New-York tribune., 1911-11-29
''DLDEST READERS" STORY
Tribune Has Been in His Family
Each Day for 70 Years.

S.o, served daily either to the family OF
Nv father or TO my own. ] may say. there
so-e that have lived under its influence
al my HE
Nv earliest recollections are OF nights
rben I was awakened by some unusual
cor,rnotion in our home, and was hushed
and ouieted by being told under the breath
.baf fugitive slaves were then in the house
seeking Canada by the underground rail-
road" So IL was natural that The Trib-
yne. devoted 10 the cause OF freedom.
should become our daily paper and be
looked up TO as law and gospel While
this feeling was general among its sub
scribers. it was more intense. perhaps. in
later years when The Weekly Tribune at
tanned such great circulation and power
among the farmers and country people OF
the Eastern and Middle states
have these memories Of The Tribune
when l knew It as boy l was too young
10 have much personal knowledge Of it or
It's editors previous TO the C.vn War Inen
was approaching manhood. and. ike all
,oval men. was absorbed by the stirring
events Of the day My taste and occupa-
ton led me. outside OF business hours. to
the study Of statistics and financial sub
tects. The enactment of internal revenue
and tariff laws by Congress became OF in
,erest. and I gradually drifted into writ
ing on these subjects for The Tribune.
These laws were frequently changed on ac-
count Of the exigencies of the war and the
necessity Of raising revenue.
Tabuated Rates OF Duty.
on several occasions when these changes
were made I was employed by The Trib-
une Co taOulate the rates OF duty imposed
by the United States tariff laws and the
taxes levied by the internal revenue laws.
These tables. covering perhaps two whole
pages Of The Tribune, appeared alphabet
caIly arranged in the issue Of the morning
after the passage Of the act. though the
vote on it may not have been taken by
the TWO houses Of Congress before tho mid
night preceding. In order to accomplish
this feat it was necessary to have the mat
ter au set up tby hand some time pre-
viols 20 the enactment Of the law. Galley
proofs were taken and corrected TO the
time when the Senate voted on the bill
This. Of course. originated iH the House Of
Representatives,. and after IT'S passage by
that body went TO the Scrate. which made
numerous amendments After the Senate
had voted ON &c q conference committee
was appointed by each house. The proofs
had been corrected up 20 this point. on
the night when the conference committee
reported TO each house the Washington re-
porter Of The Tribune tcleS.lphed its re-
port With the proofs before me. the
changes made by this report were incor-
porated. and the paper was ready for
press. 7 remember that at one time this
work was not completed before o'clock
in the morning. It was no easy task, for
Whitelaw Reid on the one side and the
foreman Of the pressroom on the other
were prodding me TO complete the work
Another work which I prepared more
than once during the war period was Of
large magnitude and covered much space.
T. was an alphabetical record Of the events
Of the preceding year. which was published
on January J. II was a kind OF directory
NJ the war. so that the date Of any battle
or event could be ascertained by referring
10 @ under its proper letter.
in preparing these works and in furnish
ing various articles on financial and sta
rsrcal subjects 7 had an opportunity 10
meet some Of the celebrated men who
made The Tribune what fl is. First OF ali
was Horace Greeley, its founder and pa
tron saint In the old Tribune building was
O. large Office, where were the desks OF re-
porters and editors. Opening from this
was the small room occupied by the editor
I'm chief. Horace Greeley. As all know. he
was full Of peculiarities and was one OF
the most wonderful characters Of his age.
in that little room. with door 10 the large
room wide open, IN fun view OF all, he
would stand az his high desk and in
handwriting that, I believe. only one com
positor could read. prepare the great ed
itorials which stirred the country from end
70 end and famed the fire Of patriotism TO
fever heat. Afterward. when he became a
candidate for President OF the United
States ne sought more retired quarters
and was a daily visitor TO the house OF his
FRIEND and mine. Charles Storrs, Of Brook
lyn There in Mr. Storrss library ne did
his writing and performed the herculean
work that developed on him as candidate.
Tribune Building Threatened.
In those days Mr. Thomas ~ Rocker,
who had been connected with The Tribune
as long as Horace Greeley, Il my memory
serves me Alright. and who was almost as
venerable and distinguished in appear
ance as his great associate. was chief OF
came when I trembled for the safety OF
tie Tribune building. The war hac pro-
crossed for several years, with varying
fortunes. and early in July. 1863. the battle
o' Gettysburg had been fought and NlcAs-
burg had surrendered 10 General Grant.
The war had been terribly bloody More
troops were needed and to obtain them
draft was ordered 20 be made on July Il.
This was the signal for the great draft
riot which followed. The regular troops as
well as twelve regiments Of militia had
bee- vsitbdrawn from the city 70 repel the
invasion OF Pennsylvania, and but leW
regulars and marines and the police re-
raincd for the protection Of New 1orK'
The worst clements came into control'
robbed and murdered people passing
through the streets; overcame handIul OF
marines who fred d volley into the MOP
!r Third avende and killed and injured
many OF them. burned the colored nan
orphan asvlum on Fifth avenue, between
i'd and i4th streets. though the oulldlhg
contained seven hundred or eight hundred
children. despoiled an armOry at second
avenue and 21st street; broke open stores
and scattered barrels o. liquor TO the SIDE
walks and maddencd themselves with the
contents. renewing the worst scenes OF the
French Revolution. seized negroes nuns
them to- trees and lamppOsts and committed
atrocities worthy Of savsges only.
On the night of July 10 the riot was at
i,s height. During the day gunboat
had been anchored in the East River
opposite Wall street its guns shotted ana
ranged 10 sweep the street from the river
NHHgI