The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst (35 page)
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Authors: Kenneth Whyte
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Various newspapers had reported that western silver miners were enthusiastic promoters of the free-silver movement. A week before the debut of the
Evening Journal,
Pulitzer’s
World
began tracing connections between western mine owners and pro-silver members of the Senate and House. It learned that a memo had circulated among silver miners urging them to donate generously to the Democratic campaign. It discovered that senators from Nevada and other western states had investments in silver mines. It seemed obvious to the
World
that these rich silver-mine-owning Senators from Nevada were engaged in a plot to foist bimetallism on the American people—a “sharp, unscrupulous business scheme of amazing impudence and audacity.”
49
The silver kings aimed to get rich by convincing the national government to buy their metal at the above-market ratio of sixteen to one against gold. To that end, they had recruited neighboring silver-producing states to take up the cry of free silver. They then broadened their pitch to areas of “debt, poverty and ignorance”—the western and southern agricultural states.
50
The Nevada conspirators next captured the Chicago convention by illegal manipulation of the rules governing the proper recognition of delegates and, voilà, free silver had “assumed the aspect of a national movement.”
Evening Journal,
Pulitzer’s
World
began tracing connections between western mine owners and pro-silver members of the Senate and House. It learned that a memo had circulated among silver miners urging them to donate generously to the Democratic campaign. It discovered that senators from Nevada and other western states had investments in silver mines. It seemed obvious to the
World
that these rich silver-mine-owning Senators from Nevada were engaged in a plot to foist bimetallism on the American people—a “sharp, unscrupulous business scheme of amazing impudence and audacity.”
49
The silver kings aimed to get rich by convincing the national government to buy their metal at the above-market ratio of sixteen to one against gold. To that end, they had recruited neighboring silver-producing states to take up the cry of free silver. They then broadened their pitch to areas of “debt, poverty and ignorance”—the western and southern agricultural states.
50
The Nevada conspirators next captured the Chicago convention by illegal manipulation of the rules governing the proper recognition of delegates and, voilà, free silver had “assumed the aspect of a national movement.”
The
World
promised to shine the light of publicity on the devious operations of what it called The Great Silver Trust Conspiracy—“the richest, the most powerful and the most rapacious trust in the United States.”
51
It began running lists of silver mines and their owners and estimates of what they would gain if Bryan won and fulfilled his promises. It presented a series of cartoons featuring a blimp-like personification of the Silver Trust.
52
Throughout September and October, articles and illustrations of this nature appeared almost daily in the
World.
World
promised to shine the light of publicity on the devious operations of what it called The Great Silver Trust Conspiracy—“the richest, the most powerful and the most rapacious trust in the United States.”
51
It began running lists of silver mines and their owners and estimates of what they would gain if Bryan won and fulfilled his promises. It presented a series of cartoons featuring a blimp-like personification of the Silver Trust.
52
Throughout September and October, articles and illustrations of this nature appeared almost daily in the
World.
There was some legitimate reporting in Pulitzer’s crusade, particularly with regard to the silver lobby’s political connections, but the notion of a conspiracy was a stretch. The only evidence presented by the
World
was the memo to silver miners asking them to donate to the Democrats—more of a canvass than an intrigue. There was also the difficulty of reconciling the
World
’s reports on the wealth and ferocity of the silver trust with its many articles on the manifest poverty of the Democratic campaign. The nadir of Pulitzer’s crusade was a wacky piece alleging the existence of a league of “secret silver societies” with branches in every state in the Union. The “Silver Knights of America” and “Patriots of America” and “The Supreme Temple of the Silver Knights of America” were said to have three million voters pledged by oath to support silver with their ballots. The league was controlled, of course, by silver senators from Nevada.
53
World
was the memo to silver miners asking them to donate to the Democrats—more of a canvass than an intrigue. There was also the difficulty of reconciling the
World
’s reports on the wealth and ferocity of the silver trust with its many articles on the manifest poverty of the Democratic campaign. The nadir of Pulitzer’s crusade was a wacky piece alleging the existence of a league of “secret silver societies” with branches in every state in the Union. The “Silver Knights of America” and “Patriots of America” and “The Supreme Temple of the Silver Knights of America” were said to have three million voters pledged by oath to support silver with their ballots. The league was controlled, of course, by silver senators from Nevada.
53
One constant in the
World
’s coverage of the silver conspiracy was its implication of William Randolph Hearst.
54
The
San Francisco Call
had earlier speculated that the Hearst family, with its substantial investments in silver mines, would be a big winner if silver were to prevail on election day. The
World
ran these reports verbatim and continued to make prominent mention of Hearst’s supposedly compromising holdings in its extensive coverage of the silver trust. It also included Hearst’s picture in its rogues’ gallery of silver conspirators.
World
’s coverage of the silver conspiracy was its implication of William Randolph Hearst.
54
The
San Francisco Call
had earlier speculated that the Hearst family, with its substantial investments in silver mines, would be a big winner if silver were to prevail on election day. The
World
ran these reports verbatim and continued to make prominent mention of Hearst’s supposedly compromising holdings in its extensive coverage of the silver trust. It also included Hearst’s picture in its rogues’ gallery of silver conspirators.
Hearst’s response was to publish a brief news report on the allegations, along with a curt editorial entitled “Hearst Estate and Politics.”
55
The latter denied that Hearst was supporting Bryan and advocating bimetallism because he owned silver mines. It pointed out that less than a tenth of the Hearst estate consisted of silver mines, and that most of the rest was invested in gold mines (which was the case). Homer Davenport also weighed in, with a series of cartoons in which a ninety-seven-pound Pulitzer, in boxing tights, thrashed a straw man representing the Silver Trust.
56
55
The latter denied that Hearst was supporting Bryan and advocating bimetallism because he owned silver mines. It pointed out that less than a tenth of the Hearst estate consisted of silver mines, and that most of the rest was invested in gold mines (which was the case). Homer Davenport also weighed in, with a series of cartoons in which a ninety-seven-pound Pulitzer, in boxing tights, thrashed a straw man representing the Silver Trust.
56
Pulitzer’s silver conspiracy had the intended effect of energizing the
World
’s campaign coverage, but it was not taken seriously on Park Row. No other paper touched it. Even allowing for the overheated environment of the campaign, Pulitzer had overreached. It was not the sort of mistake he would make under normal circumstances; it was the sort of mistake he made when sorely provoked. Hearst had got under his skin, and he burrowed deeper as the campaign approached its climax.
World
’s campaign coverage, but it was not taken seriously on Park Row. No other paper touched it. Even allowing for the overheated environment of the campaign, Pulitzer had overreached. It was not the sort of mistake he would make under normal circumstances; it was the sort of mistake he made when sorely provoked. Hearst had got under his skin, and he burrowed deeper as the campaign approached its climax.
THE ARTIST RICHARD OUTCAULT was the single-most popular talent in Pulitzer’s
World.
Two years prior to the 1896 election, he had been a technical draftsman for a publication called
Electric World
when his occasional cartoons of street urchins in the humor magazine
Truth
caught the eye of Walt McDougall, the
World
’s political cartoonist. McDougall recommended Outcault to Morrill Goddard (then still in Pulitzer’s employ). Goddard was looking for talent to fill a new illustrated supplement in the Sunday
World,
an eight-page affair, four of them in color. Outcault climbed on board and on May 5, 1895, began publishing what would be the first successful recurring comic in an American newspaper,
Hogan’s Alley.
World.
Two years prior to the 1896 election, he had been a technical draftsman for a publication called
Electric World
when his occasional cartoons of street urchins in the humor magazine
Truth
caught the eye of Walt McDougall, the
World
’s political cartoonist. McDougall recommended Outcault to Morrill Goddard (then still in Pulitzer’s employ). Goddard was looking for talent to fill a new illustrated supplement in the Sunday
World,
an eight-page affair, four of them in color. Outcault climbed on board and on May 5, 1895, began publishing what would be the first successful recurring comic in an American newspaper,
Hogan’s Alley.
On its first appearance,
Hogan’s Alley
was a half-page, single-panel tableau of ragged Irish-American children imitating acrobats and jugglers in the lot behind their tenement—the circus was in town that week. While most newspaper portrayals of the immigrant poor emphasized misery and shame, Outcault’s kids had a joyful vitality that transcended their meager circumstances: they were clever, confident, and irreverent. In the weeks following, the
Hogan’s Alley
gang would cheerfully send up the America’s Cup race, the Vanderbilt-Marlborough wedding, the Princeton-Yale football game, and whatever else was in the news.
Hogan’s Alley
was a half-page, single-panel tableau of ragged Irish-American children imitating acrobats and jugglers in the lot behind their tenement—the circus was in town that week. While most newspaper portrayals of the immigrant poor emphasized misery and shame, Outcault’s kids had a joyful vitality that transcended their meager circumstances: they were clever, confident, and irreverent. In the weeks following, the
Hogan’s Alley
gang would cheerfully send up the America’s Cup race, the Vanderbilt-Marlborough wedding, the Princeton-Yale football game, and whatever else was in the news.
In the lower right corner of the very first
Hogan’s Alley
was a bald, jug-eared boy in bare feet and a long nightshirt. His infectious bucktooth grin would reappear in almost every panel Outcault produced. His original name was Mickey Dugan, but after January 5, 1896, when Outcault began coloring his nightshirt a brilliant yellow and placing him in the foreground, he became known as the Yellow Kid. Sometimes his costume bore captions in
Hogan’s Alley
vernacular. When Chinese viceroy Li Hung-chang visited New York, the shirt read “ME & LI HAS MADE A BIG HIT WIT EACH OTER. SAY! HE TINKS I’M A CHINAMAN—DON’T SAY A WOID . . .” There were other recurring characters in Outcault’s strip
,
including the Naughty Riccadonna Sisters, who ran a ballet school offering plain and fancy dancing and the coochee-coochee, but the Yellow Kid was the star attraction of the Sunday
World.
57
Hogan’s Alley
was a bald, jug-eared boy in bare feet and a long nightshirt. His infectious bucktooth grin would reappear in almost every panel Outcault produced. His original name was Mickey Dugan, but after January 5, 1896, when Outcault began coloring his nightshirt a brilliant yellow and placing him in the foreground, he became known as the Yellow Kid. Sometimes his costume bore captions in
Hogan’s Alley
vernacular. When Chinese viceroy Li Hung-chang visited New York, the shirt read “ME & LI HAS MADE A BIG HIT WIT EACH OTER. SAY! HE TINKS I’M A CHINAMAN—DON’T SAY A WOID . . .” There were other recurring characters in Outcault’s strip
,
including the Naughty Riccadonna Sisters, who ran a ballet school offering plain and fancy dancing and the coochee-coochee, but the Yellow Kid was the star attraction of the Sunday
World.
57
It was only a matter of time before Hearst developed his own humor supplement for the
Journal.
He was a devotee of the genre: he had been collecting German comic books since boyhood, reading French and English humor magazines since Harvard, and he kept a close eye on their American counterparts,
Puck, Judge,
and
Life.
By the summer of 1896 he had installed a press capable of producing an all-color section he would call The American Humorist—“eight pages of iridescent polychromous effulgence that makes the rainbow look like a lead pipe,” according to a
Journal
promotion
.
58
He hired Outcault away from the
World
as the Humorist’s centerpiece. With Pulitzer laying claim to the title
Hogan’s Alley,
Outcault debuted the Yellow Kid and the rest of his characters in the
Journal
under the name
McFadden’s Row of Flats.
The first panel, on October 18, showed the entire motley gang moving to its new premises with suitcases, pets, and toys in hand. One of the kids carried a placard: “SAY! HOGAN’S ALLEY HAS BEN CONDEMED BY DE BOARD OF HELT. AN WE WAS GITTEN TIRED OF IT ANY WAY.” The major difference in Hearst’s presentation of the Yellow Kid was the addition of a weekly narrative by E.W. Townsend, a
Journal
writer who had years earlier produced a popular column for the
Sun
featuring a boisterous Bowery tough named Chimmie Fadden. Townsend now produced a weekly short story based on Outcault’s characters to run alongside
McFadden’s Row of Flats.
Journal.
He was a devotee of the genre: he had been collecting German comic books since boyhood, reading French and English humor magazines since Harvard, and he kept a close eye on their American counterparts,
Puck, Judge,
and
Life.
By the summer of 1896 he had installed a press capable of producing an all-color section he would call The American Humorist—“eight pages of iridescent polychromous effulgence that makes the rainbow look like a lead pipe,” according to a
Journal
promotion
.
58
He hired Outcault away from the
World
as the Humorist’s centerpiece. With Pulitzer laying claim to the title
Hogan’s Alley,
Outcault debuted the Yellow Kid and the rest of his characters in the
Journal
under the name
McFadden’s Row of Flats.
The first panel, on October 18, showed the entire motley gang moving to its new premises with suitcases, pets, and toys in hand. One of the kids carried a placard: “SAY! HOGAN’S ALLEY HAS BEN CONDEMED BY DE BOARD OF HELT. AN WE WAS GITTEN TIRED OF IT ANY WAY.” The major difference in Hearst’s presentation of the Yellow Kid was the addition of a weekly narrative by E.W. Townsend, a
Journal
writer who had years earlier produced a popular column for the
Sun
featuring a boisterous Bowery tough named Chimmie Fadden. Townsend now produced a weekly short story based on Outcault’s characters to run alongside
McFadden’s Row of Flats.
Pulitzer assigned the artist George Luks to continue
Hogan’s Alley
for the
World,
and Luks produced a credible facsimile of Outcault’s original with the result that New York readers were now treated to the weekly spectacle of rival Yellow Kids. Hearst and Pulitzer both promoted their comics on posters and billboards. Merchandisers created Yellow Kid buttons, toys, and cigarette boxes. The comedy team of Weber and Fields put the Yellow Kid on stage. The social critic Max Nordau took one look at the Yellow Kid’s bald head, bad teeth, and misshapen feet and, shuddering to think what other abnormalities were hidden beneath his yellow shirt, declared him the ultimate symbol of Western degeneracy. The Kid was a bona fide hit.
Hogan’s Alley
for the
World,
and Luks produced a credible facsimile of Outcault’s original with the result that New York readers were now treated to the weekly spectacle of rival Yellow Kids. Hearst and Pulitzer both promoted their comics on posters and billboards. Merchandisers created Yellow Kid buttons, toys, and cigarette boxes. The comedy team of Weber and Fields put the Yellow Kid on stage. The social critic Max Nordau took one look at the Yellow Kid’s bald head, bad teeth, and misshapen feet and, shuddering to think what other abnormalities were hidden beneath his yellow shirt, declared him the ultimate symbol of Western degeneracy. The Kid was a bona fide hit.
Although Pulitzer fought to protect the
Hogan’s Alley
franchise, his response to Hearst’s humor supplement was halfhearted. He let Outcault go, apparently without a fight, and he did not immediately match Hearst’s eight-page full-color American Humorist. The expense may have been a factor, but Pulitzer was not entirely convinced of the charms of uppity ethnic urchins. The
Journal
would soon add to its comic arsenal Rudolph Dirks’s
Katzenjammer Kids,
a chronicle of mischievous German-American youths, and Frederick Opper’s
Happy Hooligan,
based on a lovable hobo and his sidekick, Gloomy Gus. Hearst was the more committed populist, in comics as well as in the national election race.
Hogan’s Alley
franchise, his response to Hearst’s humor supplement was halfhearted. He let Outcault go, apparently without a fight, and he did not immediately match Hearst’s eight-page full-color American Humorist. The expense may have been a factor, but Pulitzer was not entirely convinced of the charms of uppity ethnic urchins. The
Journal
would soon add to its comic arsenal Rudolph Dirks’s
Katzenjammer Kids,
a chronicle of mischievous German-American youths, and Frederick Opper’s
Happy Hooligan,
based on a lovable hobo and his sidekick, Gloomy Gus. Hearst was the more committed populist, in comics as well as in the national election race.
AS THE CAMPAIGN CAME TO A CLOSE, New Yorkers were almost dizzy with suspense. A Davenport cartoon showed burglars walking free, people dying in the street, and actresses in tears as cops, ambulance drivers, and theater audiences got caught up in the new rage for talking politics.
59
The popular excitement was stoked by continuous street parades as the parties worked to mobilize voters. A fireworks specialist named John Delaney had been hired by the Republicans to give one of their processions a dazzling finale. According to a
Journal
report, he waited on a rooftop at the appointed hour and at the first sight of balloons and a marching band let loose his rockets. The marchers, unfortunately for Delaney, turned out to be Democrats. He realized his mistake and fainted on the spot.
60
59
The popular excitement was stoked by continuous street parades as the parties worked to mobilize voters. A fireworks specialist named John Delaney had been hired by the Republicans to give one of their processions a dazzling finale. According to a
Journal
report, he waited on a rooftop at the appointed hour and at the first sight of balloons and a marching band let loose his rockets. The marchers, unfortunately for Delaney, turned out to be Democrats. He realized his mistake and fainted on the spot.
60
The
Journal
managed to keep its poise in the closing days, despite reasonably certain knowledge that Bryan would lose the election. Oddsmakers at the stock exchange were giving at least 3 to 1 for McKinley. The vast majority of voter canvasses, as opinion surveys were then called, foretold a Republican victory. Hanna, who had better intelligence than anyone in America, claimed a lock on 311 electoral-college votes with an additional 26 strong possibilities and 32 long shots.
61
The
Journal
gave precedence to optimistic assessments of Democratic strength from Democratic sources, including Bryan, who predicted his own election, but nonetheless reported the facts. Outcault poked fun at all prognostications in a pre-election Yellow Kid cartoon, drawing a mock newspaper billboard that read “LATEST RETURNS GIVE EACH CANDIDATE AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY . . . DESE FIGURES AINT BEN CONFIRMED BUT ARE MERELY GUESSES BY EXPERT GUESSERS WICH WE ALL ARE—AFTERWARDS.”
62
Journal
managed to keep its poise in the closing days, despite reasonably certain knowledge that Bryan would lose the election. Oddsmakers at the stock exchange were giving at least 3 to 1 for McKinley. The vast majority of voter canvasses, as opinion surveys were then called, foretold a Republican victory. Hanna, who had better intelligence than anyone in America, claimed a lock on 311 electoral-college votes with an additional 26 strong possibilities and 32 long shots.
61
The
Journal
gave precedence to optimistic assessments of Democratic strength from Democratic sources, including Bryan, who predicted his own election, but nonetheless reported the facts. Outcault poked fun at all prognostications in a pre-election Yellow Kid cartoon, drawing a mock newspaper billboard that read “LATEST RETURNS GIVE EACH CANDIDATE AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY . . . DESE FIGURES AINT BEN CONFIRMED BUT ARE MERELY GUESSES BY EXPERT GUESSERS WICH WE ALL ARE—AFTERWARDS.”
62
The
Journal
’s Julian Hawthorne finished the campaign on a high. He stuck with Bryan through his final sweep of the Midwest en route to his Nebraska home, where he would cast his ballot on voting day. The Bryan train crossed the level prairie into Lincoln on a clear and peaceful Sunday morning. The town glittered under the first hoarfrost of the season. Hawthorne checked into his hotel and strolled through the streets and among the small cottages before arriving at the one belonging to the candidate. Hawthorne’s article, like the
Journal
’s convention report from Bryan’s hotel room, demonstrates the astonishing access afforded newspapermen at the time:
Journal
’s Julian Hawthorne finished the campaign on a high. He stuck with Bryan through his final sweep of the Midwest en route to his Nebraska home, where he would cast his ballot on voting day. The Bryan train crossed the level prairie into Lincoln on a clear and peaceful Sunday morning. The town glittered under the first hoarfrost of the season. Hawthorne checked into his hotel and strolled through the streets and among the small cottages before arriving at the one belonging to the candidate. Hawthorne’s article, like the
Journal
’s convention report from Bryan’s hotel room, demonstrates the astonishing access afforded newspapermen at the time:
I had called only to leave a message, not to go in, but as I stood there a large man, with black hair and eagle eyes, came to the door and gave me a cordial handclap and an invitation to enter. There were two little girls, one of eleven with a face of quaint intelligence and clear gray eyes, the other a little yellow haired creature, just old enough to be hugged and played with. There was the mother, too, a slender, motherly woman. The house contained four or five pleasant little rooms, with nothing conspicuous in the way of furniture or decoration, but in the study, which used to be the dining room, were two cases of books, a cabinet of souvenirs and a big study table, with two blotting pads, one on each side.“Why two?” asked I.“Mrs. Bryan sits at that side and I sit on this,” the master of the house replied. “We do our work together.”It was a very quiet, domestic, homelike little place; it was as good as being in the country. The world, with its noise and trouble, its society, commerce and politics, seemed far off. There was nothing in the dwelling or in the demeanor of its simple-hearted occupants to suggest the strife of opposing parties, the conflict of good and evil. It was the home of an honest and useful American citizen of small means. There are millions of such in this country; such citizens form the bulk of our population; we could not get on without them, but we never hear of them; they live and die unknown beyond their own little circle. Upon the owner of this particular house, of late the eyes of the world have literally been fixed, with hate and fear, with hope and love. He is our greatest public man today.
63
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