The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-25

again. The boy, during his second days
work. in setting up an article written by
the editor made an item of $15O0000 read
$1,000, leaving out two ciphers. This dis
gusted the editor and 1 was reinstated. One
trouble with the boy who took my place
was that his father owned three or four
houses in the town worth a few thousand
dollars apiece. The boy thought his father
was rich and there was no necessity of
his being careful, as the day would come
when he would not have to work.
when did you begin to save money, Mr..
Bonner?'
Just as soon as I could" was the reply.
you see, 1 got very little at the start. 1t
took all I made to pay my expenses. and
was almost of age before 1 began deposit
ing in the savings bank. My first deposit
was here in New York. had come to New
York, you know, to practice my trade as a
printer. Well, about fifty-two years ago
found that had $40 ahead, and with that
I opened deposit in the Chambers-street
Savings Bank. When 1 took the money to
the bank there was one bad bill in it which
the teller threw back to me. I can remem-
Der tonight how badly 1 felt when that
dollar came back, and how l concluded to
soon save another to put in it's place. I did
save it, and saved more right along l kept
up my deposits in that bank until they
amounted to a thousand dollars a week.
One day noted that the cashier had put
in red ink an item of three dollars and some
cents below my last deposit. This was my
first interest. Why said l. I did not have
to work for that and 1 then first realized
that money would make money. 1t seemed
wonderful to me-"
THE LEDGER AND FANNY FERN.
How did you come to found the Ledger,
Mr.. Bonner?"
1.-The New York Ledger" said Mr.. Bon
ner, was in 1850 a little financial sheet
known as the Merchants Ledger At this
time 1 was working in the printing office.
We had an advertising solicitor, who liked
the way in which I displayed his advertise
ments. He left the paper little later on
and became connected with the Merchants
Ledger. He told his proprietor that he
could get great many more advertise
ments if I were to set them up and it was
in this way that I got an offer of a better
salary from the Merchants Ledger. I took
it. 1t was a small sheet devoted to mer-
camille affairs, and it had less than three
thousand circulation. Soon after 1 became
employed upon 1t the proprietor wanted to
sell, and 1 bought him out. L ran the paper
for short time as mercantile paper and
gradually turned it into family one. One
day 1 decided that if it had the best read
ing matter a paper of that class could have
it would get a very large circulation and
[ concluded to get it, 1 began at once to
get the best of contributors and among
others secured Miss Fanny Fern. Miss Fan
ny Fern was the most popular woman
writer of that time, but she had never
written for the newspapers. A book of hers
had just had circulation of something like
five thousand copies, and think she rath-
er looked down upon newspaper work l
first offered her $25 a column for a story.
She refused it. 1 wrote her again and made
the offer of $50 column. This she also de-
clined, when the return mail brought her
another offer from me of $75 a column Upon
this she said to friend, L like the spirit
of that man Bonner and I wish you would
go down and sec him. Her friend came and
we eventually got together.
Il then proposed to give her 800 a col
unn but said 1 did not want the story to
run over ten columns. She replied that she
would write the story for ST. 600, provided
would take it whether it ran nine columns
or eleven columns as she could not tell
just how much it would run out I agreed
circumstances of the engagement were told,
and nearly every newspaper in the country
published my extravaganza in paying S1O0
a column for story. got $4,000 worth of
advertising out of the arrangement, and
the people began to ask for the Ledger.
Before this had had trouble in getting the
news stands to take the Ledger. After this
they were glad to get it,
did Fanny Fern write more for you
after that?" I asked.
Yes she wrote for me more or less up
to the time of her death, both she and her
husband, James Parton. Fanny Fern was
a genius. She had ability somewhat like
that of Henry Ward Beecher Her matter
was always interesting and valuable"
BEECHER AND EVERETT.
Speaking of Beecher Mr. Bonner, he
also wrote for the Ledger, did he not?"
Yes" replied the veteran editor. HE
wrote great deal for me, and among 9th
er things his novel Norwood for which
I paid him $780, 000'
How did you become acquainted with
Mr.. Beecher? I asked.
1T was through a poem of one of his
lady friends He sent me the manuscript
stating that if L used it check would be
very acceptable to the lady. L wrote back
DIT once tIldL L ndu plenty or poetry, but
that 1 wanted himself told him that if
he would give me from half to three
quarters of a column a week that I would
pay him $1,000 a year. sent a check for
81, 900 with the letter as the advance salary
for the first year. He accepted it, and
from that time until his death he wrote
for the Ledger
What was the nature of his writings?"
"They were, to large extent, editorials"
replied Mr.. Bonner. MANY of them were
published under the heading, Thoughts as
They Occur by One Who Keeps His Eyes
Open The first article, L remember, was
entitled "A Cannon Ball in Hat 1t gave
the experiences of man who attempted to
carry away a cannon ball in his hat 1t de-
scribed how the cannon ball grew heavier
and heavier, and how the fear of detection
ate into the soul of the thief. A personal
moral was brought out from this which
struck home to every reader. A great deal
of the matter written by Mr. Beecher was
not published over his own signature and
this was also the case with the articles of
Harriet Beecher Stowe. 1t was during the
years just preceding the war. We had then
a large circulation in the South, and the