The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-03
MADE LINCOLN TUMBLE HIS HAIR
Mr.. Medill's Firmness Gave Lhe
Country Its First Correct Idea of
the Railsplitter.
(New York SUM

The death of Joseph Medill recalls the
story of a picture of Lincoln. the one
by which he became known to the
country. 1t was very soon after the
first nomination of Lincoln for the pres
idency. The story of the picture is
given in Mr.. Medills words as nearly
as they can be recalled:
Il knew him so we'll that called him
Abe and he called me Joe. He came to
see me in the Tribune Office soon after
his nomination. 1 think sent for him.
| said to him, after We had talked of
more important matters:
Abe, there are not many people in
the country who know how you look.
You must have your picture taken Get
ready and 1 will go with YOU
Snapshots were unknown then and
so We're newspaper artists, as they are
called. Lincoln went to his hotel to fix
up and 1 called for him at the appoint
ed time. l think he saw that l was sur
prised.
How do 1 look?' he asked. His coat
was buttoned from top to bottom. But
it was his hair which caused be to look
at him. He had evidently wet it and
it was brushed to the skin and across
his temples as smoothly as if it had
been ironed. 1t was so unlike him that
he looked unnatural.
1t will never do said as soon as
could recover my breath. Abe, you
never could be elected president if the
country thought you wore your hair
that way
HE looked at me as if he We're dazed.
He had the heart of child. He had
plastered his hair down that way hon
estly and innocently. 1t hurt him to
think he had done something he should
He looked in the mirror, and then that
expression of humor which never saw
in any other face came out. He took
both hands and showed them through
his hair until it looked like a brush
heap after hurricane. Then he looked
at me, and I told him that was more
like him. We walked to the photog-
rapher's, several blocks away, and my
recollection is that he scarcely spoke
during the time. When he sat before
the camera he ran his long fingers
through his hair again and then looked
at me like child that had been whip
ped. From that picture all copies for
campaign purposes were made, and all
the caricatures and cartoons that were
made of him during the campaign were
suggested by that picture"
The strongest trait in Mr.. Medill S
character was his sense CT justice. An
charged by the head of the department
in which he had been employed. The
old man bought a stand, a few lemons,
and some sugar and opened lemonade
stand in front of the elevator entrance
of the building. He had been there two
days before Mr.. Medill saw him. Mr..
Medill bought a glass of the old man s
lemonade and after he had tasted it,
asked:
What are you doing here?"
Making lemonade" was the reply.
why are you not at work?'
81 have been discharged"
You will have to go to work again
You can't make lemonade"
Mr. Medill was too much of a diScip-
linarian to so over the head of de-
partment without good reason. He did
not reinstate the old employee, but gave
him work in another department, and
he still has the job.
Mr.. Medill never taxed his memory
with the contents of his paper, except
it's editorial page or matters of national
Importance This led to some humor-
Gus incidents He was an inveterate
reader of exchanges. He read them
wherever he went and whether at home
or in his trsd;els in this country or
abroad, he sent enough reprint to
the office daily to crowd out the news
and the advertisements as well. When
he was in Ireland some years ago he
found a newspaper printed somewhere
on the island in a remote town. When
he finished clipping from it there was
not much in the paper but holes. He
enclosed the clippings, marking on the
margin of each his well-knoWn Must,
J. NJ" and mailed them to Chicago.
On his return he inquired for the issue
of his paper containing the Irish clip
pings. The inquiry necessitated the eX-
PLANTATION that they had not been pub
lished. They had originally apoeared
in the Tribune under the direction of
Mr. Medill. The Irish paper had pur-
Joined them without credit. He was
quite deaf, and sometimes the aniiction
was utilized to his advantage. In this
case, when the explanation had been
given, he looked out of the window and
to the sky, and said:
Yes, it looks like storm"
An hour later he dumped seven col
umns of reprint on beet sugar on the
managing EDITORS desk, with the in
struction that he wanted twenty-five
copies of the paper the next day. Every
correspondent in the country was in
str-ucted that night to keep everything
down, and at 10 o'clock the managing
editor was served with a request to
send over to Mr.. Medill proofs of that
reprint article on beet sugar"