New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-09

chain of circumstances, came East from Nashville
lodging the boa constructor. At Chattanooga we
started The Rebel and it was read eagerly by
both sides"
Confederate veterans, by the way, will still
tell YOU how they used to pay twenty-five cents q
copv for this broadsde, in their deprecated
rency. and how they enjoyed watching the young
editors advise the Government and the generals
what 70 do TO save the Ccnfederacy
General Rosecrans read the paper" continued
Mr. Watterson, and it sold like hot cakes
introduced scheme ,1at was copied by The Lon
don Times and afterward by The New-York
Herald of placing few lines giving the latest
news at the head of the initial editorial column
headed. The Situation When the Army came
rearer Chattanooga l called it The Front Those
lines were the first thing read in the paper. To-
ward the end General Bragg began TO make use
NJ them for deceiving the enemy, and the sum-
mary would appear dated The Rebel Office, 80
y M or .: III "a. m, or l 40 a. M containing
matter based on telegram carefully prepared at
military headquarters. The old soldiers grumblcd
tcrribly about our giving the enemy such valuable
information, never realizing that we were really
an important arm of the service. When The
pohol, went South, I went back into the Army
II used to think / young Napoleon), became
chief of scouts, and saw no more of the paper.
"I was nephew of Stanley Matthews, and after
the war / spent some time in Cincinnati. Then
went to Nashville. There was newspaper
tberc called The Republican Banner very old
sheet. Roberts and / got the idea of buying
Il Rohertss father mortgaged his farm to get
Thousand dollars for us There were nine other
noners in Nashville At the end of month we
had cleared out all except one, and that wasn't
n rival. had paid back our thousand, had good
Nd MI nd C100 or &S00 In bOOf
How did we manageit? Why. we were two cner-
cetic staving boys, with the war behind us, and
tbe people stood by us. We didn't believe in any
Of this antediuvan rubbish. l was Democrat
with Republican principles. l held that we were
under a great Obligation to ourselves, to God Al
mighty, ard to the negro. and that it was our
duty TO do something for him. After l had been
some time in Nashville. George ID. Prentice, the
great editor of the old Louisville Journal began
to fail, and l was asked to take charge of the
PAPER He owned third of the stock. and that
WAS offered to me- / came up to Louisville
Have YOU ever seen Prentice's portrait? lie was
n eird-looking old man, with marvellous intel
lect which he never gave full play. They were
talking about sending him out TO California lie
said to me: Now. my young friend, you probably
want to make n great name; but here you'll he
overshadowed by my great name l replied: !
don't care u jot about great name, sir. what
I'm thinking of, is TO build mp great property
The great rival Of The Journal was The
Courier in the hands of Mr.. IIaldeman who had
lust come back from the war At first, proposed
10 him TO consolidate the two papers. but he re-
fused to do it on equal terms. lie wanted In
count The Courier as two and The journal as
one. which was what it really worth. But
| held out and worked TO impair the prestige OF
The Journal until consolidation was finally
effected Then | plunged into the fight for the
principles l believed in. and You have no IDEA
what a storm of defamation and abuse | en-
countered. had 10 stand fire in the rear. My
supporters in those days were Murat 1iastead,
Whitelaw Reid and John Forney. and Horace
Greeley regarded as a sort of guide. philosopher
and friend Mr. Reid has been abused at differ
ent times in his life. and has used the effective
weapon of silence But in Kentucky man has
TO fight and as people attacked me | had To hit
back What was trying TO do? Well, long be
fore the XIIIth Amendment was passed. l had
taken strong ground the negro question. The
way the negro was treated here was frightful. n
log or a horse could testify in the courts. but II
5000 negroes saw murder committed. not one OF
them could open his mouth. Then they had lot
of black laws negro required a pass to 60 from
Mace to place. and he wasn't allowed to enter
street-car, and 50 on. After the negro fight came
the fight for honest money, which was settled at
St. Louis in 1876. Then came the tariff fight,
that is still going on.
What rule had you for building up your
paper"
Il tried simply to make it good newspaper.
At first worked sixteen hours day. fash
toned it more or less on the basis of the London
papcrs. as Reid did The Tribune We were both
~ ip,pnr.apo1
The London papers were then better than ours, and
are so STILL as far the writing goes, though the
American newspaper of late has picked up wonder
fully. and we beat them in the collection OF news.
Poor Mr. Prentice died before | had been here
three years He used 10 live in great squalor.
taking his meals in his room. IL is sad 10 think
how his ability was squandercd. lie was the
father of the paragraph as you see it now III
editorial columns. and he made II perfect. Some
times, his prejudice ran away with him. and then
he degenerated into rodomontade He was a
dictionary monster. and there's wonderful lot OIL
learning in the dictionary. I've heard him say,
and suppose it was true that be could roCltc the
whole Of the Odyssey in Greek. My. what an
intellect he had And, Just before the end, when
he recovered his strength for time, what copy
he could turn out Yet he never formed any
intimate felowships. Not an eve that had
watched his great career was wet when he died.
The Legislature passed memorial resolutions, and
was invited to go To Frankfort and deliver an
address. which did, and we put up monument
to him over the door of our new building. But
his grave in the Cave Hill Cemetery is unmarked,
and doubt whether his fame now is strong.
We talked of the fate Of a common acquaintance,
a clever writer who after lifetime of journalism,
made a fortune in another business. but has spent
it, and in his old age lacks visible means OF
subsistence"
Don't you think that most newspaper mems
lives are failures" | asked Mr.. Watterson. " 50
far as their own rewards are cOncerned?"
Il do" he said, omphatically. 1t is wear
ing, tearing business. You get nothing out Of