THE SCENE OUTSIDE THE GAZETTE OFFICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1762, 29 August 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SCENE OUTSIDE THE GAZETTE OFFICE.

\ The Pall Mall Gazette thus describes the scene outside its offices during the days on which the articles were published : — In these columns we have often described wars and , tumults of war, sieges and riots, and explosions by dynamite. We have now had to look to our I own house. Report has said that No. 2 Northumberland ' street has been . wrecked and pillaged ; but the f abrib sjall stands, though for the last few d^ays it" has been almost in a state of siege. The story of these three days is worth | telling in brief, as unprecedented in the history i of a newspaper office. For' three days the crowd ' j of hungry runners have surged clown upon us. Gaunt, hollow-faced men and women, with trailing 1 dress and ragged coats. Like others in Lombard street' Wa Qap'el court, they fought for profit', buying iji 1 a cheap m^rkeij to sell in a .dear one. Neither b'epter'nor wdrsei r London' j is raging fc^'^ews/aud sends its regiments for

the supply.- And so-,the.crow<l->raged'at r .the door under the' 'summer .'sky.— raged and wrestled, fought with fist and feet, with;tooth.and' nail,! clamouring \for the sheets wet, from the press, \ a sea of- human', faces, tossed hither .and thither by the resistless tide which swept from- the Strand' above; gesticulating, unceasingly hooting, groaning, climbing on window-sill, take refuge on doorsteps. It brought its food and waited its turn till minutes grew to hours. Now and then there was a break, but it closed up again like the tide over a drowning man. Artists came with their books,' reporters from a friendly-Press, and candid friends in broadcloth! with mouths agape. And the surging force grew in numbers and battled at the daQrs like troops of devils. The office under lock and key. Every door "was barricaded. Only night intervened. At noon on Wednesday the arm of the law was .requisitioned and responded. Four of the most stalwart' Of the police marched down' ifrOm Bow' stree't^-at their head *an officer. The three doors of entry to the office were under guard. An hour passed, and the howling vendors were passed in for fresh supplies, by regiments of 12. The process was too slow. At 1 the window-smashing began. The windows of machine-room, the windows of publishing office fell. Demands' for reinforcements to Bow street and Scotland Yard, quickly responded to by a more formidable band of 40 more men of the force, acting under the direction of Superintendent Thompson, famous in the annals of the police, and , alert for fame. Down comes the manager, haggard and reeking with his labours, consults. " Your suggestion,' superintendent ? " "Admit by one 'door; exit ' by the other." "Our customary procedure." Within three minutes chaos was transformed to order. The strong arm of the law .prevailed. The window smashing ceased. Indeed the .shivered, glass stuck up in sharp . angles and made a chemux de frise which the hardest-skinned refused to storm. Not until Wednesday did the fierce struggle between supply and demand ; reach, its height Demand always in excess. Monday and Tuesday we fought the tide of murmur with our own resources. On Wednesday it was impossible. Mr Thompson and the law came to the rescue and saved the office from the raging mob. For three days — for 36 hours — the press has never ceased. All the afternoon of Wednesday the blue cordon kept back the crowd of hungry buyers. At 5 the street was cleared, first pavement, then roadway, then street. Until 8 section after section was admitted. With the dying strokes of 8, orange-coloured bills were placed on the windows announcing that ," The Pall Mall Gazette of Wednesday, July 8, was' put of print." Until midnight applications were made, but without avail, and so ended for the day a series of scenes ' unprecedented in the annals of a newspaper. Roll after roll of paper has arrived at the office door, roll after roll has, been taken down to feed the press. At last the supply was exhausted.