The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-06-27
HENRY wATTERsON.

ing, rippling-sometimes sparkling-never
witty, never profound, and never exhibiting
deep, patient or earnest thought. Henry
Watterson has travelled considerably. has a
large acquaintance with men, and, being a
good listener, has picked up a large
amount OF odds and ends of information
which he has learned to appropriate
in true Bohemian style and upon which his
reputation as a newspaper writer mainly
rests.
AS a politician Mr.. Watterson is of the
weather-cock style, and hence dead failure.
No man suffers more from egotism, and in
his whole career he has exhibited the folly
OF the labeled frog-to swell to the size of an
OK. Mr. Watterson has succeeded In swell
ing several times and always with bursting
results. His vanity is always conspicuous,
and for years its exhibitions made him RI
diculous in Louisville and throughout Ken
lucky. He made his appearance in
Louisville in the keeping of man
who escaped the penitentiary on a
charge of defrauding the government, and
who used him for the purpose of displacing
George ID. Prentice from the control Of the
Louisville Journal. Mr.. Watterson was
willing to appropriate the fame Of that dis
tinguished journalist, and in the wealth OF
his egotism thought he could dispense with
the veterans services. This act of cruelty
he did commit, but the indignation of the
people was so great and so emphatic that he
promptly retraced his steps and reinstated
Mr.. Prentice. But he could not maintain
the standing of the Journal, which went
down hill under his editorial management
with a velocity never before witnessed in
western journalism. At this juncture a con-
solidation was sought with the Courier, q
newspaper under the control of w. N. Hal
deman, who in the arrangement took good
care that Watterson should not control its
destinieS, and since that time Mr.. Watterson
has had rather an easy time of it. He has
been the editorial figurehead, and that is
about all. Whatever is substantial in the
reputation OF the Courier-Journal has been
gained without Mr.. Watterson's assist
ance and in spite of his blunders His course
some years since awakened such a
deep hostility in the minds of the Ken
lucky democrats that they regarded 1T
important to establish democratic journal
in Louisville to counteract the gross ard
libelous misrepresentation of the Courier
Journal. Mr.. Watterson is not now and
never was democrat, and every move he
has made in that direction, and every word
he has written, has been in direct antago-
nism to his convictions Henry Watterson
is always for sale, and his deep-seated antag-
onism to Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks was
evidently a matter of dollars and cents
His advocacy of the claims of Mr.. Tilden
also had the same significance. To the
casual acquaintance Mr.. Watterson appears
genial and whole-souled, but he has
been known, so reports have it,
to refuse to pay his gambling debts,
and only settled the score when he
learned that further refusal would
result in his chastisement. His connection
with the Louisville library lottery swindle,
If that bonanza of crime should ever be half
exposed will 90 far to enable the people to
form Just estimate of his integrity. Those
who have had his business confidence have
learned that in the employment of assistants
on the Courier-Journal that he only censid-
cred their necessities, and was ready to take
any advantage possible of their wants-a
quality Of head and heart that is not priced
among gentlemen. Mr.. Watterson sneering-
ly alludes to the Sentinel, but the Sentinel
is to-day on a firmer financial basis than the
Courier-Journal, and is more rapidly gaining
friends and the respect OF the public
Mr.. Watterson alludes 10 the present editor
of the Sentinel as a former employe OF the
Courier-Journal. That much is true. The
remainder of the paragraph referring to
our employment on that paper is abso-
lutely false, and Mr.. Watterson knows the
statements to be false. Our connection with
the Courier-Journal was in the highest sense
honorable, our departure from the Courier
Journal was equally honorable; any intima-
ton to the contrary could only be made by
an assassin. by one lost TO all sense Of honor
and manliness. The men are living
who were in position TO know
the facts and who do know them.
We took position on the Courier, from the
Democrat, because there was more money in
it, and when the consolidation took place
between the Courier aud the Journal our
place on the Courier-Journal was secured
without our asking for it. We left the
CourierJ Journal because we were offered a
much higher salary. These changes had
simply a money consideration; there was
nothing else ia the transactions The facts
are susceptible of overwhelming proof II
is not matter of great importance what
Henry Watterson may think of the editor Of
the Sentinel, but the columns of the Courier
Journal bear evidence Of his work in
every department, and we can show
by the files of the Courier Journal