Nevada County picayune., 1890-04-23
EDITORS IN ENGLAND
Mr. Stead the Only One Who Enjoys Cn1
 yersai Notoriety.


 versal Notoriety.
 In England the editor of a newspaper nas no such interesting personality as he has here. Nobody takes the slightest interest in him. No matter what the influence or circulation of a journal, the name of the editor is rarely asked for The two notable exceptions who prove this rule are Sir Edwin Arnold, of the Daily Telegraph, and w. T. Stead, Of the Pall Mall Gazette. Of these two Stead is by far the most notorious, for he has the more striking and eccentric person. ality. The Pall Mall Gazette is the one sensational daily of London, and many a sensation it has made. One of them landed Stead in prison and fame. That was every thing to me-eyery thing to me-" he is wont to say in his nervous, rapid way. Why, do you know, 8 woman told me that she and lot of other women way off on the Cape of Good Hope used to have prayer meet ing for me every day" Since then Stead has never dropped below the public horizon for more than a week at time. No one gave such attention to the Maybrick case, or managed to get so many little items of sensational interest regarding it. No one keeps such a sharp look out on public events, or moral lapse; no one makes so much of his material, or so arouses public scorn and sense of justice. A man of social standing who finds him. self on the verge of being implicated in an unsavory scandal, thinks shiveringly of the Pail Mall Gazette, before he does of the witness stand. Stead has mo- tive in sensationalism aside from love of notoriety and the sale of his paper. He is religious man, fanatically so, and is powerfully impressed with the idea that he has a mission in life. That mission is to expose sin and promote virtue, and he makes for righteousness" to quote his own pet expression, for all he IS worth. His energy and enterprise are phenomenal. No celebrity living has ever put his or her foot in England with out being interviewed by Stead, and there are few in Europe whom he has not managed to meet at some time or other. He may never print these inter- views, he may stow them away in a room kept for the purpose, but sooner or later they have their value. He works ten hours day. The first to reach his office, he is the last to leave it, and during that time he superintends ev- cry article that goes into his paper, writes every leader, reads and replies to cor respondence which flows in like waves of air, and receives innumerable wis itors. In appearance he is short wiry, active, with fine head, and bright, restless, china-blue eyes. When wis itor is shown into his private office in the little alley of the Strand. he makes a grab for his hand and rattles along with such volubility, darting from one subject to another, haranguing, preach ing, laying down the law, advising, re- proving. that the bewildered visitor for gets his errand-which is probably what Stead intends. All the time his blue eyes dart needles right into ones very soul. Stead thus knows his man, with. out being obliged to hear him talk. Suddenly he springs to his feet grabs your hand again, and, when he is in one of his more inexplicable moods, bursts into peal after peal of laughter, which echoes after you as you grope through the labyrinthine corridors, as you stumble down the rotting staircase, and into the narrow little street. It is reported that Stead will sever his connection with the Pall Mall Gazette in the spring, come to this country, study American journal ism, and return to London to establish paper whose i'd ca, original with himself, will assuredly be like no other of which the world has ever dreamed. Current Literature.