Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1883 — A Surpliced Reporter. [ARTICLE]

A Surpliced Reporter.

“You know Joe Howard, of I couse ?” asked the reporter., “Joe! Joe! Do you know a man in the profession in the United States th»o does not know Joe ?” “Gay boy?” fi, ; “Gay? Well, seriously, Joe is dne of the most brilliant of American journalists. Queer, generous to a fault, and always conscientious, but ready, versatile, and ever entertaining —George Alfred Townsend’s only rival. No, Joe wants one fact on which to base an article; George does not want any. Jo» never gets left. “Once the Times sent him to report an important ceremony in Trinity Church. Joe was late. The house was jammed. The boys in the two pews allotted to the reporters had noticed the absence of the representatives of the Times. But suddenly one nudged another, saying, ‘Look up there.’ And there was Joe in the chancel with the clergy, surpliced, and intoning with the rest. “Joe afterward explained that, finding it impossible to get in the house and do his work, he looked around and found a rear door, and seeing men dodging in and boys throwing a surplice over' their shoulders, he followed suit, and let them supply him with the vestment cloth. He was thus able to make his report.”— Chicago Daily News.