Year: 1864

hours and rules, was concerned IN this forgery,


we think cannot be doubted. te1isg 80
We close our form regularly at about hall
past three O'Clock. Associated Press and other


dispatches are received frequently at the last


moment, and sometimes after the form has


gone down to the press room. The Associa-


ted Press dispatches are always written Ia 4


peculiar style, being manifolded on tissue pa


per, and having certain peculiarities of paging,
&c, which mark them. At about halfpast


three on Wednesday morning our form was 40


nearly closed that the foreman discharged the


compositors, the entire force of night editors


and proof readers having already left. At this


moment despatch arrived, brought by boy
to the foreman, which was the proclamation II,
question. II was in all respects perfect init
tation OF Associated Press dispatches, in the
minutest details of paper, paging, &c, and the
foreman, thoroughly deceived, stopped q few


OF the men who had not yet gone out, and hav-


ing set it up, inserted it in the form, 80 that it
appeared in the later portion of the morning


edition-the early part of the edition not con-


tanning it. We may remark here that the


trand was so perfect that we venture to affirm


that ninety-nine out Of a hundred placed in the
situation of the foreman, would have been de-


ceived and acted as he did. The moment


when editors have gone and the foreman is the


responsible man, is well known to newspaper


men as one of the most critical moments in the
days history of a newspaper If any one sug


gests that it is better to reject everything at
such time, let him reflect that we frequently
receive as late as three and half O'Clock, A. NJ
urgent dispatches from the War Department
and other departments, the value of which to
government and people demands their imme-
dlate publication. and let him also ask
what verdict he would pass on any morning
paper which refused to publish dispatch,
proclamation, or order from the President
which all the other papers published. The
precise responsibility the author of the forgery
understood, and timed his work accordingly.
There must have been more than one man con
cerned. There was thorough KNOWLEDGE of
telegraphic and Associated Press rules and Gus
tens, q clear acquaintance with newspaper
Offices, and an ingenious care in the procuring
OF manifold paper, and preparing the COPY.


There are numerous details of the manner in
which the deception was perpetrated which.
for obvious reasons relating to the detection of
the criminal, we for the present withhold. We
may mention, however, that manifold copies
almost fac-similes Of each other, being the usu.
al form OF dispatches to the press, were sent to
all the morning papers connected with the AS.
soclased Press. except one and the proclama-
ton was published in three other papers be-
sides our own, the deception being so perfect
as to succeed in each instance. 1t excited
some surprise in one office but it was
put in type, and a messenger sent to
a neighboring office to make inquiries. In
this case the other paper had not received it at
all, and this circumstance created the first
doubt as to its being an Associated Press dis
patch, and it was not put into the first named
paper. Another it reached too late, and vet
another printed an edition of twenty thousand
on.aining it, and suppressed most if not all
OF it on learning that other papers doubted
the authenticity. Our own remoteness from
the offices of other papers forbade any such
comparison of notes among the men en-
ployed.


We have dwelt with such particularly on
this fraud because it is important that our rea-
ders and the public at large should know that
ingenious scoundrels are at work deyising
every possible method of deceiving,the people,
either for purposes of stock speculation or
with intent to aid the enemies of the country.
1t is no pleasant duty to acknowledge our
selves. and our associates in the press, the VIC
TINS OF a forgery like this; but we trust that
the exertions we are making personally, as
well as all the members of the Associated
Press, and the Government authorities, will
result in the arrest of the forger and his con-
signment to fitting punishment


The Associated Press offer reward of 81, 900
for his detection, and no expense will be spar
ed to lead to the fullest exposure of the guilty
individual