The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-06-18
MANY GREAT men
FORMER PRINTERS
Some of Worlds Most Noted Characters
Have Sat at the Cases. An Interest
Ing Story Of the Career Of "KeIIey
The Wanderer. /"
OLD BEFORE HIS TIME
By General St0s,esraH

By General StomeraH
He is only printer" Has been
an oft repeated remark, that | have
heard from those who were of the
aristocracy-the Goldfish quality al
that.
Only a printer. Thousands OF
the most brilliant minds of this Oh
any other country were and are
found in the publishing houses and
upon the great papers. working al
the case. 1t is not every one who
can be printer-brains are abso-
lutely necessary.
Who was the earl of Stanhopei
He was only printer. What were
Prince Edward William and the
Prince Napoleon2 Proud to call
themselves printers. The late czar
of Russia. the crown prince of Prus-
sia and the duke of Battenburg, were
printers. William Caxton, the IA
ther of English literature. was a
practical printer. DIR. Benjamin
Franklin who bottled up the light
ming was an all around printer go
ing from devil" up to the very
front ranks of journalism of his day,
both in America and the old world.
G. P. Morris, Brand Whitlock. N.
p. Willis, Henry George. Innis
Gates, Henry Watterson, Bill Nye.
Uncle Remus, Charles Richardson,
Gov. John A. johnson, Igatius DON
nelley, John w. Hayes, Ret. Clark
son, VIM. J. Bryan. Winn Powers,
Ralph Wheelock, James Parker, G..
A. Vasaly, Whitelaw Ried. Simon
Cameron. Schuyler Colfax, were all
printers-and practical ones at that.
Mark Twain. Artemus Ward, Amos
Cummings. Bret Harte. Petroleum
v. Nasty and Sit Lovingood were
all printers. Many members of the
United States Senate aud of Con-
gress were practical printers.
| have met and known so many
tourist printers in my time, that it is
impossible to remember them all. I
will here recall only a few of the
most noted.
About James Kelley
James Kelley before he became
connected with the Chicago Tribune
held cases on many different papers,
and l remember when he walked out
of Muncy. Indiana, Oh his uppers,
heading for Chicago with just $18,
in his pocket, and with this vow on
his lips BOYS! have cut booze for
all time and when l get to Chicago
[ am going to buy out one of the
large dailies and show you what a
sober man can do" Arriving in
the village by the side of the lake,
he soon secured a position as night
police reporter, and today he owns
and operates not one but several
daily newspapers in Chicago. and
James Kelley is only a printer.
But talking about printers, and
old timers at that, Charlie Church,
at one time the champion typesetter
in the United States, frequently
toured the principal towns and cities
of this country as well as many in
Europe He would often drop into
"a 20 or so cent town; in which it
took. l assure you. champion TO
earn decent days pay at that scale.
but Charlie was the man could do it..
/ don't go out ofMinnesota to verify
this statement, for there are many old
printers and newspaper men who
have measured his string in this state
yet, and know his record, it was
2, 100 ems an hour for ten hours
straight.
Kelley the Wanderer'
Then last but not least. there was
John Kelley, who was known all
over the United States as Kelley
the Wanderer." He was the most
devoted and loyal printer ever
met. To know John Kelley, was to
know a man of clean, upright habits,
and no man was ever more devoted
and loyal to the memory of his girl
wife, whom he buried in Cincinnati
in 1859. and which made Kelley a
nomad. When / last saw him in
1896, he had spent more than three
decades travelling, hither, thither,
with never a final destination in
sight, or in mind.
Kelley was printer, and, during
the years of his wandering, became
one of the best known tramp print
ers, and yet he always carried letters
of credit, for he had money deposited
in many banks), in the whole world,
and especially west of the Mississip-