Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-02-09
TRAGEDIES OF THE sANCrUu.
Closing Scenes I'm the Life Of Some New
York Edit0rSs

Closing Scenes i'm the Life Of some New
York Editors.
From John Swintons Paper.
| There has been widespread grief among the
newspaper men of New York over the traocal
ending, few DAYS ago. of the life OF John B.
Wood. Familiarity known as Doc Wood, the
''Great American Condenser of the Sun, by
shock and exposure through falling into the
ice-bound river at midnight.
The tragedy of his death brings to my mind q
score Of other tragedies of the sanctum that
have cast lurid light over the years of my Ca
| reer upon the press of New York will tell of
| a few of the more notable Of them without 90
| ing Tar back in my memory.
The first editor of the New York World which
| was started as an orthodox religious paper.
| was Mr.. SpauldinR. grave. taciturn man of
large frame and powerful intellect When the
| World fell into financial straits and threw re-
| ligion overheard, about 1853. Mr.. Spaulding
| took a place upon the editorial staff of the
assistant then was; and there he showed him
self to be the bOdest master Of political inyec-
tive ever known on the American press To
recruit his health, he made voyage to New
| sippi his boat met with i'll luck, and he was
cast on 2 deserted tana o. land, where he was
| almost stai 7e6 =, ia : The first ] knew of
his return to New York was at very late hour
OF one night. when, being on duty in the edi-
tOrial quarters of the Times a whistle up the
pipe" from the publication Office, and mes
sage that Mr.. Spaulding had muttered my
name, hurried me down stairs. l found him
PROSTATE on his back upon the stone flooring,
evidently struck by paralysis, and entirely I'M
conscious. In few moments he caught nv
voice, and began stammering out Latin words,
disjointed quotations from Virgil, Horace and
his other favorite authors, occasionally pressing
his head with his hands, and breaking into a
sort OF wild laugh 1t was after midnight by
the City Hall clock when left his side, fastened
over to the old New York hospital, then in
broadway, rang up the young doctor in charge,
who agreed to take him in, returned to
the Times with a stretcher, called down
four compOsitors, who lifted the PROSTATE
them back to the hospital, where saw him
placed safely upon cot under doctors
charge. 1t was half an hour OF the time for
| going to press when got back to the editors
| sanctum, and if the editorial columns of next
days Times were short or otherwise imperfect,
MIR. Spaulding was over fifty years DID, he had
| been married but a few months before, and in
the morning telegraphed to his young wife.
then In one of the towns up the Hudson river
who appeared at the hospital in very few
| hours She tended him devotedly during the
| days In which he could not be removed from the
cot. and then had him taken to her fathers
| country home, where he soon afterward bowed
| h is head in death. In this tragcal way ended
| the lite of the first editor of the New York
| World, man of great soul and honest purpose
Even more tragical was the closing scene In
June, 1869. of the life Of HenryJ. Raymond him
SELF the distinguished founder and editor of the
New York Times. He had been at the Times
office on the afternoon of the night in which he
was found dead and inquired for me. but l hap
pened to be engaged elsewhere In a work which
he had put upon me. writing criticism of
Woosey's "Reform Against Nature" then just
published. Leaving word that he desired to see
me as soon as possible, he left the office in his
| usual CHEEKY mood, took dinner at his house in
9th street, and then went to political meeting.
But little is known of his subsequent move
ments until after midnight Of that day Dune
1S), when his wife, who was drawn down stairs by
hearing anoise, found him lying dead at the door
of his house. In the midst OF great career in the
press and In politics his lite ended in tragedy
never yet cleared up. In the very early years Of
my manhood, Mr.. Raymond had given me my
first opportunity on the press by inviting me to
his paper. and during the ten years that pre-
coded. included, and followed by the great war
for abolition Cor from 1859 to 1869 when Twas
his daily associate, he proved himself to be the
most amiable OF men, as he was one of the most
accomplished editors.
But set out to tell, with the fewest words.
the tragedies of a score Of New York editors of
! my acquaintance, In single column and
already find it nearly full.
The tragedy of the death in madhOuse Of
horace Greeley, une lOuHOcr ana e0itOr OF the
New York 1ribuae-who has not been shock ed
by the story of it3
The tragedy Of the death Of the venerable
poet, William Cullen Bryant, editor Of the Eue,,-
ing Post, who fell before my eyes under sun
stroke in the Central Park five years ago, was
told in this paper of December 80
How suddenly and Unexpectedly, in the sum-
mer OF last year death struck my associate VIM
o. Bartlett. Of the San, a man of great mind
and great heart.
The tragedy Of the death last September of
the jovial Hugh j. Hastings, the editor Of the
Commercial advertiser OF this city, was caused
through shock which he got when his carriage
came IN collision with an express wagon.
How suddenly and grievously, in December
last, fell William L. Clarke, editor of the New
York Star. the good and talented man. who had
so often thought it his duty to assal me for the
deeds that l did under the highest sense of
duty.
The managing editor Of the New York Herald
during nearly the whole of the lite of the elder
Bennett was Mr.. Hudson, who came to a trag-
ical end in the Massachusetts, town OF Concord
few years ago through being crushed by q
railway train.
Time fails me to tell of the lesser lights
Chase. of the Herald, Ned Seymour and Mills, of
the Times, Adams. of the Sun, and how many
others. What line OF tragedies of the sane.
tum Is unrolled before my eyes!-tragedies
which have shocked my spirit every year since
first stood, as STRIPPING, within the innermost
circles of the daily press of New York
The tragedy OF poor Doc Wood is the latest on
the roll.
LOhn ERrAVusn nd he Ruon,>