The Portland daily press., 1892-12-13
REMARKABLE TYPEsETTING.
Congressman Cummings and Correspon-
dent weIlman the observation-disclosures
washington Star, !


Washington Start
i It was one of the most remarkable
typesetting contests on record and 1t Will
be long time before its like is ever seen
again. A prominent member OF Congress
and one of the leading Washington news
paper correspondents stood up to the
cases sticking type to see which could
set his take in the shortest space of time
and the correspondent won. But it was
great fight.
1t all grew out of a discussion at the
Press Club yesterday afternoon. There
was circular note to be sent to the
members and friends of the club inform
ing them that there would be an auction
of the seats for the Press Club benefit
that is to be given at Albaugh's next
Friday. The auction is to be held in the
House restaurant at the Capital next
Monday afternoon at o'clock and the
question arose as to whether it would be
better to have the notices typewriter or
printed.
| Now. Mr.. Amos Cummings is a mem
Der of Congress from New York. He is
also one of the best known newspaper
men in the country, and if there is any
branch of the business that he has not
tried from carrying copy to editing one
of the great New York papers no one
knows what it is. Congressman Cum
mings happened to overhear the discus
sion about the notice and he at once
wanted to know how long it was. "For,"
| said he, II could set it up in type my
self in short order if only had a case"
That's all right, Amos" said Mr..
| Walter Wellman, the correspondent of
| the Chicago Herald, I'VE all know you
| can stick type, but / have an IDEA that
you would take longer at that notice
than would myself, and haven't set
| type for twelve years. !"
| Mr.. Cummings was game as always,
and as the only way to settle it was to
try he offered to 90 at it at once, the
only condition being that the loser
| should buy the milk shakes for the party
| And the member from New York adj
mitted that it was twenty-eight years
since he had stood at the case. But he
didn't back out. A few members of the
Press Club were invited to join the
party to see fair play and an adjournment
was made to Gibson's printing office at
the corner of 18th street and Pennsyl-
vania avenue. On the way across sMr.
Cummings face was seen to grow pale as
/ he passed under the light of an electric
lamp. ''Say, Walter" said he in a
| frightened tone, s'are you union man?
| I have card myself and can't work in
| the same office with non-union printer"
Mr.. Wellman assured him that it was
all right, as he was a member in good
standing.
The Field of Battle.
When the party reached the printing
flee it was found that all the printers
had gone home, for it W S nearly 6
| o'clock, but Mr.. Gibson was still at the
office, and when the circumstances were
explained to him he willingly agreed to
furnish the combatants with the weapons
/ Of war. Everything was dark in the
composing room on the top floor, but as
soon as the gas was lighted the princi-
pals picked out their cases and were
ready for the fray. The preliminaries
were soon disposed of. Mr.. Cummings
selected Mr.. Hobard Brooks of the New
York Herald as his referee and Mr..
| Wellman picked Mr.. j. E. Jones of The
Star for his. Mr.. G. A. Hamilton of the
Buffalo Times and Mr.. Victor Kaufman
of the Star qualified as timekeeper and
Col. F. D. Mussey of the Cincinnati Com
mercial-Gazette was selected as the Off
cial proof reader. The conditions were
that each man should set the article and
then make the necessary corrections, the
time occupied in proving and reading
proof to be taken out. Mr.. Cummings
drew the first turn, as there was only
one COPY of the article and both could
not set at the same time He took out
his pocket book and drew from it the
very same column lead that he had used
in setting up his last take in 1864 He
also took off his coat, and his strong
4 right hand trembled as he reached out
for his stick. Mr.. Hamilton called time
and the member from Gotham groaned
audibly as lie began to hunt for a capital
T. But it all came back to him in short
order, and soon he was picking out the
letters in way that showed that
showed that he could still earn a good
Ii ING outside Of the Capitol or an edito-
rial room eicher.
ssWhere in tarnation is the U box?''
This was almost the first sound that
broke the solemn stiffness in the big
room. Then every one knew that there
was trouble. THE man whom all his
friends call Amos and whose stories
every one likes to hear was now pretty
near the rafting point, and it seemed as
though that U never would be found,
but this was only for moment, and, as
he caught his second wind, the member
!, of Congress came up smiling. Beads OF
pers piration were rolling off his manly
| i y II hold on
other collar in the morning. At the
close Of the first round he was little
Spacing out line, it came pretty near a
'!pi.'' Never pi there was, however
and many printer would be making
bigger money is he could stick type al
fast as Mr.. Cummings.
Cummings Concludes His Take.
The ''take'' was about one hundred
and ten words in length, and had to bt
| e ~