The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1920-07-29

sides running his own paper. Baker
Was the local correspondent for the
/ Cincinnati Enquirer. This was at a
time when there was just one teIe-
| graph-wire running from Middletown
/ to Cincinnati.
Baker was sick one day when Il
/ special trai n carrying employees OF
| the National Cash Register Company
who had been on picnic, was
wrecked near Middletown Young
/ Cox was told by Baker TO go out and
cover the story. His clever way OF
scoring a beat" was strictly in ac-
| cord with the newspaper ethics OF
| the time. To quote Mr.. Hopkins:
He covered, and what is more,
when he had filed his story he tossed
| d newspaper into the telegraph Op-
orator with orders to start at column
| one after the wreck story was COM
| pleted and send everything in the
| spaper-at least to keep on send
ing until press time.
| The result was that correspondents
| of other Cincinnati papers were shut
| out and The Enquirer had a clean
! peat the next morning.
Not long after that Young Cox re-
| ceIved letter from the editor of The
| Enquirer inviting hlm TO cali at the
| Cincinnati office.
Il thought l must have done
something wrong" said Cox, in tell
| ing the incident afterWard, "and l
went down to The Enquirer office and
walked in with my heart in my
| mouth. All he did was to offer me
| job"
| Cox took it and for the next two
| years was doing the work of a cub
| reporter and later was a frst-class
| staff man, with many important as
| signments.
But in 1894 Paul Sorg was elect
| ed Congress, and this for the time
| being ended the young mans news
paper career. Sorg had been the
head of the SchoolBoard at one of
| the schools in which the "boy-teac-
| he' had made his reputation, and
when seeking secretary he sent for
| the young reporter then twenty-four
years old and asked him to take the
| position. Cox promptly accepted
and for the next three years spent a
large part of his time in Washing
ton.
Sorg was a wealthy business man,
of little political experience, and the
|, young reporter was of great value
to him. When Sorg came up for re-
election in 1895 his secretary took
an active part in the campaign and
proved to be an excellent yote-getter
Reports have it that he was able to
round up many voters in the Ma
tional Soldiers Home at Dayton, a
place that later came to be an i'm
portant factor in one of Cox's own
campaigns.
There are some people around Day
ton to-day who say that Cox was as
much the Congressman as was Sorg,
during the years 1894, 1895, and
1896. But however that may be,
the young man won his employers
confidence and was intrusted with
the management of many of his
business affairs, thus gaining an eX-
perience which was of the utmost
value to him when he later headed
an important business of his own.
u was also soEg 10: made. i; possi-.
Tor him IA 70 the
ton News which has been the
4 rs of the Governors fortune.
! .On August Is 1898, the Dayton
ws was founded, being a merger
two other papers which were on
The verge of bankruptcy. Cox was
then twenty-eight years old and, ac-
cording to current reports, had about
$4,000. Sorg offered to finance the
bulk of the proposition, but thought
that for the sake of increasing the
local interest there should be num-
erOus Dayton men in the role of min