The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-07-12
The Death of E. w. Barrett
From the Montgomery Advertiser.

dramatic death of Edward " Barrett, an out standing figure in the political, social and. journalistic circles of the state. MT. Barrett was editor and owner of the Birmingham Age Herald, but he was more than that as a citizen of Alabama. His personality was invested the directing genius of great newspaper property.
 Few if any men in Alabama had more close and warm personal friends than Ed Barrett. He had a personal charm and magnetism that made all his acquaintances his close friends. That undeniable genius for friendship was perhaps his chief characteristic. And he had friends scattered throughout Alabama from Mobile to Huntsville. Perhaps this gift of friendship grew out of his sincerity and his innate courtesy.
 Alabama and particularly the Birmingha I district is a loser by his death. How much the mineral district of Alabama loses in the death of a who has labored for 25 years for its upbuilding can not well be estimated. And he loved his adopted state and never ceased in well doing for it. When, as an am- bilious young man he visioned the opportuni- ties for a newspaper in the great and growing mineral section of Alabama, he brought to The Age-Herald an excellent preparation for what was to be his lifes work He was born into family and circle which represented the best traditions and culture of the south. He received the best education and the best train- ing that boy could get in the south in the years immediately following the destructive war. He chose as his life work the hardest and most exacting profession an educated young man could select-that of working newspaper man. By his ability and his grace and culture he had made himself an out standing figure in that work long befo, he came to Birmingham Mir. Barrett was a prominent figure in journalistic circles in the last years of the Cleveland administration. As a Washington correspondent he was the friend and confidant of the larger political figures of that day who had implicit confidence in his capacity and in his discretion. He was per haps the best known of all the southern corre- spondents at Washington. And he had done big work in the somewhat limited field of Washington correspondence. He went in 1895 to the far east as the correspondent of the New York World and the Atlanta Consttu- tion to cover the Chino-Japanese war.
 Two years later, in 1897, he deliberately de- dod hat ,,irort rton, and tho Alob eral district offered the finest opportunities for the future of any section of the country and he cast his lot for better or worse with the Birmingham district.
 The Age Herald, until he obtained control of it, had had varied and troubled career under many arrangements. He devoted The Age-Herald to preaching the gospel of Br- mngham's greatness. For 25 years The Age Herald has been expression of the per sonality of Ed Barrett. He loved The Age Herald and he set up certain standards for conduct which were maintained with unswery- ing fidelity to the end. Incidentally in it's conduct he gave free rein to his gifts for mak- ing friends, and when he died he had them by the hundreds in all parts of Alabama
 Not only Birmingham, but Alabama, is poorer, now that his life is over. Leaders in every walk of life in Alabama feel keen sense of loss because of his death. He never swerved from the line of conduct which he laid down for The Age-Herald. And for it's sin certy and integrity it preserved throughout the respect and confidence of the people of Alabama. Barrett lived long enough to have public testimony borne to the esteem and confidence in which he was held. An admired and beloved figure in large circle of friends, he yet never sought public office, until he consented to become a candidate for the hon. orary position of member of the national dem- ocratic executive committee from Alabama In an open statewide primary in which he made no sort of campaign he was selected for this party honor. Immediately on his election he given place of distinction in the work of the committee by Chairman George White
 His whole life was animated by sense of justice. He revolted at the thought of doing fair play characterized his conduct of The Age-Herald, fairness and justice to all. If even in the heat of a campaign any political leader was knowingly done an injustice by him the incident has gone unrecorded and unremembered. He was only 54 when he died, an age at which he should have been at his pest. But from boyhood he had lived stren- uous life, always in the midst of things and in the midst of a strllpfle The personaI con.