The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-18

/ own account, came from france WIN w iln@uu l
| the Conqueror. nave nag, no S'y1Ii
| ssbisbops priests, deacons, robbers, and all
| sorts Of people in my family"-a heteroge-
| neous mixture adequate to account for con-
| siderable confusion OF moral ideas. His own
family are said to have been honest indus
trious, and virtuous. James Gordon was
named after a Protestant clergyman of that
name, although the Bennett family were strict
Catholics. They seem to have been servitors
or attaches of the Earl of Gordon,
with whom they came to Scotland;
and in their motley assortment of ances-
tors they lay claim to an Earl of Tan
kerville. The family contained four children,
two brothers and two sisters. James Gordon
and his brother Cosmo were educated at Aber-
deem for the Church. The former soon dis
covered disinclinauon for his intended voca-
tion. COsmo entered the priesthood, and sub
sequently died from the effect of too rigorous
discipline-a circumstance which, it is said,
embittered James Gordon against the Church,
and determined him to revenge the brother he
loved. Both the revenge and the love illus
trated in this matter are characteristic of the
man. After the fire which destroyed the sub
terranean den of the Herald three months from
the time of its inception, he received from one
friend hundred dollars, and from another
ten dollar gold piece, coined in the year
1898. He alluded to these gifts in his paper,
and declared his intention to keep
the ten-dollar coin till his dying day, and then
enjoin upon his descendants to hand it down
as an heirloom and perpetual memorial of the
friendship which touched him so deeply. "I
can remember friendship keenly as can for
get hostility" he added. 81 have no objec-
tion to forgive enemies, particularly after /
have trampled them under my feet; but to
love friends, to esteem them, to admire them,
to cherish them, and that passionateiy too, is
one OF the principal elements of my life,
being, and existence This was written at
time when he might well feel that he had no
friends; and it has something of the exaggera-
tlon natural to mind thus isolated. But
there is no doubt that, from his home in the
Highlands, Mr.. Bennett brought heart capa-
bic of strong love as well as bitter hate, He
has repeatedly exhibited that tenaoity of affec-
tion as well as of purpose characteristic of the
Scotch.
During his early years Napoleon taught the
world what intellect and will, severed from
conscience, can accomplish. Byron sh~---'
iitarotrro SHav ne nerI % men will read licentioug
=, laps the more eagerly because
tney "yuuemn it, Walter Scott furnished one
O. the brightest examples of what energy and
genius can accomplish when he set himself
about repairing his bankrupt fortunes with
his pen. He did much to elevate into the
dignity of a profession what had before been
reckoned dishonorable hack-work if done for
pay. These three men were the idols of Ben
nett's youth; and their good and bad ;-,,nuAnoa
are seen in his history and cha-.s scter. In 1917
the a;uto6iograPny OF .,eniamin Franklin was
PGOisneo Isl IN scotland, and was the means
Vi yurning Benefits thoughts to this
country. When, in 1919, an acquaint-
ance spoke of going to America, sud
den impulse carried him also 'tto see
the ga g %hrs E. F5a 6a haSN Rge H 1sIaR
school awhile, scarcely making a living.
| Then he wandered into Maine, and down the
coast to Boston, where he stayed two years,
and commenced his literary life as proof
| reader. 1t may be noted that the most pro-
| itable of the Boston newsPaPers of that day
| were of an exceptionable character From
| Boston Bennett came to New York. and there
engaged to assist Mr.. Wilmington, of the
| Charleston Is. c. Courier. While upon that
| journal he learned lesson in newspaper en-
| terprise from its method of getting news in
advance of its rivals by boarding vessels out
| side of the harbor. He came back to New
| York in 1924; made an unsuccessful effort to
establish commercial school (for teaching
''moral philosophy" among other things);
failed in an attempt to lecture on political
economy; and finally became reporter and
miscellaneous writer wherever chance af
forded.
His habits must have been abstemious, for
in 1926 he essayed to buy the Sunday Courier
"a weekly which had not prospered and was
near its end. Bennett gave his notes in part
| payment, but took them back, and gave up
the enterprise in three months. He subse-
quently became assistant editor and Washing
ton correspondent upon the National Advocate
and the Courier and Enquirer. In these jour
nails he illustrated his enterprise and energy
in the collection of news, in making full re-
ports of exciting trials, in describing men and
events at Washington, and in catching hold of
every topic which promised to be
sensational" During this period he
was devoted Tammany partisan. No man
ever gave himself more completely and
heartily than he to the service of party and
of leading politicians. So deeply was he COM
mitted TO the Anti-Bank party, that when the
Courier, in 1882, deserted Jackson and allied
itself with Nicholas Biddle, Bennett was
obliged to retire from the journal. His zeal
was nowise abated; but, with characteristic
persistence and energy, he started a campaign
| paper, called the Globe, in the interest OF
Jackson and Van Buren,. This lived only
thirty days; and then he went to Philadelphia,
and in 1888 purchased the PennSyIUanian
partly on credit, This journal he conducted
in the interest of Van Buren, as a candidate fol
the Presidency; but in vain he besought Jesse
HOyt and other friends of Van Buren, to helI
him with loan of $2500, without which he saw
that he could not sustain his enterprise. Help
| was denied him, and the Pennsylvania
| passed out of his hands. He revenged him
self, in the year 1884, by some letters in the
| Philadelphia Inquirer on "The Kitchen Cabi
net" But he was read out of the party Il
which he had devoted himself so unreservedly
and for whose ungTateful leaders he had toileC
| so long, and so hard, and so thanklessy. lie
| | raturnpd IN New York the sana vaar