The Portland daily press., 1892-06-25

4
WALTER N. HALDEMAN.
rier-Journal could never have been what
it is without the brilliant editorial pen
of Henry Watterson; it would have been
quite as much of an impossibility with
out the energetic and sagacious manage
ment Of Walter Newman Haldeman.
Though well known among newspaper
publishers everywhere, and to all people
of his native state, Mr.. Haldeman's life
of business has made him less familiar
1y known to the general public than his
colaborer, Mr.. Watterson, but he is a
man of remarkable character and with a
career as full Of interest as it is Of sue.
cess.
April 81 Mr.. Haldeman celebrated his
seventy-first birthday. His years sit
well upon him, and in spite of them he is
still a constant and tireless worker. He
is native of Maysville, KY. His father
was of Swiss origin, but both his par
ents came to Kentucky from Pennsyl-
vania. He began life as clerk in Louis
vile business house, having received his
education in the schools at Maysyille.
General Grant was his schoolmate dur
ing part of the time. In 1910 he Joined
the newspaper workers as bookkeeper
for the Louisville journal, edited bv
the brilliant George D. Prentice, In
1874 he became owner of The Daily
Dime, a paper which had been unsuc-
cessfully run for about eleven months.
and which he took to secure a debt. He
thus began by accident his career as a
newspaper publisher.
In June, 1874, he enlarged The Dime
and changed its name to The Morning
Courier, paper whose name is still pre-
served in that of The Courier-J Journal.
During the next ten years he took in at
different times number of partners,
but always bought back the interest he
had sold. The task Of establishing the
paper required patience and hard work,
and only one of his indomitable pluck
would have stuck to it. By 1854 he had
it on a paying basis, and in 1859 he in
corporated adjudication company. Mr..
Haldeman's time was mainly devoted to
the business interests of the paper.
though he wrote a great deal and wrote
well. There are few better photographers,
and his close supervision of every part
of the paper and his energy and liberal
ity in gathering news under the difficult
conditions then prevailing in the west
won success.
In 1861 The Courier, which sided with
the south, was suppressed by General
Robert Anderson and the Office seized.
Mr.. Haldeman avoided arrest through
the timely warning of one of his employ
ees, who overheard two Federal officers
discussing the plans for capturing him.
He made his way to General Buckner's
headquarters at Bowling Green, KY, in
September, 1861, and soon after, at the
direction of the Confederate authorities,
began the publication of The Courier
within the Confederate lines. He es-
tablished an office and an associate ed
itor at Bowling Green and went himself
to Nashville, where the paper was set
up and printed, because of the impossi-
bility of securing the necessary outfit at
the smaller place. The paper retained
its Kentucky identity by it's Bowling
Green date line, and the Louisville-Bowl-
ing Green-Nashville Courier furnished
many merry jest to the Federals and
the northern papers.
The paper, which was issued wholly
from Nashville after the Confederate
evacuation of Kentucky, was success
from the first. 1t became instantly a
favorite with the army and the people
Of the south, and attained a circulation
limited only by its mechanical facilities.
Securing reliable news from the north
was difficult matter, but that was
what was wanted within the Confeder-
ate lines, and Mr.. Haldeman met the
demand. He gained in those trying
times an experience both of the value of
news and Of the possibilities of an or
ganized news service which has since
been valuable to him. A number of ac-
tive men were employed in the danger
GUS service of procuring files of northern
newspapers for The Courier, and so per-
feet and regular was the service that
the military authorities relied on The
Courier for information. The adven-
lures Of these messengers in passing
through the lines in search of news were
often exciting.
After the war Mr.. Haldeman re-
sumed the publication of The Courier
at Louisville. and in 1868 it was consoli-