Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-04-16
OUR LETTER FROM THE NATIONAL
METROPOLIS.


NEw YORK, April IA.
called upon George Alfred Town
send ("Gath"), this afternoon, at his
New York residence, No. 242 West
Twenty-third street. A letter OF intro
duction from Jas. Edwin Spear, the tai
ented editorial writer Of <he Cincinnati
Enquirer, conducted me into the pres
ence of the famous newspaper cores
pendent, who was hard at work in his
library, a room situated in the rear OF
his mansion and stocked with books
from floor to ceiling. He was not,
however, too much engaged to receive a
member of the craft" and welcomed
me cordially. Mr.. Townsend, or Gath,
as he is commonly known, is in stature
short and very heavily built. He has q
round and jolly looking face, blue eyes,
wears a small blonde moustache and has
neglected to have his hair cut for sew
eral months. He is slightly bloated
about the eyes and very much in body
from
FREQUENT Drinking.
He tolI me that wine gave him the
gout, and he generally INDUCED in
something stronger. He was clothed
in a salt and peppered colored suit, and
decorated with q cardinal necktie.
Townsend was born in Tom Bayart's
colony, the little State oil Delaware. in
the village of Georgetown, the year
lS4l. he went to the Quaker City
while Young and graduated at the Phil
adelphia High School at the age OF Is.
With natural liking for the newspa.
per busines he went on TO the Phlladel-
phia Inquirer, about the fourth paper in
rank at present in the city, as news edi-
tor. His next move was little higher,
when he became city editor OF the
Press, of that city, at that time the
representative journal OF Pennsylvania.
In 1862 he was the war correspondent
of the New York Herald, during which
time he reported the Peninsular cam
paign. He was stricken down with fe-
YER during his labors in this field and
went TO Europe. He visited England and
France and wrote for several London
periodicals as well as for leading journals
at home. Early in l76o he returSed and
became
The War Correspondent
Of the New York World
for which he narrated over
his own signature the incidents OF
the close of the war, the assassination oil
President Lincoln and the disbandment
of the great armies, on which subjects
he lectured with great success, He lee
tured upon two different occasions in
Wheeling, l believe. He travelled again
in Europe in lS66-67, and described In
correspondence with American papers
the Austro-Prussian war OF 1866 and the
Paris Exposition OF 1867. lie
returned to the United States
in the latter year and went to
Washington City. There he reported
the impeachment trial OF President
johnson for six leading newspapers,
showing his usual skill and wonderful
capacity for work. For several years,
from 1868, he was on the staff OF the
Chicago TriJuras, the leading Western
journal, as editorial writer and cores
pondent. Several volumes OF his news
paper correspondence have been puo-
iished. He has also written volume OF
poems a novel entitled Lost Abroad,
and several other books. He nov
writes daily
From Three to Four Columns
for the Cincinnati Enquirer over the
nom de plume Gath contributes two or
three columns to the New York Sunday
Tribune, signed Johnny Boquet, aod,
besides, is engaged in writing books
and an occasional poem. Townsend
has the most retentive memory OF any
man living, and can write more in one
day than any three men. He has an
unlimited fund OF knowledge, and un-
limited capacity for work. He reads
great deal, remembering everything, and
can converse intelligently upon any sub
iect. He is the shrewdest In
tsryiewer that ever wrote for
the press. He always finds out from
any man what he desires TO know, with
out the person being aware that he Is
the subject OF an interview. He has a
quick and active mind, and talks rapid
ly in conversation. Townsend Is the
most celebrated newspaper correspond.
ent in the United States, and he will
live IN history as Que OF the brightest
writers in the present generation. He
told me he had just come from the
South, and on his return had passed
through
The Ksnawhs Valley
of West Virginia. He picked up Gin
cinnati Enquirer and read q portion
of hi, letter in last Mondays issue relat-
ing TO the Chesapeake and Ohio Valley
aud his reference in q rather uncompli-
mentary manner to Stonewall Jackson,
his birth, career. &C., and asked how
that would be received by the West
Yirginians. "Not very vel" replied,
"by a good portion OF them, as the rebel
element down there seems to predomi-
nate largely. That was my experience
from letter recently written in Rich
mond, in which referred to Jackson as
traitor to his country, and
Immediately all the rebel edi-
tors Of bucolic sheets in
West Virginia rose in arms against
the REGIsrER and fired off hall column
editorials denouncing i and its CORE
spon ltn'." He seemel surprised to
learn that there was 80 much anti Union
sentiment in the State, and went on to
INQUIRE after its public men, its prosper
ity and the talked OF railroads aud other
developments. Learning that l was
about to sail for Europe he outlined
trip and told me more in half hour
about the old world,
English People, Politics and Customs
than an ordinary person would have
learned in a weeks reading.
After finishing some urgent work he
proposed going down town. We took
Broadway coach to Wall street, and
there alighted. AS we passed down
that historic street Of the money-sharks,
brokers and bankers, "Gath" suddenly
exclaimed, "There goes Jay Gould!h
My eye was arrested at once. He is a
queer little creature, this Jay Gould,
small IN frame, scarcely bigger than a
puny boy OF sixteen, with black beard,
black hair, and black eyes. "He has
shrinking, cowardly way about him."
said. And thorough coward he seems
to be" remarked Cath" "You re-
member when one Of his dupes fell
upon him, a year or two ago,
and beat him and threw
hin inte an area Gould,s onlv tbousbt