The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-07-17
USE OF TYPEWRITERS
INTERESTING FACTS RECALLED BY
ROWLAND EVANS.
He Brought the First Machine to This
City and Used 1t i'm MIR. Fair
bankS's Office.


local United States Courts. II used one of
them in Boston in 1s7S-twenty-two years
ago. 1t was a curious-looking piece of
mechanism, compared with the handsome,
easily operated machines in use everywhere
to-day. What was known as the double
case typewriter-that is, a typewriter hav-
ing a set of keys for capitals and also one
for small letters. was very popular in The
Hub at that time. 1 bought one of the
'double-case' machines and took it West
with me. 1 landed at Fargo, Oak, In the
early SOS, and one of the first law cases l
ever reported was a libel suit brought by
the editor of a Fargo paper against a
brother editor. II was an interesting and
holly contested suit. Major A. W. Ed
wards. who came to Fargo from Chicago,
was editor and proprietor of the Fargo Ar
gus. The other paper was the Fargo Re-
publican, and 1t was edited by Captain
Hall, who was a Maine Prohibitions and
also a Republican in politics. Major Ed
wards aspired to the Office Of director of
the state -penitentiary at Bismarck-a posi-
ton that was highly regarded from a pc
cuniary standpoint on account Of its rich
perquisites.
CAPTAIN HALLS METHODS.
Captain Hall undertook to defeat the
majors hopes, and one of his methods was
the distribution of handbills. or dodgers
containing allegations to the effect that
the major had conducted a graveyard in
surance company in Chicago. collected
large sums of money, and then fed to Da-
kota with his ill-gotten gains, starting a
poucna nor with fbair old oOd leaving he
hind him the widows and orphans whom he
had 1eeced. The circulars were headed:
VIII you vote for a robber of widows and
orphans?' The attack thus made by Cap
tain Hall resulted in Major Edwards being
disastrously defeated. whereupon he instl-
tuted a suit for libel against Hall. Wit
nesses were brought from Chicago, and an
immense volume of testimony taken. After
being out twenty-four hours the jury re-
turned a verdict in favor of the plaintif,
Major Edwards, and assessed his damages
at l cent. Under the Dakota law a plain
tiff must recover at least $50 in order TO
escape payment of the court costs. There
fore, the verdict was a substantial victory
for the defendant, Captain Hall. The next
day after the announcement of the verdict
Major Edwards came out in his paper with
an editorial saying that the verdict OF the
jury was a substantial victory for him;
that all he sought in the proceedings was
a vindication of his character. and he felt
that he had received this at the hands or
the jury. Captain Hall is in his declining
years. said the editorial, and needs his
money for the support of himself and FAM
lily, so we do not wish TO a any of it
from him. All we wanted was vindication.
and that we have obtained. Captain Hall
thereupon hired a large prairie schooner,
painted a cartoon of Major Edwards, who
was a big, well-developed man and wore
a faring sombrero, and underneath the
cartoon was the inscription: This is Ma
jor Edwards. whose character in this COM
$500 De- yn1.aAI ~ ont ~ n ~
wagon he paraded all over the town. L
don't know why there was never any blood
shed over the affair.
WORE OUT THE MACHINE.
"But to resume my typewriter story"
continued Mr.. Evans. 'In getting out a
daily transcript of the evidence in the libel
case for the use of the newspapers I wore
out my machine in about three weeks. The
trial, which began Immediately after
Christmas one year, continued until Feb
ruary of the next year. The reason my
machine wore out so easily was that the
typebars then made were of very soft
metal and bent readily. After fooling
along with it for awhile I bought a new
single-case typewriter, and used that ma
chine successfully for two years. / came
to Indianapolis in 1884, and the first short
hand work L ever did in this city was in a
big gas case, in which Will CARRIER was the
official reporter. / assisted him in getting
out the transcript. When / went to Gar
ber's office / asked him where his type
writer was. We use pens said he, and
copying ink, so that If more than one copy
of a document is desired we can make an
extra one or two with the letter press. We
have a typewriting machine up on top of
the bookcase, and whenever We want TO
do any pretty work. for which we charge
double price, like drawing up a will, for
instance, we get the machine down and
use il, but 1 have not found any instrument
yet that will beat a pen." l told Mr.. Gar
Der that the reporters in the East were all
getting out their transcripts with type
writing machines: that there was a double
case machine which was practical on the
market, and he seemed incredulous at this
statement. A few weeks after that l went to
work for Mr.. Charles w. Fairbanks, now
United States senator. as his stenographer.
He was at that time general solicitor for the
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Rail-
road. They had no typewriting machines
in railroad offices at that time. The first
work Mr.. Fairbanks gave me TO do was the
preparation of a pleading on the chancery
side OF the United States Court. There
were about twenty pages of the manuscript.
and he desired three copies, one TO be filed
in the court in Ohio. another in Illinois.
and the third in this State. | wrote ii out
with a pen, and it took me nearly all the
COMPANY TOO POOR.
81 asked Mr.. Fairbanks if the railroad
company would buy me a typewriting ma
chine. He took me into the office of the
general manager, and told me to state my
request to that official. When l had fin
ished doing so the general manager looked
at me over his glasses and said: Young
man. what is the cost of this piece of ma
chinery you speak about?' I told him ii
would cost a hundred dollars. Curiously
enough that is the cost of the latest i'm
proved typewriters to-day. We'll. / don't
believe the company can afford 70 put that
much money into a writing machine said
the manager, but / will tell you what we
will do. The company will buy it and take
s. a month out of your salary to pay for it.
On that basis the machine was bought. At
the time l ordered the machine ] wrote the
manufacturer a letter suggesting that
there was a fine field here for the sale of
their typewriters. Within three weeks
from that time they sent an agent here,
and he did so we'll that he is here yet. sell
ing the same brand Of typewriters. In the
meantime Mr.. CARRIER happened to be at
the l., B. & W. Office one day, and watched
me operating my typewriter. He grew in
terested. and asked permission 10 try ii
himself. He found that he could learn its
manipulation very easily, and the first sale
of that kind of a machine in indianapolis
was made 10 the st~enographic firm OF Gar
Der, Taylor & Tibbott. Each member of