The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-01-03
Daily Ea9Ie
NJ. NJ MURDOCH. Editor.
WHY HE DIED THUS

WHY lie D1bO 1aO0.
st. Louis is, in many respects, the
eloweSt and most conservative among
the great cities of the continent, yet she
has boosted the possession Of the great
est newspaper Of the land. For
years the Globe-Democrat has paid
more for wire service than any other
paper Of the United States. AS paper
of real genuine news, for news in detail
from everywhere, with but a minimum
of sensational features, the Globe-Dem-
ocrat has led. Its character and sue
cess. as has been the character and sue
cess of every great journal, were due to
the genius of its responsible editor, as
markedly so as were those Of the New
York Tribune to Greeley, the Herald TO
the elder Bennett. the Sun to Dana.
The st. Louis Democrat was an eight
and nine column folio, the Globe sew
en- column quarto, the present size of
the Eagle, but the Democrat as
consolidated and under the editorial
management Of McCullagh, has been
the greatest paper for news in the en-
tire country. Our dispatches of yester-
day morning seem to indicate that Nc
CulIagh, the successful and unrivaled
editor, put out his own life. If this be
true, what could have urged him to the
step. or whether in putting out the light
he also put out the light, might be diff
cult of answer. 1t cannot be possible,
at least it is incomprehensible, that, re-
alizing he had reached the highest pos
sible attainment of his profession and
environment, he should have resolved
ia die while vet his well-earned laurels
were still upon his brow, that he pre-
ferred to die as the conspicuous victor,
now, than later as an uncr0wned and
forgotten and, mayhap, neglected hero.
Whether this or the fact that he had
lately been suffering from bodily all
ments, his death will be none the less
regretted by many thousands, by many
thousands who loved and admired the
man, but even Of whose existence he
did not know. The mental wear, the
strain of public and political RESPONSE
bility which ever rest upon the editor
of great daily, are comprehended or
understood by few. A president has
his party TO please, the great corpora
ton mana ger his stockholders to salts
fy, the great orator his audience TO
charm, the great preacher TO prove ac
cepIable to his sympathiZing congrega
= p,,+ L. II ...f
O great daily paper, the approving judg-
nent of the public without regard 10
party, sect or material interest, must
he commanded, its majority sentiment
conserved and critisms disarmed. He
is judged neither from the standpoint
of a party sympathy or Of mutual inter-
est, but is held strictly to account for
every error of judgment, for every fail |
ure, whether of omission or commits |
sion. McCullagh's mistakes Of head, OF |
of heart, were few, his successes many |
and great He was a great man in all |
thar that term implies, and having |
crowned his life with success. the |
thought that the contemplation of ne /
Sittt anu HiS Oiu dSc /
should have prompted him to such an
extremity is sad commentary on the |
rule of life. There seems, in this coun-
try. to be no pension, no security |
against the poverty and obscurity of |
age for any one, however deserving of |
his fellow man, save as it is earned and
doled out as pittance TO such as have
received bodily injuries on such fields
only Of battle for principle or for coun-
trymen upon which blood was split.
And so the great McCullagh has gone
down and TO his death, by his own
hand in confronting evils which seem
ed TO him imminent as they were awful
but which might never have overtaken
him. He worked necessarily, felt deep
~ and achieved and wrought much and
his sad end is incomprehensible upon
any other theory than his want of faith
in humanity, in his distrust Of the self
isbness Of his fellow man.