The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-22
Sidney Gay

 ism would do well to celebrate today the cent enaFy of Sidney Howard Gay. one of the ablest and most conscien- tious of nineteenth century newspa- per editors. H was master of Eng fish that was both forcefu1 and poll ary ability were his devotion to prfn- cip1e and his keen appreciation of the duties and responsibilities Of the pro- fession which was his lifework FaciI- ity in writing may be a dangerous gift So far as the public welfare is con : rected by prineipalss Gays career IS worthy of study and emulation by all irrespective newspaper men, alth ough from it he derived neither wealth nor glory, as much Of his best work was aIlonyn1ous and the credit which rlghtfully belonged to him was a,c- corded to others
 Sidney Howard Gay was born one hundred years ago todays May 2z. 1814, in Hinghana, Mass. He was a descendant of Governor Bradford of Plymouth Colony and theS Sinherfto or of no comprornfse with at he consid cred wrong. Gay entered Harvard at the age Of fiffeens and studied law in the office Of his father, Ebenezer Gay When the time came for him to be scalled to the bar he refused to take
 
 the United States, on 6Ile groand that it fostered and protected slavery From his boyhood Gay had manifest 2 ed the most profound hatred of the institution Of slavery, and, when the legal profession was closed to him, he determined to spend his life in work z ing for the abolition cause. From 1S42 to 1857 he was editor of the AntisIayery Standard, an q made many lecture tours. The cause he repxe- sented was then highly unpopu1ar. even in many parts of the North, and cay was often insulted and threaten ed with death.
 In 1851 Gay joined the editorial stan of tn 6 New ork Tribune. Hor- ace GreeIeys great newspaper was then one of the most influential jour nals in America, and, in many re- early advocate of the Fourier brand of socialism,, and A Iberr Brisbane. father of the editor of the Hearst. publications. was given free scope for the expression of his soeialistic views. It was a pioneer Journalistic advocate Of woman suffrage, staunch in it's ad-8 herenee to the abolition cause. and the recognized organ of the National Republicans. For nearly ten years Gay devoted his talents to the Tri- bune, and he was it's managing editor throughout the civil war period
 
 managing editor of the Chicago Fri bune, then contr oiled by Joseph Me diIb with Horace White as editor -ir-s chief He remained with the Tribune for foul; years, and spent two years more in Chicago as managing editor of the Post Later he returned to the East and devoted most of his time to writing historical works He died at New Brighton. Staten Island, in 1888.
 Sidney Howard Gay came of a fam fly long prominent in New England. His father was a prominent lawy CT, and his grandfather, Ebenezer Gay, was for seventy years the pastor of the Congregational Church at Hing ham. The famous editors brother, Winckworth A Han Gay. achieved fame as a, sea-coast painter. and an other famous artist, Walter Gay, be- longs to. the same family, which had it's American origin with William Bradford, the Yorkshire man who was one Of the signers of the ce1ebrated compact on the Mayflower and the second governor of Plymouth Colony