The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-24

Late one night, or rather early one
morning, a short time ago a party OF
newspaper men met by chance in the
lobby of one of the principal hotels Oh
st. Paul, and after the customary ex
change. of pipe" stories and fairy
:; tales, such as are wont to enliven the
idle hours in Bohemia drifted to the
pioneer newspaper reporters of this city
And what a set of hardworking Tor
the most part conscientious, and jolly,
good fellows they were, as called to re-
membrance, partalking as they did of the
hearty and courageous spirit OF the from
tier; for this was before the electrical
age. and things had not yet become set
tied in the precisely correct and mechan1-
cal groove since attained.
AS in most other departments of life,
the conditions governing the collection,
preparation and dissemination of news
have undergone a marvellous change dur
ing the past twenty-five years, and the
modern reporter who has only recently
come on the stage can have but slight
conception of the trials and hardships his
predecessors were called upon to face i'll
chasing the elusive item, or corralling q
scoop
Only twenty-five years-thirty years at
the 1nost-and yet the scene has changed
as completely as though exercised by
Aladdins wand.
To say that the reporter of a quarter
of a century ago in St Paul was a rustler
for news is putting it mild, for in the
very nature of his physical surroundings,
and the environment of things, he was
compelled to move lively in order that
his pape. might make any kind of
showing.
At this period the telephone, that great
- est of labor time and leg-saving institu-
tionS, had not been invented, or at least
1t was not in common use; there were
no electric lights to guide the tired and
belated scribe over rough and unpaved
streets, and worst Of all there was no
street car service to speak of.
The writer recalls to mind the time
when the upper and lower town service
consisted Of about dozen bob-tailed and
Sdinky street cars, drawn by a tired and
unwilling mule, and the locomotion was
SO tedious and slow that half the time
one could not tell whether the cars were
coming or going Sincerely speaking, this
primitive kind of service, short as We're
the distances traversed was practically
useless to an active and enterprising
newspaper man, and in the winter season
1t was simply nil, for the reason that, in
ease of a heavy snoWstorm or blizzard
the cars stopped running at dusk, and
business for the night would be indef-
jnitely suspended
At this time also the numerous high
hills that abounded in the city had not
been reduced, so that considering the cold
and the stygian-like darkness, the re-
porter intent on chasing down murder,
suicide or any other sensational bit of
news late in the night really took his life
in his hands.
But for all this there was zest and
freedom of restraint about the work that
gave it a certain charm, even though
many a story obtained late at night was
written with half frozen fingers by the
T. light of lamp, and with the stub of a
pencil, for this was before the advent Of
the typewriter, which has now become al
most indispensable in facilitating the
preparation of copy.
But to return to the hotel lobby, and
a veteran reporter who had become the
dean Of the faculty, so to speak, and
who, in a reminiscent mood, drew aside
the curtain from the portrait gallery ot
memory, where the dear old kindly faces
seem to beam just as kindly as before.
Many of the veteran pioneer reporters
~Thave gone to their well earned reward,
and doubtless they have been assigned
by City Editor ST. Peter to keep cases
on the judgment day rolls, and 1t is safe
to say that they will be in evidence IN
some way, when the trump of Gabriel
sounds thirty" Others of the early
day scribes are scattered throughout the
country, and a few continue to live IN
1.-The Twin Cities.
In some respects to secure a scoop IN
those days was not regarded as the prin
cipal aim in life, which is illustrated by
a story related by H. P. Hall, the vet
eran newspaper publisher, the incident
occurring as far back as 1863 At this
time Mr.. Hall was conducting a paper
called the Union, and as usual, he was
doing things all the way from the
galley rack to the press room and mall
ing room
At this period George Moore, who was
collector of the port of st. Paul, was
also the reportorial staff of the Press,
being. of course, before its consolidation
with the Pioneer, and for which services
he drew the princely salary of Sc per
week which may have accounted for his
'lethargy at times.
One night Mr.. Hall reported an i'm
nortant meeting for his paper and he was
given the manuscript copy of set OF
resolutions with the understanding that
he was to give a copy to Mr.. Moore.
Now, the latter was great checker
nlayer, and when Mr.. Hall called at the
office at 8 o'clock in the evening, ne
found Mr.. Moore deeply absorbed in
game. He was informed OF the agree
ment. and when Mr. Hall produced the
resolutions for him to copy he glanced up
x from the checker board and said that as
AIT was getting late he did not THINK ne
wc1lld run the resolution that night,
r and besides he thought they did not