Post by elisabeth on Jul 17, 2008 10:01:58 GMT -6
Manton Marble was the editor and proprietor of the New York World. According to this:
www.mrlincolnandnewyork.org/inside_search.asp?ID=37&subjectID=3&searchWord=Manton
he might more justly be called co-proprietor, since early in the paper's life he had to finance it by selling shares to a number of prominent Democrats, most notably August Belmont and Samuel J. Tilden. They strongly influenced its editorial policy -- not that Marble needed much persuasion, since he was an ardent supporter of the party, and was a member of McClellan's campaign team in the 1864 election.
Where this gets kind of interesting for us is that in Tom O'Neil's Garryowen Tid-Bits IX, p. 32-35, there's a full version of Libbie's last letter to Custer, the one dated June 21st 1876. The version in Merington is heavily pruned and leaves out much that's of interest -- not least, the fact that Jimi Calhoun was setting up as a correspondent for the New York World.
This emerges as Libbie tells Custer about the state their letters had arrived in thanks to the fatal accident to that mailboat. She says:
"The mail was dropped in the Yellowstone river by the capsizing of the small boat. You know before it started -- then they must have attempted to dry it before the fire for our letters were scorched -- Maggies from Jimi had been reenveloped at Buford -- The dispatches to the World partly burned so as to be impossible to decypher them and your letter to the World editor lost. So Maggie copied and rewrote Jimi's dispatches as best she could and at her request I wrote a few lines to Mr. Harlbert [sic -- almost certainly O'Neil's mistranscription of "Marble"] saying you had written a letter but it was lost and explaining about the state the mail was in. Then mentioned that your letter had been to introduce Mr. Calhoun an officer of the 7th Cavalry who had written the dispatches for the World."
From that, it seems clear that Calhoun wasn't in any way pre-contracted to write for the paper, and that these were the first dispatches he'd sent. Elsewhere in this letter, it's clear that it's Custer's June 11th letter she's just received. Safe to assume, then, that Calhoun's dispatches are of similar date. So ... what had happened to prompt him suddenly to take up the pen and send stuff off on spec, with Custer egging him on? The most obvious answer would seem to be Terry's decision about the Reno scout. Calhoun and L Co. were going on that; Custer (obviously) wasn't. Calhoun would be Custer's eyes and ears on that trip. Having opened negotiations with Marble via this first, presumably anodyne, dispatch -- at any rate, neither Libbie nor Maggie seem to have found anything especially sensational in it -- he'd then be in a position to feed the World whatever stories emerged from the trip.
Question: did Calhoun write an account of the scout? As far as I know, there's no mention of him being among those present at the card game on the Far West on the night of the 21st, despite his known fondness for such things. So perhaps he spent the evening in his tent, dutifully scribbling. Knowing Custer's own line on the conduct of the scout, anything his devoted brother-in-law wrote would be likely to take the same tack -- and with all the more force for being an eye-witness account. It would be pure gold. Has anything from the World turned up in any book? Or are their archives accessible anywhere, such as the Library of Congress or wherever? There might be some good stuff yet to be found.
Marble relinquished editorship of the paper in, as it happens, 1876. I don't know the exact date; but I'd imagine it must have been after the election, as he'd surely have wanted to stick around to see his old pal Tilden make his grab for the brass ring. Possibly his appetite for sensational stories might have been less, so close to retirement. Or possibly he might have felt that an article showing in-fighting in the 7th Cavalry (if there was one and it did) wouldn't help the Democrat cause in the eyes of a nation in mourning. In either case, he might of course simply have burned any such article. On the other hand, it might equally have found its way into his private papers ...
Any sleuths out there who feel like a quest?
www.mrlincolnandnewyork.org/inside_search.asp?ID=37&subjectID=3&searchWord=Manton
he might more justly be called co-proprietor, since early in the paper's life he had to finance it by selling shares to a number of prominent Democrats, most notably August Belmont and Samuel J. Tilden. They strongly influenced its editorial policy -- not that Marble needed much persuasion, since he was an ardent supporter of the party, and was a member of McClellan's campaign team in the 1864 election.
Where this gets kind of interesting for us is that in Tom O'Neil's Garryowen Tid-Bits IX, p. 32-35, there's a full version of Libbie's last letter to Custer, the one dated June 21st 1876. The version in Merington is heavily pruned and leaves out much that's of interest -- not least, the fact that Jimi Calhoun was setting up as a correspondent for the New York World.
This emerges as Libbie tells Custer about the state their letters had arrived in thanks to the fatal accident to that mailboat. She says:
"The mail was dropped in the Yellowstone river by the capsizing of the small boat. You know before it started -- then they must have attempted to dry it before the fire for our letters were scorched -- Maggies from Jimi had been reenveloped at Buford -- The dispatches to the World partly burned so as to be impossible to decypher them and your letter to the World editor lost. So Maggie copied and rewrote Jimi's dispatches as best she could and at her request I wrote a few lines to Mr. Harlbert [sic -- almost certainly O'Neil's mistranscription of "Marble"] saying you had written a letter but it was lost and explaining about the state the mail was in. Then mentioned that your letter had been to introduce Mr. Calhoun an officer of the 7th Cavalry who had written the dispatches for the World."
From that, it seems clear that Calhoun wasn't in any way pre-contracted to write for the paper, and that these were the first dispatches he'd sent. Elsewhere in this letter, it's clear that it's Custer's June 11th letter she's just received. Safe to assume, then, that Calhoun's dispatches are of similar date. So ... what had happened to prompt him suddenly to take up the pen and send stuff off on spec, with Custer egging him on? The most obvious answer would seem to be Terry's decision about the Reno scout. Calhoun and L Co. were going on that; Custer (obviously) wasn't. Calhoun would be Custer's eyes and ears on that trip. Having opened negotiations with Marble via this first, presumably anodyne, dispatch -- at any rate, neither Libbie nor Maggie seem to have found anything especially sensational in it -- he'd then be in a position to feed the World whatever stories emerged from the trip.
Question: did Calhoun write an account of the scout? As far as I know, there's no mention of him being among those present at the card game on the Far West on the night of the 21st, despite his known fondness for such things. So perhaps he spent the evening in his tent, dutifully scribbling. Knowing Custer's own line on the conduct of the scout, anything his devoted brother-in-law wrote would be likely to take the same tack -- and with all the more force for being an eye-witness account. It would be pure gold. Has anything from the World turned up in any book? Or are their archives accessible anywhere, such as the Library of Congress or wherever? There might be some good stuff yet to be found.
Marble relinquished editorship of the paper in, as it happens, 1876. I don't know the exact date; but I'd imagine it must have been after the election, as he'd surely have wanted to stick around to see his old pal Tilden make his grab for the brass ring. Possibly his appetite for sensational stories might have been less, so close to retirement. Or possibly he might have felt that an article showing in-fighting in the 7th Cavalry (if there was one and it did) wouldn't help the Democrat cause in the eyes of a nation in mourning. In either case, he might of course simply have burned any such article. On the other hand, it might equally have found its way into his private papers ...
Any sleuths out there who feel like a quest?
