New-York tribune., 1902-05-09
PAUL L. FORD'S CAREER
SKETCH OF THE BUSY LIFE OF THE
AUTHOR
HE BEGAN HIS LITERARY WORK AT
ELEvEN-NEvER WENT TO SCHOOL
OR COLLEGE.

Paul Leicester Ford was born in Brooklyn on
March %. 1865. His mother Emily Ellis
worth Fowler Ford, and through her he
grandson of Professor Fowler, of Amherst; great
grandson of Noah Webster and the grandson
four times removed of President Charles Chaun-
cey of Harvard and Of Governor Bradford. She
published in 1872 a volume of verse entitled My
! Rccrea tions"
The father Of Mr. Ford was Gordon Ford, who
died on November II, 1891. He at one
time Collector of United States Internal Revenue
! for Brooklyn. He represented the Liberal Re
publican movement of the early seventies, and
| went delegate TO the convention which
nominated Horace Greeley for the Presidency.
From 1873 till 1881 he was business manager
of The Tribune.
IN HIS FATHERS LIBRARY.
II was in his fathers remarkable library at
the old Ford home. No. 81 Clark-st, Brooklyn,
that Paul Leicester Ford educated. and
! grew up as much at home with books as
able boy is with horses" Perhaps no other
writer, with the exception Of Elizabeth Barrett
| Browning, had so we'll equipped a home
for the work in hand. and with her Mr.. Ford
| might have said. There were oceans Of books
AS child and boy his health delicate. and
! he received his education at home by private
teaching. He did not go either to school or col
! lege.
While still child he learned typesetting. He
was author a. eleven years Of age. publish
! ing his great grandfather's Noah Webster)
! Webster Genealosy,' with his notes and
! corrections When seventeen he published
! "Websteriana: A Catalogue Of Books by Noah
! Webster Coated from the Library OF Gordon
! L. Ford" His literary work al this time and
for many years to follow was in the line Of
American historiography. His father formed
! with him. and his brother, Worthington Chaun-
! cey Ford the economist and statistician the
! Historical Printing Club" whose purpose was
the issue Of books and pamphlets relating to
| American bibliography and history.
After the death of the elder Ford the sons con
tinued the club and its publications until 1897,
when its material was turned to Dodd,
Mead e. Co.
Paul Leicester Ford was unremittng in his
historical specializing till 1893 Between 1854
and 1892 he was editor. collatcr commentator
or author for twenty works The subjects dealt
with included Alexander Hamilton Benjamin
Franklin, the Harrisburg Convention. Thomas
Jefferson and the constitution Of the United
States. His literary bias was always 70 Revo-
lutionary and post Revolutionary themes. rath-
er than 70 Colonial history Perhaps Of the re-
suits Of these years of work the most perma-
nent contributions are his editions Of the writ
ings OF Thomas Jefferson in ten volumes and
the writings of John Dickinson, IN three vol
urnes
While this specialization and output made Mr.
Ford Of interest 70 historical societies he had
not vet reached or attempted 20 reach 4
large popular success.
HIS FIRST NOVEL
II was late in the fall ~ 1894 that The
Honorable Peter Stirling" was put on the mar
ket The book built about the personality
OF an idealzed political boss, and was the lit
I
Mr.. Ford had enjoyed IN the First Ward of
Brooklyn The book treated the saloon question.
in particular. in an unconventional manner II
was somewhat harshly treated by the critics
because Of its literary workmanship. which was
! felt TO be times rather more freehand than
! is generally permitted. II went unsold four
months, but at the end Of that time there
a call for II from San Francisco. and later from
! Michigan and Wisconsin. Gradually it attained
national recognition, in which It was not little
/ aided by the report that It was presentation OF
/ the character Of Grover Cleveland Its only
| literary parallel IN this respect is Anthony
Hopes God in the Car which achieved sue
! cess when its hero was found to be Cecil Rhodes
/ Mr. Ford was once asked II his hero was the
! ex-President He said:
/ L don't blame people for thinking that Peter
! Stirling IS Grover Cleveland. for. really. there
| are many points Of resemblance But the fact
/
! is composite of four great American states
men. I had in mind Washington. Lincoln and
| two others II Is an attempt To show how a man
! of the nobest aims can get close to the people
! and rule them"
This book almost the first serious study
Of the boss in literature, and inflated a series Of
novels dealing with existing conditions in the po-
! litical world by such writer's Robert Barr
Mr.. Ford was again successful with The
| Great K. & A Train Robbery" The book was
written in the hrsc place to party OF
! friends on a vacation. It was later enlarged and
| published. It told the story Of the holding up
Of an important express by a set OF society peo-
! pie. It was in no sense meant 10 be taken seri-
! ously. It possessed element OF mystery,
which popular at the time OF the publca-
ton, as shown by the sales OF detective stories.
! Mr.. Ford remarked of II:
| The reason most railroad robbery stories fail
| is because people do not like TO have their hero
| a villain I had to devise a way of holding
the interest while making my hero moderately
| good"
| THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON"
| In 1896 appeared the pamphlet entitled The
True George Washington" He published a sim
! liar study called The Many Sided Franklin"
It has been thought that this book would have
borne the same descriptive adjective in its title
as his former work had II not been that in 1893
Mr.. Fisher the historian. wrote The True Ben
| janin Franklin"
These two books 'humanzed history as one
critic expressed it. They gave the Wallets word
! on the hero" But they were in no sense an
| attempt 70 shatter popular idols
In fiction again MT. Ford produced the Story
Of an Untold Love" and "A Collection of Short
| Stories" OF the former work Lindsay Swift
! said in THE Critic: Its success shows how
| ready people are for observance Of all the
! comman andments, rather than for a breach of one
| MI lnSv liTNac