Weekly Trinity journal., 1870-02-05
George ID. Prentice.

George D. Prentice died at Louisville, Ken
lucky, on the morning of January 22d, aged
ty-eight. The following sketch of Mr.. Prem
tice appeared in Lppincons Magazine a short
time before his death
Mr. Prentce's forte as an editor consists in
his wit and sarcasm. At his table, with his
spare notes. and u rapid amenuensis before him,
he pulls forth strings of witty sayings from his
brain as a magician pulls forth coils of silken
ribon from hat Whenever point suggests
itself he will jot it down, no matter where he is
or what accommodations for jotting down are at
hand He generally has pencil and slip of
paper, sometimes only the debris of an old en-
velope about him, but for desk he will with
equal readiness make use of his hat, or dead
wall or q lamp post. The note, consisting prob
ably of only word, is then consigned to appar-
ent oblivion in the depths of the pocket or the
inside of his hat, to be brought out only by
chance among a number of boon companions in
the same place. When he feels inclined to wit
he takes from receptacles where he has placed
his fortunate notes, thick slips of tiny man
uscripts, with bare suggestions of Il joke On
these he commences process of incubation that
is quite as rapid as that of the famous hen-per-
suader. He dictates in a slow and serious man
ner with his eyes fixed alternately on his own
little slip of paper and on the ceiling, punctua-
VI
or two to embelish figure, but straight on as
fuently as Wendell Philips or Susan b. Anthony
answers a retort. His conversational powers,
strangely enough very deficient He be-
comes painfully dull and awkward when brought
into brilliant company. Introduce him to a
noted wit, and although he may laugh at the
Jokes of his new acquaintance, the laugh is par
TALLY forced, and his replies, if he attempts any,
are irrelevant and pointless. He is shy of max
ing any attempt at wit and humor, and seems
strongly inclined to discountenance such an at
tempt on the part of another. His wit is appar-
emily only in the columns of a newspaper for it
requires to be pruned and finished before it is
presentable. lie does not say things that are
bright, but he thinks and writes n great many.
1t may well be assumed that Mr.. Prentice, al
though comfortably exempt from all vexatious
lawsuits, was frequently involved in dangerous
personal recountres. He does not know how
often he has been shot, or how often his life has
been despaired of. In all his numerous rencoun-
tres, he has seldom, if ever, come out second
best. Many Of them were sought by himself in
retaliation for abuse heaped upon him by rival
editors, for, free as he is in his abuse of Others
he is peculiarly sensitive to abuse heaped upon
himself
Robert Durrett was editor of the Louisville
Courier, the principal local opponent of the Jour
nal in 1858, and kept sly paragraph in its col
umns for several days, intimatng that Mr.. Prem
tce, while "under a clouo," had fallen from a
gang-plank of a steamboat into the water. Mr..
Prentice was intensive ly aggravated by this lit
tie paragraph. He did not deny its truth 1t
might have been true, but it was no less object
ionable on that account Probably he felt that
even his great command of language would not
permit him to do justice to the subject lie sim
ply announced that if the paragraph appeared
again he would hold the editor personally re-
sponsible. OF course the paragraph appeared
NJ. 4
upon Mr.. Durrett, fired twice at him, received
two shots in return, the police nterfered, honor
was satisfied, the paragraph was Cancelled f"
and each editor had ball extracted from under
his hide.
William Z. Hughes, another rival editor, sent
bis belligerent card up to Mr.. Prentice during a
popular excitement, and received the following
reply:
"Tell Mr.. Hughes l will be down as soon as |
load my pistols"
Hughes however, unwilling to give his enemy
every advantage of ground and preparation,
with drew in haste. The popular excitement at
the time was in consequence of KnowNothing
election, which, in Louisville, was contest of
muscle more than anything else and every prom
inent politician felt bound by the obligations Of
party to'shoot or disable some prominent man
of the opposition. The day of election was a
day of blood, and is yet known as " Bloody Mon
day" in the annals of the city. Mr.. Prentice
undoubtedly assisted in allaying the popular tu-
mutt and probably saved a rival Office and a
Catholic cathedral from destruction. On sew
eral occasions, he has himself been compelled to
fee before the wrath of the people. During the
Ward riots, when Matt. Ward, who murdered
the school teacher, Butler, was the object of
vengeance, Mr.. Prentice, who defended Ward in
his columns for reasons never definitely known
took horses at midnight and galoped away to a
place of safety.