Show kenw absi u y te rf tt ji 1 S V tr i i itt fado x v 1 c art cwb cibis by ELMO SCOTT VATSON OME day when you are rummaging through an old trunk in the attic or examining that bunch of old papers left you by your father or grandfather and you come across rare old newspaper to the editor of the local paper and expect him to write something about it for his paper nor ask him to find out for you how much its worth if you do oure pretty likely to be disappointed for the chances of its being a genuine original ulster county gazette are approximately one in a million if it should be however you could name your own price and probably get it if as its ap 1 to 1 that it Is your copy Is one of the innumerable reproductions of that famous old newspaper then its worth froni ten to twenty alve cents as a curiosity and no more this edition of the ulster county gazette has been called the most famous of nil american historical ghosts and it has taken nearly a century to lay that it Is true that there once was such a paper that it was established may 5 1798 at N Y by samuel freer and hla son samuel S freer both staunch federalists in the early dava of the republic and tint in the edition of january 4 1800 it did devote a large amount of space to the account of funeral alit the ulster county gazette went out of existence in 1822 and of the total edition probably not more than coples for that date most of them went the way of any newspaper after it has been read A few probably were saved who are accustomed to preserve news papers containing an account of an important historical event but even these copies seem to have disappeared eventually now then to account for the thousands of reproductions or reprints which have flooded the country and which many possessors believe to be originals As a matter of fact the making of reproductions began as far back M 1825 according to the best evidence ob tai reprints of the january 4 1800 edition were issued from the shop of the peoples ad published in kingston by samuel S freer who had started that paper in 1824 as a quarter century memorial to washington and were first offered for sale on july 4 1825 in 1848 another edition of reprints was issued in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the found la of the paper and again in 1850 the fiftieth year after death other reprints probably appeared during the fifties and sixties but the real flood began in in that year the centennial exposition in philadelphia revived interest in the in washington and in american history in gen aral and there were several reprints of the famous ulster county gazette by printers who saw a chance in this to mal e some extra money nd who turned out tens of thousands of copies one of them a certain walter Is bald to have had the contract for supplying them for sale on the exposition grounds and ore alian copies were bold at five cents each in fact aliey were distributed as souvenirs of the exposition by alie armful so if your father or 5 our grandfather or any other member of your family attended the centennial exposition that icar the chances are that the copy of the gazette which you have just found in that old trunk was one 0 the reprints the issuing of reproductions did not end in 1870 however it has been going on merrily ever since and as recently as 1923 an edition vas printed for an american legion post la missouri to be sold to other legion posts at 12 cents each or to the public at 25 cents each so famous had the ulster county ga zette and its many reprints become that years ago efforts were made to learn if there was in existence anywhere a genuine original copy of the paper naturally hundreds of copies were produced 03 originals but all of them were soon proved to be reproductions finally on the subject were ready to declare that not a single genuine original copy of the ulster county faette for january 4 1800 Is now in existence and then the impossible happened 1 in ito vember 1930 the library of congress received an inquiry regarding three issues of the gazette december 28 1709 and january 4 and january 11 1800 several years previous to that time clarence S brigham of the american antiqua alan society had been told of the existence of issues of the gazette but had been unable to locate them the dates of these were the same as the dates on those reported to the I 1 library of congress the library of congress knew of this and was not slow in putting two and two together the result was that it se cured from their owner mrs lary crwford lydon descendant of peter decler a revola who lived in ulster county near kingston the three s and aliey are now in the national library ho at last a famous historical ghost was laid and it was proved that there AS an original ulster county gaetti for january 4 1800 in existence and now as to the method of telling an inal from a reproduction chere la one sim pie test I 1 ook at the second line of the heading and see whether or not there Is a comma after the word county if there Is none that copy of the paper ts probably an A genuine copy must also have the following reading for page one column four line one command the town and notwithstanding other alons according to a circular issued by the LI brao of congress to prove that the ropy Is an original are as follows 1 it should be printed on the paper used in 1800 hand made from rags soft pliable and rough in texture 2 tills piper should hare as watermarks water marks throughout slender parallel lines 1 to 1 3 10 inches apart 3 title in italic capitals should measure 8 15 10 inches in length 4 print should show the blurred edges of hand inked hand press work 5 the second column on page 1 should measure inches in width between rules and 13 34 3 4 inches in length 0 the old astle s should appear frequently as in the words published and ulster lo 10 the heading and in the words house representatives and many more in the text 7 the last line of page 1 column 1 should 1 front page of the only known genuine original copy of the january 4 1800 issue of the ulster county gazette now in the library of congress washington D C 2 page three of the same issue 3 examples of the reprints of the ulster county gazette read liberal execution of the treaty of amity 8 one full length mourning slug should ap pear on page 2 and 2 full length slugs on page 3 0 mourning rules should be used between columns and across top and bottom and along outer edge of pages 2 and 3 10 the list notice on page 3 column 2 concerns the estate of johannas ls jansen and be ignec by johannas ls I 1 jansen the word deceased Is spelled deceased the second c being out of line thanks to the innumerable reproductions of ahe january 4 1800 issue of the gazette most people are familiar with the account of wash funeral which appeared in that issue but the issue of december 28 1709 Is fully as interesting as the more famous issue for in it Is found the announcement of his death as it first reached the people of kingston it contains ex tracts from two letters from alexandria dated december 15 the day after his deith giving the details of last hours and the 1 reparations fora his funell we are close to our houses and act as we should do it one of our had departed the bells are to toll until lie Is burled which W not be until wednesday r thursday As a mark of respect to him nil business will be suspended here tomor row and it will stand recorded forever here after as a day of mourning the news story itself reads as follows ON monday last the inhabitants of this town received the mournful information of the death of GENERAL washington on this unhappy ecat sensations of grief and sorrow every countenance in order to pay their last homage of re for alint greit and good man the re formed dutch church was dressed in mourn ing and the bell thereof muffled and tolled from twelve to one 0 clock for sei oral da yesterday being the anniversary of st john the the members of livings ton lodge convened together and celebrated the day in a manner highly resounding redounding redound ing to their honor guided by the sacred flame of brotherly lov e they adjourned after taking an parting from each other they all had mourning in conse of the melancholy news of the death of their illustrious brother and beloved chief GEORGE washington id by western anlon 1 a |