New Britain herald., 1918-05-14
new YORK HERALD
PROPRIETOR dead
James Gordon Bennett Was AZ
gresSiYe Journalist and Eccentric
FATHERED MANY PROJECTS
Policy and Minutest Details of Adj
ministratiOn of Newspaper Dictated
From Paris by CabIc-Had Little
Respect for Celebrities.

Respect for Celebrities.
Beauleu, France, May 14.-James
Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the
! New York Herald died at $50 o'clock
this morning after having been un-
conscious for two days.
Mr.. Benefits last words before re-
lapsing into Inconsistencies were in
relation to his newspaper interests.
Mrs. Bennett was with her hus-
band when he died.
Several thousand miles away from
his main newspaper office, James
Gordon Bennett directed in minute
detail the affairs of the New York
Herald and maintained for himself
one of the most commanding posi-
tons in American journalism. For
more than a quarter of q century he
lived in Paris and worked simulta-
neously there and in New York. No
man before him or since has at
tempted such long distance editing.
From almost every other angle his
been unique. Upon the death of his
father, who was founder of the Her
aid, the Younger Bennett then just
past so years, inherited the largest
newspaper fortune accumulated by
any American publisher up to that
time. He applied it toward achieve
ments to startle the public and thus
1edown to the credit of his newspaper.
In, many instances these achievements
became Important items in the
worlds history.
Such was the policy he inaugurated
when as managing editor in 1870 he
ordered Henry NJ Stanley into the
heart of Africa to find Livingstone;
such when he sent the ill-fated
jeanette expedition to discover the
North Pole: such when he Joined in
the laying of the commercial cable
all typical instances of enterprise to
make news" Or further it's transmits
sion.
In contrast to the personal jour
nalsn of the elder Bennett and
Greeley type, the Younger Bennett
was one of the first to sound the i'm
personal note. He declared that his
paper should become, a sort Of re-
public of which no man or party
should hold control. From the first
he refused to recognize "celebrities'
as compared with Fworkers' on his
staff, and it is related that even when
, Stanley came back from his triumph
| in Africa young Bennett rewarded
/ him with the mean assignment of
! 'tcovering' the Tenderloin police dis
trict in New York.
Launched Paris Herald in 1887
When Mr. Bennett moved to Paris
| in 1887 he started the Paris edition
! of the New York Herald and again
| took a unique position, as this is still
| the only American daily newspaper
published in Europe. During this
residence abroad, broken only by the
| unexpected arrival of the Bennett
| yacht in New York harbor once every
! two or three years for a short stop,
| the editors in immediate control of
| the New York Herald kept a chair
| at their conference table always va
cant for the absent editor one Of his
own ideas to keep his men imbued
with the spirit that he was boss.
although several thousand miles
away.
The Herald, marked minutely with
| the names of the men who had writ
| ten certain articles or news stories
| was forWarded to him in Paris daily.
| He kept in touch with every detail Of
personnel and policy. Daily, Or often
er, the cable from Paris, or wherever
he might be sojourning in his yacht,
| brought the editor-in-Chief's execu-
| tive orders, for promotion or dis
! charge, for compliment or reprimand,
or sketch of general policies.
His whims, amounting, his critics
said, to eccentricties, were one Of the
| most interesting angles Of his person
ality It is related that he dismissed
a musical critic simply because "he
was such a funny looking man. and
put the financial editor in his place;
and that a "copy' boy who ran into
the pit Of Mr.. Bennett's stomach in
the Herald office received several dol
( lars reward for his unusual haste.
These and many instances like them
/ were traditions of Herald employees.
Found JOY in Politics.
He laughed at conventions, and in
varably printed in the Herald the
worst things his enemies said about
him. When Jay Gould gave to the
press a letter of 10000 words at
tacking Benefits personal life, the
! editor of the Herald turned about and
published it in full with the curt re-
mark that Mr.. Gould was "a gentle
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