Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-03
IN MEMoRIAM.


Noted Edttor beRd.
Al Falrbrother IN Everything.
Il Is with feelings Of sadness that We
record the death OF Editor r. Rose
water Of The Omaha Bee. Rosewater had
been for nearly forty years the presiding
genius of that newspaper lie was early
in life a telegraph operator and as man
ager OF the Pacific Telegraph company in
Omaha he took hand in some politics that
was on and which did not suit him. He
started small afternoon sheet for cam
paign purposes and called it The Bee. .ex-
pecting II to die when the campaign was
over. But there seemed to be demand
for 1.-THE threw into It personality and
a fearlessness that even appealed to people
who lived in the wild and woolly west
people who had been reading editorials
from some OF the best known editorial
writer's the west had produced-4nen OF
national reputation. But Rosewater went
after things and brought them home with
him. He was tireless, never slept II &C.
CASTOR suggested that he was needed at
the Office, and for several years he brought
The Bee out under many Disadvantages.
Finally he made 1t a morning paper and
went after a state subscription list. He OPP
posed all kinds of jobbery; was against
monopolies: fought Jay Gould and his Union
Pacific and the toll bridge at Omaha across
the Missouri river. Gould sent for him and
tried to fix differences between them with
money, but Rosewater spurned his offer
and dashed him the more furiously.
The fight was won and 1t was wing OF
feathers In Rosewaters cap. Then he went
after the politicians lie exposed them to
the bone in their rottenness and their cor
ruption. and the people of the west rallied
to him. Finally he had a morning paper.
an evening paper and Sunday paper with
weekly edition that at one time reached
close TO the one hundred thousand mark.
He built The Bee building which is one of
the distinct and beautiful newspaper homes
OF the west, and in all his enterprises was
successful. He was a thoyn always in the
flesh of those who would dominate the
politics OF Nebraska, and upon one oc-
casion his adversaries hired a negro ruffian
named Curry to assassinate him. The
negro assaulted him and pounded him into
jelly and left him for dead, but he re-
covered and was relentless against those
who had provoked or employed the negro
to kill him. The Omaha Bee is a great
newspaper and 1t was Rosewaters genius
that made IL such He always employed
first-class talent and surrounded himself
with loyal assistants-and when you saw
it in The Bee II was so.
1t was our good fortune to be a pupil
of his for four years. We were an edi-
torial writer on his paper and also a po-
litical correspondent, and while we al
ways differed with Mr. Rosewater in many
things we respected his honesty and his
fearlessness. In his death Nebraska has
lost citizen who did a great deal for
the state. Omaha has lost an invaluable
force in her commercialism-and many
friends are left to mourn.
Rosewater was ambitious politically. He
had several times been recognized by his
party: was national committeeman of
the republican party; had been in the leg
islature and the senate; was a member
of the International postal congress, vice
president of that body; had been sent on
several official pilgrimages to the old
world by his government-but he wanted
to go to the United States senate. lie
made an unsuccessful run four years ago,
and last month again vas before the re-
publican state convention for endorse
ment His home county and several other
counties were for him; he made a long
fight and strong f1ght--but the dis
patches say that the campaign was too
much for him-and after IL was over;
after he had pledged his support. to the
ticket and announced that he was out of
the race for good, the other evening in his
own magnificent newspaper building, he
stopped In the Office of Judge Troup pre-
sumably to rest-sat down on a bench
and fell asleep and never awoke. His
wife had left light burning for him;
he did not return and she, uneasy. notified
the chief of police that he could not be
found. The judge, upon going to his
office, saw the little old man sitting there,
at last at rest, after forty years of a
most strenuous life.
In Nebraska there were many people
who had many times wished that Rose
water was out of the harness.; his no.
litical enemies were bitter and unc1m-
promising-but we dare say that in Ne
braska no one has ever died whose heath
will cause more universal sorrow than
did the death of Edward Rosewater, editor
and proprietor of The Omaha Bee.