Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1925-01-22
BY 0. D. Brandenpurg, Madison

Capitols throughout the country
have been the proving grounds
from which reporters have risen to
heights in the business, literary
and political worlds. Albany par
ticularly has produced many not
ables.
William Barnes, for many years
a power in national republican pol
itics, was assigned to the capitol by
the Albany Journal The late
Martin H. Glynn little dreamed
when he covered sessions for the
Albany Times Union that some day
he would be governor. Daniel
Manning, secretary of the treasury
under President Cleveland, was a
graduate of Albany, as are Frank
Fl. Simons and Louis Seibold, both
writer's of national prominence.
Don Martin, one of the foremost of
American war correspondents, was
assigned to Albany for many years
by the old New York Herald John
p. Gavit and Edward r. Anker COW
cred that capitol for the Associated
Press. The former is now with
Harpers, the latter is assistant to
the president of the New York tele-
phone Company.
The Wisconsin legislature has
had it's worthwhile journalistic
graduates also The late Horace
Rublee, who made the Milwaukee
Sentinel great in it's day, was an
early legislative reporter back in
the era when he and David Atwood
owned the Wisconsin State Jour
nal; and Atwood himself covered
many session, as we'll as the sec
ond constitutional convention. AS
a youngish man, Chief Justice e. G..
Ryan, perhaps the ablest man ever
on our supreme bench, wrote regu-
larIy and searchingly about the
transaction in the first convention
for Racine paper. Col. j. A. Wa
trous, once editor of The Sunday
Telegraph, Milwaukee, did much
special legislative writing, and Mel
vim A. Hoyt, lefthanded, tongue in
cheek, always intense, reported a
session or two forty years ago, la
ter for a double decade managing
the Milwaukee News. Then, Bit
earlier along perhaps forty-fve
years aago, Henry N Cary was a
brilliant member of the reportorial
capital group. AT one time he
represented the Milwaukee Sentin-
ell, later The Chicago Times, under
the daring Story, and for a consid-
cradle period he was managing ed
itor Of one of the big st. Louis
dailies. AS l recall, it was Cary
who played a clever trick on Gov.
Rusk. He came up from Chicago
to get an advance copy of the gov
ernor's message. This was about
in 1881. Col. l.. j, Rusk, his faith
ers private secretary, informed
Cary that the message was at the
express office, consigned to The
Times-that he had served all pa
pers alike, having deposited copies
with the express company to be
delivered at the various daily Off
ces on the morrow, about the very
hour that the governor would be
reading the document to the legis-
lature He was taking no chance
on a premature publication! That
was the era when reporters were
keen for scoops. Cary leisurely
withdrew from the executive cham
Der, then quickly stepped over to
the telegraph Office and wired The
Times to instruct the express
company to deliver the message
to him. This was done of course,
then Cary put it on the wire bodily
and The Times had it in full on the
streets Of Madison the next morn.
ing several hours before the time
for it's presentation to the Joint ses-
sion. 1t was GRAND scoop, but
such an act no modern reporter
would think of committing. Nat
urally Cary was forever after per-
soma non grata while Rusk was gov
ernor. He died a few years ago,
an important official of the Amerl-
can Newspaper Publishers Associa
ton.
Henry e. Legler. later to become
city librarian in Chicago, was a
Sentinel correspondent during at
least two sessions in the SOS, and
no more accurate reporter ever
occupied a desk in the statehouse.
He was the soul of fidelity. Sever
al years ago he died, while yet in
middle life.
Frederick J. Turner, long pro-
fessor of American history in the
University of Wisconsin, later hold
ing a like position at, Harvard, was
Sentinel capitol correspondent,
also along in the SOS, and on one
occasion had written something of