Telegram-herald., 1890-03-19

Eron4 TIE eoor q ne 90 senate ekanaoer,
where Ihsy hzd been accommodated for
nany years. 4ad send then 10 tAs ga
lsry. The nosement vas successful
Later. n Andres Jaekson's time. Reu-
ben Whjtney. ~ho wToSe articles for
Fr4ak BARS Gsobe, YES thrsazenec
with death IN COMMITTEES room - Con
sressnsn Baltic Psyson aDd Henry A
Wise. These st4tssn~a puk offensive
qaestaons % Whitney. Who rseoEted In
kind. and sloodshed wa in2lsenL
Aftsrwzrd Wse and Peyton confessed
AZ the Bar OF the hoass that they carried
weapons with an intentlOn - Use them
on Whitney II occasion arose, and thus
Is IL history records statesmen and not
journalists a. the firss offenders IN the
matter u carrying guns with hostile IN
tent
The famous cllley Graves duel Ia ls3s
was tEs ouEgro~th Of = quarrel between
statesmen and journalists Clllsy. =
member from Maine. charged James
Watson Webb. then q Washington cor
respondent. bUt afterward editor OF The
New York Enquirer. with having re-
eeived bribs Of So. 900 from the Bank
% the United States. Webb challenged
Cilley, sending his message by the hands
Of Congressman Graves. OF Kentucky.
CiIey declined 20 recognize WEBB as a
gentleman, and Ia that lofty manner
which some latter day statesmen initiate,
refused 10 get into a difficulty with q
public journalist. OF course Graves
had 20 take up the fight on his own ac-
count. and promptly challenged Clley.
This challenge was accepted. and the
preliminaries were arranged by Henry A.
Wise ana George w. Jones, the latter
afterward a senator from Iowa. and still
living. Rides were the weapons, and on
the fourth fire Cillsy fell dead. He left
u wife and three young children, and,
having been q very popular man, his
death in this manner caused a great deal
OF excitement all over the country.
IL is worth while here 10 pause and re-
mark that it Was one Of these quarrels
between American statesmen and jour
nslists that gave to the world tho modern
system OF reporting legislative debates.
In wsging their prosecutions OF the press
Of Philadelphia. the Federalists Of John
Adams day found it convenient to drive
an editor named Cobbett out OF the coun-
try. Cobbett retired TO England and
there began the first complete reports OF
the parliamentary debates ever published,
while he also conducted great political
journal Thus parliamentary reporting
the world over may be said to have been
born out OF the persecution Of the press
in free America.
One of the foremost Of American jour
nalists had a serious personal difficulty
with statesman. More than a third OF
a century ago. when n. 2. Banks (whose
white head is on the hoor below me as
write) was speaker. Horace Greeley wns
a newspaper correspondent in Washing
ton. As correspondent he was as pug
nacious as he afterward proved TO be as
an editor, and he succeeded in rousing
the ire of big, six-footer congressman
from Arkansas of the name of Rust.
This fine specimen OF the statesman
met Greeley on the steps of the old Capt.
tol and struck him with his fist, and was
following this up with his cane when by
standers interfered. In the letters of Mr.
Greeley recently published by Mr. Dana,
OF The New York Sun. this assault is
often spoken of, and it il made plain
that while not subdued the young cor
respondent lived in no little fear and
trembling of the personal violence with
which he was so often threatened. at
any rate, he armed himself with re-
volver, and allowed il to become known
that he would not stand any more pum-
melting. After this be was not molested.
Those were fighting days. 1t was at
the same session of congress that Mr..
Wallach. editor Of The Washington
Evening Star, then a struggling sheet,
now earning an annual profit of
$500, 900, was attacked on the street
By Extra Billy" Smith, an ex-con-
gressInan, who was getting rich out
OF some mail contracts. Smith Knocked
the editor down, but the latter got