The Portland daily press., 1900-02-03
REPORTING THE MOLINEUx
CASE.
The Great strain ON the Onseisi Court
stenographer Involved.


court where hOland ID. MOHueux II unuer
going the ordeal Of trial for his life .
man Of fquare jaw but OF pleasant visage,
whose mind and fingers are never at rest
during q second of the session Of the
court. This man Is the official stenog-
rapher OF the oourt-Frank s. Beard
ana his reputation has been gained
through is years of experience In legal
procsdurs, In which time he has report ed
several celebrated cases.
It 10 one OF the interesting features,
behind the scenes. a. IL were, Of the
Molineux trial to know what Mr.. Beard
and his assistants do. From Mr.. Boards
own description OF his toll 10 will be seen
that the labor Of this trial extends to fur
Their fields than that OF the counsel for
eithsr the people or the defense.
As rule. Mr.. Beard sits In court just
as long as do the recorder and the jury
and The counsel. Some Witnesses talk
faster than cthers In dell rering their tes-
timony, but the Off cisl stenographer
pride3 himself upon his ability to keep
pace with the most rspia Of them all.
He doss his work In the courtroom
Without relief or assistance. He fills at
least leo pages a day With the most con-
densed and accurate system OF shorthand
known. This represents an enormous
quantity Of language IL includes Os-
boSne's fierce que ssions; IL fnclutts the
| fatcastio queries addressed TO witnesses
by Weeks In behalf of the defense; 1t In
Guides the frequent lectures Of the re-
corder to the contending counsel; IL in-
cIu6es, with sps clal care, every inquiry
addressed to a witness BY any member OF
the jury. and IL includes also the columns
and pages Of argument that have been
hurled at the recorder by Osborne and
Weeks ever QUE stions OF law rs to the
propriety OF disputed testimony.
The oluse of the seventh week OF the
| trial OF Aolireux has piled up total OF
|, 500 600 OF recorded words. Perhaps
/. $50. coo OF these words are In the Eng
lish language, but it 10 moderate esti-
mat 60 say that nearly all of the rJinain-
ing 90. 90 are In Latin and Greek, b.
cause of the many technical terms In
che inistry and medicine that have Teen
involved In the Testimony. 1t IN fortunate
that the cost important Gases In whioh
mir. Beard has bsen engaged previously
in the criminal oourts-thoss of Carlisle
Harris, Mrs. Fleming, DR.. Meyer and
otbers-havs involved a knowledge OF
tbess branches of scleno,. SO toas he Is
bl. ssed with large degree OF familiarity
with their ronlen clature.
The day OF Mr. Beard In court lasts
from 10 30 a. IN. nrtil the adjournment,
which usually does not take place before
% IL. he receives from the county an
oiiioiHl salary of SlU "a day and an oflics
In TIE criminal court building, equipped
with every convenience for his work. In
such a case as the MoIineux trial he re-
osives also an allowance for all the as
sistancs he requires, as well "a little
q ira cnyn DaDRhttp lon for himself,
He employees SIX stenoeraphers, who
are also expert operators on the type
| writing machine. when court adjourns
in the arssThSac Mr.. Beard hurries down.
airs to his ofiics In the same building.
carry ing his huge pills Of notes. His six
stenographers ars awaiting him. One by
one he calls them before him and dictates
to each for half an hour. In that time
he Is able to give each Of his assistants
enough material to Mi So or 40 pages OF
manuscript. This means that he Gio-
tates at the rate Of about $3.50 words
an hour.
When he thus has talked rapidly to an
assistant for half-hour that man goes to
mis- typewriting machine and transcribes
his notes. That man Is relieved instantly
by another; ard so the work goes on,
hour after hour. Thus Mr.. Boards
a. m. to 10. so D. m, with intermission
of one hour for luncheon and one hour
for dinner.
Mr. Beard finishes his dictation at
about 10 30 p. m, and, after his IL hours
work, is quite willing to 90 home and TO
led. The stenographers do net begin
their toll until about or O'Clock In the
afternoon, and keep up their labor until
about midnight. At that hour their
SCI ipt Ia sll completed, numbered, bound
and indsxed. They make four copies OF
every word that IL uttered In court
~ a. -. . So OrA fnU tb..
district attorney. one for the defense and
one Is what they call an office copy, which
| Is retained by Mr.. Beard.
10 case OF conviction In . trial flor n
capital offense, the law requires the
| official stsnographer Of the court to pre-
| ssnt to the governor OF the state, within
10 days after the verdict. complete copy
OF ali the court proceedings. Mr. Beard
| believes In taxing time by the forelock,
and he says that. notwithstanding that
the words uttered in this trial are grow
ing into millions, he can plaoe com plste
bound copy Of the proceedings upon
train for Albany within "a hours after
All this work oosts the county not
little money. Aside from Mr.. Boards
salary and special allowances, the six
stenoRraphers who assist him cost the
people $500 q week. The cost Of reporting
the proceedings, therefore will run into
The labor involved In this tack
amounts to what Mr.. Beard farms ian
iuhuman strain" The burden 10 SO
great that sometimes while he 10 dictat-
ing he invsluntsrily drops into dozs.
from which his assistants arouse him by
repeating sharply the last sentence he has
spoken. ;.
Mr.. Beard was asked whether. the use
Of the grsphophons or photograph was
practicable in transcrininE such vast
quantities Of words. He replied that
while that continuance might have Its
uses In certain lines Of work, 10 would
not meet the requirements Of suoh . task
as that Involved In this trial. He com
planned Of the inacourxcy Of the machine
after It's repeated tones had doatsd
through the ears Of the young woman
who was thinking oontin ually. while
pounding her typewriter. about the en-
gAgemsnts she had that evening with
her Willie at the theater.
30 tar On the art has developed rs yet,
IL Is Mr.. Boards opinion that the most
practical way IL his method Of ksspins
four or i've sxCerts At ths typewrfting