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In Store Now Bully Boy Vodka, Rum or White Whiskey 750ml ........................... $29.99 Visit Our Website At Yarmouthwinexom SOUTH YARMOUTH • 508-760-2006 Located just off Exit 8 in the Stop & Shop Plaza Station Ave. Jvub. naiigut� uti uric watt ut the front "office" - still with a working dial telephone - are small, framed photos of longtime publishers Charles Francis Swift and Charles Warner Swift. With all this clutter, one would expect the building's days as a print shop had gone by, but David Swift, stepson of the second Charles F. Swift, still runs a small contract job printing operation from one corner of the building using an "Original Heidelberg" letter- press machine, purchased in 1953. The jobs for other print shops, he said during a recent building tour, "are things they can't do for themselves, like numbering and perforating." It would cost the companies too much to get the specialty equipment they would need. Swift is very knowledgeable about all the technical as- pects of the printing ma- chines, which include two Heidelbergs, a post -World War II Mergenthaler Lino- type and a folding machine, some of which he has been operating since he was a teenager. He is now 66. Four generations of the Swift family have owned the Register printing operation since 1845 when Charles F. Swift bought a half interest in the Yarmouth Register at age 20, with co-partner Switt said his stepfather never modernized the print- ing operation, but contin- ued to publish the Yarmouth Town Report, the standard forms for the county court, and even small books and journals on the old machinery. The first Charles F. Swift, a feisty edi- tor and staunch Republican, was also a prolific writer, publishing "The History of Old Yarmouth" in 1897, as well as pamphlets on ge- nealogies of Cape Cod fami- lies, walks around town, and even his own autobiography in the original building on Railroad Avenue, which burned down in 1901. The Register was printed on a No. 2 Miehle cylinder press until the sale, David Swift said. On that press, the pages had to be inserted one at a time, and then turned over to print the oth- er side. A folding machine was attached to the end of the press once the last page was printed. "It was not a very big paper," he said. It has always been a weekly. The type was set on the Linotype that David Swift also used to run, not an easy task using mainly three left fingers and a totally differ- ent keyboard than a stan- dard typewriter. The Town of Yarmouth classifies the old building as a pre-existing non -conform - 11 said. -The backyard is probably still a graveyard for that equipment, David Swift added. The perseverance of the family of dedicated printers and publishers has contin- ued with David Swift. He inherited the business and the Railroad Avenue build- ing from his stepfather, who died in 1986. He said he has to keep a business going in the building or the town will consider that use aban- doned, as well as for safety's sake. David Swift even lived on the partial second floor for a while a long time ago. "It was like living in a card- board box," he said. The sec- ond floor has a bathroom, but otherwise is unfinished. He did install a new effi- cient gas heating system in 2008 when the gas compa- ny offered to pay for one. He paid for the installation. But Swift said he is ready to retire. He has put the building on one-fifth acre up for sale, currently listed at $277,900. It could be turned into a home for a lot of money, he said, but he would like it to continue as a print shop. He acknowl- edged most of the equip- ment would be of little use to anyone except a few groups who still like a letter- press. "For practical purpos- es, it's a dead technology," Swift admitted. The building on Railroad Avenue in Yarmouth Port is still functioning as a print shop. THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012 ■ THE REGISTER - CELEBRATING 175 YEARS ■ wickedlocalcapecod.com i5 r'aAi April 1865 Cho Groat National calamity! ASSASSINATION UI+• PRESIDENT LINCOLN! Attosuptetl Mru•cioa• oT Secy Seward and Sons! On SahtrdAy morning, in the midst of rejoicings it the success of tlhe nalioval Arms, the country was startled by the An- nouncement that ti,e President of the United Suites had tnllen by the hands of an Assassin, and that the Seeretnry of Stale and his son were lying at the point of death, As it was feared, having been stricken down almost At the same period of time, by the snme lmnd or that of a can. federate. The details of this shocking event, gathered from various sources, Are given below: President Lincoln And his wife on Fri- dAy evening visited Ford's Theatre for the purpose of witnessing the performance of the American Cousin. It was announced in'the papers that General Grant would Also be present, but that gentleman took the tato train of care for New Jersey. The theatre was densely crowded, and everybody eeemed delighted with the scenes before them. During the third act, And while there was a temporary pause for one Turn of the century fshentlen, Nantucket Sound, South Yarmouth of the actors to enter, a sharp report of a pistol was heard, which merely attracted Attention, but suggested nothing serious, until a man rushed to the front of the President's box, waving a long dagger in his right blind, exclaiming "sic serape !y- rannis," And immediately lenped from - the box. which was in the second tier, to file singe, beneath, And ram across to the oppo- site side, made his escape Amid the bewilder- ment of the audience, from the rear of the theauc, And, mounting a horse, fled. The screams of Mm Lincoln first dis- closed the fact to the Audience that the President had been shot, when all present rose to their feett rushing towards the stage, many exclaiming, "hang him !"— "hnng him! '• The excitement was of the wildest possible description, and of course there was nn Abrupt termination of the theatricnl performance. On A hasty examination, it was found that filo President had been shot through the bend, Above and back of the temporal bone, And that some of the brain was of zing out. He was removed to n private hoose opposite the theatre, And the Surgeon -Gen. ernl of the Army and other surgeons were sent for to Attend to his condition. A military guard was placed in front of the private residence to which the President had Leen conveyed. An immense crowd was in front of it, All deeply anxious to learn the condition of the President. It had been previously announced that the wound was mortal, but all hoped other- wise, The shock to the community is terrible. At midnight, the members of the Cabinct, Messrs. Sumner, Colfax and Farnsworth, Judge Curtis, Governor Oglcsby, General _ bicigc, Colonel IIay and a few pe"onnl friend., with Surgeon -General Iiernes and his immediAte assistant+, were around his bedside. The President was in n state of syncope, totally insensiblo And breathing slowly.. The blood oozed from the wound at the back of his head. The surgeons exhausted every effort of medical skill, but nil hope was gone. Tho parting of his family with the dying President is too sad for description. At about seven o'clock the President's breathing changed in a manner that dearly indicated the Approach of death, nithuugh his strong constitution struggled with the destroyer. Several times those around him thought that all was over, but Again And again the feeble respiration would be resumed. At last, At just twenty -tiro min- utes pnatseven o'clock, without it couvulsivc movement, without a murmur, lie ceased to breath, And was no more. When filo excitement nl the thentrr, was at its wildest hcizbt, reporha were cirenintM The Register headlined President Abraham Lincoln's assassination "The Great Na- tional Calamity!" Dave Swift at work on one of the last remaining printing presses of its kind. STAFF PHOTOS BY DAVID COLANTUONO The Old Register Press Building Reprinted from the April 27,2011 Register By Susan Vaughn The weary, weather - worn gray -shingled building with fading white trim on the east side of Railroad Avenue in Yarmouth Port looks as if it has been unused and empty for a long time. The almost unreadable sign over the front door states "Register Press Job Printing - Pub- lishing since 1836," although this building has been on the site only since 1905. One step inside makes it clear the place is far from empty and still somehow function- al. Almost every inch of the 1,700 square feet of floor space is covered with clut- tered old desks, several an- tique machines of indis- cernible use, boxes of lead type, piles of paper, books William S. Fisher. He had worked in the shop since he was 15. He became sole owner, publisher and editor in 1849 and continued in that role until his death in 1903, when his youngest son, Charles Warner, took over the business. Subse- quently, Charles W.'s son, Charles F. Swift II, ran all operations until he sold the newspaper portion in 1956 for $100 to a Texan named Horatio (Ray) Rogers. Ex- plaining the surprisingly low price, David Swift said, "Charlie Swift didn't like the advertising -business aspect. He thought newspapers should be for news." After the newspaper sale, the Swifts retained the building and the printing business and continued the newspaper operation there while Swift trained Rogers. Rogers then moved the npwRnnnpr nnprnt7nn to ing use, which Swift dis- agrees with because, he said, the original building on the site since 1871 was always a print shop. It was powered by a steam engine. The first building burned to the ground on Jan. 2, 1901, after someone in the third -floor tenants' quarters tipped over a kerosene lamp, ac- cording to an account by Charles F. Swift II for the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth archives. The ten- ants weren't home and the fire was discovered by a ser- vant, but too late to keep it from burning everything to the foundation. Editor and Publisher Charles F. Swift lived in a large house a few yards from the building on Route 6A and helped fight the fire along with neighbors, but they were unable to stop the blaze. "Everything went; mnrhinac maltp.d- we: lost