MEMBERS
PT JOHN- S. H A R WOOD.
PROMINENT among the interesting
and picturesque present-day "Old
Guard" of newspaperdom, which
will soon be much in evidence on the
"firing line" in the fast-approaching:
Presidential campaign, are a half-dozen
men who, from actual personal ex
perience, know .whether the pen
mightier than the sword.
Henry Watterson, of the Louisville
Courier-Journal, a truly National char
acter, who was 16 when he wrote his
first widely-copied editorial, and be
came so excited over his success that
he couldn't sleep o' nights, was a staff
officer for the Confederacy, and towart
the end of the contest its Chief of
Scouts.
Captain Henry King, editor of the
St. Louis Globe-Democrat, was in the
service of his country all through the
Civil War. During that time he was
on the staffs of Generals Grenville M.
Dodge and James B. McPherson, and
so was in the thick of the fighting. He
started his newspaper career as an ap
prentice in a "country" office, and, bar
ring the years of the Civil War, his
whole life has been passed in news
paper offices'.
General Charles H. Taylor, of the
Boston Globe, whose first newspaper
position was that of errand boy in
Boston, enlisted as a private in a Mas
sachusetts regiment when he was only
16, and during a charge on the Confed
erate stronghold of Port Hudson, was
severely wounded.
General H. G. Otis, of the Los An
geles Times, who is proud of the fact
that he gets out the bulkiest of all
bulky Sunday newspapers, received
promotion for gallantry displayed in
battle both in the Civil War and in the
Philippines.
General Felix Angus, a power on the
Baltimore American for the last 40
otW years, was a dashing Zouave under
the Third Napoleon and Garibaldi, in
their battles for a united Italy, and a
little later he was performing dare
devil deeds on numerous Civil War bat
tlefields". And Harvey W. Scott, of The Port
land Oregonian, at 14 an emigrant
farmer boy in Oregon, and today looked
upon in that state as its leading citi
zen, as a -private, fought Indians In
the widespread outbreak of 1855-1857.
General Felix An pus.
The war record of General Angus,
one of the comparatively few members
of the "old guard" who is not a native
of America, shows a thrill at almost
every turm As a member of Gari
baldi's famous Flying Corps, adven
ture was constantly his portion until
the French and their Italian allies had
won a united Italy. He dramatically
began his defense of the North by sav
ing the life of General Kllpatrick at
one of the first contests of the war, Big
Bethel, June 10, 1861. For this bit of
gallantry he was promoted to Second
Lieutenant in Duryea's Fifth New York
Zouaves, in which he had enlisted as
a private at the outbreak of hostilities.
He was wounded three times, once
when he led his regiment in a charge
on Port Hudson, and again by a saber
during a hand-to-hand fight with the
Texas horsemen in Western Louisiana.
He volunteered to lead the charge at
Ashland Bridge, and for his Intrepidity
In that thrilling work he received com
plimentary mention in the report of the
general commanding, when the expe
dition to -Sabine Pass ended in disaster,
Angus, by this time having won a cap
taincy by his gallantry, was put in
charge of the steamer Pocahontas and
ordered to proceed to the blockading
fleet off Galveston and notify them of
the Federal failure. During the first
night out the old hulk ran aground on
an unllghted coast and, when dawn
came, the artillerymen on board discov
ered themselves well within the range
of the Confederate shore batteries.
Argus, quickly taking in the situation,
ordered the horses overboard, and
tnough his own mount was a particular
pet, overboard he went; and when all
the animals had been cast into the sea
to drown, tne boat's bottom left its bed
of m:id and Angus took his command
to safety without the loss of a single
man.
All througLh Sheridan's campaign in
the Shenandoah Angus displayed his
accustomed gallantry. He was in the
heat of battle in all the important con
tests as Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel
of the Second Duryea Zouaves, which
he had helped to recruit while waiting
for his first wound to heal. Sheridan,
im$ me I
WHO KNOW FROM
l """""'"'''ft . i-x w" 1 " a
I - , I r?22Hggg i I 1
when ordered by Grant to send his best
Infantry regiment to Fort Delaware to
guard the Confederate prisoners held
there, sent Angus" Zouaves. Thus, when
Angus was breveted Brigadier-General
of Volunteers a few weeks before
the war's close, he had clearly won the
honor both in the Southwest and in the
Virginias.
Late in 1864 Colonel Angus married
the daughter of the then senior pro
prietor of the Baltimore American.
Shortly after the close of hostilities he
resigned his comgiission and entered
the business office of the paper. From
that day to this he has been not only
one of the leading newspaper men south
of Mason and Dixon's line, but one of
Maryland's most- famous residents. As
the head of a Republican paper in a
state that has generally been' strongly
Democratic he has been compelled to
take part In many hard battles; and his
opponents admit that General Angus
has always been able to give as good
as he received.
Today he is in his sixty-ninth' year,
which milestone he will reach on the
birthdate of his adopted country. He
came here from France, his native land,
the year before the Civil War broke
out. to take 'a position in New York.
When Lincoln called' for volunteers
Angus had not yet got a good hold on
the English tongue, but before he had
been a "Yank" many months he was
giving commands in a voice that had
no trace of accent or doubt In it.
General H. G. Otis, now in his seventy-second
year, and for tho past
quarter of a century . in California
journalism, began his gallant soldier's
career p a private in a volunteer Ohio
regiment in June of '61. Mustered out
over four years later, in the meantime
he had been wounded twice, won a
captaincy and breveted major and
then lieutenant-colonel for "gallant and
meritorious conduct'' on the field of
battle. One of Colonel Itia' fellow
fighters in the Twenty-third Ohio was
Major McKlnley. At that time the two
struck up a friendship that lasted until
the latter's assaslnation.
It- was this friendship for President
McKinley, as well as a desire to respond
to his country's martial call once more,
that led Otis to get into the scrimmage
that began in 1898 and made us a colonial
power. Appointed Brigadier-General of
Volunteers n May of that year, by his'
bravery at Caloocan, in the Philippines,
where he led his -brigade to the capture
of that town, he 'was brevetted Major
General less than a year later. . He was
then 62. A few months later he re
turned to his editorial desk, to resume his
warfare with his pen.
The General's pen, by the way, has
been about as productive of . dramatic
incidents in the life of its owner as
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JWE
aQm
ACTUAL EXPERIENCE THAT
were the two swords he carried in his
country's cause. A man who has never
been afraid to say what he thinks, he
was once forced to resign as editor of
Ms paper because he -had said some
pretty hard things of a 'leading citizen of
Los Angeles. At the time he ssrld what
he did very few persons believed the
General's accusations; . later on, how
ever, they were proven true. At another
time a rival edlto sought out the Gen
eral in a theater box 'and when he would
not apologize for making, certain deroga
tory remarks ,of his visitor, there was
trouble straight way. One of the Gen
eral's recent fights was with the labor
unions; 'and so determinedly was it
waged by both sides that it attracted
the attention of the . entire "newspaper
world and much la' Attention as well. ,
Before he went to i-os Angeles and
took hold) of thfe struggling weekly that
he has developed into one of the leading
papers of the -country, Otis' got his news
paper training as foreman in tie gov
ernment printing office, as editor of- the
first Federal soldiers' paper, the Grand
Army Journal, as Washington correspon
dent for an Ohio daily, and cs head of
a paper in Santa Barbara. He was one
of the men who nominated Lincoln the
first time, and he has been active in the
councils of the Republican party since
war days. Despite his three score years
and ten he is exceedingly active, and
like the old-fashioned editor, keeps his
hand and eye on every department of
his paper. '
Captain Henry King, the veteran editor
of the SC Louis Globe-Democrat, left a
newspaper office to go to the war and
when the war was over, although fortune
pointed in another direction, it was to
a newspaper office ' that he returned.
There are- many older editors than he,
but few have seen as many years of
continuous service. With the exception
of the four years in the army i' has
been practically lifelong.
He was but a smai. boy when he was
apprenticed to the Qulncy Whig at
Quincy, 111.", and he stayed with the Whig
until he became its editor. That is a
habit of his. He stays.' When the CiWl
War broke out he did not vquit; he took
a vacation, enlisted as a private in an
Illinois regiment, got into the thickest
of the fight before some people knew
it had commenced, and stayed with the
army until the shooting was all over
and there was nothing more to be done.
Then he returned to, his Job at- Quincy.
Atter four years of war, however.
Captain King found the fine old, Illinois
town a trifle dull. He had been in the
midst of alarms and rather liked them.
Just about that time Kansas went into
the alarm business in a large and ex
ceedingly attractive way. King went
to Kansas and grew up with it; stayel
with it during its days of stormy poli
tics, of ravenous grasshoppers, and wlth-
i ering drouths. He became the editor of
the Topeka Capital, . the most influential
paper in the state, and was one of the
most potent factors in the development
of the lusty and rantankerous common
wealth. He would have been in Topeka
yet, no doubt, but Fate had one more
move for. him, just one. Fate in this
Instance was Impersonated by Joseph B.
McCullogh, who invited Captain King
to become associate , editor of the St.
Louis Globe-Democrat. That was' in
18S3, 25 "years ago, and he is still with
the Globe-Democrat, its editor-in-chief"
since" 1897.
One who served The Oregonian for
many years, asked to .write a sketch of
Mr. Scott said: ' v " ,
"Not long since, a visitor in Portland
from Melbourne having . heard his host
mention Mr. 'Scott as a distinguished
citizen,' asked how the editor had earned
his title.
' " 'He does the thinking for Oregon,' was
the witty reply. 'And he's been doing it
ever since I came here, 40 years ago.'
"Mr. Scott is a Journalist this word
is not misused when you speak of him
who preserves the ideals set up and the
traditions honored Horace Greeley,
Charles A. Dana, the first Samuel Bowles
and Henry Watterson; yet he keeps his
paper abreast of the rapidly changing
spirit of the times. While he has added
all the 20th century features that popu
lar taste demands, the editorial page re
tains the old vigor, the Intellectual rich
ness and the abounding catholicity that
have ever marked him for distinction in
American newspaperdom.
"All ,his life he has been a student.
From every source he sought knowledge
of the motives that have stirred men to
action. He -knows every movement that
has. resulted in jnankind's uplift and
every great National and racial error. Ho
is quite as familiar with the history of
civilization as Buckle himself. In Mr
Scott is jcombined by heredity and sever
est mental training the pugnacity and
humor of Scotland, the philosophy of
the German school, the literary quality
ancient Jewish writers and of Paul, and
the poetry of Shakespeare. Very much
of his store of knowledge and his view
of things, great and small, that affect
the welfare of the world, he has given
to his readers. This is his -life's labor;
he will probably keep it up the next ten
years. He has an ample fortune, but he
can't break tho habit of hard work that
he began as a child on a backwoods
farm in Illinois 60 years ago.
"When ex-Senator H. W. Corbett, the
first president of the Lewis and Clark
Exposition, died, Mr. Scott was unani
mously chsen as successor. To him fell
the burden of making the fight before
Congress for an appropriation. He per
formed that work perfectly, and then
s -- ,
7,. 108. -
THE PEN IS
over the loudest protests of tne directors
and the city generally, he resigned, leav
ing to others the glory of the later suc
cess. He couldn't divorce himself from
his daily work. In recent years he has
made a deep study of the mysteries of
Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry and
is now Grand Orator of that order In
Oregon-.
"It has been said of him by a family
friend that he never retires -without read
ing a chapter from the Bible or an act
from one of Shakespeare's plays. He is
on intimate terms with the classic writ
ers of every age.
"Mr. Scott opposed states" rights and
hated slavery, therefore he naturally af
filiated with the Republican party. He
was its voice in Oregon when the state
had more Southern sympathizers than
Union men, and he has fought its battle
every campaign since. His first notable
edftorial was on the assassination of
Lincoln. No editor or publicist In the
land wrote more ably1 and effectively
against the free silver fallacy than' he.
This craze seized the, people of Oregon.
They, were swift to punish Mr. Scott for
stoutly opposing financial error and dis
honesty. His paper lost so heavily in
subscriptions and advertising thht dis
aster, if not bankruptcy, was threatened.
He fought back still harder. Some esti
mate of Mr. Scott's influence may be
made from the election returns In 1896,
when Oregon stood solidly for the gold
standard--the only state west of the
Rockies soNdlstinguished. He appeale-1
then, as he did before and ever since
that-great crisis, straight to men's rea
son. His habit of thought bars htm from
indirection. ,
. When, McCulIogh died in that year
there were many who said his place
could not be filled; that his successor
whoever he might be, would rattle
around In his chair like a ten-penny
nail in a dessicated gourd; but when Cap
tain King entered the vacant place he
occupied it fully and completely. Tho
paper was not the same, for Captain
King is a man of strong personality, and
has ideas of his own; but it was none
the less enterprising, forceful and bril
liant, and he has kept it well abreast of
the advancement of journalism.
. He, like Otis, is a newspaper man of
the old school who believes in moving
forward with the times, and he wants
to work, the throttle himself. He dic
tates policies, writes editorials, orders
news, glances at proofs, and personally
directs every department of his paper.
From noon to midnight every day of the
year he is at his desk and busy.1 But
his office door is always open and any
man or woman boy or girl who wants
to see him may do so without the for
mality of a card. A certain sternness
of countenance and parsimony of words
are the safeguarew of his time, but there
MIGHTIER. THAN THE SWORD
are many who have found that his heart
Is as tender as a woman's, and there
are few men with a keener sense of
humor.
Harvey V. Scott.
At the age of 70, sound in body, in
the intellectual vigor of 50, Harvey W.
Scott,' editor of the Portland Oregonian,
continues to put his impress daily upon
the great newspaper that he created. His
vocation and his diversion are hard work.
To this ha has been trained since child-
L- hood.
At 14 he came "the plains across" from
Illinois with his father, a farmer who
settRd in the wilderness of Oregon in
18S2 and began conquering it with axe
and plow. The sturdy boy, a giant in
frame and muscle, did a man's share
In winter and attended for a few months
the poorly equipped school. As a private,
at 17,- he fought, Indians in the wide
spread outbreak of 1855-57.
The war over, young Scott determined
to obtain an education. His father was
still working to make a home for the
large family. The boy had to face a
task of paying for his education him
self. At halt a century's distance it is
not easy to see his struggle for a hand
ful of money In a sparsely settled frontier
where everybody was poor. But he had
ambition and courage. He worked in saw
mills, taught school, chopped wood,
worked on farms, helped his father, em
ployedvhis spare hours in reading his
tory, the Bible and Shakespeare and at
21 entered Pacific University the oldest
west of the Rocky Mountains and at
25 received his diploma as its first grad
uate. Two' years thereafter," v. hile reading law
and serving as librarian in the Portland
Library, he was' engaged as editorial
writer of the Oregonian by its owner and
publisher, Henry L. Pittock, with whom
he Is associated at the present day. Some
twelve years later he bought a large in
terest in the enterprise, which he still
owns.
"Note his personal' resemblance to the
Iron Chancellor. Bismarck- and he wore
born fighters, and in no battle did they
quail. Early in the 80's a bunch of
Denis Kearney's sand-lot disciples in
vaded Puget Sound from San Francisco.
They drove all the Chinese out of Ta
coma and burned their habitations. Then
they invaded Portland. Mr. Scott took
up his sword and declared that this out
rage must not be repeated on Oregon
soil. He was in imminent danger of as
saslnation; The Oregonian building was
menaced by dynamite. But within a
week he had so aroused the civic pride,
conscience and loyalty of Portland that
the town was literally under arms. Mer
chants, bankers, capitalists and profes
sional men In one group. Civil War vet
erans In another,- the police in still an
other, slept with their -rifles in their
3
hands. The Irresponsible jawsmith;
didn't hold a 'mass meeting,' which was
to be the signal for attack on Chinatown,
but slunk back to San Francisco like
whipped dogs. In this local crisis, Mr.
Scott stood. simply for law and order.
"Public speaking is not to his, taste,
though on all great occasions, he Is in
vited to make an address, and he seldom
declines. He has little of the art of ora
tory, yet a few weeks ago when he at
tended as an honorary pall-bearer tho
funeral of the oldest reporter of Tha
Oregonian and was called upon by thi
minister without previous note or hint,
to say a few words, he made the most
impressive address I ever listened to; and
It was my good fortune to hear Ingersoll
nominate Blaine and Wendell Phillips)
speak of Daniel O'Connell.
"Mr. Scott Is deeply religious, though
he has no patience with man-mada
creeds that are held up as the epitome
of divine truth, lie is easily the most
profound theologian of the Pacific Coast,
end nothing gives him more keen de
light than public controversy with a
churchman. He never fears his adver
sary; the stranger who throws down the
gauntlet usually feels sorry for himself
when it's all over and he retains all his
ife a wholesome respect for the editor a
wisdom and skill in polemics.. Mr. Scott
has done his full sharo toward treeing
the human mind from superstition, but
always with true reverence for God.
"It Is embarrassing to write an esti
mate of a conspicuously prominent man
when you arc restrained by the thought
that he may read it; still Oregon will
bear me out in saying that measured by
the highest intellectual standard, by tha
most rigid rules that may be applied ta
what we call character, and by his in
fluence upon his fellow citizens. HarVej
Scott is the foremost man of Oregon."
Genral Charles II. Taylor.
The first newspaper job of General
Charles H. Taylor, like Scott a private
in war. yielded him $1 a week. He left
the Boston Traveler, on which he had
been printer and reporter, to go to war,
and when his fighting days were over he
returned to that office. In tho evenings
he studied shorthand, and when William
Lloyd Garrison renounced his allegiance
to the anti-slavery fight, he had become
so .expert with it that he was able to
take down the speech verbatim. Then,
because the Boston papers did not con
sider the speech worth giving space to,
young Taylor, then 20, sent his copy to
New York and received by return mall
a check and an offer from the paper to
become its Boston correspondent. The
first year of his n ljority Taylor earned
$4000 with his pen, a feat truly unusual
in the history of writing.
Like Otis, Scott, Watterson and other
famous- members of the "Old Guard.";
General Taylor "made" the paper with
which his name has been connected so
long. He became the Globe's "big man"
when it was only a year old and in dan
ger of going under, and he but 27. He
started in with the idea of turning out a
paper for the toiling masses and not for
the Harvard professors, a policy which
speedily brought him Buccesa. Today ha
is recognized in newspaperdom as on
of its leading authorities on what the
great mass of people wan.t to read. Gen
eral Taylor gets his military titlo from
his service on the staff of Governor Rus
sell. Henry Watterson.
As every reading American knows,
Henry Watterson has been one of the
country's most-talked-about men for a
quarter of a century. Indeed, he even
has been mentioned -seriously several
times for nomination for the Presidency.
Of course, his editorial utterances have
been read by countless thousands. It is
doubtless true that no other editor now
living has his editorials so widely read
by laymen or followed so closely and
commented on so frequently by newspaper
workers. He,, too, is distinguished among
the "Old Guard as its best public
speaker. As an after-dinner orator he is
excelled by few, and his oration delivered
at the Chicago World's Fair gave him the
reputation of being possessed of a silver '
tongue as well as a wonderfully' gifted
pen.
After Watterson had returned from tin
war he and two other young fellows res
urrected the Nashville Banner with JlOOfl
raised by the father of one of the part
ners placing a mortgage on his farm.
And legend hath it that the first week
of business the partners made enough
money to lift the mortgage and purchase
a good stock of supplies besides. At any
rate, in less than a year the Banner had
the inside track in Nashville and there
were no longer eight, but just three dailies
in that city.
Watterson's success in Nashville se
cured him the managing editor's chair
of the old Louisville Journal. He had not
been in that city long before he set about
to bring his paper and its bitterest rival,
the Courier, together. He succeeded the
year he went to Louisville and became
the real editorial power behind the -com
bined enterprise, though he did not. suc
ceed to the title of editor until a year or
Continued on Pase"8.