Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-02
THE LATE LEWIS BAkER
A Tribute to His Memory and "A Word
for Gen. Ii. q. Otis.

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Strikingy enough, today in The Star 1
| see notices of two prominent men from my
town in Ohio-notices which have attracted
great attention all over the country today
One of these notices fills me with pride at
the eminent success of one of my earliest
fellow townSmen and fellow workers in the
newspaper business. while the other notice
overwhelms me with sadness and grief I'M
speakable, l refer to the press dispatch
from Brigadier General Harrison GRAY Otis
who arrived safely and covered with laurels
from the Philippine war yesterday at his
home at Los Angeles. Cal, and the an
nouncement of the death of Mr. Lewis
Baker. knew them both and knew them
well, for We were boys together in the early
days OF the last new county made under
the old constitution in Ohio when Sarahs-
Vile. our village. had not 100 inhabitants
but was the county seat. and Lewis Baker
edited the democratic organ and Harrison
Gray OTIS the republican organ there As
boys they were far above the. average and
both fulfilled the brightest promise of their
youth.
There they laid the foundations for that
intelligence and enterprise which two de-
cades later made one the editor and pro-
prletor of the St Paul Globe and the other
the owner and editor of the Los Angeles
anu edcH Il potent FACTOR in his
party TO the last: for they remained loyal
and steadfast to their opposite convictions
IN politics to the end. There was this diff
ference-though both were alike in ability
character, push, perseverance and all that
goes to make the successful newspaper
man, when the war broke out Otis en-
tered the army in the famous Hayes regi-
ment and served with Mckinley to the
close, while Baker edited the Wheeling
Register, and during all that stirring time
thought 1t his duty to oppose the war and
all that 1t implied. He was prosecuted bit
terly Tor his craftsmanship, and spent long
time in the Atheneum military prison at
wheeling because of his outspoken utter
anceS against Lincoln and the war / al
ways admired his tenacity of purpose, his
devotion to his iron-bound principles.
But nothing could move or shake him
from his convictions of duty, and con-
tending for the freedom of the press and
as soon as the war was over he resumed
the editorial chair and pursued to the end
the course he thought right. Either Baker
or Ots-widely as they differed in politics
and their whole lives from boyhood were
spent in untiring, unceasing labors for their
respective parties-either of them | know
would have died before he would have re-
tracted word he had uttered any day.
Pure in life, good citizens every way, with
out blot or blemish that might not be
spread out today to the public gaze not
only in The Star, but among all the stars
of the sky, where the whole world could
see 1t writ at large-and no one of their kith
or kin would ever have to blush to see it
there. God rest the soul of Lewis Baker
In peace May Gen. Otis long live to enjoy
the honorS earned in the fires of two great
wars for the Union and the flag of our
country. PRIVATE DALZELL.