Evening star., 1948-07-25

reporter or her determination to get
the people to read her paper.
Long after the allotted tenure OF. a
Hearst editor had expired, Mrs. Pat
terson was still very much In the
picture.
Mr.. Hearst and his editor had not
always agreed on policy, however,
and in April, 1887, Mrs. Patterson
leased the Herald from him. Three
months later she also leased the
Times. In 1899, she bought both
the Times and Herald.
Mrs. Patterson had bought an Or
ganization that was losing when she
took it over. One of her steps on
the road of solvency was to order
around the clock publication, first
system of its kind in the country.
Tried to Be Average Reader.
The Times-Herald publisher often
told interviewers that, in editing her
papers, she had never tried to be
more than an average reader.
After a serious illness in 1912,
she spent more time at home, care
fully reading each edition and tele-
phoning the office when something
did not suit her. Desk men were
not surprised to hear her voice at
any time of the day or night.
Once at 3 am, during a meat
shortage, she ordered a reporter to
start for Chicago at once to seek
out the cause.
Staff members referred to her os
The Lady" and "Cissy" She was
widely known by the latter lame,
the affectionate nickname applied
by her brother, Capt. Joe Patterson.
Reminescing newsmen talk OF the
day during the depression when
Mrs. Patterson left brilliant en-
oassy party, went home and changed
to old clothes. She went to Saliva
ton Army home, registered under
an alias, and asked to be put up.
She spent the night in, the women's
dormtto1y, had breakfast ttre nert
morning and spent the day looking
for work"
Ran as 9-Day Serial.
The facts she gathered were run
in serial form for nine days
Mrs. Patterson's birth into the
rich and influential newspaper
family was ON November 7, 1884.
Shortly before her debut, the
Dupont Circle mansion of 40 rooms
was completed. il >.,, ,,.
In the autumn OF that year she
went with her uncle, Robert S. Nc
Cormick. to Vienna. AS ambassador
to Austria Hungary, Mr.. Mccormick
could present his lively niece to top
society.
Already, the russet-haired, brown
eyed girl had become a superb
swimmer, horsewoman and big
game hunter.
The suitor who attracted young
Eleanor was Josef Gizycki, a Rus
sian Pole cavalry officer and a
count. Although her family did not
approve, they were married In 1904
when she was 10. They moved to
his estate in Poland.
There was disagreement. The
countess took her 3-year-old daugh-
ter, Felicia, and started for America.
But the count pursued her, swept
up his daughter in England. and
took her to convent.
AS the father. he had that legal
right. But he was dismayed later
to receive an order from the Gear
OF Russia, commanding him to re-
turn the child to her mother. 1t
later came out that the Gar had
been SO influenced by the United
States Government.
1t was not until 1917, eight years
after her return to this country
that Mrs. Patterson won a divorce
from the count.
In the years before her second
marriage, Mrs. Patterson pursued
her outdoors, travel and social ac-
tivities. She also wrote two novels,
Glass Houses" the career of Will
liam E. Borah, published in 1925,
and Fall Flight" some of her own
published two years
later.
In 1925 she married Elmer Schle-