The Indianapolis journal., 1899-01-18
DEATH OF a JOURNALIST
JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG, LIBRARIAN OF
CONGRESS, PASSES AWAY.
Long Prominent in Newspaper Cir
Warm Friend of General Grant.


It was evident that the end was close.
There were with him at his death Mrs.
Young, Berkely Young, his son; Dr. Freer.
his physician and Ralph ]. Meeker, one of
the old newspaper friends of the librarian.
Soon after Mr. Young's death Assistant Liz
brarian T. c. Alvord appeared. followed
shortly by the other assistant Hon. Aims
worth r. SpOfford. DR.. Freer. the attending
physician, made a brief written statement
that death was due to acute Bright's dis
ease with complications, oVerwork and too
much brain work
The funeral will be held Saturday morning
at IL o'clock. at st: Johns Episcopal
Church, in this city The service viii be
rendered by Rev. Alexander MacKay
Smith The intorment will be in Washington,
and will be private.
John Russell Young had a notable career
as journalist, diplomatist, public official and
the intimate associate of distinguished pub
lie men. He was born in Downington. Ches-
ter county Pennsylvania, Nov. 20. 1S41,
where his father titled the soil. When
John four years old his parents went
to Philadelphia and when he had reached
the proper age he was entered as a pupil
in the old Harrison Grammar School Later
he became an apprentice in a printing Of
flee. Death scattered the Young family,
and John was taken to New Orleans,
whence he returned in 1851 The Philadel-
phia Press was in want of a copy boy and
advertised for one. Young was one of fifty
applicants The foreman of the Press COM
posing room was M. c. Hart. Foreman
Hart handed each applicant a roll of
Colonel Forneys manuscript. No one
who has not seeen that wonderful copy
can appreciate the dismay that filled each
youthful heart when those weird hierogly-
phics first confronted them. Horace Gree
ley's famed attempts at caligraphy were
copper-plate impressions compared to it. OF
all the applicants young Young was the
only one who could decipher the manu-
script, and thus began his entrance to
newspaper life. His salary was S. week,
but was reduced to $3.50 when the Press
foreman found that he would not work on
Sundays In those days reporters went
home, rather left the office before MD
night, and in consequence II happene1 at
o'clock one morning that Copyholder 1ounS
was sent to report a fire. lie dld so Wen
that next day he was made member OF
the local staff his city editor being William
Dunn. One Of his fellow-reporters was
George Alfred Townsend, whose pseudonym
of Cath" become known throughout the
land. Young rose to be news editor, and
when the war broke out was sent to join
fhe army as a corresnondent He was at
the battel of Bull Run and wrote the first
account published of that memorable con-
test. For while he helped Colonel Forney
| to edit the Washington Chronicle and in
1862 he was sent back to philadelphia with
the title of editor-in-chief Of the PhiladeI-
| phia Press.
Young remained the editor of the Press
until 1865 when he had q difference with
| Colonel Forney and resigned and entered
| the employ of Jay Cooke in the latter's
| scheme to float the 7-30 loan. Samuel VIII
| kinson, of the Tribune, secretary of the
| Northern Pacific Railroad was at the head
of a literary bureau formed for the adVO-
cacy of the financial plans that Cooke had
| control of. Young was made part of this
| and sent to New York, where he organized
| branch bureaus for the distribution of the
| loan among workingmen and soldiers just
| returned from the war. At the same time
| he was contributing to the editorial col
| umns of the Tribune at Wilkinson's invita-
| ton. His articles attracted Horace Gree
| leyS attention and led to his regular en-
| ployment In six months he was made
| managing editor, succeeding Sidney How
| ard Gay. He continued in this position for
| four. years, resigning in 1869, when he had
| trouble about giving the Associated Press
news to the Morning Post, of Philadelphia.
| He was succeeded by WhitelaW Reid. For
one year. following he travelled through the
| far West writing pamphlets for the Denver
| &, Rio Grande Railroad and corresponding
! with the New York Herald and Times
| In 1878 he established the New York Stand
| ard, the financial hackers of which were
! idan Shook and r. d. Webster. 1t had
| fitful existence for two years and then sus-
| pended by reason of the stockholders refus-
! ing to place 1t on the financial basis they
| had promised and which was necessary for
| It's ultimate success: While editor of the
| Standard Young performed a delicate task
| for the United States government, which
| many of his close friends at the time were
unacquainted with. The reasons for Sc
| character Of the loans and securities of the
| government were not understood in Eng
land, and it was desirable that the press
and public of Great Britain should be made
| acquainted with the desirability of Amer
| lean investment. 1t was a matter for deli
| cate treatment. Young, at the suggestion
| of General Grant, was sent to London as
| the special agent of the United States gov
| ernment, although his holding this relation
was kept a profound secret. He wrote a
number of articles on United States securi-
| ties that were published in the Times and
other London journals, and successfully ac-
| complished the object of his mission.
While abroad on this occasion he and
| George Wilkes, of the Spirit of the Times,
ran over to Paris, then in the power of the
| Commune, and succeeded in passing the
| lines. They witnessed the siege and fall of
| the gay capital, and Young sent a ten-col-
umn account of 1t to the Standard which
| Wendell Phillips said was uneXcelled in it's
| vividness of narration and the purity of it's
English by even the productions of Ma
| caulay.
For years afterwards John Russell Young
was as much a traveller as q writer. When
the Standard suspended the elder Bennett
employed him on the Herald, and he trav-
eled all over the globe for that journal. In
1877 he started with General Grant on his
a book describing the journey Grant rec
commended him to Garfield as United States
minister to Japan, and the appointment
would have been made had not death inter-
vened. The recommendation was repeated
to Arthur, but Minister Bingham, although
proffered an advancement to the Austrian
Japan Young was then given the Chinese
mission, which he filled until Cleveland ap-
pointed his successor, returning to the
United States to continue his literary pur-
suits.
When the new Library of Congress
was completed attention was directed
to the choice of librarian en-
tive management, and President Nc
Kinley named Mr.. Young on July T. 1897,
He entered upon his duties while the library
was still in it's cramped quarters at the
Capitol and saw it expand into the classic
temple of the arts and literature which it
pow occupies. The transition involved not
Cnly removal of vast stores of precious
volumes. but the complete reorganization
of the library staff. Mr.. Young directed all
OF this bringing about the change from the
old to the new with smoothness and sue
cess. 1t is said that his time has been
spent in part on a contribution to literature
which he had hoped to complete as the chief
literary achievement of his life.
w. II. Sullivan.
CHICAGO, Jan. Nv. K Sullivan,
former managing editor of the Chicago
Journal and we'll known throughout the
country among the newspaper men, died to-
day from attack of pneumonia.