Denver labor bulletin., 1915-04-10
Joe Brown's "Reminiscences as
Printer, Reporter and Editor
Serued Strenuous Apprenticeship Under Mars Heny Waiter
son Louisville courev-Jouna Doing Duty as Religious
Reporter and Prize Fight Editor at the Same Time

At the banquet of the Colorado
Pioneer Printers in January, Mr.. Thomas
]. O'Donnell, in his "reminiscences of Den
yer newspapermen of thirty years ago or
more, with special reference to the Trib-
une staff, related, incidentally, the con
nected facts of Bohemian history, that
Herman Beckurts of Louisville, KY. hav-
| ing purchased the Denver Tribune,
brought out Rothacker, also from Louis
vile, as his editor; Rothacker brought
Joe Brown from Louisville, Eugene Field
from Kansas City and discovered" Bill
Nye up in Wyoming.
OF the old-time printers, reporters and
newspaper writers of Denver, none are
better remembered than Joseph Gran
vile Brown, who is still facile wielder
of the pen in this city. Due to the fact
that he was alternately a compositor
and reporter on morning newspapers in
Louisville as well as in Denver, the ed
itor of The Bulletin requested of Mr..
Brown the story of some Of his expert
ences on the Courier-Journal, together
with recollections of Henry Watterson
and his work. Brown is still hale and
hearty, and member of Denver Typo.
graphical Union No. 40.
s.Mr. Watterson," said Mr. Brown, "as
/ saw him and knew him by immediate
contact through period of seven years
in the editorial rooms of the Courier
Journal, forms a subject too big, too
expansive, too diversified for me to ham
die, while only the fact that l was also
a printer on that paper could enable me
to say anything of interest to your read
ers or excuse me for saying it.
my entry into the newspaper field
was a quick jump from the printers
case to the reporters table-the change
of minute. Looking backward through
the vista of forty years or more, 1 see
Mr.. Watterson as an active, diligent,
hard working man, powerful as a writer,
gentle in his personality, though com
manding and masterful in the manage
ment of his paper. Since that time the
revolution in methods and improvements
in the facilities of producing the morning
paper leave nothing tangible upon which
to draw comparison between the past
and present. Gradually through the
years, the editor-in-ehief has been eman,
cipated from a laborious share in the
work. From his city mansion or his
country home, or, mayhap, from his
summer health resort, he may write as
the spirit moves him, or as policy may
dictate and from his chosen base direct
the practical heads of the several de-
phItiucuts, iedNihS All uetais " thc coH-
bined machinery of the modern daily
newspaper.
at was Q o'clock at night. I was
working at my case in the composing
room of the Courier Journal, when the
foreman informed me that Mr., Waiter
son wanted to see me-with my coat aud
hat on.
Got Good String of Items
" We have no reporter tonight said
Watterson, as entered his room. Bal
lard Smith, the chief reporter, afterward
city editor successfully of the New York
World and the New York Herald, was
out of the city; the other reporter-for
there were but two-was gone for good.
The fact is, there's nobody here but the
telegraph editor and myself. Scurry