Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-16

the long ago lone working east of 7th
street and the other west" All that trans
pired in these sections must come to his
attention. The reporter of that time hadn t
the facilities for newsgathering now at his
command; he hadn't the cooperation of
the news-knowing officials, nor had the
channels for newsgathering. such as they
now exist, been established.
During the fifties and sixties the news
of the city government seemed to consist
almost entirely of a report of the proceed
ings of the common council or the board of
aldermen. The facts that could not be
CLEANED from these accounts went "un-
CLEANED" or else the interested resident
had to make his own inquiry at the proper
City office.
The type in use during the sixties was abb
solutely tiny. And as far as headlines were
concerned, there were very few such things
in the paper. Most of the news items were
introduced simply with one or two words
in capital letters at the side. Many of the
reports of council meetings were quite long,
however, and bits of the discussion there
In occurring were given to the public in
UNIQUE form. At one council meeting bill
for the grading and crawling of 9th street
northwest from Pennsylvania avenue to
New York avenue was under consideration
The cost of the improvement was a few
thousand dollars, but nevertheless one of
its opponents made a ringing speech in
opposition and declared the council should
not undertake a bill of such magnitude"
He declared there were dozen ways of
reaching Pennsylvania avenue from New
York avenue and the street in question
wasn't much Travelled any way.
1t was rare. indeed that a municipal item
ever attained to the dignity of having head
lines placed above it. In fact, the papers
of those days did not possess such a thing
as is now termed display. type. To make
up for this deficiency in setting up an
ad. the word on which emphasis was de-
sired would be repeated over and over
again.
News items of the sixties were not so
serious as now The reporter who desired
to throw in choice little bits of airy moth
ingness was not deferred. Each piece of
news which was complete in a paragraph
was introduced by pointing hand. In 1864
one of these hands pointed to the fact that
wood is 500 a cord in Richmond"
This is quite staggering, even when COM
pared to the recent high prices paid for
fuel. But the people of Richmond, If they
received The Star of that day, were not left
in the depths They must have been cheered
by the next paragraph. which read thus:
why do hens always lay in the daytime?
Because at night they become roosters."
That was all. And yet that joke of 1864
puts to shame some of the best efforts of
latter-day comic opera stars.
At that time and still later there was al
ways a spirit of personal friendship an at
mosphere of comradeship, between the
newspapers and the public. The advertisers
took advantage of this and a business read
ing notice would appear after this fashion:
I'VE notice in the show windows of our
good friend Jack Johnson some remarkably
handsome shoes and advise all readers
to consult him at once"
In the seventies there was a personal
paragraph pervaded by the good humor
which marked the writings of those COM
paratively recent days, and which read:
Don Piatt has returned from his sum
mer ruralizing in Ohio with an amazing red
(sun-burnD nose"
The More Modern Paper.
In the seventies The Star had assumed
much Of the modern character of the news
paper Its editorial column was fully es-
tablished; the reportorial staff had been In
creased, and consequently more attention
was being paid to city news. Something of
the inner workings Of the city government
began to appear in print.
After 1871 the reporter no longer got his
municipal news at the city hall. When
the government of the entire District was
consolidated in 1871, under the territorial
form, and Governor Cooke was at the head
of affairs, it was decided to remove the
District offices from the city hall. That
building had already proved heavy and
troublesome burden and even the taking In
of the courts as tenants had not relieved
the situation very much.
Gov. Cooke desired the offices moved and
so they We're. From 1871 until the tenn
porary board of District Commissioners
was appointed in 1874 the head of the gov
eminent was in the building at the north
west corner of 18th street and Pennsyl-
vania avenue. The legislative assembly
met in what was known as Metzerott Hall,
on Pennsylvania avenue between 9th and
10th streets, where 923 Pennsylvania ave-
nue. Is now located. The board of public
works had offices in the Morrison building
on AZ street between Pennsylvania avenue
and C street. When the temporary Conf
missioners were appointed in 1874 they soor
surrendered the building at 18th street aud
the avenue, as well as Metzerott Hail. AMI
confined the District offices to the Morri-
son building, on Az street.
1t was at Metzerott Hall that the famous
feather duster' affair took place. Some
of the members of the legislative assembly
heard prematurely of the passage of the
bill in Congress which legislated them, as
well as the governor and the secretary of
the District out of office. These gentle
men proceeded to the legislative hall anG
began to appropriate the movable property
there to their own uses. DR.. William Tin
dali. the present secretary to the board Of
Commissioners, was at that time private
secretary to Gov. Shepherd, and 1t was to
him that the colored janitor ran in breath
less haste and announced:
Doctor! Theys a-stealin' the legisla-
tive hall!'
When the police arrived on the scene
much of the appropriated property had
been returned, but one politician had stuff
ed a feather buster down his trouser legs
and could not remove it before being
caught. The feathers would not down.
The incident created quite a fulor of fun
at the time.
The part that the papers began to play in