The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-05-01
EDITORS md eNeLANp.
Mr. Stead the Only One Who Enjoys Uni.
yersal NOtOrlety.


yersal NOtOrlety.
In England the editor of newspaper
has no such interesting personality as he
has here. Nobody takes the slightest
interest in him. No matter what the
influence or circulation of journal, the
name of the editor is rarely asked for,
The two notable exceptions who prove
this rule are Sir Edwin Arnold, Sf the
Daily Telegraph, and w. 7. Stead, of
the Pail Mall Gazette. OF these two Stead
is by far the most notorious, for he has
the more striking and eccentric person
ality. The Pail 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-every thing to
me" he is wont to say in his nervous,
rapid way. why, do you know, a
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
week at time. No one gave
such attention to the Maybrick case,
or managed to get so many little
items of sensational interest regarding
1t. No one keeps such 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
Df 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 mission in life. That mission
Is to expose sin and promote virtue, and
ne 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.
put 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-
:oom kept for the purpose, but sooner
Or later they have their value. He
works ten hours a 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 vis-
ttors. In appearance he is short, wiry,
active, with fine head, and bright,
restless, china-blue eyes. When Wis.
ltor is shown into his private Office in
the little alley off the Strand, he makes
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. 1t is reported thai
Stead will sever his connection with the
Pail Mall Gazette in the spring, come to
this country, study American journal.
ism, and return to London to establish
paper VIII ose idea, original with himself,
will assuredly be like no other of which
the world has ever dreamed. Current
Literature.