute; new
matter, 1876 words. On that occasion
Mr.. McGurrin Wrete from a memOrized
sentence 1G2 words per minute, the
sentence which he used being, Now is
| the time for all good men to come to the
aid of the party.'' From new matter, at
dictation. he wrote 132 words per mill
ute, which was the best record ever
made, and which still remains unlil
some one shall have eXcelled Mr.. McGur-
! rln.
Miss Curry, of Syracuse, n. Y,
!! claimed. after this test had been made
| by Mr.. McGurrin, that she had written
165 words per minute, using the above
sentence on Smith Premier machine.
J As Il consequence Of this claim Mr.. Nc
! Gurrin made later test at DeS MolneS
| in the month of January. on which Oc-
eaSion he wrote 116 words from the
! above sentence. Then the same East
ern operator claimed to have made a
record oG-S4 words OH Smith Premier
| within couple OF months after the test
| at Lincoln, and Mr. McGurrln made
| third test at st. Paul on May II, 1892.
, lie wrote the same sentence used by
Miss Curry, the one mentioned above,
and attained a speed of 200 words in
minute, which was the record until yes
terday. 1t should be noted in this con-
nection that Mr.. McGurrin in all these
| tests used No. Remington typeWrit-
ing machine.
MIR. McGurrin attributes his speed to
the fact of using the single keyboard
| machine with the shift key, thus per-
mitting the hands to remain at all times
| in the same position and doing the work
with the fingers. 1t is quite obvious that
this certainly is great advantage. and
one can readily see how correct this
theory is. He claims that by operating
with all of the fingers on each hand,
using the small finger of the left hand
for the shift key, thereby the finger
used in depressing the shift key does
the work of thirty-nine fingers there
being that number of keys on the ma
chine Mr.. McGurrin operates), which
means a great saving of time.
| Mr.. McGurrin now proposes to rest
on his laurels until some other operator
| success in equaling his speed; but it
is safe to presume that that time is very
far distant. Both he and his brother
| Frank have certainly done much to
demonstrate the capabilities of the
Remington typewriter, and while ex-
pert operators of other machines, not
ably the double keyboard machines,
have done much to equal them, they
must be content to take a place far
down the line, not only from these gen.
tiemen, but below other Remington Op-
orators who have within the past few
years adopted the methods of operating
used by MeSSrS. McGurrln.