s still, however, a
work of great difficulty and labour. It must be remembered that
nothing of the kind had yet been made by any other inventor. The
single-cylinder machine, which Mr. Walter had seen at work, was
intended for bookwork only. Now Koenig had to construct a
double-cylinder machine for printing newspapers, in which many of the
arrangements must necessarily be entirely new. With the assistance of
his leading mechanic, Bauer, aided by the valuable suggestions of Mr.
Walter himself, Koenig at length completed his plans, and proceeded
with the erection of the working machine. The several parts were
prepared at the workshop in Whitecross Street, and taken from thence,
in as secret a way as possible, to the premises in Printing House
Square, adjoining The Times office, where they were fitted together and
erected into a working machine. Nearly two years elapsed before the
press was ready for work. Great as was the secrecy with which the
operations were conducted, the pressmen of The Times office obtained
some inkling of what was going on, and they vowed vengeance to the
foreign inventor who threatened their craft with destruction. There
was, however, always this consolation: every attempt that had
heretofore been made to print newspapers in any other way than by
manual labour had proved an utter failure!

At length the day arrived when the first newspaper steam-press was
ready for use. The pressmen were in a state of great excitement, for
they knew by rumour that the machine of which they had so long been
apprehensive was fast approaching completion. One night they were told
to wait in the press-room, as important news was expected from abroad.
At six o'clock in the morning of the 29th November, 1814, Mr. Walter,
who had been watching the working of the machine all through the night,
suddenly appeared among the pressmen, and announced that "The Times is
already printed by steam!" Knowing that the pressmen had vowed
vengeance against the inventor and his invention, and that they had
threatened "destruction to him and his traps," he informed them that if
they attempted violence, there was a force ready to suppress it; but
that if they were peaceable, their wages should be continued to every
one of them until they could obtain similar employment. This proved
satisfactory so far, and he proceeded to distribute several copies of
the newspaper amongst them--the first newspaper printed by steam! That
paper co