Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-06-28


"What can do for youY' asked Bon
You can give me a letter to Charles a.
Dana. l want position on the SAM
Dana was under the very greatest obliga-
lions TO Bonner, who had advanced him
money to pay for his stock in the Sum-
Armed with friendly note from Bonner,
cummings called ON Dana. It so hap
pened that they were making some
changes in the force at that juncture,
England, the managing editor. having
seen put in charge of the business Office,
and other men moved about.
what did you leave the tribune for.
AmosT asked Dana.
- was discharged for alleged insubor-
olnatlon and profanity" was the reply.
Il think you are just the man l want
for managing editor" said Dana, and
Amos was forthwith installed in that
position. A few weeks afterward the Sun
published full-paged sensation charging
Jonn Russell Young with stealing Asso-
clated Press dispatches and sending them
to a Philadelphia paper Young lost his
place, lost caste, and lost prestige. Two
or three years afterward Cummings met
MN on the street and greeted him with:
Wei, - you, YOU discharged me for in
subordination and profanity, and / dis
charged you for stealing. HonOrs are
easy. OOOQ-day.'7
Jim Bennett, however, liked Young,
ana gave him rowing commission on the
Herald at 800 a week and expenses, He
reported for the Herald from Paris for
several years, then went around the world
with Grant for year and wrote big
book about it, then settled down in the
Herald as an editorial writer at $4,000
year, until, through Grants influence,
aided by his journalistic brethren. he was
made Minister to the Celestial Kingdom,
where he now is. Whitelaw Reid was
advanced to YOung's chair, and when
Horace Greeley temporarily retired from
the control of the paper to run for Presi-
dent, Reid was put in charge at 500
per week. 1t is generally supposed
that Greeley died because he failed of
election. That is mistake. He died of
broken heart, because he thought that
while he had been out he had been under
mined by the man whom he had ele-
waited. His editorials would not be pub
Ished, and when he would protest he
found he was without a voice. He also
discovered that the circulation Of the
weekly had dropped from 10000 to 80, 900,
and the daily from $4,000 to next to moth
ing. All these causes combined to break
the old mans mind and kill him. No jury
would say that he was murdered: but L
have heard things said by those who were
IN a position to know how he was treated
after that unfortunate campaign.
If John Russell Young had not penned
that hasty note to Amos Cummings dis
charging him, it is altogether probable
that in the natural course of events he
would have succeeded Greeley and been
owner of the tribune to-day instead of
Whitelaw Reid, and that the latter would
still be holding subordinate, no-account
sort of place on one of the New York
dailies, or perhaps Greeley might never
have been persuaded against his better
judgment to become a candidate for Presi-
dent. The rattle-pated, tale-bearing mes
senger boy did more mischief in sixty
seconds than a thousand men could undo
in twenty years. One move of the most
Insignificant pawn on the board COM
pletely changed the result of the game.