During no small part of its four score and five years of intelligent interest in the world’s thoughts and doings it has been the Sun’s fortune to be regarded as in a somewhat exceptional sense the newspaper man’s newspaper. If in truth it has merited in any degree this peculiar distinction in the eyes of its professional brethren it must have been by reason of originality of initiative and soundness of method; perhaps by a chronic indifference to those ancient conventions of news importance or of editorial phraseology which, when systematically observed, are apt to result in a pale, dull, or even stupid uniformity of product. Mr. Dana wrote more than half a century ago to one of his associates, “Your articles have stirred up the animals, which you as well as I recognise as one of the great ends of life.” Sometimes he borrowed Titania’s wand; sometimes he used a red hot poker. Not only in that great editor’s time but also in the time of his predecessors and successors the Sun has held it to be a duty and a joy to assist to the best of its ability in the discouragement of anything like lethargy in the menagerie. Perhaps, again, that was one of the things that helped to make it the newspaper man’s newspaper.

However this may be, it seems certain that to the students of the theory and practice of journalism, now happily so numerous in the land, the chronicler of one highly individual newspaper’s deeds and ways is affording an object lesson of practical value, a textbook of technical usefulness, as well as a store of authoritative history, entertaining anecdote, and suggestive professional information. And a much wider audience than is made up of newspaper workers present or to come will find that the story of a newspaper which Mr. O’Brien has told with wit and knowledge in the pages that follow becomes naturally and inevitably a swift and charming picture of the town in which that newspaper is published throughout the period of its service to that town—the most interesting period in the existence of the most interesting city of the world.

It is a fine thing for the Sun, by all who have worked for it in its own spirit beloved, I believe, like a creature of flesh and blood and living intelligence and human virtues and failings, that through Mr. Munsey’s wish it should have found in a son of its own schooling a biographer and interpreter so sympathetically responsive to its best traditions.

Edward P. Mitchell.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
SUNRISE AT 222 WILLIAM STREET
PAGE
Benjamin H. Day, with No Capital Except Youth and Courage, Establishes the First Permanent Penny Newspaper.—The Curious First Number Entirely His Own Work[21]
CHAPTER II
THE FIELD OF THE LITTLE “SUN”
A Very Small Metropolis Which Day and His Partner, Wisner, Awoke by Printing Small Human Pieces About Small Human Beings and Having Boys Cry the Paper[31]
CHAPTER III
RICHARD ADAMS LOCKE’S MOON HOAX
A Magnificent Fake Which Deceived Two Continents, Brought to “The Sun” the Largest Circulation in the World and, in Poe’s Opinion, Established Penny Papers[64]
CHAPTER IV
DAY FINDS A RIVAL IN BENNETT
The Success of “The Sun” Leads to the Founding of The “Herald.”—Enterprises and Quarrels of a Furious Young Journalism.—The Picturesque Webb.—Maria Monk[103]
CHAPTER V
NEW YORK LIFE IN THE THIRTIES
A Sprightly City Which Daily Bought Thirty Thousand copies of “The Sun.”—The Rush to Start Penny Papers.—Day Sells “The Sun” for Forty Thousand Dollars[121]
CHAPTER VI
MOSES Y. BEACH’S ERA OF HUSTLE
“The Sun” Uses Albany Steamboats, Horse Expresses, Trotting Teams, Pigeons, and the Telegraph to Get News.—Poe’s Famous Balloon Hoax and the Case of Mary Rodgers[139]
CHAPTER VII
“THE SUN” IN THE MEXICAN WAR
Moses Y. Beach as an Emissary of President Polk.—The Associated Press Founded in the Office of “The Sun.”—Ben Day’s Brother-in-Law Retires with a Small Fortune[164]
CHAPTER VIII
“THE SUN” DURING THE CIVIL WAR
One of the Few Entirely Loyal Newspapers of New York.—Its Brief Ownership by a Religious Coterie.—It Returns to the Possession of M. S. Beach, Who Sells It to Dana[172]
CHAPTER IX
THE EARLIER CAREER OF DANA
His Life at Brook Farm and His Tribune Experience.—His Break with Greeley, His Civil War Services and His Chicago Disappointment.—His Purchase of “The Sun”[202]
CHAPTER X
DANA: HIS “SUN” AND ITS CITY
The Period of the Great Personal Journalists.—Dana’s Avoidance of Rules and Musty Newspaper Conventions.—His Choice of Men and His Broad Definition of News[233]
CHAPTER XI
DANA, AS MITCHELL SAW HIM
A Picture of the Room Where One Man Ruled for Thirty Years.—The Democratic Ways of a Newspaper Autocrat.—W. O. Bartlett, Pike, and His Other Early Associates[247]
CHAPTER XII
DANA’S FIRST BIG NEWS MEN
Amos J. Cummings, Dr. Wood, and John B. Bogart.—The Lively Days of Tweedism.—Elihu Root as a Dramatic Critic.—The Birth and Popularity of “The Sun’s” Cat[262]
CHAPTER XIII
DANA’S FAMOUS RIVALS PASS
The Deaths of Raymond, Bennett, and Greeley Leave Him the Dominant Figure of the American Newspaper Field.—Dana’s Dream of a Paper Without Advertisements[293]
CHAPTER XIV
“THE SUN” AND THE GRANT SCANDALS
Dana’s Relentless Fight Against the Whisky Ring, the Crédit Mobilier, “Addition, Division, and Silence,” the Safe Burglary Conspiracy and the Boss Shepherd Scandal[304]
CHAPTER XV
“THE SUN” AND “HUMAN INTEREST”
Something About Everything, for Everybody.—A Wonderful Four-Page Paper.—A Comparison of the Styles of “Sun” Reporters in Three Periods Twenty Years Apart[313]
CHAPTER XVI
“SUN” REPORTERS AND THEIR WORK
Cummings, Ralph, W. J. Chamberlin, Brisbane, Riggs, Dieuaide, Spears, O. K. Davis, Irwin, Adams, Denison, Wood, O’Malley, Hill, Cronyn.—Spanish War Work[328]
CHAPTER XVII
SOME GENIUS IN AN OLD ROOM
Lord, Managing Editor for Thirty-Two Years.—Clarke, Magician of the Copy Desk.—Ethics, Fair Play and Democracy.—“The Evening Sun” and Those Who Make It[369]
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FINEST SIDE OF “THE SUN”
Literary Associations of an Editorial Department That Has Encouraged and Attracted Men of Imagination and Talent.—Mitchell, Hazeltine, Church, and Their Colleagues[402]
CHAPTER XIX
“THE SUN” AND YELLOW JOURNALISM
The Coming and Going of a Newspaper Disease.—Dana’s Attitude Toward President Cleveland.—Dana’s Death.—Ownerships of Paul Dana, Laffan, Reick, and Munsey[413]
Bibliography[435]
Chronology[437]
Index[439]

ILLUSTRATIONS

BENJAMIN H. DAY, FOUNDER OF “THE SUN”[Frontispiece]
PAGE
BENJAMIN H. DAY, A BUST[22]
THE FIRST ISSUE OF “THE SUN”[28]
THE FIRST HOME OF “THE SUN”[34]
THE SECOND HOME OF “THE SUN”[34]
BARNEY WILLIAMS, THE FIRST NEWSBOY[50]
RICHARD ADAMS LOCKE, AUTHOR OF THE MOON HOAX[68]
THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF THE MOON HOAX[96]
A MOON SCENE, FROM LOCKE’S GREAT DECEPTION[96]
MOSES YALE BEACH, SECOND OWNER OF “THE SUN”[124]
AN EXTRA OF “THE SUN”[136]
THE THIRD HOME OF “THE SUN”[136]
MOSES SPERRY BEACH[166]
ALFRED ELY BEACH[170]
CHARLES A. DANA AT THIRTY-EIGHT[204]
MR. DANA AT FIFTY[224]
THE FIRST NUMBER OF “THE SUN” UNDER DANA[236]
THE HOME OF “THE SUN” FROM 1868 TO 1915[236]
MR. DANA IN HIS OFFICE[248]
JOSEPH PULITZER[258]
ELIHU ROOT[258]
JUDGE WILLARD BARTLETT[258]
MR. DANA AT SEVENTY[270]
AMOS JAY CUMMINGS[280]
DANIEL F. KELLOGG[290]
AMOS B. STILLMAN[290]
JOHN B. BOGART[290]
JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR.[300]
HORACE GREELEY[300]
HENRY J. RAYMOND[300]
JULIAN RALPH[316]
ARTHUR BRISBANE[330]
EDWARD G. RIGGS[350]
CHESTER SANDERS LORD[370]
SELAH MERRILL CLARKE[380]
SAMUEL A. WOOD[390]
OSCAR KING DAVIS[390]
THOMAS M. DIEUAIDE[390]
SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS[390]
WILL IRWIN[398]
FRANK WARD O’MALLEY[398]
EDWIN C. HILL[398]
PAUL DANA[404]
WILLIAM M. LAFFAN[410]
WILLIAM C. REICK[416]
FRANK A. MUNSEY[422]
EDWARD PAGE MITCHELL[430]