campaign. Quite naturally the Democratic reporters did not exercise the same care in taking the utterances of Mr. Lincoln as with those of Mr. Douglas, and vice versa. Mr. White described later the difficulties under which the reporting was done—the open air, the rude platforms, the lack of accommodations for writing, the jostling of the crowds of people, and the occasional puffs of wind which played havoc with sheets of paper.
[Chicago Times, August 25, 1858]
LINCOLN'S SPEECH
We delayed the issue of our Sunday morning's paper some hours in order that we might publish in full the speeches of Lincoln and Douglas, at Ottawa. We had two phonographic reporters there to report these speeches. One of them (Mr. Sheridan) we have known personally for years, and know him to be one of the most accomplished phonographers in the United States Senate. The other (Mr. Binmore) is reputed to be a most excellent reporter, and having had occasion to mark the manner in which he has on several occasions executed his duty, we are satisfied that he is not only a competent but a most faithful reporter. These two gentlemen reported the two speeches, and they, shortly after their arrival in Chicago from Ottawa, commenced transcribing the speeches from their notes. We publish both speeches as they were furnished us by the reporters.
THE SPEECHES AT OTTAWA
Another Gross Charge.—Dialectics, Logic, and Other Things
Any person who heard at Ottawa the speech of Abraham, alias Old Abe, alias Abe, alias "Spot," Lincoln, must have been astonished at the report of that speech as it appeared in the Press and Tribune of this city. Our version of it was literal. No man, who heard it delivered, could fail to recognize and acknowledge the fidelity of our reporters. We did not attempt, much, to "fix up" the bungling effort; that was not our business. Lincoln should have learned, before this, to "rake after" himself—or rather to supersede the necessity of "raking after" by taking heed to his own thoughts and expressions. If he ever gets into the United States Senate—of which
