Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-17
A VETERAN NEWSPAPER MAN
VIM s. Pease, Native of Shrewsbury, in
Chicago Hospital to Rest
He is 90 Years Old.

The news has just been received by
his relatives in Shrewsbury that Will
liam S. Pease, veteran and famous
newspap rman, has gone to the county
hospital in Chicago to rest and to re-
cover, If possible, some of the energy
and vitality he has expended during an
active and useful career of four score
and ten years. Although Mr. Pease has
lived in Chicago for a number of years,
ne still considers Shrewsbury his home,
and the old Pease family, of which he is
a member still, resides there on the old
homestead.
merchant in this state, correspond
ent of the Boston Herald, proprietor and
editor of the Battle Creek Jeffersonian,
postmaster under Buchanan, foreign ed
itor and travelling correspondent Of the
New York Herald, press agent for P. I.
Barnun1-these are some of the land
marks in his life up to 1875. Then, UNI
der the tremendous strain, his health
broke down, and he then came back to
Worcester county. and went up 20
Shrewsbury, where, amid the air of his
native town, his strength was in a
measure restored. Then he went west
and has remained there ever since.
For the little squibs of suburban news
he wrote for the Boston Herald he re-
ceived tickets to museum exhibitions
and experience He went to Battle
Creek, Mich, in 1855, and in the next
year came the Buchanan campaign. He
took the stump for the presidential can
didate, as well as writing some articles
for the country paper. At the close of
the campaign the democrats of Battle
Creek raised a fund and asked Mr..
Pease to start paper. Within week
from the time the proposition was first
made to him he published the first copy
without an advertising patron or sub
scriber That was the inception of the
Battle Creek Jeffersonian, and year
and half from that time it had grown
to be one of the largest and best dailies
in Michigan, outside of Detroit.
In 1859 Mr.. Pease sold out the paper
and went to New York, where he joined
forces with the New York Herald, and
James Gordon Bennett at once sent him
through the west to ascertain the opin-
ion OF the peope upon the execution of
John Brown, and also to collect statis-
tics and facts upon the condition of the
different states. When Lincoln began
his presidential campaign Pease was as
signed the task of following the repub-
lican candidate upon his stamping tours,
and the stories he wrote of Lincoln
while the martyred president was in the
New England states, made Pease fam
Gus in newspaper circles throughout the
country.
Shortly after that the strain of a busy
newspaper life had its effect upon Mr..
Pesse, and he was forced to resign and
come back to his old home in this state
for a rest. Later he went out again,
this time as press agent of P. 7. Bar
mum. Mr. Pease was ahead of "the big
show" for five years, and during that
time visited every city and town of any
Importance in the United States. Five
years after that he was compelled to
give up, again seeking the quiet of his
country home in Shrewsbury. Since
then he has been engaged in no active
work. although occasionally writing
special articles for some of the Chicago
DaDeFs.