Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-06-02
JAMES GoRDON BENNETT.

The telegraph annOUncesth morning
the death of one among the first Of
American iOurnalists-James Gordon
Bennett. The not unexpected event Oc-
CURED at his residence, Mount Washing
ton, near New York, last evening at
about half-past five o'clock. For year
or more his health had been rapidly de-
clining, and it was on more than one
occasion hinted that be was no longer
equal TO the strain Of mind which he ex-
pended In making the Herald the first
newspaper in the world. AT last, in his
seventy-secOnd year, fifty of them spent
nconnectiou with the press, and thirty
seven Of them on the Herald, he has
succumbed. Mr.. Bennett was born in
lSOO, at New Mill, Keith, Banffshire,
Scotland, his parents being we'll
tO-dO persons of the middle class, who
gave him a good education, intending
him cor the priesthood of the Roman
Catholic Church, of which they were
members. He tried theology for two
years, but gave it up, and shortly after,
accompanied by some young friends,
emigrated to this country, settling first
at Halifax, where, in 1919, he became
sehoOl-teacher. This not being to his
taste, he gave up his school and accepted
a situation as proof-reader in the Boston
publishing house Of Wells & Lilly, with
whom he remained until 1922, when he
removed to New York, whence he left
the same year for Charleston, South
Carolina, where he took the position of
translator Of Spanish-American news
on the Courier, then owned by Mr.. Viii
lington. He did not remain long at the
South. He returned to New York after
a few months absence, and in 1925 made
his first attempt to become the proprietor
of newspaper. He in rapid succession
became a proprietor or co-editor of the
Courier, the National AdUocdte, the
Enquirer, the Courier and Enquirer, the
Globe and the Rs5sisylUdnjdn in Phila-
delphia. In May, 1885, he started the
Herald, with which he has ever since
been connected, and with which his
name must forever be inseparably linked. |
The part Mr.. Bennett played in this ex-
tended career differs as widely from that
Of all other men as it is possible to con-
ceive Of. His main idea as a journalist
was that a successful paper should be
faithful reflex of passing events, and a
fair representative of shifting policies.
He, therefore, aimed TO make each Herald
peculiar as the history of day, COM
piled with care. He cared not who il
hurt, who was offended, or what preju-
dices he encountered, he published
everything in the shape of news that
reached him, or that he could get by
paying for it. And so in politics: If
te-day the movements Of a party were
popular, he said so and approved it; if to-
morrow unpopular, ne disapproved and
condemned. In this way he earned the
credit of vascillating, when in truth,
nine times out of ten, he was
bat expressing popular opinion. But
he cared nothing for the adverse
criticisms Of press or people. He had a
theory, and by that he was guided. The
result has proven him correct. The
people recognized the transcendant
newspaper sense which controlled the [
Herald, and finding in its columns what {
they could not anywhere else, gave it a :
generous support, and now it is every !
where acknowledged to be not only the {
first among American, but the first s
among the newspapers of the world.
This is Benefits work; judged by !
it, be is entitled TO stand high ,
among the worlds workers, and by COM
parison of it with similar work in his !
own and other great cities, he must, un- I
be permitted to occupy the {
plaeeOf not only an illustrious journalist, J
but that of the man above all others who
first organized and simplified the meth !
DDS by which American journals are {
now conducted. For the failings Of the Z
man, we have the mantel of charity; for !
his accomplishments as journalist, we :
have the highest admiration.