Among the newspaper men, aside from those already mentioned, who have come and gone—some to their final reward, others to new or different fields of labor—who were more or less important actors on this stage of life's industry, were some who were peculiarly adapted to journalistic work and had rendered highly satisfactory service in their day. Among such were:
HOLBROOK, DANIEL—Daniel Holbrook, who, in 1862, bought the Tri-States Union in Port Jervis—a college graduate, a linguist, scholar, and able writer, a native of Boston. After less than a decade of newspaper work, he sold the plant, and has since been engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Port Jervis, and is now justice of the peace and police justice in the city of Port Jervis.
SLAWSON, WILLIAM G.—William G. Slawson was, in the '70's, one of the liveliest reporters that ever labored in Middletown, and he kept the columns of the Press teeming with his clever work. He has been for several years in other work, lately at Cleveland, Ohio.
SHIER, JAMES J.—James J. Shier, a graduate of the Middletown Mercury and Argus, was city editor there some time, and in the '80's went to Port Jervis and secured an interest in the Gazette, where he remained until he died, June 2, 1893.
HELLER, BURRELL—An old Milford and Port Jervis printer and a good writer and reporter was Burrell Heller, who died late in the '80's. He was employed in various capacities on the Port Jervis papers, latterly as reporter on the Port Jervis Gazette.
YOUNG, CHARLES O.—Charles O. Young, of Port Jervis, admitted to the bar as a lawyer in the '80's, son of the late Oliver Young (a prominent lawyer of Port Jervis), edited the Port Jervis Daily Union several years. He is a most accomplished writer, highly educated, a scholar, a linguist, and a man of high literary tastes. He prefers literature to law, and the Port Jervis papers are occasionally favored with emanations from his gifted pen.
WILLIS, EVANDER B.—Evander B. Willis appeared in Middletown early in the '60's, and learned the printer's trade, later becoming an expert stenographer, then reporter and editor, and for a time conducted the Middletown Mail. He was born at Unionville. Early in the '70's he went to California and became court stenographer.
BENNET, JAMES—One of the men who figured prominently in the western end of orange County newspaper circles for about a quarter of a century was James Bennet, of Port Jervis. He was a good newspaper man and had a knack for seeing the droll side of events and for putting the same into print, and some of his "yarns" were extremely witty. Mr. Bennet is the youngest son of James and Sarah Westfall Bennet, and he was born at Carpenter's Point (now Tri-States, and a part of the Fourth Ward of the city of Port Jervis). James Bennet graduated at the famous old Mount Retirement Seminary in Sussex County, N. J., near Deckertown (now Sussex), in 1863. He studied medicine two years, and abandoned the same to go into the flour and feed business in Port Jervis. In 1886 he accepted a position in the business and editorial department of the Port Jervis Gazette, and became associate editor. In 1889 he went with the Union, remaining there fifteen months, and then returned to his former position with the Gazette, where he remained until 1906, when he resigned to go into the insurance business—the retreat of so many old newspaper men. His wife was Alice Stiles, daughter of the late Edward A. Stiles, for so many useful years the principal and proprietor of the Mount Retirement Seminary.
BARRET, LEON—One of the brightest cartoonists of the metropolis, Leon Barret, began his work in Orange County, having come to Middletown in the '70's, where he conducted a book and stationery store at the corner of James and King streets. He soon developed a talent for drawing that attracted the notice of newspaper men, and Messrs. Macardell and Thompson found a place for him on the Argus and Mercury, and eventually took him into partnership. His artistic ability so rapidly improved, however, as to receive recognition from the New York press, and severing his connection with the Argus he went to the metropolis, where a wider field was afforded for the exercise of his remarkable talents, and where he has won fame and standing.
WHEAT, WALLACE B.—Wallace B. Wheat, for the past twenty-five or thirty years, has been connected with the Port Jervis Gazette as typesetter and reporter, and for many years has been the local representative of the New York World.