A COMPOSITOR'S BLUNDER.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXIV, Issue 24, 18 April 1912, Page 2

A COMPOSITOR'S BLUNDER.

The London correspondent of the Lytteltou Time:, writes:—"The mental and digital vagaries of our friends of the newspaper composing rooms afford a perennial source cur amusement. You may remember the famous slip by a wild, wild west 00-mpus]-tor who made the reporter speak of a. certain .gallant soldier as a. "bot-tle-scarred veteran," and muddled bis editor's humble apology into "'bat-tle-scared- veteran." A compositor on the Western Daily Mercury, a- Plymouth newspaper, has just perpetrated a. blunder which should live as long and hold quite high a place in the record of press mistakes .as

the oft-quoted American example. Sir Arthur Quillor Oouth ."•••peaking at a political meeting at Fowey, and in referring to certain utterances of a political opponent, none other than Sir Reginald i > r:>!eCarew, "the handsomest man in the .Hritijh Army," ay, lie ha;- been called, declared that they were "an afflux of word.'?'' on the gallant soldier's part, "sometimes traceable to last Sunday's Observer, but often traceable no whither.'" The compositor entrusted with the setting up of Sir Arthur's; .speech transformed "no whither'' into "to whisky," and his blunder failed to be noted until a large portion of, the Mercury's issue containing the speech had been printed and distributed- far and wide through the \Y est Country. 1 imnodiatelv the blunder was discovered correction' was effected, an accurate version of the .speech, 'inserted in the later editions, a.nd every effort made to recall the "To Whisky" edition. And next (lay appeared a most humble editorial apology, appended to which was a horriiied letter from Sir A. Quiller-Coaieh, protesting that he had . never mentioned whisky in his speech, and that lie would "rather have io.st a hand than have used such words as were attributed to him about Sir Itcjinald."