The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-08-06
WHO MACLAY IS, ANYHOW.
One Of a Trio Of Reporters Who've
All Come to the Front.
CChicago TrIbune)

NCAACaSo Tribune
who is Edgar Stanton Maclay?" is
a question that is often heard and sell
dom answered these days. MacIay has
suddenly become a figure of promi-
! nence because of the charges that he
mas made in his naval history. reflect
ing on the conduct Of Rear Admiral
Schley during the war with Spain.
Maclay is a son Of a clergyman and
is about 80 years old. He is under the
average height, but Of sturdy build
with broad shoulders and heavy legs
he is persistent and stubborn in char
acter and proud of a Scotch ancestry.
Maclay's face is broad below the
eyes, which makes his head appear
small across the forehead. This appar-
ent SmaIlneSS is aCcentuated by his
habit of wearing his hair short at the
sides, and combed up and back. His
beard IS OF the Van Dyke order and is
a dull red brown. His face is pitted and
when he smiles he shows an upper row
( Of small but regular teeth. His speech
/ Is slow and appears somewhat affected,
/ but il is pleasant TO listen to. He pos
! sesses a good tenor voice and is fond
Of music and dancing, but his frugal
nature keeps him from the continual
pursuit Of happiness in those directions
q ? .
While at work on the first volume Of
his naval history Maclay was a re-
/ porter on the New York Tribune, COW
ering the board of education. At that
time there were nine sons of cIergvmen
on the Tribune, and MacIay. Ike all of
them, was fond of STAYING IN. in Tho
mornings after work was done b71t aS
ne mad life work ahead of him he
! economy Pi''0'iSs
1t took Maclay some time TO hit 1,no,,
d pan which would keep him from
| longing to be with his cOIIeag17es
FlLally he hired a piano and had If in
stalled in his apartment in a studio
pulldIhg IN Firth avenue. Here, after
ne had got through his work on the
paper, he would 60 and for hours at
tlhne devote himself to practice. In the
course Of few months he had become
Ialrly proficient performer.
When he had become tired writing he
would turn to his piano and pIav until
ne became wrapped in music On be-
coming weary he would hurry to he'd
money.
It was hard work for Maclav to
write Words came slowly to him, and
1t was difficult for him to handle a
pen or pencil. He wrote a small.
cramped, irregular hand the lines
/ being so close as TO make him unpopular
with copy readers. At that time he
had all his data for his first volume.
Z n
celVed the idea of writing naval his
tory, having come to the conclusion
that there was none in existence
worthy the name. When he left the
university he had a little money. and
he went abroad for data There he
made use Of what knowledge he had of
French and German, and searched the
! libraries.
One day after MacIay had learned all
M could he found himself in Germany
with just enough money to pay his
/ way to New York CITY on the steamer
He had three days in which he got the
/ steamer. How to live without eating
/ those three days was q question, and
/ how to get to the steamer was another
! Somehow he got on a boat going down
the Rhine. and on the boat he found
| bags Of unrOasted coffee. The bags
/ were of canvas and his knife was sharp
/ enough to cut holes in canvas. He laid
/ in store of green coffee beans, and
j he had not starved to death by the
\ time he reached the steamship.
Maclay always believed that writing
was a low art, and that no matter how
well man could write he could never
/ achieve fame unless he really had
/ something ia say When he got
/ through writing the first volume of his
naval history he got Erwin Wardman,
] lfl< copy IGGQGE OF the lAlDUnes TO 20
I over it for him. Wardman was a Har-
ward man and was considered an au-
/ thOrity on English language and Iitera-
/ ture. Wardman often grew tired, but
/ he kept at the work editing the volume.
and when it appeared in print it had
| smoothness to it.
I In 1894 Maclay left the Tribune and
| began writing naval editorials for the
| New York Sun. When he got Heady to
| write the second volume of his history
/ he obtained an appointment as light
/ house keeper at Setauket, L. L, and got
married. He has children Maclay kept
plugging along until Assistant Secre-
/ tary of the Navy Allen was sent to
Porto Rico. Maclay wanted to be his
! successor. He is now a clerk in the
! Brooklyn navy yard
Maclay was one of the three hopefuis
on the Tribune from 1890 to 1893. Harry
/ du Souchet was working on play and
] ]. Parmly Paret was working on a
( book on Women in Sport" When
Paret was not reporting or playing ten
| mis- he was thinking about his book
| The same was true of Du Souchet when
/ he was not telegraphing- Du Souchet
| became famous with his My Friend
From India" Paret got his book into
print and Maclay has come up with
rush because of his criticism Of Sehley-