The Sunday Oregonian., May 05, 1918, Section One, Page 21, Image 21

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Edlefscn Fuel Co. "
HIMES RECALLS HOW THE OREGONIAN TOLD
OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION
Curator of Oregon Historical Society Cites Errors in Recount Given, ia Recent Issue of Paper, and in Detail
Tells Haw Great News Came in and Was Published.
BT GEORGE H. HIMES.
Curator Oregon Historical Society.
TORTuANIJ. April Z9. (To tha Ed
V- Itor.) The account by W. C.
A- Dnnlwajr In Ths Oregonian of
-April It en "How Ths Oregonian Told
of Lincoln's Aa sasstnatloa" contains
several errors which out to be pointed
out not In anything; ittttd by the
author of the article, but la the state
ments made to him by th lata Judge
Julias C. Moreland and James L 3ic-
CoSrn. My acquaintance with both of
these gentlemen began la March. 1S44,
. and I regret the necessity of calling
what they have said Into question, par
ticularly in respect to Judge Moreland.
as he la not here to speak for himself.
Ia my Judgment both gentlemen
have depended upon their memories
aa the basis of their expressed opinions,
aa quoted by Mr. Dunlway. I do not
do so altogether, and ahaU attempt to
support meet of the statements I make
by evidence that would be recognised
as trust worthy la any court.
To begin with. I desire to show the
conditions which existed a few days
before the 'extra was Issued. On
April (. IMS. the fall of Richmond
was announced. On April 11 the news
came of Lee a surrender and the cap.
tare or Jeff Davis. Oa the evening
of April 1) the bualneaa hooaea of the
city and many private residence were
generenaly Illuminated, chiefly with
rows of candles, although coal oil was
need to-some extent, and In addition
there was a great procession, the beet
known In the city up to that time.
Kvery manifestation of toy over the
certain eadlaa of the great struggle for
four years that could be thought of
waa In evidence displays of bunting,
patriotic) songs, rousing cheers along
the lino of march and the booming of
eaanoa en the plaza.
Servtce With raaer RmllH,
This brings me up to Saturday morn
lag. April IS. The Oregonlaa office
at that time was oa the second floor
of "Carter's new brick block, north
west corner of front and Washington
streets, upstairs: en trance on Washing
ton street, first door from front." to
which location the office had been re
moved on December 30. 1SI. By the
method of numbering then In vogue,
the old location was oa the west side
of Front street, between Washington
and Alder. Later on this came to be
kaown as i Washington street, but
properly It waa t Washington street.
betng upstairs.
My connection with The Oregonlaa
aa a compositor began on March It,
11(4. having cotamanced sock work
tkree years before at Olympla, Wash
Ingtoa Territory. The hours for set
ting type for the paper began as a rule
about 3 clock every day except Sat.
urday. The only service that the of
fice required of compositors on that
day was to distribute the amount of
type required to get oat the paper on
Monday morning, and each one had
the privilege of doing such work on
Saturday or at any time on Sunday
before t o'clock P. M.
Generally my own hours for distribu
tion were between I and 11 A. M. on
Saturday. In order that I anight have
the remainder of that day and up to
; P. M. on Sunday for my own use.
Consequently. I went to the print
lag; office on Saturday. April IS. 1HZ,
as usual about :3S and began the
morning's work. Aa hour later Mr.
rtttock and H. W. Scott came Into the
office the business and type setting
departments were in one room with
quote the. following from U.' S. Fuel Administrator " Garfield s order of March 30,
k
We . most earnestly advise the public to place their orders and signify their willingness to
accept immediate delivery of their coal requirements for the coming Fall and Winter.
We believe there will bev great difficulty in supplying good coal later in the season and that
many consumers will "either be short of coal or will of necessity be; obliged to burn inferior
and low grade coals which will prove less satisfactory.
Consumers who heed this warning will be well repaid in quality and service.
Willamette Fuel &
facea as pale aa if they were dead, and
had a brief Interview ia a whisper.
From their actions I' Inferred that
something awful had happened, that
probably William H. Seward, Secretary
of State, bad passed away, aa It waa
kaown that ha bad met with a serious
accident a few' days before and as a
result it was believed that kis life
was In danger.
Orders leeeed for' Katra.
. In a few minutes, without saying a
word to mo aside from "good morn.
Ing." both gentlemen went out and
across to the telegraph office, which
at that time was In the Pioneer Ho
tel, located oa the northeast corner
of Front and Washington street, aft
erwards called the "Lincoln House,"
and finally the "American Exchange."
They returned to the newspaper office
in about SO to 40 minutes, and then
Mr. Plttock said to me: "There la soms
dreadful news; we shall have to get
out an extra; bunt up the boys." mean
ing the typeettera. In obedience to
that order I started out. and In a few
minutes met James L. McCown, fore
man, and told him to hurry to the of
fice, as Mr. Plttock wanted to see him.
Soon A. M. Pnyder. W. L May field and
D. C Ireland, the latter the "local re
porter, also aa excellent compositor,
were found and each one told to report
at the ofTlce, as there was to be an
extra.
I had returned to the printing office
by the time Mr. Snyder arrived, and
be at once began distributing- type.
In a few minutes Mr. Plttock and Mr.
Scott came back from the telegraph of
fice, to which they bad gone a third
time, and as Snyder saw their faces,
white aa a sheet, ho turned to me
our cases were In the same alley
and said: "Great God. Oeorge. what
la the matter? Flaa Lincoln been
killed?" "Oh, no. that can't be: per.
haps Seward Is dead." was ray reply.
A few minutes later an additional die-
patch came In this was a little after
IS o'clock containing possibly Sot
words- This was divided into "takes'
and the first "take" was given to me,
because I was the only one who had
finished distribution.
shock Simply Paralysing.
Words cannot describe the shock
that dispatch created. It was . simply
paralysing. I .have never been able to
r-'t over the question asked by Mr.
Snyder. Ho waa a Virginian and fully
In accord with the South. I had rea
son to believe that he was a member 4f
the Knlgbta of the Gclden Clrcl
After that remark I felt satisfied that
It was true. "Takes" were given out
to the other printers and Inside of an
hour a few copies -of a short extra
were run off on a proof press and
placed la the hands of boys on the
Streets.
And thus ths awful news was first
announced In Portland. Additional
dispatches kept coming la until be-
tween t and 4 o'clock, amounting In
all to a little over S000 words, when
the matter was made up Into the form
of a three-column "Oregonian extra."
with display headings and more than
1000 copies, x0. were printed on -a
Ruggles' Job press in the Oregon Farm
er Job printing office, a concern In
which Mr. Plttock had aa interest at
that time, although the firm was
styled "A. G. Walling Co.." and an
apprentice named Thad Welch ran the
The extras were 10 cents apiece and
enough were sold to net $71 after all
expenses were paid, and that sum was
riven by Mr. Plttock to the Sanitary
Commission, aa organisation which ren.
dered, a service during the Civil Wardroom that Mr. McCown has in mind be-
THE SUNDAY OREGO'IAV ronTLAJfD,
MM II M M N
Tzw is Not An Advertisement and Will Appear But Once
"Every householder, every public utility and every industrial user of coal is
earnestly advised and urged to place without delay their, orders for coal to cover
Ice Delivery Co.
Supply Gov . . I
similar to that which Is performed by
the Red Cross at the present time. Tne
proof for saying that Mr. Plttock gave
the 17t to the Sanitary Commission Is
the entry to that effect on the night of
Aoril IS. Ufa. in my diary. jaroes
McCowan, foreman. Julius Moreland and
George Watklns kept track of the ex
tras aa they were given out, and Mr.
Plttock and William Davidson, his col
lector, looked after the money.
Statement Held Krroneona.
Such Is my recollection of the extra
which was issued on that fateful day.
Perhaps too many details have been
given, but this Is the nrst time that a
history of the event has been written
up. and that is my Justification.
So far as known to me this matter
m-as never alluded to until Sunday
evening. February 6, 1M1 the 50th an
niversary of the establishment of The
Morning Oregonian. Then It waa cele
brated by the entire foroe of the paper,
and all the old employes that could be
found were Invited guests. In reaponss
to a call. Judge Moreland gave an ac
count of his connection with the paper,
the substance of his remarks being sub
stantially the same as quoted by Mr.
Dunlway. omitting the reference to my
self. A few daya later I called the at
tention of the Judge to his erroneous
statement, and recited my own version
In substance as given above, to which
he disagreed, and waa very positive that
his own statement ws correct, ana, in
addition, ho said: "Mr. Plttock gave
m 120 for my services that dty." My
reply was. "I do not know anything
about that. Nevertheless I thought
then, and still think, be was mistaken
It will be noticed that in the quota
tion by Mr. Dunlway from the state
ment of Judge Moreland, ho says he
"was up early, and some one whom I
do not now recall told me hat news
had come that Lincoln waa- assassin
ated." Place this beside the. statement
In the first paragraph of Mr. Duniway'a
article wherein he states that "the news
wss received In Portland by 'overland
telegraph' at noon on April IS." Mr.
Dunlway ia tight.' that being the spe
clfio statement of The Oregonian of
April 17 there was no Sunday paper
then.
lerae Preset d Is Mearalsg.
That Issue was dressed in mourning,
all column rules being Inverted, and
contained all the news which appeared
In the extra of Saturday, with a little
additional matter telegraphed from
San Francisco on Sunday. It should be
borne in mind that at this date there
was no direct wire connection with the
Kast. all news from that section arriv
ing la Portland via San Francisco.
This shows clearly that Judce More-
land could not have obtained the "fatal
news" early because it -did not arrive
until noon; and then no one aside from
Dr. O. P. S. Plumraer, the telegraph
operator. Mr. Plttock and Mr. Scott
knew the nature of the news. This
position Is confirmed by Mr.' Mc
Cown, who says: "The Herald, a Demo
cratic morning paper, had Its office
across the hall from ours, and we were
very careful about letting- out the big
news until our extra waa ready for
the street. unfortunately for Mr. Mc-
Cown's memory, the reason the news
waa not given out at once waa because
Mr. Plttock enjoined secrecy upon the
entire force until the extra was ready,
not to keep the 'ibis news' from the
Herald, as that paper was not started
until March. 18. as may be seen by
reference to the flies. .
In addition to the defective memory
of Mr. MeCown respecting the Herald.
ne is wrong when he says that the
"business office" of The Oregonian was
on tne nrst lioor." Hence there was
no stairway leading; "from the business
office Into the composing-room." The
A
if.. i- - . . i- ? .
. Liberty Coal & Ice Co.
came the business office of The Orego
nian in 1S67. In 18C5 it was occupied
by J. B. Miller ae a Jewelry store, and
in 186S aa a bookstore by Charles Bar
rett, and was secretly connected with
his bookstors at 7 Front street. Refer
ence to the city directories will confirm
the statement here made.
Farts Straagely Forgotten.
- It aeems strange that Judge More
land and Mr. McCown should have for.
rotten how useful the Rug-pies' . Job
press in the Oregon Farmer off lew- was
in printing "war extras" in the Spring
of 1865, as it had a great advantage in
speed as well aa reaaablenesa over ex
tras printed on a proof-press of th
style in -use SO years ago, particularly
when there was ouch a demand for
them as there, was oa April 16. 1S65.
This was especially so at ths time al
luded to because the Fanner office was
so accessible as it was on the same
floor and very near the composing-
room or The Oregonian."
In conclusion there is this to be said
It is believed that It is a well reeog
nized rule of law that where a portion
of the testimony of a witness can be
proved incorreoU by so much is
shadow of doubt cast over the remain
der of.hlg unsupported testimony. If
mat reasoning Is tenable, . then the
memories of Judge Moreland and Mr.
McCown have been shown to be defec
tive. ,.
TEUTONIC WORDS TO GO
"KINDERGARTEN". AND "DEUCA
TESSEN" FROWNED ON.
Pareat-Tesrher Couaetl Takes Actios
to Sabsrlrate American Words
for Offending Nonas.
Comes now a plan to eliminate two
more commonly used words of Teutonic
origin. They are "kindergarten" and
"delicatessen," both off which smack
or mat country wnere llows the Rhine.
Official cognizance of the undeslr
ability of these two' words was taken
by the Parent-Teacher Council at a
recent meeting when, on motion of Mrs.
W. L. Block, a committee was named to
watt upon the Board of Education and
urgently request that some new and
American name be given to displace
"kindergarten. With Mrs. Block
chairman, this committee will appear
before tne school Board this week.
The same committee will endeavor to
arrive at some plan whereby the name
delicatessen" can be eradicated in
Portland, either through Official ac
tion of some kind or through general
public co-operation.
.This committee wants to receive sug
gestions for' names to take the place
of these two of German origin. The
women disapprove of the Idea of the
youngsters being taught the German
word kindergarten. Just as they are
learning to taiK.
Mrs. Block decided to war against
these two words when she came upon
a small child recently, who had an old
er brother in France. With a smile, the
child told her he was attending kinder
garten. "And when I looked up from the
child I saw he was standing in front
of a delicatessen." aald Mrs. Block. "The
combination was too much -for.me, so I
decided right there to see If we couldn't
eradicate those two words from Port
land's vocabulary for all time."
Druggist Ordered Interned.
Fred Gunthef. a German alien and
druggist, of Ridgefield. Wash., was
yesterday ordered Interned during the
war. Gunther was found to have
crossed the Columbia River In his
launch from Ridgefield to St. Helens on
a number of occasions in violation of
the President's proclamation which pro
hibits alien enemies from being on any
of the navigable waters of the United
States.
'3IAY 5, 1918.
Holman Fuel Co.
. Crystal Ice
BALLOT TITLE READY
BILL PROPOSES TAX TO PROTECT
INTERNAL .CONDITIONS.
Measure Ia Initiated by State Council
- of Defense and Provides for
One-Mill Levy.
SALEM, Or., May 4. (Special.) Re
turning from Portland tonight after a
conference with members of the State
Council of Defense, Attorney-General
Brown completed the ballot title for
the proposed initiative bill to provide
for a 1-miU tax levy for raisin? funds
to protect internal conditions in the
state. The ballot title is as follows!
Initiated by State Council of De
fense of Oregon, offices Corbett build
ing. Portland. Or., H. L. Corbett,
chairman, John K. Kollocli. executive
secretary:
Emergency war fund bill, purpose
to aid the Government of the United
States, within the state of Oregon, in
the protection of life, liberty and prop
erty during the period of the present
war between the United States- and
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-: : -i .' . - ' 4 .' ' ' es
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TWO DEPENDABLE
T7 V
NJ SK bMfli
.
& Cold Storage Co.
Germany, to appropriate' money there
for, to provide an annual 1-miU levy
upon all the taxable property within
the state to meet the same, directing;
the administration and expenditure
thereof by the Oregon State Board of
Control, terminating the levy hSreln
provided for at the conclusion of peace,
directing the transfer of any unused
moneys thereafter .to the irreducible
school fund, and providing for main
taining the state's credit.
TICKET OFFICE PLANS UP
Railroad Managers to Provide 7cn
tral Selling Agency.
In order to decide upon some plan
for combining railroad ticket offices in
Portland a conference of the passen
ger traffic managers of the principal
lines serving the city will be held this
week in the headquarters office of the
Southern Pacific Railroad in the Teon
bulldig.
It is planned to have the new union
office centrally located In the business
district and of sufficient size to handle
the passenger departments of all the
roads entering the city! Officers of(
roads which do not enter Portland have
already been closed by order of the
A change in prices
but none in Dependability
i '
M. A. GUNST, INC.
21
Hints-
Si
1918:
Albiria Fuel Co.
Director of Railroads. The Joint office
scheme is purely a war meaaure and is
intended to cut down the expenses, of
the railroads in selling tickets.
Although the Southern Pacific system
will combine its ticket office with the
other roada, the tiokets for the electric
lines operated by the company around
Portland will be sold from a separate
office.
CITY TO SELL SCRAP FISH
Product Will Be Furnished Publiij
Market at Actual Cost.
Scrap fish from the fishing traps
along the Columbia River will begin
to reach th Portland public fish mar
ket this week, according to announce
ment yesterday of City Commissioner
Kellaher.
The city has arranged with tne fish
ermen to donate at cost all fish except
shad, salmon and halibut. Arrange
ments have been made with David R.
Williams to operate a boat for the city
to gather the fish from the fishermen
and ship it to Portland. Arrangements
also have been made for cold-storage
facilities for the overaupply.
Read The Oresronlan :!nssifled ad.
OWL was 5c. White Owl
was 6c. They sold at the rate
of over 100,000,000 a year because
of their dependable fragrance.
Then came added costs. More
for leaf. More for labor. More for
taxes. Two courses were open :
Maintain the price and lower the
dependability. Or raise the price
and maintain dependability.
We maintained the dependability.
It made Owl and White Owl
each cost lc more. Smokers
said? "Fine. We will gladly pay
lc more for dependability." And
they have. Sales prove it.
jiaiMini iwi iimw Miliiiii,
84 N. 5TH ST. BROADWAY 280(1
CIGARS