The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-11-06
Some Of The Franks That tie
Types Hass2 Iayed NTH
Work Of Writers.
Louisville courier-Journai


Gentle reader, did you ever write ieg.-
by some wel-chosen phrase and awake
TO end it in print 80 distorted that your
sudden visitation Of paresis? IL SO. wager
that you ceased then and there 10 be
gentle reader. and, forgetting that hun
dre6s OF your errors committed n Careless
haste had been corrected by painsiaking
printers and proof--eadsrs. you were ready
TO start out with toEnahawk or dynamite
bomb after the long-sunering compositor.
j remember one morning, about year ago.
when / was entirely wiling to wear the
brand Of Cain under my haihand- had
which the brilliant Polish actress con-
demned the decadent element In modern
literature; l wrote the headline; Mod
jeska and the Degenerates." And staring
me in the face that morning saw Moo
jeska a degenerate" Needless 10 say,
rolled no cigarettes with Count Bozenta
that day.
The incident however. called my atten-
ton TO mispriats, and have been making
a little collection. OF curious ones 1t Is
demons Of mischance have been busy ever
since Faus, and Gutenberg pulled the
first damp sheets from the first press. and
yesterday | saw in a Louisville paper q
special cahlegram from San Francisco
and in the bookcase before ME. as write,
Il dca E9a TO MY rasher and Van a
Tiers Kentuckians:' Every printing. office
has its traditions Of famous breaks The
Courier Journal closet will not be opened
by me. But few skeletons OF other pa
pers may be paraded-
One OF the strangest features of typo
graphical errors is that the result. instead
often a complete ard comical distortion
of the writer's meaning. Thus. when the
editor Of temperance paper wrote drunk.
or ''roly" no harm would have been done.
But. Of course. IL had TO appear, Drunk
enness is jolly" And here, in Louisville.
al -ft,I1 tr-
man and distinguished veteran who was at
the time edtor-in-chief of A local paper,
wrote an editorial advocating liberal pen,
sions- In one paragraph referring 10 old
soldiers who had died he wro e. They have
gone to a nobler and higher rea m" But
! his writing was none too legible, and II
sse rob G s and burglar rea navy which,
was startlingiy in line with Democratic
ideas about many pensioners. The error
was detected that night and the press
stopped before many papers were printed,
but such good fortune does not always
happen.
A fruitful source Of typographical error
is carelessness in making up form. or
page. whereby one or more Lines belong
ing to certain article are transferred 10
another article. The celebrated mistake In
the London Times is case In point. The
Times had two articles in juxtaposit.on.
one on the Conversion of the Jews and
the other on the Use of Sewage as Ma
nure,' and one OF the SENTENCES, as pub
ton that IF properly disinfected and
mixed with l.me and cement, the grateful
Hebrews would flow over the land without
injury 10 vegetation.
In like manner the New York World once
fell victim to the natural depravity of
inanimate things. In two adjoining co.
umns IL had long accounts of Bernhards
debut in la Tosca" and of the sudden
and unexpected marriage OF Miss Bancroft.
granddaughter of the historian. and the
actress triumph at the. end Of the fourth
act was described as follows: Hats. hand
kerchiefs. programmes were frantically
waved. and cries Of Bancroft is satisfied
with the marriage and the young couple
seem to be fitted for each other. Bravo.
Sarah! were heard from all parts OF the
house,
One OF the worst and at the same time
most ludicrous transpositions of the types
occurred In an issue OF the New Haven
Journal and Courier some years ago. by
means Of which one paragraph was made
florist and real estate broker. OF Newport.
X. l.. died in Wagner & Russe.rs sugar
mill, At Crystal Lake. IL. on Saturday, do
Juring several workmen. Lorenza Wilcox
fatally This was followed by another
paragraph. which read: "A large castiron
wheel revolving nine hundred times per
minute exploded in that city yesterday
after a long and painful Illness. Deceased
was a prominent thirty-second degree Ma
SON.
And imagine the feelings of Mr.. Kreh-
biel. the scholarly music critic of the New
York Tribune, when his criticism of per-
Torrance Of Lists "Christus by the New
York Oratorio Society contained this state
ment: Among the fun choruses. The
Founding Of the Church fTu es Petrus)
to "A tremendous climax. II should be
claSSed with the enactment aboiishing con
vic, labor and enforcing idieness upon
hundreds Of unfortunate wretches.'
Many misprin,s are TOO noted In bbli-
ogfaphy to need more than mention here.
Such are the vinegar and "breeches"
Bibles. But other oiG-timc errors may be
new to many readers. The pale martyr
with his sheet or fire" who became 1.-The
pale martyr with his shirt on fire" Is one
Of s16 them Another r is the young officer IN
nounced. was found dead with .ong
word in his throat meaning sword" OF
does no end cf mischief sometimes. An
advertising contract was repud.ated once
because In one issue OF the paper a never
falling remedy was announced as ever
falling In like fashion the dropping OF
Co ard an IS caused an editor 10 de-
clare tina, we shalt be hanged and
war correspondent 10 state that ''ihe enc
my we're repnlsed with great laughter.
But newspapers are not the sole offenders.
In grave geological! treatise. 'erotic
blocks" appears ''erotic blacks and the
poet lives in tradition whose line. Il kissed
her subrosa," appeared. Il kissed her snue
nosa" as does the preacher who said:
Keep thy lips from guile and was re-
ported: Keep thy lips from girls
English and American writers are not
the only sufferers, II was related In
French newspaper not long ago that Ad-
mira. Byng was shot pour encourager les
antics which IL very nossibly did. though
THIS reading is as widely different from the
original text as that which caused a French
religious author 10 expstiate on the sub
ject OF Tame contemplating It's creator"
meaning OF course. Tame" The Paris
No~f" ore day yentured into abstract
morality by remarking that the love az
sugar tsucrel hardens the heart" when IL
obviously intended only ~ paraphrage the
Apostles denUncia lion Of the love of mon
ey Cucre). So the hairiresser's handbiii
promised to prevent the failing OF horses
tcheyaux1 instead OF hair (cneyeux), as
originally written. y similar rl3sprlnt IN
musical rsrog-anne-by which "Ach' du
rn,cne T.iebe," IAN, my helcvedD was
changed .nto "Ach' On meiF1 L.eia,' (Oh,
ny stomach $50 excited The disabilities
~ the orchestra that thev could hardly go
through with the performance OF the com
position.
Rut errors Of the kind began long before
the German craftsmen fashioned the
wooden blocks ira: were to reyoluti0nize
the word. Caiigraphv Was stin u9onkish
profession when the cSrvists IN the mon