Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-13
Ei1rstt&tg Gl1a1

40 A0eCat uAid tlo kIGtl litOi C6e
evinced in the progress of making
the hole manifested by the Sons OF
Rest, as duly chronicled in the Har-
risburg Telegraph" said an old re-
tired ex-printer, ''it was nothing to
the interest shown in the digging for
the foundation of the old Grand
Opera House by the printers on the
Telegraph forty-flve wears ago. The
Telegraph was at that time pub
lished in the building the site OF
which is now occupied by the Secur-
ity Trust Company, and from the
very first the printers on the COM
posing room floor took much inter-
est in the work, to the great neglect
of the getting out of the paper, and
much to the disgust of Uncle Joe
Meek and Uncle John Ferguson,
who had charge of the room. The
big hole was eXcavated by hand, a
large force of Corkonians and Far
Downs from the Emerald Isle doing
the digging under the supervision of
Patrick McNiff. contractor. And the
hauling was all done by one-mule
carts. There was no steam eXcava-
tor, and there were no motor We
hicles to carry off the dirt. Day
after day the force digged the pit
and day after day the loud and raul
| cous tones of the mule drivers float
ed up to the Telegraph composing
room as they ordered the mules to
| gee and 'haw' and 'giddap, dis
tracing the attention of the COM
positors so much that they paused
| frequently and long to take it all in,
while the two guardian angels of the
| room were almost distracted. There
were some devils in the compos-
| ing room in those days. There are
yet, but l venture to say that for
! outright mischief those in the COM
| posing room of the Telegraph of that
day could not be surpassed any
where. Here was one of their
tricks which furnished unlimited
fun for the printers and almost set
Contractor McNiff wild until the late
George Bergner, the proprietor or
the paper, got onto 1t and put stop
| to the fun: A cart would be backed
up to the edge of the excavation and
the shafts propped up by the stick
used for that purpose. and the mule
would stand quiescent while the cart
was being filed. Peaceful scene.
Suddenly a two-em BREWER quad
hurled by one of the devils" from
the second story window of the Tel
egraph would catch the mule on the
flank, stinging like the bite of
horse-fy, the mule would gasp,
| Jump, kick and in a second all was
confusion, as, of course everybody
would stop work to see what the
trouble was. Shouts of laughter
from the printing office convinced
| Contractor McNiff that the source
| lay in that direction. One morning
he came into the Telegraph office
and exhibited a two-em BREWER
quad, which had been found beside
a fractions mule, and made COM
plant, vigorous, vociferous and
loaded with threats. Orders went
forth to close the windows of the
composing room. Then Contractor
McNiff went back to the scene of
operations and, looking up to the
windows, where the devils" were
watching him. gave orders: Back
up thin ca-a-r-ts. Therell be no
more shenanigan here" And there
wasn't. When the cornerstone of
the opera house was placed in posi-
ton by the Masons, all of the Tele-
graph printers participated in the
ceremony (from the second-story
windows) and the paper was an
hour late In getting to press that
day"
Speaking of that old Grand Opera
House, when it burned down. one of
i the Harrisburg newspapers, in re-
cording the history of the buildinA
said the first performance given m
it was by Lotta, or our Little
Lotta," as she was known in the
hey-day of her stardom as a SOU
brette, but that is not correct. The
first entertainment in the new place
of amusement was a concert by
home talent, and the prima donna
of the occasion was Miss Sara II.
Mather, of this city, now Mrs. j. n.
This D111nh m set history
curate.
In this connection it is interesting
to state that the Harrisburg Patriot
was published half a block from the
TELEGRAPH. The Patriot was then
owned by B. f. Meyers, who had
taken it over from the firm in which
Messrs. Singerly and Brown had
been members and the force used
to stop about the excavations for
the new theater on their way to work
in the plant which occupied the Dock
propery at Third and Strawberry
streets. The Patriot printers had
to turn up in the afternoon to throw
in" their type in those days and they
had lots of fun with the workers in
the pit, chatting the diggers and
eliciting much native wit. The old
printers especially were fond OF
| clustering ABOUT tne place alIeI tHo
mid-afternoon dallying with cans
of half and half" and one day there
was a thunderstorm coming up.
Much excitement went on in the pit
to get ready for the rain,
Say, Mr.. McNiff," called out one
of the printers. ITS goin'' to rain"
WELL" fired back Mr.. McNih,
never stopping in his bustling about
the place. az can't prevint it. Now
you try"
Another interesting thing about
this concentration of Harrisburg
journalism in the early seventies
was that in the Dock building there
was the Patriot business office and
a barber shop and telegraph office
on the first floor; the editorial and
composing room on the second, a
Job plant on the third and on the
top floor Col. Ripper's Stats Zeit-
ung which was written, edited and
set up under the roof and printed
in the cellar. The German printers
specialiZed in throwing quads to or
gan grinders who thought they were
cash until they hit.