* * * * *
In the fall of 1860 the first telegraph line was completed to St. Paul. Newspaper proprietors thought they were then in the world, so far as news is concerned, but it was not to be so. The charges for telegraph news were so excessive that the three papers in St. Paul could not afford the luxury of the "latest news by Associated Press." The offices combined against the extortionate rates demanded by the telegraph company and made an agreement not to take the dispatches until the rates were lowered; but it was like an agreement of the railroad presidents of the present day, it was not adhered to. The Pioneer made a secret contract with the telegraph company and left the Minnesotian and the Times out in the cold. Of course that was a very unpleasant state of affairs and for some time the Minnesotian and Times would wait until the Pioneer was out in the morning and would then set up the telegraph and circulate their papers. One of the editors connected with the Minnesotian had an old acquaintance in the pressroom of the Pioneer, and through him secured one of the first papers printed. This had been going on for some time when Earle S. Goodrich, the editor of the Pioneer, heard of it, and he accordingly made preparation to perpetrate a huge joke on the Minnesotian. Mr. Goodrich was a very versatile writer and he prepared four or five columns of bogus telegraph and had it set up and two or three copies of the Pioneer printed for the especial use of the Minnesotian. The scheme worked to a charm. Amongst the bogus news was a two-column speech purporting to have been made by William H. Seward in the senate just previous to the breaking out of the war. Mr. Seward's well-known ideas were so closely imitated that their genuineness were not questioned. The rest of the news was made up of dispatches purporting to be from the then excited Southern States. The Minnesotian received a Pioneer about 4 o'clock in the morning and by 8 the entire edition was distributed throughout the city. I had distributed the Minnesotian throughout the upper portion of the city, and just as I returned to Bridge Square I met the carrier of the Pioneer, and laughed at him for being so late. He smiled, but did not speak. As soon as I learned what had happened I did not do either. The best of the joke was, the Times could not obtain an early copy of the Pioneer and set up the bogus news from the Minnesotian, and had their edition printed and ready to circulate when they heard of the sell. They at once set up the genuine news and circulated both the bogus and regular, and made fun of the Minnesotian for being so easily taken in.
* * * * *
The Pioneer retained the monopoly of the news until the Press was started, on the 1st of January, 1861. The Press made arrangements with Mr. Winslow for full telegraphic dispatches, but there was another hitch in the spring of 1861 and for some time the Press had to obtain its telegraph from proof sheets of the St. Anthony Falls News, a paper published in what is now East Minneapolis. Gov. Marshall was very much exercised at being compelled to go to a neighboring town for telegraph news, and one night when news of unusual importance was expected he had a very stormy interview with Mr. Winslow. No one ever knew exactly what he told him, but that night the Press had full telegraphic reports, and has had ever since.
* * * * *
Gov. Marshall was a noble man. When the first battle of Bull Run occurred the earlier reports announced a great Union victory. I remember of going to Dan Rice's circus that night and felt as chipper as a young kitten. After the circus was out I went back to the office to see if any late news had been received. I met Gov. Marshall at the door, and with tears rolling down his cheeks he informed me that the Union force had met with a great reverse and he was afraid the country would never recover from it. But it did, and the governor was afterward one of the bravest of the brave in battling for his country's honor.
* * * * *
Printers were very patriotic, and when Father Abraham called for "three hundred thousand more" in July, 1862, so many enlisted that it was with much difficulty that the paper was enabled to present a respectable appearance. The Press advertised for anything that could set type to come in and help it out. I remember one man applying who said he never had set any type, but he had a good theoretical knowledge of the business.
One evening an old gentleman by the name of Metcalf, father of the late T.M. Metcalf, came wandering into the office about 9 o'clock and told the foreman he thought he could help him out. He was given a piece of copy and worked faithfully until the paper went to press. He was over eighty years old and managed to set about 1,000 ems. Mr. Metcalf got alarmed at his father's absence from home and searched the city over, and finally found him in the composing room of the Press. The old man would not go home with his son, but insisted on remaining until the paper was up.
* * * * *