The age-herald., 1897-10-24
WHEN ATLANTA EDITORS EDITED.
One of Them Recalls Their Deeds of Prowess
 When Sherman Marched to the Sea.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 Atlanta, Ga, Oct. 24.-"There was time," said q xetsran newspaper colo nsl loungfng at his desk in an Atlanta Office after thsi work of the day was done, when Atlanta journalism num- bered among it's adherents the wealth if not the wit of the comnun.ty. That was during the last days befor: Sher- man captured the town, when there were seven daily newspapers running in full blast. They cost only fifty cents copy in confederate money, and an ordinary citizen would buy copy of each and go home with the entire batch under his arm to read the latest accounts of Yankee atrocities and southern victories
 Tn those highly colored accounts of the campaigns in Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia it was made to appear that the gallant gray jackets wsre always on the dead run trying to keep in gunshot of the fleeing federals, and firing a, every jump and Yankee dropping at every shot. One would have supposed, in read ing those arratives, that the confeder- ate army was mad4 up of giants, who strode forth only to conquer and to pile up laurels as if stacking hay around pole.
 ''The Yankees, of course, were a very inferior race of people, wouldn't fight, and when they did stop long enough to fire a gun always aimed wide of the mark, so that the loss on our side was COIupdIeu WlIn tnS my Ifads of our foemen, who were moved down at every discharge. The journal istic profession lost some of its bright est liars when the confederacy fell. It was just prior to the seize of Atlanta, while Sherman was slowly drawing the coils of h,s mighty host around the city, that Henry Watterson made his ap- pearance on the scene. He was then running a paper called the Rtfbel-run- hing 1t by getting out a copy semi-oc- casionally, and running it out of the way of tha Yankees. Watterson was in h:s prime and in his element all at the same time. Arrogant, vehement, fiery, and ferocious he ran the Rebel with yell, and from Nashville, Tenn, h. worked his way in advance of the federal army to Atlanta. His columns fairly blazed with defiance, and h's ac- counts of the doings of the southern troops read like talsrs of the valiant Crusaders of the middle ages.
 "But the Rebel did not thriva in ths already overcrowded atmosphere of At lanta, and about the time that Sher- mans advance guard crossed the Chat tahoochee r-ver the RebI yelled it's last yell. Watterson became attached to the staff of the Southern Confederacy as an editorial writer. That newspaper was remarkable for the ability of its staff to keep away from the front. gentle man who might have been anywhere from 125 to 150 years old was engaged to act as financial editor. and his articles were n1arvels of logical argumimt go- ing to show in what mann:r one confed- crate dollar could be made worth $1.50 in silver or s1 in gold. and at least $10 in Yankee g.reenbacks.
 "Of the seven newSpa perS in existence when Sh7rman reached the Chattahoo- chee river only one lived to tell the tale. That was the Atlanta Intelligence. The editor packed up his effects and skedad- al d from Atlanta before the siege began and settled in Mi1ledgeville. For the sake of the cause, however, he left a small job press here, and every day man repr: :senting t,m issued little strip printed on one side, which was fill- ed up with the most golwing accounts of confederate successes in Virginia and Yankee disasters. It was nothing to see the announcement of 10000 or 30,000 f=d- eral troops shot down by the confeder- ate rifiemen, with very trif1ing loss on our side, and to those who chose to be- Ieve such stories the reports called for much imbibing of spirits and conssl- quent flow of animal spirits. The fire eaters were in their glory, and it was not until Sherman crossed the river that they began to gst out of the way. Wat terson finally left Atlanta, retreating slowly and stubbornly as far as Macon and hurling defiance from the top of every sand ridge at Sherman and his cohorts of invaders"