Hoe

ment press was produced, the first one being pur-
chased by James Gordon Bennett, of the New
York Herald, and put to work in the office of that
paper. This press was capable of printing four-,
six-, eight-, ten-, and twelve-page papers at the
rate of 24,000 an hour, the odd pages in every
case being accurately inserted and pasted in and
the papers cut at the top and delivered folded.
The double supplement press was introduced
early in the eighties, and a short time thereafter,
in 1887, a still faster press known as the quad-
ruple newspaper press was constructed by the
Hoe company and placed in the office of the New
York World. It was capable of printing 48,000
eight-page papers in an hour. Although it was
thought that the limit of printing capacity in one
machine had been reached in this new invention,
demands for greater capacities resulted in the
design of the sextuple machine in 1889. Eigh-
teen months were required to complete it and it
was composed of 16,000 pieces. The first one
completed was installed in the New York Herald
office in 1891. This press printed, cut, pasted,
folded, counted, and delivered 72,000 eight-page
papers, using about fifty-two miles of paper the
ordinary width of the Herald, in an hour. Under
Hoe's direction the company did not stop even
at this machine, but continued to make improve-
ments and in 1895 constructed the first sixty-
four-page newspaper press, which was followed
in 1901 by a ninety-six-page press. Besides the
developments which took place under Hoe's
guidance in straight newspaper-press construc-
tion, there was developed in 1881 the rotary type
endless sheet perfecting press. This did even
faster work than the regular newspaper press
and was designed especially for late afternoon
editions. There was also introduced in 1888 a
three-page-wide press, and in 1886 the com-
pany designed and constructed a perfecting press
similar in principle to the newspaper press to
do the plain forms of printing of periodicals.
The first of these was built for the printer of the
Century Magazine. In 1890 a rotary art press
was perfected, adapted for printing the finest
kind of illustrations. During the first part of the
twentieth century Hoe turned his attention par-
ticularly to the art of color printing, and the Hoe
company constructed color presses, almost simul-
taneously installed by the New York Herald and
New York World. The most extensive presses
of this type and the largest printing machine
constructed during Hoe's life was the color press
made by his company for the New York Journal
and used in printing portions of the Sunday edi-
tions of that paper. Hoe was also the guiding
spirit ia die development of web presses for do-

Hoecken

ing the finest half-tone work for magazines.
Apart from business, he was a lover of books
and an expert on the history of printing. His
collection of old and rare volumes was cata-
logued tinder 20,962 titles and at the time of his
death was valued at a million dollars. He was
the founder and first president of the Grolier
Club in New York, before which he delivered
A Lecture on Bookbinding as a Fine Art pub-
lished in 1866, and was one of the founders of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1902 he
published A Short History of the Printing Press.
He married, Aug. 12,1863, Olivia Phelps James,
daughter of Daniel James of New York, who
with two sons and three daughters survived him
at the time of his sudden death in London.

[Who's Who in America, 1908-09; Scientific Amer-
ican, Oct. 2, 1909; Inland Printer, Oct. 1909; Walter
Gillis, in N. Y. Geneal and Biog. Record, Apr. 1910;
Printing Trade News, Oct. 1909; Am. Printer, Oct.
1909; British Printer, Oct.~Nov. 1909; 0. A. Bier-
stadt, The Library of Robert Hoe (1895) ; Catalogue
of the Library of Robert Hoe of New York (8 vols. in
4, 1911-12) ; S. D. Tucker, "History of R. Hoe & Com-
pany, New York" (MS. in Lib. of Cong.) ; S. P. Mead,
Hist, and Geneal. of the Mead Family (1901); N. Y.
Times and N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 23, 1909; London
Times, Sept. 23, 1909.] c. W. M.

HOECKEN, CHRISTIAN (Feb. 28, 1808-
June 19, 1851), Jesuit missionary, was born at
Tilburg, North Brabant, where he joined the
Society of Jesus. He was raised to the priest-
hood Mar. 29,1832, and started for America the
same year, arriving in Missouri in November.
His faculties, given by Bishop Rosati, were dated
Nov. 6) 1833, His first priestly labors were ex-
ercised in the villages of Florissant, St. Charles,
and Dardenne. In May 1836 he joined Father
Van Quickenborne in the Kickapoo Mission,
eight miles north of Leavenworth, which had
been established by the Society of Jesus at the
request of Gen. William Clark, then superin-
tendent of Indian affairs in the West. Hoecken
made rapid progress in acquiring the Kickapoo
language, of which he eventually composed a
grammar and a dictionary. He built a school,
which received some government aid, and taught
the children. The Indians were astonished at the
fluency and correctness of his speech; they af-
fectionately called him "the Kickapoo Father."
The Catholic services, mass, sermon, and bene-
diction, appealed to the Indians at first; their at-
tendance was regular and respectful. One of
their number, called the Prophet, stirred tip
strife and opposition among them, however, and
like the children they were in everything save
age and innocence, the Kickapoos grew tired of
attending the mission house. Their passion for
strong drink completed the work of devastation;

106