The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-11
Hugh Hastings.
Success in the Lobby and the sanctum-
Making $4,000 in a sentence-His Bi.
ARE Dress.
New York letter.

!
/ 1t is singular that the grave which onened
to receive the body of Thurlow Weed few
months ago has now closed over the ashes
OF Hugh J. Hastings, his pupil in the lobby
and partner in the press. 1t was in 1876,
on the floor of the constitutional convention
at Albany, that Hastings came and took a
seat at my side and handed me receipt for
$4,000 for one-third interest in the Com
mercial Advertiser of this city. From that
time his history belonged to New York; pre-
viously it had Belonged to Albany, where he
was known as one of the most skillful mem
bers of the third house. Thurlow Weed had
| him up as boy and educated him for the
lobby, and he made fortune at the bust
ness OF dealing in votes. He said to me on
one occasion: -"They say L buy up men,
body and soal; but never purchased man
who did not come to me and indicate his de-
sire TO sell out" He made money rapidly to-
ward the last of his stay at Albany. One day
he came to me and said: 81 made $4,000
to-day. Certain parties came to me and
asked my opinion as to the likelihood of Sc
curing the passage of bill. I told them
/ ny NPAhAOA Woo WIFI pc,OOU. lUty pdiu
| me, and | advised them to 90 home-that
| the legislature would never allow their bills
! to pass" Conspicuous in white flannel
suit and flaming red necktie, or other such
| bizarre costume, he haunted the lobby of all
| State conventions of his party, and was a
/ power there. He knew the secrets of so
many politicians that he could generally do
great deal for any candidate whom he
| favored. He liked Grant, Conkling and
Tom Murphey, and hated Cornell, George
William Curtis and Horace Greeley, and he
always made his likes and dslikes widely
known in print
As a newspaper proprietor and editor
Hugh Hastings was the most disagreeabe
man in the city to work for. AT times gem
lal and easy, he had fits of anger which made
his neighborhood intolerable to those with
whom he came in contact, and he never
| awarded word of praise to a subordinate.
| Toward the last he surrounded himself BY
his relatives, making one nephew managing
| editor, another dramatic critic, third city
| editor, a fourth financial editor, and making
| his son-in-law the business manager of his
| paper But he was the handspring of the
| whole establishment, and his crisp personal
| paragraphs were the admiration of his
| friends and the terror of his foes. An ex-
treme partisan, he always managed to main
tain personal friendship with the leaders
| of the local Democracy, and this stood him
in good stead in the matter of patronage
| One of his brothers is an inspector in the
custom house; another a clerk In the surro-
| gates Office, third is clerk for the tax COM
missioners, and fourth (now deceased) was
contractor for the plumbing work in the new
| postofice building while several nephews
have had different positions under the city
| government. His beautiful residence at
| Long Branch was center of hospitality,
which he shared with his friend and neigh,
Dor, John Hoey, of the Adams Express COM
| pany 1t was great regret to him always
| that he could not blot out that part of his
| life which had connected him with the
| Albany lobby. Every once in while his
bitter personal attacks upon men whom he
disliked would bring out dark portions of
his record, and then he would weep like a
child-a revenge which his adversaries never
expected. He would have cheerfully bart
cred his fortune could he have left behind
him the testimony that it was acquired by
honest labor-and this not on his own ac-
count, but for the sake of his wife and
daughters The had no SOM, whom he tender
| ly loved. Himself catholic, he married an
Episcopalan, and he was the only one of
| the family and of all his relatives who ad-
hered to his paternal creed, which he did
| enthusiastically; yet he was a Republican
| from the inception of the party, and a men,
| Der of the convention that nominated John
| G. Fremont for the presidency.