It has been a great 135 years at The Buffalo News
on October 11, 2015 - 12:01 AM One hundred thirty-five years ago today, the first edition of The Buffalo Evening News hit the street. Or more accurately, the floor.
This is the story told by News reporter Ralph Dibble in a 1980 section celebrating the centennial of The News:
“The first edition of The Buffalo Evening News didn’t sell a copy. In fact, it never made it to the press room. Due off the presses at 2 p.m. … the first edition wound up on the floor – a tangled mess of handset type.
“In his unpublished history of The News … Charles H. Armitage, onetime political writer and city editor, described what happened on that first day:
“ ‘Copy had been written and put in type and the type locked in the four little forms that were to convey the issue to a waiting public. And then, on the way to the press room, a decrepit elevator got out of control and the contents of those forms became a mass of pi.’ (Pi is a printer’s term for type that has been jumbled or thrown together at random.) “Mr. Armitage added, ‘What comment was made on that occasion by Edward H. Butler, founder and until his death nearly 34 years later sole proprietor, is not on record.’ ”
The second edition, labeled “4 o’clock p.m.” the same day, was the first published issue of the Evening News. It was a gem. Among the headlines on the front page:
“Sane or Insane?”
“O’Grady’s Dog.”
“A Shameful Outrage.”
“This Is Gossip.”
And my favorite: “Should Be Careful in the Future.” In its entirety, that story read: “The examination of Henry Lutz, charged with passing counterfeit money, was concluded before U.S. Commissioner Scroggs this morning. In consideration of his previous good record, and the fact that he was intoxicated at the time he passed the money, the Commissioner held the case under advisement, and may possibly discharge the prisoner.”
It has been a great 135 years. The News thrived, gradually outselling every competitor. The News innovated, starting the first radio station in Western New York, then the first FM station (the call letters WBEN were an acronym for Buffalo Evening News), then the first television station. In all those years, The News has had only two owners: the founding Butler family and, since 1977, companies run by Omaha investor Warren E. Buffett.
Every Sunday for the next few weeks, on the back page of this section, we will publish a look back at 135 years of The News. Today’s installment: The front page of the very first Buffalo Evening News – the second edition.
email: editor@buffnews.com
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