The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-18

reacned the front that his correspondence
| underwent change. 1t was no longer
nlled with patriotic rejoioings at the VIC
torles of the Union troops, but with de-
nunclations of the commanders of the
Union forces, who, he claimed, were
paying more attention to the business of
COTTON brokerage than they were to the
prosecution OF the war.
Ihese attacks were kept up until their
author Was the most unpopular man in
the western army. He was soon after
ordered out of the lines and sent under
escort to the rear He came home, and
his attacks were more virulent than
ever
ouch was the excitement over his edi-
torlals that the Democrat office was like
fortress under siege, as in fact it was
nearly all the time, for as soon as the
Keeling over one hitter attack wore of
another would stir the hearts of the pa
triot1o citizens to white heat of passion.
The old hand press and the imposing
| stones were loaded with rifles and re-
volvers, while Oh the stove Zig kettle
OF water was constantly boiling in readi-
ness to be used in case the office was at
| tackled.
During all this time, Mr.. Pomeroy was
| not around
| He was out in hiding in the woods,
forty miles away. When "copy" was
| wanted, q messenger was sent to Mr..
Pomeroy's hiding place, but the editor
never put in an appearance until the
storm had died away. Whenever anoth-
or storm threatened out into hiding he
| went.
All the editorial work was not done by
MIR. Pomeroy by any means. In fact he
was absent more than he was present In
the office The sentence which more than
| any other thing made Mr.. Pomeroy IA
| nous and rich was not written by him,
but by an editorial writer he had en-
ployed.
This was the sentence hoping that II
President Lincoln did not keep the
pledges made by him in his second inau-
gual some daring hand would strike a
poigniard into his breast. When Lincoln
was assassinated, few weeks afterward,
this editorial, which was laid at Mr..
Pomeroy's door. was reprinted by
Charles seymour, now and for many
years Consul at Canton. in his paper,
the La Crosse Republican.
A mob gathered with the ayowed pur-
pose Of lynching MIR. Pomeroy, but the
attempt fell through. 1t would not have
achieved it's purpose, however, as Mr.
Pomeroy was miles away at the time.
The banner which the mob bore, "Death
to Traitors-Let Us Begin at Home"
WAS secured by the employees of The DEM
oorat, and for years hung in the office.
The editorial caught the eye of FORAGE
Greeley and he printed it in black type
on the editorial page of The Tribune.
This was about the time that communi
cation was again opened up with the
South, and the Tribune publication was
the best advertisement that Mr.. Pome-
roy and his paper could possibly have
had.
The results soon began to appear. Sub
soriptions came in by the sack full. Eve
ry one in the South who had money
enough left to pay subscription at once
sent it in. The circulation began to
jump SO that the presses were not able
to keep up with it. New presses were
added, but not fast enough. The presses
were kept ru inning night and day the
| week through, with the exception of
Sunday, printing the papers for the next
edition.
So heavy was the mail OF the Demo-
GRAFT in those days that it would fill q
mail car, and nearly all of it went
South. The railway mail facilities
were not near so rood at that time as
they are now. and handling the big mail
was hard work. Finally, the postal au-
| thorities notified Mr.. Pomeroy that he
would havo to sort the mail before it left
| his office, and from that time the bags
were made up and tagged before they left
| the Democrat office.
| One would bear the legend, Distribute
from Chicago SOUTH" another, "Dis-
| tribute from Nashville SOUTH" and SO
on. The circulation of the paper crept
up until it passed the $1,000 mark, which
was an immense circulation for those
days. This was the flood tide Of Mr..
Pomeroy's prosperity, and it all came
from that one short sentence written by
an employee when MIR. Poneroy, to
whom it was credited, was miles away.
At that time Mr.. Pomeroy, while in
New York. met "Boss' Tweed. The
great "boodler" was taken by "Brick's'
manner, and the result was plan 70 r
MIR. Pomeroy to come to New York and
start a daily paper that was to be the
| organ of the Tweed ring. This he did.
The paper was called the Daily Demo-
GRAFT, and, for time, it had wonderful
prosperity, almost as much in financial
way as the weekly at La Crosse. which
Mr.. Pomeroy continued to publish.