The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-05-17
JOHN II. MARTIN.
Ills NOBLE LIFE AND ST.
PERB CHARACTER.
\ True and Beautiful Tribute to Hi
Worth by His Faithful Friend,
Dabucy Marshall.

God sends some heroes on earth
whose names are 50 bright and pure
that the gliS,er of M monumental mar
bic is fair enough to write them on,
and 50 we write them on our hearts,
and such hero was John H. Mar
tin.
Born in comparative poverty, hay
ing to struggle while 4 mere boy for
his daily bread and cut Off from the
advantages that fortune showers on
her favored ones, John Martin, by
the sheer force Of his genius and the
indomitablc energy of his noble heart,
T triumphcd over and tramplcd on every
adverse circumstance, and at the age Of
twenty-five had won for himself name
in Mississippi that her proudest citizen
might look upon with envy. While
other boys were in school or college
pcru,ing the wisdom of ages and GRID
ing Themselves with the intellectual
armor with which the battle Of life in
this nineteenth century must be
fought, he, now in Mississippi, now
in Texas, was an humble printer,
placing the type side by side, or as a
telegraph operator, listening to the
clicking message that the lightning
bore, but he, even then, was dream
ing the noble dreams that eyer come
/ to the young and ambitious and the
dingy printing office or the rough rail
road depot would widen and widen
into some grand hall of State and the
humble boy would change into a man,
noblv pleading in burning accents for
the good and the true, and IN behalf
of the unfortunate and oppressed.
At twenty-five this boys dream
was fast becoming the mans achieve
ment.
Scarcely three years ago, gathering
/ together what little money he had, he
purchased Il meager outfit for news.
paper Office and started at the littlc
village of Utica Il paper called the
Comet. This paper, humble as was,
was the young mans first venture, and
was to tell whether he should succeed
and be among earth's honored names
or fall ard be among those who, like
the dew drops impearling the roses,
today are, and tonight are not. Not
only were all his ambitions poised up
on the success Of this paper, but the
support Of himself and mother. Its
success meant to him all that this
world can hold for any man OF sweet
ness and Of joy. With such things
at stake a heart less noble would have
asked what was public sentiment and
tried to so mould the papers opinions,
but not 50 John Martin. He asked
what was right and his conscience,
having answered, his pen wrote in
accordance with hc2 mandates. So
in a lawless, reckless town, where the
saloons were dominant, the Comet be-
came each week clarion voice,
preaching righteousness and prohibi-
ton.
He soon won friends, and they
gathered around him and warned him
not to antagonizc 50 powerful an Gle
mcni
He simply answered, II cannot
heed your warning" and day after
day he went radiant!y on, where the
angel of right bcckoncd.
Success came to him, and what is
far better, it came unclouded, deserved
and without any stain of base stoop-
ing to achieve it. Many can succeed
but few succeed noblv.
When he came to Jackson his course
was the same.
In the local option campaign he
fought with his whole soul for prohibi
ton when bankruptcy and financial
disaster stared him in the face and
gold by the thousands might have
been his, had he sold his conscience
aud fought on the other side
Not only did he fight errors, but
he fought the men who embodied and
championed these errors.
/ Unlike many other editors, he cared
not how exalted the position how wide
the popularity Of the man he exposed,
or how great the danger involved. He
felt that as a public journalist, he had
plghtcd the people his oath that he
would tell the truth, and as his death
proved he died rather than break his
oath.
So while other journals had word,
Of rebuke for the poor, lowly criminal
and could rebuke crimes if they were
only committed far enough away from
= home, John Martin exposed the short
comings Of governors, senators, peni.
teutiary magnates and attorney gener
ais, and rebuked the obliquities that
recked and fcstered around him at
home.
This fearlessness of temper and pro
bity Of soul was linked to the brightest
literary talent III Mississippi. We
think we are but stating a plain and
easily demonstrated fact when we say
that there was no man who could hsn
die subject with such grace, clear
ness and beautiful persuasive elo
. quence.
He was no merely brilliant young
man eff whom there are thousands
he posse ssed the elements that wOulc
have made him a great man in the
broadest sense Of the word. He would
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