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North and South
Stories and Genealogy of Theodore Charles Anderson and Sara Carlene Shuttleworth
The Typesetter
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Setting type for the Sears & Roebuck Catalog, circa 1900
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This page has been visited 1638 times
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Contents:
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Raleigh Miller Black (1865-1931)
The ITU
The Union Printers Home
Murder
 Tune Beetoven's Symphony #3 Minuetto Allegro Moto E Vivace
References
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Anonymous poem in The Printer magazine, undated
If types be good and paper naught
fair printing cannot well be wrought;
if the ink be good and paper ill,
the printing is imperfect still;
if all three be good, then printers’ art
and skillful hands must play their part.
In "The Lost World of the Craft Printer", a book by Maggie Holtzberg-Call(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), a former Linotype operator recalls, “When we completed a job, it represented hours of work — setting type, locked-up with wood and metal. It was a work of art. You signed your name to it.”
Another operator, asked how best to learn the appropriate use of typefaces, responded, “Through time. It takes time. And by seeing good work.”
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Raleigh Miller Black (1865-1931)
Raleigh Miller Black (Ted's Grandfather) was born on July 11, 1862 in El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, about a year after the outbreak of the Civil War.
He was the 2nd son of Francis Putnam Black (1833-1874) and Mary F. Miller (1840-1922) (visit Company G for their story and Black's Road for the story of the Black Wagon train from Alabama to Arkansas in 1836/37).
He served in the Spanish-American War in 1898/99. He was also in the Home Guard (now the National Guard) in New York City during World War I. As a result he is burred at the Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C.
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Kate Irby (circa 1900)
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He married Katherine Susan Sarah (Kate) Irby (1872-1929) on May 15, 1900 in Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas (visit Shipwrecked for the story about her Irby family line in America).
They had 3 children:
 Susan Ida (1902-1991) (Ted's Mother)
Ruth Etta (1907-1989)
Raleigh Miller, Jr. (1912-1993)
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Raleigh Miller Black was a typesetter. He went to whereever there was work to do. In those days, typesetters roamed from job to job as books and catalogs were being set into lead type and printed. His children were born all over the South: Susan Ida in Shreveport, LA, Ruth Etta in San Antonio, TX, and Raleigh Miller, Jr. in Hot Springs, Garland Co., AR.
But finally, about 1914, he did settle in New York City and lived in the Bronx for almost all of the rest of his life.
Raleigh Miller Black and Kate at the Statue of Liberty
The woman next to Raleigh is Etta Irby Ward, Kate's youngest sister, with her daughter Johnetta in the middle
circa 1915
Raleigh Miller Black and Kate
The young boy is Raleigh Miller Black, Jr. (Ted's Uncle)
and the little girl is Margaret Louise (Peggy) Langley, (Ted's sister) when she was 5.
This picture was taken at Christmas, about 6 months before Kate died
circa 1928
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The ITU
Raleigh Miller Black was a life long member of the "International Typesetters Union" and a strong Union supporter.
The International Typographical Union (ITU) was one of the first labor unions founded in the United States. It started out on May 3, 1852 as the National Typographical Union, but in its 1869 convention in Albany, New York, having organized members in Canada, changed its name to the International Typographical Union.
The ITU was an industrial union with members who were involved in any aspect of the printing process.
The typesetters lived in a world where craft reigned over economics, where typography was learned through apprenticeship, and where the ITU protected them to the grave.
For the first five decades of its existence, the ITU wielded influence far greater than its numbers. Printers were economically mobile, articulate, and they printed newspapers and books, which enabled them to influence the political process.
The nature of the printing industry also provided them with economic strength.
Newspapers existed in virtually every major urban center in every section of the country, and with them came the ITU. Printers had the ability to shut down a newspaper, giving the union more power than even the publisher could muster.
ITU President W.B. Prescott, aware of this power, led the ITU in 1897 to win the best working conditions in the American publishing industry — a nation wide 48-hour work week and a standard wage scale for all printers.
The ITU was a hugely liberal union for its day and sought to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race or sex. That was really far-out just after the Civil War. Women were permitted to join the union as early as 1869, making the ITU one of the first unions to admit female members.
The ITU is renowned for its long history of left-leaning, socialistic (almost communistic) thinking.
Every thing was controlled from the top.
While a local committee battled to increase wages with a local newspaper or printer, the National executive council sent ITU representatives all over the country to assist the locals in contract negotiations. All local contracts had to be approved and ratified by the National Executive Council of the ITU.
For most of its history, the ITU struggled between Socialists, Communists, Independents
and Progressives for control of the union. There never were any Republicans in its ranks.
Today, the ITU is nonexistent. It went the way of the Buggy-Whip, due to computerization and the word processor.
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The Union Printers Home
In 1889, Colorado Springs, Colorado was chosen as the site of Union Printers Home.
In 1886, George W. Childs, publisher of the Philadelphia Public Ledger and his philanthropist friend Anthony J. Drexel, gave a gift of $10,000 to commence work towards building the Home, thus starting a fund which grew to a very sizeable amount.
The 1890 ITU convention in Atlanta approved the Home and took over its control.
On May 12, 1892, the Childs-Drexel Home for Union Printers opened on 29 acres as "A Home for the Aged and Sanatorium for Tuberculars of the ITU". It was maintained, staffed and managed by the ITU for "Its Distressed Members".
The home, a hospital and a sanatorium, was staffed by its own doctors, nurses and other medical technicians.
Because of all the lead they were exposed to, many 19th and early 20th Century printers suffered from tuberculosis. The "clean air" of the Rocky Mountains in the Pikes Peak area of Colorado was seen as a location to clean the diseased lungs.
It turned out that the "clean air" of Colorado really didn't do any good for tuberculosis and nobody was ever cured, but that didn't seem to bother the ITU.
View of the Childs - Drexel Printer Home (later Union Printers Home)
Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, circa 1892;
shows the five-story stone building with square and round towers, a pediment, dormers,
an arched entry, wrap around porches, and newly planted trees.
Funded by grants from publisher George W. Childs and banker Anthony J. Drexel,
this sanatorium was completed in 1891.
The home was open only to members of the ITU. Members' wives or widows were not admitted.
John D. Vaughn served as 1st Superintendent of the Home, while its first member was W.B. Eckert, a retired typesetter and former officer of the Philadelphia # 2 local.
The 1899 ITU convention at Detroit approved the name Union Printers Home.
Once, in 1925, there was a contest held at the home to determine who could handset type the fastest. The superintendent of the home at the time, a certain Joe Daley, had grown tired of the "boasting lies" of some of the residents who had been telling of their prowess in the ‘old handset days.” Type cases were set up on the lawn in front of the home. James Lynch, then president of the ITU, served as referee. The prize for “swift” was awarded to 63-year-old Joe Price. He set five hundred ems in pica in twenty minutes.
The lands of the home grew to 260 acres. In 1944, Dowell Patterson (1899-1968), superintendent of the home, saw that the most modern of medical equipment was installed.
In later years, the tubercular sanitariums were razed because it was finally understood that they didn't do any good, except, perhaps, to improve the quality of life for a while.
Today the home serves the people of Colorado Springs and El Paso County as a health care facility with assisted living and nursing care. The main building is a State of Colorado historical site.
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Murder
On Tuesday, August 22, 1931, Raleigh Miller Black was shot and killed by Louis J. Walker at the Printers Home in Colorado.
The following is a copy of a letter from Edward F. Krause, an attorney who investigated the shooting.
 Denver, CO, September 10, 1931
Mr. G. E. Welsh
Division Attorney
Dear Sir:
Pursuant to the request of Mr. Marzo, I visited the Union Printers' Home, Colorado Springs, Colorado, on September 8, and interviewed Messrs. Allan Dorsey, T. G. Scott and A. A. Mueller, as well as several others, concerning the fatal shooting of Raleigh M. Black by Louis J. Walker.
I was unable to obtain any information additional to that contained in the newspaper stories of the affair. It would seem, from the various people with whom I talked, that Louis J. Walker was held by many to be unbalanced, mentally, although not dangerously so. He had been a resident of the Home for some time and had earned sums of money by writing jingles for certain advertising agencies in Colorado Springs. He was considered to be capable and was known to be of an extremely nervous temperament.
I have been advised that he complained at various times of the noise of the radio and of the turbines in the power plant and was given to considerable brooding over imaginary grievances. One story, which differs from the newspaper story, is to the effect that Mr. Black snored in his sleep; and, as his room adjoined Walker's, it annoyed the latter; and, Walker, crazed, ran into Black's room and shot him.
It is generally believed by a number of the residents of the Home that it was Walker's intention to kill Scott. I was unable to obtain any statements bearing this out, but it seems reasonable to believe. Scott had previously been quartered in a room adjacent to Walker's and on several occasions had arguments over politics and religion with Walker, which apparently left Walker in a bad frame of mind. Scott tells me that he used to hear Walker tapping during the night and threatening to kill various residents of the Home with whom he had had some words during the day, and also threatened to kill the Superintendent, McCoy.
I endeavored to find out in a general way whether or not any of the residents at the Home had heard Walker threaten to kill Scott, but none of them had actually heard the threat from his lips. Mr. Mclntyre, an employee of the Home and the guide who showed me around the Home, told me that Walker had been out gunning for McCoy when he shot Black; and Scott's statement would seem to bear this fact out.
Mr. Black was a resident at the Home for only a short while - I believe three months - and was not very well known to a great many of the residents. However, it seems to be the general opinion of some dozen residents with whom I talked that Mr. Black was a gentleman, unassuming and very unlikely to argue or incur the displeasure of the average person. He was known to be very generous and indulgent, and of a very friendly disposition. This general reputation would seem to lend some support to the theory that he was shot by Walker in a mistaken belief that he had shot Scott; and that upon discovery of his mistake, Walker, in turn, committed suicide.
Both Black and Walker were quartered in a building known as the "pavilion" which is apart from the main home. It is a wooden structure, two stories in height, and separated from the main building by a series of tents housing tubercular patients. Black and Walker occupied individual rooms, which adjoined each other. About two weeks before the shooting, Scott, who had occupied Black's room, changed his quarters. Mr. Scott indicated that the change was made at his request, because he could not get along with Walker and his constant drumming and grumbling during the night.
On the night of the fatal shooting, Walker was observed by many of the residents to be in a very good humor during the dinner hour, and what happened later seemed to be entirely unexpected. I am advised that during the afternoon of the day of the shooting some of his advertising had been returned as unsatisfactory, which may have contributed to his unbalanced state of mind. Shortly after the retiring hour, which is ten o'clock, the residents of the Home were awakened by shooting, followed by a shout. Mr. Walker had apparently shot Mr. Black while the latter was asleep and then discovered that he had shot Mr. Black. He, thereupon, ran down the steps to the tents and fired two shots, both of them passing through two or three tents before lodging in the baseboard of one of the tents. He then turned the gun on himself and shot himself through the mouth, dying instantly.
Black retained consciousness for several hours and was moved to the Glockner Hospital in Colorado Springs. Messrs. A. A. Mueller, T. G. Scott and W. T. Ecks were on the scene shortly after it happened, and Mr. Black told them that he wished to make a will and requested them to witness it. Mr. Ecks wrote the will and all three witnessed same. I was unable to talk to Mr. Ecks, due to the fact that he was out of town; but I did talk to Mr. Mueller. He was to leave the Home on the night of the eighth to return to his residence at 234 Pearl Street, Pittsburg, Pa., where he can be reached for further information.
Mr. Walker had on his person three guns at the time of the shooting. I have been unable to learn just how these guns were brought into the Home, or where they were purchased. Inquiry at the office of Sheriff Jackson discloses that no inquest into the shooting had been made, and that he had been unable to trace the purchasing of the guns. There are no specific rules of the Home barring firearms within the grounds, and there is no periodic inspection of the baggage of the residents, except an inspection at the time of the original entry in the Home. The residents are allowed to come and go from the Home as they pleased and it is entirely possible that on one of his numerous trips to Colorado Springs Walker purchased the firearms, since the residents are allowed to bring in packages without inquiry.
The Union Printers' Home is owned by the International Typographical Union. This Union, I am advised, consists of some 75,000 members throughout the United States. The Home is supported out of the dues which these members pay. It is open to the aged- and the infirm of the Union, who are in good standing at the time of their application and have been so for a period prior to such application. At the present time there are 352 residents and 152 tubercular cases. The Home has 167 employees and 14 trained nurses and a staff of doctors.
It has an investment of upwards of $4,000,000.00 in buildings, land and equipment; and I am advised, ultimately will have expended some $6,000,000. The Superintendent is James E. McCoy, who has been such for the past four years.
Upon entering the Home the resident is given a book of rules. In this book of rules, on page 4, I note that applicants suffering from mental diseases are not eligible to be admitted. On page 5, Rule 1 provides that residents are to be "lodged in a plain and safe manner"» Also, under Rule 1 and Rule 3, the superintendent has authority to expel any person who from malconduct or through his conduct becomes obnoxious. In this regard, I have been unable to ascertain whether the Superintendent ever considered Walker's conduct to be obnoxious or that he was guilty of malconduct; although it. was generally known among the residents that Walker was continually grumbling and making threats.
I understand that Mr. McCoy is a disciplinarian; and if he had any thoughts as to Walker's conduct, he probably believed that such conduct was not serious enough to warrant such action. In Rule 27, Section A, it is provided that any resident who makes a personal assault upon another resident shall be expelled. As Walker had evidently made no personal assault prior to the night of the shooting, the Superintendent evidently felt that there was no occasion for him acting on the rules.
I made a particular effort to get Mr. T. G. Scott to talk, but he was rather noncommittal, in the absence of Mr. McCoy, the Superintendent, who was attending the annual convention at Boston. Mr. Scott indicated that he would talk in the presence of Mr. McCoy, but did not care to give me any information which might be contrary to any that Mr. McCoy would wish to divulge.
Mr. Scott indicated to me that there was a strong political feeling within the Union and that two groups are now fighting for control of the Home. He pointed out that McCoy was a very able superintendent and that he (Scott) was one of McCoy's staunchest supporters. He said that there is a division among the residents of the Home, and that there is a strong religious feeling, due to the fact that McCoy was Protestant and that the previous superintendents had been of the Catholic religion.
Scott is the only one from whom I heard anything at all regarding this under-current of feeling within the Home, and he also stated that such inside politics and religion had been the basis and the cause of some of the arguments which he had with Walker.
I talked with Mr. Allan Dorsey concerning the affair. Mr. Dorsey is a tubercular patient and has been there for four months. He said that he was a friend of Mr. Black's daughters, Ruth and Susan, and spoke very highly of Mr. Black. He knew nothing of Walker's threats to kill Scott, nor of Mr. Black's actions, due to the fact that he (Dorsey) had been confined to his hospital room since he arrived there.
I interviewed Mr. Charles L. Shoenhart, who has been a resident of the Home for the past six years. He stated that he had formerly worked with Mr. Black on the New York-American, in New York City, and that he knew Mr. Black to be a very fine gentleman and very easy to get along with. He knew of no reason for Walker's actions and is firmly of the belief that Mr. Black had been the victim of a mistaken identity and that upon discovery by Walker that he had evidently shot the wrong man, he, (Walker) took his own life. Mr. Shoenhart said that one of the bullets fired by Walker went through his tent and that he was on the scene immediately after the happening.
I also talked to Mr. E. J. Roth, an electrician employed by the Home and to Messrs. DeConly and Connelly, residents of the Home. These parties seem to bear out the newspaper's version.
It is my opinion that there is little evidence upon which to fasten liability on the Home.
Yours truly,
Edward F. Krause
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Tune Beetoven's Symphony #3 "Minuetto Allegro Moto e
Vivace"
The introductory tune used on this page is the "Minuetto Allagro Moto e Vivace"
from Beetoven's Third Symphony in E Flat Major, Opus 55, "The Erocia" as played by the Vienna State Opera Orchestra directed by Hermann Scherchen.
The "Eroica" Symphony represented a turning point not only in Beethoven's career, but also in the history of music, a stature shared by few other works, such as Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The "Eroica" raises fascinating issues: the personal circumstances of its genesis at a crucial juncture in Beethoven's life; its relationship to the political events of the day, specifically to Napoleon; and the ways in which audiences of his time first received what many found to be a "horribly long" and "most difficult" piece of music.
It is striking that early listeners and critics, those writing during the initial 10 years or so of the work's existence, did not talk about the issues most discussed today: the Symphony's relation to Beethoven's life or to Napoleon. They viewed the "Eroica" more as a bizarre but original composition, more sublime than beautiful. Its unprecedented length, technical challenges, and uncompromising aesthetic stance seemed to aim beyond entertainment, forcing Beethoven's contemporaries to rethink what a symphony should be and do.
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This page and all genealogical data contained on it are Copyrighted © 2007/2008
by Theodore C. Anderson
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