LIBRARY OF THK 
 
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 University of California. 
 
 r / A r r L A TING B R A X 
 
 Bturn in tw* week?; or a week before the end of the term. 
 
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 I TV OF 
 
Popular Books 
 By "BRICK" 
 
 SENSE A Book for Hearts and Homes, $1.50. 
 
 NONSENSE A Book of Humorous Sketches, $1.50. 
 
 POMEROY PICTURES OF NEW YORK. [In Press.] $1.50. 
 LIFE OF "BRICK" POMEROY, with Steel Portrait, $1.50. 
 
 These books are aU illustrated, are among the most 
 
 popular books of the day, are beautifully 
 
 printed and bound, and witt be 
 
 sent by mail FREE, on 
 
 receipt of price, 
 
 BY 
 
 Carleton, Publisher. 
 New York. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MARK M. POMEROY 
 
 ["BRICK" POMEROY, EDITOR OF THE LACROSSE, wis., DEMOCRAT, 
 
 AND OF THE DEMOCRAT, DAILY, NEW YORK CITY], 
 
 A REPRESENTATIVE YOUNG MAN OF AMERICA: 
 
 HIS EARLY HISTORY, CHARACTER, AND PUBLIC SERVICES IN DEFENCE 
 
 OF THE RIGHTS OF STATES, RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE, 
 
 AND INTERSSTS OF WORKING MEN. 
 
 PREPARED FROM MATERIALS FURNISHED BY MR. POMEROY AND OTHERS, 
 
 BY MRS. MARY E. TUCKER. 
 
 a Steel portrait. 
 
 / ^ 
 
 %^ 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 L i R R A R i 
 
 I;NJ VMCSITY 
 AL1FORNI, 
 
 G. IV. Carleton, Publisher. 
 
 LONDON : S. LOW, SON & CO. 
 
 M DCCC LXVIII. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
 
 GEO. W. CARLETON, 
 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 District of New York. 
 
 / 
 
 THE NEW YORK PRINTING COMPANY, 
 81, 83, and 85 Cent 
 NEW YORK. 
 
LETTER 
 
 . RECEIVED FROM HON. MARK M. POMEROY, 
 
 IN ANSWER TO A REQUEST BY MRS. TUCKER FOR ASSISTANCE IN 
 
 PREPARING A LIFE OF ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL 
 
 LIVING JOURNALISTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE DEMOCRAT, 
 
 New York, Sept. 2d, 1868. 
 MRS. MARY E. TUCKER : 
 
 DEAR MADAM Your note is a peculiar one, with a strange 
 wish contained therein. That I have been successful as a jour 
 nalist is true, but I do not know that the public, with its ever- 
 varying mood, would care to know of the one whose life you 
 wish to take. There is nothing in it different from the history 
 of other self-made men ; nothing of a startling nature that would 
 please the public, that I know of. It is simply a plain history 
 of a poor boy a laborer a hard-working man who has won 
 success by battling for it, determined to win the history of one 
 who has been all his life a consistent laborer in behalf of the 
 poor, the working-men, the honest men of his country. 
 
 There are years of struggling, of toil, of trials, and disappoint 
 ments, but never of despair. Had I time I could give you 
 hundreds of instances of fun, folly, and interest of jokes, ad 
 ventures, and struggles, but the labors of the present Presiden- 
 
VI LETTER. 
 
 tial campaign, in which I am so entirely engaged, prevent my 
 furnishing you with the items desired. There are, however, with 
 me in the office gentlemen who have known me from boyhood, 
 who have been with me for years in dark hours and dangerous 
 ones, who will furnish you items which may be of interest and 
 of service to you. 
 
 I have been too busy for the past few years writing the history 
 of others to think of my own. There are no objections to your 
 engaging in the work you propose, and such aid as I can render, 
 bv telling you the history of my life, will be given cheerfully, 
 in hopes that others who are now as I once was, poor and 
 almost friendless, before whom the clouds of life loom up, dark 
 and forbidding who are often tempted to throw themselves 
 away by drink, dissipation, and recklessness may gather cour 
 age and fight their destiny to an honorable success in which no 
 man is wronged, as I have done. 
 
 With best wishes for your success in this and all other lauda 
 ble works, I remain, with respect, 
 
 Thine for the right, 
 
 M. M. POMEROY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Bending the twig. Why people borrow papers. 
 
 Planting pumpkins. Youthful oratory 9 
 
 II. He hauls lumber. Goes into the candy-trade. Re 
 turns home. Goes to Corning to apprentice him 
 self 20 
 
 III. Becomes a printer s boy 28 
 
 IV. First lesson in printing 32 
 
 V. Fence-making for fun 37 
 
 VI. Developments of journalistic ability 40 
 
 VII. Boyish follies. Beer story. Codfish ery. Three ce 
 lebrities 51 
 
 VIII. Mark falls in love. How a joke terminated. Goes 
 to Canada. Returns to Waverly and finds his lady 
 love married. He marries one he loves better 61 
 
 IX. Goes West to seek his fortune 71 
 
 X. He earns the name of Brick. Goes to Washington. 76 
 XL In which he establishes the renowned La Crosse 
 
 Democrat 81 
 
 XII. Mr. Pomeroy s ideas of justice. His life is attempt 
 ed. He scorns to play the hypocrite 86 
 
 XIII. Office of the La Crosse Democrat Why he left La 
 
 Crosse 103 
 
 XIV. Success of the La Crosse Democrat. Milk and water 
 
 evaporated by caustic 109 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 XV. Treating of Mr. Pomeroy s manner of conducting a 
 
 printing-office. His kindness to his employes 113 
 
 XVI. Why Mr. Pomeroy is popular as a writer 119 
 
 XVII. A chapter of anecdotes 123 
 
 XVIII. Organization of " The New York Democrat." In 
 terview with Mr. J. Howard 133 
 
 XIX. An author cannot be judged by his writings. Mr. 
 
 Pomeroy s ideas of Masonry 140 
 
 XX. Difference of opinion in regard to the personal ap 
 pearance of Brick. Pomeroy a twin. Praise 
 
 from Mr. Greeley 146 
 
 XXI. Mr. "Wells description of a true orator. -Pomeroy 
 
 as a Poet, Artist, Philosopher, and Actor 162 
 
 XXII. As a popular orator 168 
 
 XXIII. Specimens of Mr. Pomeroy s miscellaneous writings. 217 
 
L I B R A H Y 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Bending the twig. Why people borrow papers. Planting pumpkins. 
 You thful oratory. 
 
 IN the month of March, 1837, on the door-stoop of an 
 humble farm-house on Seely Creek, in the town of South- 
 port, Chemung County, New York, was seated a small 
 boy, in pinafore, reading the Life of Washington. 
 
 The precocious child had previously read, with won 
 der and admiration, the Life of Franklin ; and had just 
 read the characteristic story about Washington and the 
 cherry-tree. The little four-year old soul was charmed 
 and delighted with the heroic perseverance and glorious 
 success of Franklin ; and his heaven-born love of truth 
 and justice was easily aroused to active sympathy with 
 the free and truthful character of Washington, so strik 
 ingly illustrated in his refusing to tell a lie, to save him 
 self from punishment for cutting the cherry-tree. 
 
 Yielding to the holy influence of the lives of Franklin 
 and Washington upon his infant mind, the little philoso 
 pher, in a praiseworthy spirit of emulation, resolved 
 
 1* 
 
10 LIFE OF 
 
 to walk in their footsteps, and be guided by their 
 principles. 
 
 Like Franklin, he would some day be an honest 
 printer ; and like Washington, he would be a truthful, 
 faithful defender of the liberties of the people against 
 injustice, tyranny, and oppression. 
 
 Just at this moment his aunt, or adopted mother, 
 came in from the garden, where she had been trans 
 planting flowers. 
 
 " What have you been doing, Aunty ?" asked the 
 baby student. 
 
 " Planting flowers ; and mark, you little lump of mis 
 chief, if you touch them 1 will whip you soundly: re 
 member, I am in earnest !" 
 
 A simple request, kindly made, would have been sa 
 credly regarded, but the proud spirit of the child was 
 aroused to rebellion by the ignominous threat. The 
 aunt passed on to the house, and the " little lump of 
 mischief" threw down his book, deliberately walked to 
 the garden, touched with his tiny fingers each of the 
 forbidden flowers, and quickly returned to his book. 
 
 As his eye fell upon the work, he was reminded of the 
 virtuous resolution he had formed, and with it came 
 repentance for what he had done. So going boldly to 
 his aunt, he told her he had touched every one of her 
 flowers. The kind-meaning aunt was not blessed with 
 the wisdom and forbearance of Washington s father, 
 and so the little champion of truth was rewarded with 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 11 
 
 a whipping, and sent supperless to bed. As the little 
 victim of circumstances sighed himself to sleep, his last 
 waking thought was, " I don t care if I did get a whip 
 ping, I told the truth, and I ll tell it again. I will never 
 tell a lie !" Ever since that memorable night, MARK M. 
 POME ROY has had for his motto 
 
 " Truth is omnipotent and must prevail" 
 
 TIME AXD PLACE OF " BRICK" POMEROY S BIRTH. 
 
 Mark M. Pomeroy was born in the little village of 
 Lawrenceville, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, on Christ 
 mas day, A. D. 1833, shortly after the removal of his 
 parents from Elmira, New York. Of his parents our 
 sources of information are limited. His father was 
 formerly a merchant in New York, and now resides in 
 California. His mother died when he was only one year 
 old. At her request, in case of, and soon after her death, 
 the little brick was adopted by his uncle, S. M. White, 
 his mother s brother, and son of General Gates * White, 
 of Revolutionary memory, who resided on Seely Creek, 
 in the town of Southport, Chemung County, New York. 
 For seventeen years Mark lived with his uncle on his 
 small farm, and assisted him in all the multifarious du 
 ties of a New England farmer, including " the thousand 
 and one" indispensables in the feminin^ department, em 
 braced in the comprehensive New England provincial 
 ism " CHORES." 
 
12 LIFE OF 
 
 During the winter months Mark was allowed to go to 
 school, where he learned very fast, although he was 
 more given to mischief than study. 
 
 Serious objections are sometimes made to the con 
 struction of Mr. Pomeroy s sentences. Should he fail 
 to write grammatically, it is attributable to the fact 
 that he never studied Grammar an hour in his life. He 
 once went " clear through Olney s Geography," and 
 succeeded in reaching the Rule of Three in arithmetic. 
 He was a good reader from his infancy a good speller, 
 a fine mental arithmetician, and with all, possessed a 
 wonderful memory. His lessons at school were acquired 
 by mere reading the rest of his time he devoted to 
 reading, writing, etc. His thirst for knowledge was in 
 satiable, and to gratify it, he would borrow papers, 
 novels, and books of general information ; when he 
 could get nothing else, he would study the Bible, which 
 he has read many times through. 
 
 When very young, Mark became deeply interested in 
 a story in the Elmira Gazette, a newspaper, to which 
 his uncle was a subscriber. To his annoyance the story 
 was not completed in the number before him, but said 
 " concluded in our next." Mark scratched his head. 
 " Our next," thought he ; " well, that must be Mr. 
 Knapp. lie is the next who takes the paper," a gentle 
 man who lived some distance from his uncle s. In his 
 childish mind, he thought that it was a funny plan not 
 to put the whole story in a paper, but to have a part 
 
MARK M. POMEBOY. 13 
 
 of it in one, and a part in another ; but he decided that 
 that was why people borrowed papers, and so off he 
 started after dark, when his work was finished, and bor 
 rowed the paper from his obliging neighbor, who won 
 dered what the urchin could want with it, the more, as 
 he knew the boy s uncle was, like himself, a subscriber. 
 To his intense disgust, he found it contained the same 
 portion of the story he had already read, and then the 
 truth flashed upon him it must mean the next number 
 of the paper, and not the paper in the next house. 
 
 The teachers liked his free, independent spirit, and 
 feared to offend him ; for, although he rarely resented 
 punishment when inflicted upon himself, he always de 
 fended the weak, or any child he saw was to be unjustly 
 punished. One day a little girl laughed aloud during 
 study-hours. The teacher called her to his side, and 
 asked why she laughed. The child declined answering 
 the question. The teacher placed his hand upon the 
 birch, but before he could raise it, Mark stepped for 
 ward, and said 
 
 " Do not punish her, sir ; I made her laugh." 
 
 " How did you make her laugh ?" asked the teacher. 
 
 There was a titter among the boys, as Mark told that 
 he chanced to be sitting by a darkey (for whom Mark 
 never had any particular love, even in his youthful days, 
 but would always defend if he saw any cruelty threat 
 ened), and thought he would see how a negro would 
 look whitewashed, so he chalked his hand with the 
 
14 LIFE OF 
 
 blackboard chalk, and then placed the five fingers on 
 the negro s cheek. The effect can be easily imagined. 
 
 As the teacher was preparing to punish Mark, the 
 larger boys came forward to defend him ; and the teacher 
 concluded that " discretion was the better part of valor," 
 and forgave him. 
 
 While at school he was a general favorite, for he was 
 always willing to assist any dull boy in his lesson. In 
 truth, half the compositions in the school were written 
 by the embryo editor of the La Crosse Democrat. 
 
 Possessing no fortune, with none in expectancy but 
 the fruits of his own labors, his pursuits on his uncle s 
 humble farm tended, as we believe they were providen 
 tially designed, to mould the pure material of the boy 
 to the stature of the man a genuine brick, worthy of a 
 place in the Temple of Liberty; which, we trust, will 
 forever withstand all the open assaults and secret sallies 
 of the Radical enemies of constitutional freedom. 
 
 In the fruit season, Mark would rise before daylight, 
 do the farm chores, and go to the woods and gather 
 berries, with which he would walk, or catch a ride with 
 some teamsters, to Elmira, a distance of eight miles, and 
 sell or exchange them for provisions to aid in the sup 
 port of his uncle s family. Many old citizens of Elmira 
 remember the now successful journalist of the age as 
 the thin " little white-haired berry boy." 
 
 He became very tired of this routine farm-life, and 
 decided to take steps toward freeing himself from 
 
MARK M. 
 
 drudgery; so next day, after disposing of his stock of 
 berries, he quietly walked into a printing-office by which 
 he had to pass on his way through the town. With 
 a brave heart he ascended the stairs which led to the 
 printing-office, and, upon reaching the top, he found 
 himself in the midst of a number of men sitting upon 
 high stools setting type away for dear life. One of the 
 men saw the white head, and demanded, in a surly tone, 
 " What do you want ?" 
 
 "Narthin , sir," timidly articulated Mark, and down 
 he went, thinking he would postpone being a printer 
 until some more propitious moment. 
 
 He was brought up, under strong religious restraints, 
 in a Presbyterian family, and was a close student at 
 Bible-class and Sunday-school, and was, from his youth 
 until the present writing, a hater of long sermons. 
 
 Once, while listening to one of these long, wearing-out 
 sermons, he fell asleep, and awoke, as he thought, just 
 as the preacher pronounced Amen. Like a shot he stood 
 up to receive the blessing. To his. astonishment no one 
 arose, for the sermon was not ended. To cover his con 
 fusion he looked intently out of a window which was 
 before him, as if he saw something wonderful. Of course, 
 every one else in the house looked the same way, and 
 Mark sat down, fully awakened by the shock. 
 
 When Mark was about ten years old, he was blessed 
 with a boy cousin. Before this time he had been the 
 only baby in the house, and a mischievous one at that. 
 
16 LIFE OF 
 
 If there was a chance for mischief, he seized it. If the 
 cat came about to bother him at meal-time, he would 
 fix a little mustard in a piece of meat, and give it to her, 
 who, on finding her lunch red hot, so to speak, would 
 sneeze and scamper off, much to the delight of the un- 
 feline torment. The idea of making things red hot for 
 those he did not like, seems to have come to him early. 
 He had the cat and dog, and playthings of childhood to 
 amuse with, until his little cousin was born, when 
 there was joy in the house for all. It became Mark s 
 duty to look out for the baby, to rock it to sleep, and to 
 amuse the little one while awake, so that its mother 
 could attend to her household duties. ,If the child slept, 
 he would tickle its nose with a feather, to awaken it, 
 when of course it would cry, and its mother would re 
 lieve him of his charge, and off he would scamper to 
 play. 
 
 When the child grew older, the warmest feeling of 
 love existed between Mark and himself, and they would, 
 if possible, shield each other from punishment. " Did 
 Mark do this ? " No !" little Gates would answer, and 
 Mark would always take the blame for the pranks of 
 Gates. 
 
 When Gates was quite a large boy, his mother, as 
 punishment for some of his pranks, put him to bed, 
 locked him up in his room, and then went out to spend 
 the afternoon with some of her neighbors. As soon as 
 she was well out of sight, Mark opened the window and 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 17 
 
 pulled out the little prisoner, who assisted him in cut 
 ting and piling wood, and played with him until almost 
 sundown, when Mark seeing his aunt approach, put the 
 boy in the window, told him to jump into bed and be 
 asleep when his mother came in. "Has Gates been 
 up ?" asked Mrs. White when she entered the house. 
 
 " I have not heard him cry," answered Mark.- 
 
 The anxious mother found her young hopeful sleeping 
 the innocent sleep of childhood tha-t is, to all ap 
 pearances. 
 
 Until he was nearly grown, Mark was a regular som 
 nambulist, and many and many a time have his relatives 
 watched him in the middle of the night get up, go in 
 the pantry and help himself to the eatables, and then 
 retire to his room. In the morning he was entirely un 
 conscious of the events of the night. Once when he 
 had been very ill for some time, he awoke in the middle 
 of tihe night, and to his astonishment, found himself 
 sitting on the steps of a neighbor with only his night 
 shirt on. Pie ran home through the snow, created a 
 perspiration, and in the morning awoke in better con 
 dition than he had been in for days. 
 
 One day Mr. White set Mark to planting pumpkin- 
 seed in the corn-hills in the field. Mark had borrowed 
 a novel of one of the neighbors, and, instead of doing 
 his work, he sat down under a tree, read his book 
 through, and then went to sleep. When he awoke it 
 was past noon, and not one particle of his task done. 
 
18 LIFE OF 
 
 There set the half-bushel .of pumpkin-seed, a memento 
 of his misspent time. Taking the bucket which con 
 tained the seed, he carried it to the creek which ran by 
 the field, and emptied half the contents into the stream, 
 then taking the remainder back, he planted a while, but 
 finding the quantity did not decrease fast enough, he 
 took a pint or two, and nicely deposited them under a 
 large stone, and then went home, contented with the 
 exploits of the day. 
 
 As Mr. White returned that afternoon, he chanced to 
 stop on a bridge which crossed the creek nearly a mile 
 below his field, and in looking down he saw a number 
 of pumpkin seeds floating down stream. 
 
 Knowing Mark s proclivities, he felt that he had been 
 up to mischief during his absence, and, following the 
 stream, he found he was correct in his surmises, for he 
 found the seed in large quantities just where Mark had 
 deposited them. He then tracked the boy, by his bare 
 feet, everywhere over the field except where he ought 
 to have been. Mark was at supper when Mr. White 
 came in, and looked innocent enough. 
 
 " Have you stuck in all the seed ?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Mark. 
 
 " Did you have enough ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, plenty." 
 
 " Too many ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, sir." 
 
 " Then go and get me some good apple-switches." 
 
MARK*M. POMEROY. 19 
 
 The switches were cut, and Mark put in apple-pie 
 order. In vain he declared that " he did stick em in. 
 He stuck him in the creek." He needed the whipping, 
 arid he got jt. Nor was that the last of the pumpkin 
 crop for him ; for, when Mr. White went to plough his 
 corn, he discovered a stone which was beautifully 
 wreathed with the delicate tendrils of innumerable 
 pumpkin vines. Upon moving the stone, he found at 
 least two pints of his choice seed ; and Mark, in punish 
 ment, had to make three bows, which he declares was 
 harder than three whippings, for it was always difficult 
 for him to bow to any man. 
 
 While still very young, he would spend hours lec 
 turing to an audience of nails or splinters stuck in the 
 earth, and would become intensely excited at some fan 
 cied retort from his hard-headed hearers,. to which he 
 would reply with all the dignity of an accomplished 
 orator. Little thought the friends who laughed at his 
 boyish vagaries, that he was only giving expression to 
 the heaven-bestowed spirit within him, and training him 
 self for the conflict in which he is now wielding his battle- 
 axe with the immutable will and resistless power of a 
 conqueror, against the hireling supporters of radical 
 fanaticism, " treason, stratagems, and spoils." 
 
20 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 He hauls lumber. Goes into the candy trade. Returns home. Goes to 
 Corning to apprentice himself. 
 
 WHEX Mark was about fourteen years old, Mr. White 
 proposed that he should visit Mill Creek settlement, 
 some miles distant from home, and should spend the 
 summer in hauling lumber on the railroad for shipment. 
 Mark gladly assented, and Mr. White furnished the 
 team. For the first day the enterprising boy succeeded 
 nobly, but in the second, the harness, which was poor 
 and old, gave way, and he had to spend hours in repair 
 ing the damage. Again he had a successful day, and 
 then the wagon broke down ; but Mark was not to be 
 discouraged, he worked well and steadily, but sometimes 
 lost a whole day from his hauling labor, on account of 
 broken harness and wagon. He however kept on, and 
 would, when any part of the wagon broke, replace it 
 with a new, strong article. The result was, that, at the 
 end of the summer, Mark went home with twenty-one 
 dollars in money, a new harness and wagon, and a clear 
 conscience. 
 
 " Well done, my boy," said the well-pleased uncle. 
 " You have done much better than I expected, and you 
 are a faithful, honest lad." 
 
 The next year Mark obtained a situation with a rela- 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 21 
 
 live, who was a druggist in "Wellsboro , Tioga county, 
 Pennsylvania, who allowed him the privilege, in pay for 
 services to be rendered in the drugstore, of having a 
 stock of merchandise on his own account. 
 
 The boy. had nine dollars, the earnings of his lifetime, 
 which he invested in candy, which he placed in a corner 
 of the store, in a few little jars and boxes. Mark was 
 especially fond of candy, and could not refrain from 
 tasting every time he passed his part of the store ; and, 
 being a generous youth, he frequently invited his friends 
 to partake with him. 
 
 He always had an eye for beauty; and if a pretty 
 girl wanted to buy a small quantity of his stock of 
 sweets, he would gallantly present her with the candy, 
 and beg her to keep the money. The consequence was, 
 that the candy investment grew smaller and smaller, 
 and beautifully less ; but during the whole time he con 
 tinued in the candy business, he never again invested to 
 the extent of his original, and in a few months literally 
 ate and treated himself out of business. 
 
 During the time Mark was with Mr. Roy, the drug 
 gist, he employed all his leisure moments in reading, at 
 least all he did not spend in mischief. He delighted in 
 studying human nature, and would frequently enter into 
 conversation with any odd specimen of the genus homo, 
 only to become familiar with character. 
 
 His early ambition to become a printer and politician 
 still lingered in his heart, and he longed for the time 
 
22 LIFE OF 
 
 when manhood would give him the right and power to 
 follow the inclination of his own mind, and assume the 
 responsibility of his own acts. 
 
 While on the farm, and during his life at the candy 
 business, Mark was strictly honest, and attended to his 
 business ; his creed was, " Whatsoever thy hands find to 
 do, do it with all thy might." 
 
 Growing weary of this life of comparative inaction, 
 Mark returned to his uncle s farm, where he remained 
 only a few months. 
 
 For sixteen years the boy had endured a life of com 
 parative drudgery endured only, for he was ever rest 
 less, and his ambition urged him to move onward and 
 upward. Then came the intense yearnings and desire 
 for a change in his mode of life. In the Spring of 1850, 
 young Mark determined to launch his boat upon the sea 
 of life, and to man it himself, for, by that time, he had 
 learned the lesson of the god whose assistance the 
 countryman implored when his wagon-wheel became 
 imbedded in the mud. 
 
 " Child of earth," said the god, " place your own 
 shoulder to the wheel, and then stronger powers will 
 come to your assistance." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. White feeling that they, in their hum 
 ble circumstances, could do but little for the future wel 
 fare of the boy they loved so dearly, gave a tearful 
 consent and their blessing, which was all they could 
 give, telling Mark, should he fail in his search for work, 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 23 
 
 to return to them at once, that he should always be 
 welcome to their board. 
 
 Gathering his valuables together, he found it con 
 sisted of one suit Of clothes, two shirts, his mother s 
 Bible, and a few little keepsakes from boyish friends. 
 He bade adieu to the scenes of his childhood not regret 
 fully, for he had been a faithful boy, and had always 
 cheerfully performed the tasks allotted to him, but joy 
 fully, for his spirit told him he had powers capable of 
 higher pursuits, in a" broader and more elevated plan 
 than any he had been permitted to enter. 
 
 He walked on until the sun told him it was twelve 
 o clock, and then sitting down by the roadside he took 
 from his pocket the lunch which his ever-thoughtful 
 aunt had provided him. 
 
 When he had finished eating he then bethought him 
 self that he had not marked out any definite course of 
 life, except that he would become a printer, and in time, 
 if he could, own and edit a paper. After walking some 
 distance further he saw a sign-post, upon which was 
 marked " Corning ;" and it was a welcome sign to him, 
 for there he was going to apprentice himself as a type 
 setter and devil to some printer who would instruct 
 hin in the trade and pay his expenses. Arid if not in 
 Corning, still farther west would he go to begin the 
 battle of life. 
 
 Just at five o clock the weary and foot-sore wanderer 
 reached his place of destination. 
 
24 LIFE" OF 
 
 Friendless and homeless, we can well imagine his 
 sensations as he walked through the village-streets, and 
 looked into each face, hoping to see the " something " 
 which would endow him with courage to make known 
 his wants. Still young Mark did not regret the step he 
 had taken. With his mind s eye he saw young Frank 
 lin, as he entered Philadelphia, tired and hungry, and 
 with only a single dollar in money, and he thought if 
 Franklin, who was only a poor, half-educated boy, could 
 carve for himself, unassisted, such a glorious future, he 
 certainly could accomplish something. 
 
 Upon inquiry, Mark was directed to the office of the 
 Journal, which was then owned and edited by Mr. 
 Thomas Messenger. The Journal is now conducted by 
 George W. Pratt, whose opinion of Mr. Pomeroy we 
 give below, taken from an August, 1868, issue of his 
 prosperous paper. 
 
 " M. M. Pomeroy has established a daily newspaper in 
 New York, called THE DEMOCRAT. The terms are 
 six dollars per year in advance. Single copies can be 
 had at Corbin s News Office, Corning. Over thirty- 
 two thousand copies of the first number were sold, which 
 is unparalleled in the history of journalism, and estab 
 lishes the fact that the new organ of the Democracy is 
 to live and flourish in spite of the Herald and World. 
 It is the size of the New York Sun, folio in form, and 
 contains seven columns to the page. It would be a haz 
 ardous enterprise for most men to undertake to estab- 
 
MAEK M. POMEEOT. 25 
 
 lish a Democratic daily paper in the city, but Brick 
 is equal to the emergency. He claims to have a suffi 
 cient income to indulge in such a luxury, and that is 
 doubtless correct. His peculiar style is adapted to the 
 rough Democracy of New York, and he enters upon his 
 work with an eye to business. His managing editor is 
 Joseph Howard, Jr., a man of decided talent, and proba 
 bly proud of being the author of the forged proclama 
 tion, professing to be from President Lincoln, which 
 sent gold " kiting," and created a panic, and which also 
 was the cause, we believe, of the World office being shut 
 up for one day by the military, for publishing the same. 
 His chief assistant editor is Judge Flanders, who, we 
 believe, was sent to Fort Lafayette for disloyalty, and 
 who is a more venomous copperhead than Brick him 
 self. With such leaders the paper is admirably adapted 
 to make room for itself in New York. It will undoubt 
 edly be a pecuniary success, and take much of the city 
 circulation of the JVews and World. It is too much to 
 hope that it will be more decent than the La Crosse 
 Democrat. The same coarseness, falsehood, vitupera 
 tion, obscenity, and disloyalty which has made that 
 sheet notorious and given it the enormous circulation of 
 about three hundred thousand copies weekly, will doubt 
 less characterize this daily paper. Pomeroy announces 
 to his readers that he is no * carpet-bagger, but has 
 come to stay. He has the advantage of any one else in 
 establishing such a paper. Since his branch office was 
 
 2 
 
26 LIFE OP 
 
 opened in New York, he has had several pages of the 
 La Crosse Democrat set in type and stereotyped by the 
 papier-mache process, and sent to La Crosse by express, 
 where, with the forms there set up, the Weekly is 
 printed. He receives from La Crosse stereotypes of the 
 forms there set up in type, and thus prints an edition in 
 New York, which is afac-simile of the La Crosse edition. 
 The latter supplies regular subscribers. Eastern cam 
 paign subscribers and news offices are supplied from 
 New York, thus saving express charges. Therefore the 
 expense of his setting up a daily is much reduced, as 
 several pages will be used for the siamese-twin Weekly ; 
 and as it is an afternoon paper, the burden is not heavy 
 enough to swamp Brick even if the New York Democ 
 racy is tardy in rallying to his support. The paper is 
 printed at the Sun office, so that the presses which make 
 the Sun rise in the morning send forth the fiery DEMO 
 CRAT at evening. It reveals the extraordinary business 
 capacity of POMEROY, that he can " grow" within five 
 years from being the publisher of a weekly with a few 
 hundred subscribers, to that of owning two dailies, fifteen 
 hundred miles apart, and a weekly which has the largest 
 circulation of any political newspaper in the world. 
 The necessity of enlarging constantly the business, get 
 ting fast presses and then faster ones as needed, and 
 grasping the details of an enterprise of such magni 
 tude, must be a tremendous tax upon the mind ; but 
 when to all this is added the burden of writing so much 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 27 
 
 or so varied vile political and scurrillous matter, it is 
 surprising "that one small head" can stand the pres 
 sure. The La Crosse Democrat is a disgrace to jour 
 nalism. It is an infamous newspaper, unfit for the fam 
 ily, and a foe to the peace and prosperity of the country, 
 and also to political honesty or virtue. The New York 
 Daily DEMOCRAT will probably bear the same impress. 
 But however odious in sentiment or villainous in lan 
 guage, there is a field for it in New York, and it will 
 take due care to cultivate it. We admire the remarka 
 ble pluck and tenacity of Brick POMEROY, though we 
 thus write. No newspaper proprietor ever showed 
 more ability to plan or capacity to execute. 
 
 " Seventeen years ago he was employed in this office, 
 earning five dollars per month and his board. Now he is 
 probably worth one-third of a million of dollars. He was 
 offered $100,000 to advocate Chase s nomination at the 
 Democratic Convention, with a like sum if nominated. 
 He refused, knowing that the readers of the La Crosse 
 Democrat hated the "nigger" too intensely, but the 
 offer showed his power as the Great Mogul of the cop 
 perhead wing. He threatened to bolt if Chase was 
 nominated, and thus, though he lost Pendleton, he kept 
 off Judge Chase, and gave Seymour the chance to run. 
 
28 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Becomes a printer s boy. 
 
 Mr. MESSENGER and his assistant were in the act of 
 closing the office for the night, when they wefe startled 
 by a most singular apparition which, unannounced, pre 
 sented itself before them. 
 
 A rough, white-haired, bashful, awkward-looking boy, 
 clad in homespun, whose hands seemed always in the 
 way, judging by his nervous movement of them, and 
 whose feet seemed much too large for the remainder 
 of his body. In his hand he held a small bundle, and 
 as he, with native politeness lifted his hat, disclosed a 
 large, finely formed head, but covered with hair of the 
 most peculiar indescribable hue. His light gray eyes 
 had an honest, fearless look, while his mouth gave every 
 indication of his intense love of fun. 
 
 "Well, my lad, what can I do for you?" kindly 
 asked Mr. Messenger. 
 
 " Give me work if you please, sir," answered Mark. 
 
 " Work !" laughed Mr. M. " What can you do ?" 
 
 " Anything, sir !" 
 
 " Anything ! very good. Can you cut wood, draw 
 water, and do other chores ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, I can ; but 1 don t like to." 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 29 
 
 " Frank ! certainly," said Mr. Messenger. " Well, 
 what would you like to do ?" 
 
 " I would like, if you please, to learn the art of print 
 ing, and I am willing to do anything connected with the 
 trade." 
 
 " Hem ! What pay would you expect, young man ?" 
 
 " That question you must decide, sir ; for, I suppose, 
 you were once in the same position yourself that I am 
 now, and you know what wages you had, and what you 
 would have liked." 
 
 Mark knew, even then, how to speak to the heart, 
 and as- he spoke the book of memory unclosed its 
 "pages ; and Mr. Messenger thought when he too searched 
 for work, and he determined to befriend the lad, and so 
 he said: 
 
 " Truly spoken, my boy ! but suppose we do not need 
 your services, will you return to Seely Creek, where 
 you say you have walked from to-day ?" 
 
 " No, sir ; certainly not ; I will go to Bath, the next 
 village, will make a trial there, and if I do not succeed, 
 I will go on west until I do." 
 
 " Well spoken, my lad !" said the kind-hearted editor. 
 " It is too late for you to go any further to-night, so go 
 home with me, and I will give you supper and a night s 
 lodging, for you certainly look as if you were tired 
 out." 
 
 Mrs. Messenger received the homeless lad kindly, but 
 often, during the evening, Mark saw that she could 
 
30 LIFE OF 
 
 scarcely refrain from laughing at the odd-looking boy 
 her husband had brought home, and he thought to him 
 self, that he did not wonder at her mirth, for he cer 
 tainly was an ungainly looking creature. 
 
 That night, after they retired, Mark heard the worthy 
 couple talking until a late hour, and many a merry peal 
 of laughter floated up to the room they had given him ; 
 and even the words, 
 
 " What shall we do with such a fright ?" came to 
 him. 
 
 The answer. " Well, he is rather odd-looking, but he 
 seerns to be a well-informed, good-conditioned, industri 
 ous lad, and if I find out he left home with the consent" 
 of his friends, I don t know but what I can find use for 
 him in the office ; and he certainly will be of assistance 
 to you, my dear" served as a narcotic, and soon Mark 
 slept the sweet, contented sleep of youth. 
 
 Early in the morning he found his way to the kitchen, 
 helped fix the fire, brought water for the kitchen-maid, 
 and made himself so useful in various ways, that the 
 good wife heard, with feelings of pleasure, that her 
 husband had decided to keep the boy, and at least give 
 him a trial. 
 
 During his stay in Corning, Mrs. Messenger was one 
 of his best friends, and still speaks of Mark in terms 
 of affection. She was a friend indeed to him, and took 
 the place of a mother, and we know the then awkward 
 boy the now popular man of wealth and position 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 31 
 
 regards her as one of his best and dearest friends, and 
 often speaks in kindest terms of the good man and wife 
 who helped him thus early on the road he had determined 
 to travel. 
 
32 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 First lesson in printing. 
 
 AFTER breakfast Mark accompanied Mr. Messenger 
 to the Journal office, and on their way, Mr. Messenger, 
 desirous of becoming better acquainted with the boy, 
 questioned Mark of his parents, education, bringing up, 
 and asked if he was afraid to work. He also wished to 
 know if he had any business-men friends in Corning; to 
 which question Mark replied : 
 
 " I have not any now, but I expect to have, if I re 
 main here. any length of time," which answer Mr. Mes 
 senger thought very good. He then asked if Mark 
 wished to become a printer, or a loafer, and upon 
 receiving a satisfactory reply, he stated, if he would 
 promise to learn well the printing business, and become 
 a good printer and would agree to do honor to the 
 fraternity, to his teacher, and to himself, he would give 
 him the situation. 
 
 On reaching the office, finding no work there suitable 
 for a new hand, Mr. Messenger set Mark to sawing 
 wood, a cord of which lay piled at the office-door. 
 He went about the task cheerfully, but he could not 
 refrain from thinking that he had a plenty of that style 
 of " printing" to do on his uncle s farm, and he cer- 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 tainly expected a different kind when he walked so 
 many miles in search of it. 
 
 While engaged in his work, a large dog came upon 
 the premises and commenced a series of persecutions 
 upon a small pet dog belonging to Mr. Messenger. 
 "Always protect the weak," is still one of Mark s 
 .mottoes, so he quietly laid down his saw and took from 
 a pile of rubbish near him an old tin pail which he, by 
 dint of persuasion and force, fastened to the tail of the 
 persecutor. 
 
 Of course the dog vacated the premises with all pos 
 sible speed, and did not soon annoy the small dog with 
 his unpleasant attentions. The old adage, that " Satan 
 finds some mischief still for idle hands to do," was not 
 exactly applicable to our young friend at this period of 
 his existence, for he, though always at work, found or 
 took time to be into all manner of mischief. 
 
 Before he had finished his task, he noticed in the lot 
 back of the printing-office a new milch-cow ; by her a 
 calf lay with its feet tied. There was no law in Corning 
 at that time for the prevention of cruelty to animals. 
 Soon an Irishwoman came from a little shanty close by, 
 untied the calf, and allowed it to take a small portion 
 of the milk. She stood and watched it awhile, then, 
 thinking the calf had had enough for ordinary purposes 
 of a veal in perspective, she determined to take a portion 
 of the milk for family use ; so she choked the calf off, 
 tied its legs together, and left it lying on the ground, 
 
 2* 
 
34 LIFE OF 
 
 while she went into the house for a pail. No sooner had 
 she disappeared than Mark ran into the office, and bor 
 rowed a knife of one of the apprentices, slipped over the 
 fence, cut the strings which held the little prisoner, and 
 ran back to the wood-pile in time to see the calf enjoy 
 its interrupted breakfast. In a few moments the woman 
 came out with the pail, and a more exasperated daugh-^ 
 ter of Erin s Green Isle never was seen than was that 
 woman, who shook her fists in every direction, and swore 
 vengeance on the " spalpeen" who cut the strings off the 
 calf s legs, if she ever caught hold of his hair. It is 
 needless to say that Mark kept his head and hair out of 
 her way. 
 
 Mr. Messenger was a witness to this exploit and the 
 dog scrape as well, and remarked to Mr. Lombard, the 
 foreman of the office, that the boy was full of fun, and 
 would make a good printer. And from that time he 
 was a favorite with Mr. Messenger, his family, and the 
 employes of the office. 
 
 As a compositor, Mark learned very rapidly, and soon 
 became as expert in type-setting as the best printer in 
 the State ; and as a pressman, working at the hand-press, 
 in less than a year he had the reputation of being the 
 fastest and best pressman in that vicinity. 
 
 Mr. Messenger lived in a small house situated upon a 
 hillside ; and soon after Mark engaged to work for him, 
 his wife asked if " Mark" could not stay at home for one 
 day, to work in the garden and weed the onion-beds. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 35 
 
 Mr. Messenger willingly consented, and asked Mark if 
 he could do that kind of work. He replied, " I can, sir, 
 but I never get mad with a man if he don t set me at it ; 
 and besides, I am afraid I cannot tell onions from grass, 
 nor weeds from vegetables." 
 
 Mr. Messenger and his wife laughed, and said that he 
 was a poor farmer s boy if he could not. 
 
 Mr. Messenger went to the office, leaving Mark to 
 work in the garden. During the forenoon he hoed pota 
 toes, and in the afternoon devoted himself to weeding 
 onion-beds ; and, in Mark s own words, " A meaner work 
 was never imposed upon a boy." 
 
 A tea-party at the house kept Mrs. Messenger in the 
 front parlor, and he had no one to overlook him while 
 at work. When night came, Mr. Messenger returned, 
 and, as he passed through the garden to see what prog 
 ress Mark had made, the humorist was peeping out of a 
 crack in the wood-shed, to see the effect of his day s 
 work. 
 
 The hoeing had been done well, very well ; but, when 
 Mr. Messenger examined the onion-beds, he found that 
 from the seven beds of onions every onion had been 
 pulled. Once and awhile he found a tuft of clover, 
 which was left to prove that Mark could not tell weeds 
 from onions. Taking warning from experience, Mr. 
 Messenger concluded that Mark did not make " weeding 
 out onions" a profitable business to him, and so next 
 day Mark was respectfully invited to take his place in 
 
36 - LIFE OF 
 
 the printing-office, and another boy was sent to do this 
 unpleasant work. 
 
 After Pomeroy had been in the office some time, he 
 was one day sent down to the depot on business. A 
 warm-looking, freshly-imported Irish boy jumped off the 
 cars, and asked Mark where he could get some water. 
 
 "I ll show you," said Mark, leading him some dis 
 tance from the cars, for he saw that Patrick was a real 
 original jewel from the Emerald Isle, and he wanted to 
 study him for a few days. 
 
 Sure enough the cars left, much to the distress of the 
 stranger, who was going out West with a party of 
 friends t6* work on a railroad. But it could not be 
 helped ; and Mark, anxious to make all the amends in 
 his power for his practical joke, took the boy home, and 
 turned him over to the tender mercies of Mrs. Messenger, 
 who was glad to accept his services, as Mark at that 
 time was so busy in the office that he could be of but 
 little service to her in the domestic line. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 37 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Fence-making for fun. 
 
 MRS. MESSENGER S house was so situated, that the 
 back yard and garden were exposed to prying eyes of 
 curious neighbors, to her great annoyance. Mark see 
 ing her trouble, and appreciating it, offered to build her 
 a fence, with the help of Patrick, to which proposition 
 Mr. Messenger gladly assented. And having occasion 
 to go from home to be absent a week, and the business 
 of the printing-office being somewhat dull, he told Mark 
 he might do the work on the fence while he was away. 
 
 "How high shall I build it?" asked Mark. 
 
 " As high as you think proper," was the reply. " Here 
 is an order on the proprietor of a saw-mill, and you can 
 get lumber to build it as high as the house ; only be 
 certain and build a tight board fence." 
 
 As soon as Mr. Messenger was well out of sight our 
 humorist went to work. Digging good deep holes, he 
 and his assistant placed the posts therein good high 
 posts Mark selected. They made a high, close fence of 
 boards, nailed to the cross-rods, endwise. The boards 
 were twelve feet long, which, nailed to the wide base 
 boards, made a fence fifteen feet high, causing the little 
 garden to resemble more an amphitheatre or a square, 
 
38 LIFE OF 
 
 than it did a place to grow onions, squashes, melons, 
 and other vegetables. 
 
 Mrs. Messenger enjoyed the joke ; but ho.w Mr. Mes 
 senger would look upon it they did not know. So, with 
 fear and trembling, Mark watched for him on the morn 
 ing he was expected. From a window Mark saw him 
 approach his dwelling. He walked soberly along, until, 
 happening to lift his eyes, he -saw the new fence. He 
 stopped looked again, as if he could not realize where 
 he was then, suddenly remembering that Mark was to 
 build, a fence during his absence, he put his hands to his 
 sides, and laughed long and heartily. 
 
 " Come down, Mark," called Mrs. Messenger, who was 
 also watching the effect upon her husband. " No fear 
 of danger when Mr. Messenger laughs." 
 
 " Messenger s fence" was, for a long time, an eyesore 
 to the neighbors, and a matter of curiosity to all passers- 
 by, who thought the fence was the sides of some new 
 temple, or some political wigwam no one knew what. 
 None enjoyed the joke more than did Mr. Messenger; it 
 seemed as if he would never tire laughing at it ; and he 
 remarked, " If that boy ever attains as high a position 
 in life as he has built the fence, it will be by the aid of 
 a rope." 
 
 Was Mr. Messenger s prophecy correct ? or has not 
 Mr. Pomeroy attained as high a position as an editor as 
 it is possible for a man to reach ? 
 
 In those days it was the fashion in country printing- 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 39 
 
 offices to send boys off on foolish errands, and "Brick" 
 determined that he would endure nothing of the kind. 
 On one occasion he was sent to a hardware store for 
 a quart of "editorial oil." The foreman of the office, 
 while making his forms ready for the press, despatched 
 Mark on this errand, with instructions to return imme 
 diately, and to bring a " quart of editorial oil, in the 
 original package, and also "a couple of italic hand 
 saws." 
 
 " Brick" went down stairs, borrowed a fish -pole and 
 line, started to the river, where he spent the day in 
 fishing, returning only at night, after the town had been 
 ransacked to learn his whereabouts (as he was very 
 much needed in the office to roll), but bringing, as his 
 apology, a nice string of fish for Mr. Messenger s table, 
 which proved, indeed, " editorial oil," and so smoothed 
 the feelings of Mr. Messenger at the turn the joke had 
 taken against the foreman, that he forgave Mark s ab 
 sence from the office, and counselled the foreman to quit 
 attempting to play pranks upon a " green country-boy," 
 for he certainly got the worst of it. 
 
40 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Developments of journalistic ability. 
 
 MARK remained with Mr. Messenger nearly two years, 
 acting as type-setter and " devil," by which suggestive 
 name he was commonly called, and which name he well 
 deserved, for he was in all kinds of mischief. 
 
 The Corning people looked upon him as a sort of 
 mirth-creating pest, whose mischief was so tempered 
 with justice, mercy, and fun, that they could not punish 
 the perpetrator, however sensibly .they might feel his 
 jokes. 
 
 lie organized the boys of Corning in foraging parties 
 for cornfield raids, and in the morning would bestow 
 the result of his expedition upon some poor family. 
 
 He would visit the gardens of the rich, where he 
 would " confiscate " fruit, vegetables, etc., which he 
 woifld give to the poor and sick. 
 
 Many a time large packages of grapes, and other 
 fruit, have been found at the door of some invalid, left 
 there by the " devil" who would go on his way rejoicing 
 in his quiet manner at the thoughts of the cooling eifect 
 he imagined the fruit would have upon the feverish 
 palate of the sick one. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy s career as a journalist, we may say 
 
MARK M. POMEEOT. 41 
 
 commenced with his infancy. When but a child at 
 school he would keep a record on his slate of the inci 
 dents of the school, and of the tricks and performances 
 of the scholars. Would write for an imaginary paper 
 in his copy-book using his copy-book for that purpose 
 rather than the improvement of his chirography. The 
 writing of compositions for children on almost any and 
 every topic, describing incidents real and unreal, natu 
 ral and unnatural, sketches of fact and fancy, was a 
 habit which seemed to have grown with his growth till 
 it became a part of his existence. 
 
 When an apprentice in a printing-office, he furnished 
 very many of the items of local interest about town, and 
 wrote a great many little squibs and sketches for that 
 paper. Under assumed names and various noms-de- 
 plume, he wrote sketches and poetry for other papers, 
 and wrote page after page, and quire after quire of 
 manuscript, till he had at the time he entered the printing- 
 office as journeyman, accumulated a full ream of this 
 stuff, which he burned as of not sufficient account to 
 preserve. Some of the pieces which he thus wrote are 
 said, by his friends who saw them at the time, to have 
 given evidence of more than ordinary powers of sar 
 casm, illustration, and forcibility. His father for a long 
 time had serious objections to his being a printer, and 
 wished him to be a merchant, citing the great mer 
 chants of the country and the wonderful field there 
 opened for a man of energy and ambition. The prin- 
 
42 LIFE OF 
 
 cipal objection his father had to his embarking upon 
 the printing business was that the business was so pro 
 verbially poor that all connected with it seemed to be 
 habitually beggars. It is almost an impossibility to 
 pick up a newspaper without finding in it a plea for 
 subscribers to bring to the office some article of food to 
 keep the editor from starving, or some urgent dun or 
 request for the subscribers to come forth and rescue 
 them from poverty and the hands of the sheriff. His 
 father insisted upon it that printers were poor, and they 
 had not the respect shown them that other people had. 
 If the business was good, printers would not be such 
 beggars. If the business was not good, no man of sense 
 would engage in it. 
 
 The boy insisted upon it that the fault was with those 
 who begged, not with the public. That if a man made 
 a good newspaper and adopted the same business rules 
 in conducting it that merchants or others did, that he 
 would succeed, and as ne had a natural inclination for 
 that, and a longing desire to connect himself with the 
 press, that he might criticise men, that he might under 
 stand that which was good, condemn that which was 
 wrong, and write and print matters of fact, and of in 
 terest in hopes of helping to educate the boys of the 
 country, that he would become a printer. On his entering 
 the office at Corning, it was his boast that the time would 
 come when he would own a printing-office in the city of 
 New York, which city he had never seen at that time, 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 43 
 
 and which office would be the most extensive of any in 
 the United States. The boy said that he had been 
 taught that where there was a will there was a way, 
 and that he believed in the truth of the adage. That he 
 had heard of Mr. Greeley s success, and Mr. Bennett s 
 success, and of the success of a few other journalists of 
 the country, and told Mr. Messenger, the proprietor, and 
 Mr. Lombard, the foreman of the office at that time, 
 that they would live to see him editing a newspaper of 
 larger circulation than any newspaper, and that he 
 would before his death be able to extend to them hos 
 pitalities in the city where he would be conducting 
 business, surrounded by friends and possessing influence. 
 The idea seemed so absurd that he was laughed at, 
 and the employes of the office oftentimes in derision 
 spoke of him as the city editor, and sneeringly looked 
 forward in argument to the time when he would be ed 
 iting a daily newspaper in New York, and they would 
 be working at the case, of course in some country news 
 paper office. But he worked on, determined to win or 
 die in the attempt. He said that what others had done 
 he could do : that what others had done he would do, 
 and more. That though he was then poor, the time 
 would come when he would be rich, and when he would 
 have influence. That the habits he had been taught in 
 his childhood would last him through life, and make of 
 him a laboring man ; that the religious instruction and 
 temperance lessons he had received by precept and ex- 
 
44 LIFE OF 
 
 ample, with the determination to be a man, he believed 
 would effectually protect him from the snares and temp 
 tations which so often ruin the young men of the 
 country, and carry down to bitter graves the old men 
 of the land. 
 
 His office companions asked him how he would reach 
 this end : how he would ever own a printing-office: 
 asked him if he had rich relatives, or if he expected to 
 find a gold-mine, or that some magician s wand would 
 lift out of the streets of New York an office ready built 
 to his hands ? His reply to them was, that he intended 
 to make his office by working for it : that he intended 
 to save his money, to work hard, to start with a little 
 printing-office, to add to it, and work earnestly and con 
 tinually for some one object till that object be accom 
 plished. That he should make his paper, when he grew 
 up, the friend of the working-man, and the friend of the 
 boys of the country, in hopes of being of some benefit 
 to them; to encourage them to exertions in their own 
 behalf, and their homes, and that he knew that, this de 
 termination firmly planted in his heart, there would be 
 no such word as fail. Sitting by the stove in the 
 printing-office, by the light of a candle, with arms bared, 
 printer s ink-marks on clothes, hands, and face, he has 
 for hours, when the labors of the day were done, inter 
 ested the apprentices and journeymen of the office, and 
 at times his employers, as we learn from them, by mak 
 ing out in argument the course he was to pursue as he 
 
MAKE: M. POMEKOT. 45 
 
 worked on to reach the goal of his ambition. So earn 
 est was he, that Mr. Messenger informs us, before he had 
 been in the office a year, he converted many of the hands 
 working in the office to believe that the time would 
 come when the white-haired apprentice-boy would be 
 come the editor, if not of the largest paper in the world, 
 of one of the largest and most influential. 
 
 His habits in the office were those of economy. His 
 labor was always well and promptly done. No matter 
 how severe the task, he went at it with the determina 
 tion to accomplish it ; and he always did accomplish it 
 with satisfaction to his employers and credit to himself. 
 He received for his first year s salary in the office the 
 sum of $30.00, which sum was expected to clothe him 
 and furnish him with what spending money he might 
 deem it necessary to use. It was not a large sum for a 
 boy to clothe himself with, especially when his ward 
 robe to start with was but meager, but was more than 
 sufficient for his needs, as, at the expiration of the first 
 year, he had saved from his earnings of $30.00, the, to 
 him, very large sum of $28.00. It is true that his ex 
 penses were more than two dollars per year; but he 
 had a New Year s Address, from which he realized 
 $21.00, the largest sum ever realized by a carrier-boy, 
 at that time, in that place ; and had made a few dollars 
 by trading in watches, knives, second-hand pistols, old 
 shot-guns, and such property which he would buy, put 
 in order, and sell for what they were worth, or trade 
 
46 LIFE OF 
 
 
 
 every time bettering himself and at last dispose of 
 them for something of use. 
 
 A good story is told of him in Corning, which is 
 vouched for as true by many of the residents there, and 
 acknowledged to be true by Pomeroy himself. A Jew 
 dealer in clothing sold him, when an apprentice, a pair 
 of pants, which proved to be of very rotten material, and 
 worth not over one-half of their cost. He was advised 
 by Mr. Messenger to take the goods back and exchange 
 them for a better pair. The dealer took advantage of 
 the boy s ignorance as to the worth of clothing, and 
 charged him double price. He refused to take them 
 back to the clothier s, but said he would wait and get 
 even with him, which he did. On the side-hill on the 
 mountain side of Corning were rattlesnakes, sometimes 
 of large size. They were looked upon as objects of cu 
 riosity ; and where the people were afraid of them, they 
 were willing to look at them properly caged. 
 
 On one occasion he had traded for a watch, which, 
 from some cause or other, refused to keep time. On a 
 Sunday afternoon he bet three apples with one of the 
 boys in the office that he could take the watch to pieces 
 and put it together again, a job he never had attempted 
 before. His reason for thinking he could was, that his 
 father was a watchmaker, and that what the father 
 could do the son should do likewise. So, armed with 
 some impromptu screw-drivers made from darning- 
 needles and knife-blades, he took the watch to pieces, 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 47 
 
 cleaned it with an old tooth-brush, spread the several 
 parts of the machinery about on the composing-stone in 
 the office, and all one Sunday afternoon spent his time 
 putting it together again. He succeeded in finding a 
 place for every thing, and getting every thing in its 
 place, as he thought, with the exception of one wheel, 
 which he could not possibly find a place for. He took 
 it out of the watch, but it was an impossibility to get it 
 in again. He could make the watch run without that 
 wheel, but, as he could not find the proper place for it, 
 he lost his wager. He could wind the watch up, but it 
 would not stay wound ; and the moment he withdrew 
 the key from the standard it would run down with a 
 whirring noise not unlike that of a rattlesnake when in 
 danger or when it gave warning. He carried this watch 
 in his pocket for two or three days, wondering what to 
 do with it. At last an idea struck him ; he saw, back of 
 a drugstore over which the printing-office was located, a 
 piece of a tarred rope, which reminded him in size and 
 length of a rattlesnake. He put this rope in a small box 
 taken from the rubbish behind the store, nailed some 
 slats over it, to see if he could not sell it that same night 
 to the Jew who had sold him the pants, to be kept by 
 him as a curiosity. The better to carry out his design, 
 he wound up his watch, took the box under his arm, 
 and, with one hand to keep the key on the standard of 
 the watch, that it should not run down till the proper 
 time, when he would withdraw the key ; and the whir- 
 
48 LIFE OF 
 
 ring noise of the machinery in the watch, with his box 
 held against the vest pocket where the watch was con 
 tained, resembled the whirring of a rattlesnake. So 
 complete was the deception that he even fooled Mr. 
 Messenger and the employes of the office. 
 
 When he wanted the imaginary snake to rattle, he 
 would wind up the watch till they poked it with a stick, 
 when he would withdraw the key, and the whirring 
 noise would commence and continue for half a minute 
 or so. 
 
 With this stock-in-trade he visited the Jew clothing 
 dealer, who asked what he had. He said it was a big 
 rattlesnake, a new style never before seen in that coun 
 try, and one that would bring a great deal of money if 
 Barnum had it. Barnum was then in the height of his 
 career. The merchant wished to see it. The boy re 
 fused. He did not like to put it down on the floor, for 
 it might get out ; " and," said he, " if it should happen 
 to get out of this box, all of you would be scared to 
 death." 
 
 The merchant wanted to know if it would rattle. He 
 said, "Yes, at times, if sufficiently irritated." Taking a 
 piece of a long sliver, he thrust it in between the slats 
 of the box, in which he could see a long, dark-looking 
 object coiled up in some straw, whereupon Pomeroy 
 withdrew the watch-key, and the whirring noise com 
 menced. The Jew jumped back affrighted, and said, 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 49 
 
 " Mine Gott ! lie s got him zure. Vat vill you takes for 
 him ?" 
 
 After some little bargaining Pomcroy sold the new 
 style of rattlesnake for a pair of doeskin pants, the best 
 there were in the store. He did not effect a sale until he 
 had gone out two or three times to wind his watch, and 
 let the Jew irritate the snake, when it would commence 
 its whirring noise. The bargain was made, the pants 
 delivered, and the box was, by Pomeroy, taken down 
 stairs and deposited in the cellar with instructions not 
 to disturb it till next morning, which was Sabbath, 
 when he could invite his friends in and show it. The 
 result of the trade was a pair of pants worth at that 
 time six dollars and a half, much better than the pair 
 he had bought and been cheated on. In the afternoon, 
 on passing the store with a friend, he discovered the 
 box, the dirty coil of rope, and the straw lying in front 
 of the store, and that night came very near being 
 whipped by the indignant Jew, who said he had been 
 humbugged. Pomeroy. said no, he had not been hum 
 bugged but simply rattlesnaked out of a pair of pants. 
 He said : " I think you and I are just about even. You 
 sold me a pair of pants which were not as they were 
 represented, and I have got even by selling you a 
 rattlesnake of a new kind, something never before seen 
 in this country." As Pomeroy was with one or two of 
 his companions, the merchant thought the job was a 
 
 3 
 
50 LIFE OF 
 
 little more than he wanted to wallop the aforesaid, 
 contented himself by swearing roundly, and telling him 
 never to enter his store again ; to which he replied that 
 he would not unless he wanted to buy a pair of pants 
 or sell a snake, in which case he would most likely call 
 upon him. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Boyish follies. Beer story. Codfishery. Three celebrities. 
 
 As a raider Pomeroy was an eminent success. If 
 there was a grape-vine, or an apple-tree that bore good 
 apples, or melon-patch that had nice melons at the 
 proper season, anywhere near there, that he did not 
 find it out and, in company with a set of companions, 
 of whom he was the chosen leader, visit the aforesaid 
 place, it was news to the inhabitants of Corning. No 
 matter how carefully the products of the garden would 
 be guarded, how many watch-dogs employed, or how 
 many men hired to defend the premises or guard 
 against depredators, by some trick or bribery, coaxing 
 or inducement, he would always succeed in lulling the 
 suspicions of the guard, and either bear off himself the 
 coveted plunder or would entertain them while his 
 companions would secure the same. 
 
 Soon after the great fire in Corning, while he was an 
 apprentice boy in the office, the room underneath the 
 printing-office was occupied by a grocery firm. The 
 building was rather a primitive one, built for immediate 
 use upon the ruins of a better building, and was noth 
 ing more than a wooden structure hastily put up. 
 
52 . LIFE OF 
 
 Standing one day in the second story of the building 
 thinking of something, knocking with his heel at a knot 
 in the floor, he knocked the knot through, and it fell 
 into the store below. Looking through the hole, which 
 was perhaps two inches across, he saw directly under 
 neath it on the counter several beer-bottles, or bottles 
 containing small-beer, and glasses, it being a part of 
 the business of the occupants below to sell small-beer, 
 confectionery, fruit, pies, cakes, etc. Seeing a bottle 
 of beer underneath was to covet it ; but how to get it 
 was a mystery. He had money to buy it; but the 
 trick was to get it without buying. In the ruins of a 
 hardware store he had, a few days previous, found a 
 very large fish-hook, which he had saved and brought 
 to the office for some purpose, at that time he did not 
 know what, but said : " It might be handy to have 
 around the house should it ever be needed." A novel 
 idea of obtaining the beer took possession of him. He 
 tied this hook to a piece of twine, and had two or three 
 boys go down in front and engage the attention of the 
 man, while he let the hook through the knot-hole down 
 till it reached a bottle, where, after considerable skir 
 mishing, he succeeded in fastening it to the string 
 which held the cork in place. No sooner was it caught 
 fast, than he drew the bottle up to the floor, the hole 
 just admitting the neck of the same. In order to 
 strengthen the floor of the printing-office, the joists 
 had been placed very close together, so that the bottle 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 53 
 
 when drawn up between them was out of the reach of 
 observation, except to a very close observer, from the 
 store beneath. Tying the bottle to the leg of a case, 
 he removed the cork ; but how to get the beer out was 
 another question. He solved this by going to the tin- 
 shop and having a chum make for him a long tube two 
 feet long, a sort of metallic straw, through which the 
 employes of the office took turns in sucking the afore 
 said small-beer. When the bottle was emptied, two or 
 three of the boys would go down stairs again and en 
 tertain the merchant, who was not able to hire a clerk, 
 when the bottle would be lowered to its place on the 
 counter, and after another skirmishing and wriggling 
 of the hook another bottle would be fastened upon and 
 drawn up to the floor above. This mode of procur 
 ing beverage was carried on for some weeks, the mer 
 chant below wondering how so many bottles should be 
 emptied and he not know anything about it. Some 
 times half a dozen or more bottles a day would be 
 emptied in this manner. On one occasion, while stand 
 ing in the door engaged in conversation with a con 
 federate of the beer-raiser, he by accident turned 
 around and saw the bottle following a string up toward, 
 the ceiling. He says : " My God ! I ve found the 
 leak at last." Coming up stairs indignant, he insisted 
 that he should have Pomeroy arrested ; but the hands 
 of the office laughed at him so much for not appreciat 
 ing a good joke, that he sent up half a dozen bottles 
 
54 LIFE OF 
 
 of small-beer rather than have the matter published. 
 Nailing a piece of sheet-iron over the knot-hole, he 
 departed a wiser if not richer man. But Pomeroy kept 
 the hook and string for other spoils. 
 
 On one occasion a hogshead of codfish was brought 
 back of the store, directly under the window at the 
 rear of the printing-office, and the parties in the store 
 were engaged in carrying the codfish in baskets down 
 to the cellar, where it might be kept moist. Looking 
 out of the window, he discovered this new fishing- 
 ground, and with his fish-hook and cord succeeded, 
 between trips of the merchant, in raising from the 
 hogshead up to the window five or six large codfish, 
 which were kept there until the merchant had emptied 
 the hogshead and rolled it away, when all but one of 
 them were dropped out of the window on to the back 
 steps, and the merchant wondered for an hour where in 
 thunder those lost codfish came from. Looking out 
 of the front window, he saw a deacon of one of the 
 churches, who was noted for his parsimonious habits, and 
 of whom it was said that he had not the rights of 
 property defined in his own mind as he should have 
 -had. 
 
 As the man jumped into his wagon to start off, Pome 
 roy threw the codfish out of the window at him, and it 
 struck on the seat beside him, when the very honest 
 deacon put spurs to his horses, and went on without 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 55 
 
 stopping to see where it came from or who sent it to 
 him. 
 
 While at work in the office of the Journal at Corning 
 as apprentice, D. R. Locke, who has won a national 
 notoriety as " Petroleum V. Nasby," was a journeyman 
 printer in the same office. For a long time there was an 
 irrepressible conflict between Locke and Pomeroy as to 
 which should play the best practical joke upon the 
 other. Numerous were the jokes, and some of them 
 rather severe, played both ways, till at last Locke gave 
 up and proposed an armistice. 
 
 On one occasion, of a Sunday afternoon, instead of 
 attending church, the boys from the printing-office went 
 upon th hillside to gather chestnuts, at that time just 
 falling from the trees, by aid of a little shaking of the 
 branches, or threshing of the same with a pole. Pome 
 roy, being rather good at climbing, and somewhat at 
 home in the branches of a chestnut-tree, if not in the 
 diiferent branches of education, was selected as the one 
 to thresh out the chestnuts for his companions to pick 
 up. He commenced his work, and threshed away at the 
 diiferent tree-tops till nearly nightfall, when the others 
 had secured about half a bushel of the nuts. They had 
 filled all their pockets full. When he came down from 
 the last tree and proposed to have them divide, they 
 could not see it, and Locke insisted upon it that they 
 had done exactly as they agreed that Pomeroy had 
 
56 LIFE OF 
 
 - * 
 
 threshed "out and they had picked up, and that if he 
 wanted any more chestnuts he could get them ; when, 
 with their pockets full and his nearly empty, the party 
 returned to the house of Mr. Messenger in time for 
 supper. 
 
 After supper, while he was away from the house, 
 they hid their chestnuts in the rubbish-room, and pro 
 posed to keep them there till such a time as they might 
 be wanted. In the evening Pomeroy returned while the 
 others were out. On learning that they had hidden 
 their chestnuts somewhere about the house, he searched 
 for an hour till he found them in three or four different 
 hiding-places, aided in a measure by the servant girl 
 who was always his friend and then hid the, nuts in 
 another and safer place, where Eliza and himself Eliza 
 being the girl s name found and enjoyed them during 
 the winter. Locke and the other printers insisted upon 
 it that it was an almighty mean trick, to which Pomeroy 
 assented, but never restored to the disconsolate printers 
 their nuts. 
 
 The office of The Corning Journal, by the way, is 
 noted for having drawn out three very successful men, 
 who either began life at the case or press in that office, 
 or who worked there ; and all of whom worked together 
 at the same time, sat at the same table in Mr. Messen 
 ger s house, and occupied the same room for a number 
 of months. No other one printing-office in this country 
 
v - 
 
 MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 or in any other country has turned 01 
 ful men, as has this office, all of them springing from 
 the humblest walks of life, and all of them, by attention 
 to business, winning; cfreat success. 
 
 O O 
 
 One of them is M. M. Pomeroy, who began in that 
 office without a shilling, and who now, despite differ 
 ences of political opinion between the editor of the 
 Journal, who was at one time his employer, and himself, 
 looks upon the office and its editor, G. W. Pratt, with 
 more than kindly feelings and interest. 
 
 The second notability, if we may use the word, is D. 
 R. Locke, whose reputation as the author of the 
 Nasby Papers is well-known throughout the country. 
 The Bother is W. L. Halsey, at present a very wealthy 
 citizen of New York, and a partner in the Overland 
 Stage Company s line to California, and also a holder 
 of large interests in other extensive companies banking 
 and steamboat institutions of the country. Side by side, 
 month by month, poor, but always looking confidently 
 to the future, and determined to bring out of that future 
 success, these three young men worked. They all left 
 the office about the same time, each going in different 
 directions each winning wealth, popularity, and the 
 confidence of their respective friends. While at work 
 in the office as an apprentice, many is the night, after 
 all others had left the office, Pomeroy would work there, 
 oftentimes till nearly morning, at extra or piece-work, 
 
58 LIFE OF 
 
 earning from a quarter to half a dollar a night, which 
 was accredited to him by his employer, and in time 
 paid to him. 
 
 One of the then employes of the office, at that time a 
 journeyman, as he is now a journeyman compositor in a 
 country village in this State, informs us that many a night 
 when returning home from a party or concert or some 
 place of amusement, he has seen a light in the office, and 
 on going there found Porneroy at work at the case, with 
 flickering tallow-candle beside him, setting dirty type for 
 a shilling per thousand ems, or setting up some fancy 
 job, obtaining a proof of the same, then distributing the 
 type to its proper place, and in the morning showing his 
 job of work to Mr. Messenger, and asking his opinion 
 of the same ; and asking him also for advice or sug 
 gestions how to improve upon the beauty of the work. 
 So earnest and determined was he to become a printer, 
 that in less than one year he had charge of the job de 
 partment of the office and set nearly every job, great 
 and small, that came into the concern, and earned con 
 siderable money by working the same on the press at 
 night, or by setting type. Often has he worked for the 
 other journeymen after his labors were done, sometimes 
 using his time till nearly morning, that they might have 
 recreation, attend parties, or have play-spells out of the 
 office. 
 
 One secret of his success lies in the fact that he very 
 seldom squandered money foolishly. Pie was always 
 
MARK M. POMEROT. 59 
 
 willing to work; if he could not -receive large wages he 
 was willing to take up with small, rather than be idle. 
 In this way he perfected himself, and set an example 
 that other printers and working-men of the land would 
 do well to follow. His employer finding him faithful 
 and determined, soon found it to his interest to give him 
 good wages, and put him upon good work as he was 
 able to do it, and advance him, step by step, for the in 
 terest of both boy and man, as all good employers will 
 do in protection of their own interests, on learning that 
 a man in their employ is willing to make himself useful. 
 Mr. Messenger had the reputation of being the best job 
 printer in that section of the country, and as his succes 
 sors in office did not pay that attention to job printing 
 and were not so well qualified to teach that branch of 
 the trade, so soon as Mr. Messenger had bought him a 
 new office at Waverly, a few miles distant on the line 
 of the Erie Railway, which office was well stocked with 
 new material, at the solicitation of Mr. Messenger, and 
 with the consent of the proprietors of the Journal-office, 
 to whom Mr. Messenger sold, the better to finish his 
 education, and learn the mysteries of printing to perfec 
 tion, as well as to be with those who had been kind to 
 him when he came to Corning poor and unknown, he 
 bid good-bye to his friends in Corning, and joined his 
 former employer in V\ 7 averly, with as much attention to 
 deviltry as to printing, for upwards of a year, till Mr. 
 Messenger left for Canada, where he is now engaged in 
 
60 LIFE OF 
 
 the printing business. The residents of "Waverly re 
 member him well as a printer s boy, and a sort of wild 
 one at that ; as one full of life, of fun, and mischievous 
 pranks, but one whose character for truth, integrity, 
 kindness of heart, and attention to business never had 
 been questioned by any who knew him. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 61 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mark falls in love. How a joke terminated. Goes to Canada. Returns to 
 Waverly and finds his lady-love married. He marries one he lovea 
 better. 
 
 FOR a time he resided in "Waverly, and worked hard 
 at his business, forming in the mean time many pleasant 
 acquaintances, and falling desperately in love with a 
 handsome young lady, whose relatives refused their 
 consent to a marriage, for the reason that he was " a 
 poor, dirty-fingered type-sticker," and " that it was be 
 neath the dignity of an aristocratic family to permit the 
 marriage of the daughter with a common mechanic." 
 
 After some little skirmishing, trouble, and so forth, 
 and the usual number of disappointments in love mat 
 ters, the young lady was sent to school; and in the 
 autumn of 1853, to better his condition by working at 
 case, Mark went to Canada. 
 
 Mr. Messenger had been obliged to close business at 
 Waverly, and had moved to Canada West, where he 
 accepted the foremanship of an office at Brantford. He 
 kindly offered his old " devil" a situation at good wages, 
 six dollars a week, out of which immense sum Mark had 
 to board himself. 
 
62 LIFE OF 
 
 He worked in Brantford, in the Courier office, four 
 weeks, receiving for four weeks work twenty-four dol 
 lars, sixteen of which he had to pay for board. The 
 week days were spent in labor; Sundays in writing 
 love-letters, which never reached their destination, and 
 the nights in study, or in making raids upon the grape 
 ries and melon-patches of the city. On one occasion, 
 with two companions, he walked three miles, each of 
 the three carrying a large coffee-sack filled with fine 
 watermelons (so they thought) from the garden of a 
 wealthy farmer. They lugged the stolen melons to the 
 office, and, on arriving there, about midnight, struck a 
 light, and found to their chagrin, upon emptying their 
 bags and examining the contents, that every water 
 melon they had stolen was a citron. 
 
 Those who have been engaged in like scrapes, can 
 well imagine the surprise and disgust of the young 
 rogues ; but they sold out the citrons to a grocery- 
 keeper, who disposed of them for preserving purposes, 
 and realized a handsome sum from the mistake. 
 
 During his stay in Brantford, Mark was only remark 
 able for being the leader in all adventures for fun pecu 
 liar to young men. 
 
 In the early winter of the same .year, Mark went to 
 Simcoe, Canada West, as a compositor in a weekly 
 newspaper-office, from which he was discharged for his 
 joking propensity. 
 
 On one occasion, when employed to clean a press, he 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 63 
 
 bought a bundle of paper-rags from a hardware store. 
 In this bundle he found an old petticoat, which he hung 
 up in a little closet, or private rubbage-room under the 
 stairs of the main printing-office, using the rest of the 
 rags to clean the press with. 
 
 A few days after the work was finished, the wife of 
 the proprietor came into the office, and, woman-like, 
 looked curiously around in every possible place to see 
 what important discovery she could make. At length 
 she opened this closet-door and found the mentioned 
 garment, hanging there in full sight, when she indig 
 nantly demanded the meaning of her husband, who 
 expressed ignorance of its being there, and said that 
 it meant nothing, and that he did not know what it 
 all amounted to any way ; and as he said this, Mark, 
 who was standing working at the case a little dis 
 tance from him, remarked in a low tone, 
 
 Why, Mr. Clancy !" 
 
 His wife, of course, insisted upon having an explana 
 tion, and asked Mark if he knew anything of the gar 
 ment. His reply was : 
 
 " That is too old a petticoat for me to know anything 
 about !" 
 
 A scene ensued ; the result was that Mark was dis 
 charged for running a joke of this kind upon the pro 
 prietor, a corpulent Irishman. 
 
 He then went to the office of the Advocate, and at 
 once procured a situation as foreman of that establish- 
 
64 LIFE OF 
 
 ment, at larger wages ; which position lie retained until 
 the middle of winter, when he started on a tramp, in 
 hopes of finding more profitable business in which he 
 could make money enough to pay his passage to Cali 
 fornia, in the event of his not being able to marry the 
 young lady to whom he was at that time still engaged. 
 Leaving Simcoe one day in the stage, Mark reached 
 the village of Gait, a little while after dark. Applied 
 at once for a situation in a country office, and was so 
 fortunate as to secure one immediately on piece-work. 
 The paper, owing to a scarcity of hands, was one or two 
 days behind, and Mark was employed to work with two 
 or three other printers, until all the type for the paper 
 should have been set up. The job, it was thought, 
 would be finished by six o clock in the morning. He 
 worked earnestly and faithfully at the case, by the light 
 of two tallow-candles, until he had put in type one 
 column of matter, when the proprietor of the concern 
 found fault with the change of a word Mark made in 
 the copy in order to correct a grammatical error. He 
 discovered the change in reading the proof, and com 
 menced cursing the young man for making it, who made 
 no reply but went to work to fill his case, to put another 
 column in type; but instead of distributing dead mat 
 ter, he distributed the live matter he had just set up ! 
 He passed a wet sponge over the form, threw the type 
 back in the case, leaving it, as he found it, in good 
 order, then washing his hands, he put on his coat and 
 
, MARK il. rOMEEOY. 65 
 
 hat, and went down stairs, without waiting for his pay 
 for either the work or the mischief. 
 
 This incident was only a faint indication of the natu 
 ral independence which now characterized the every 
 action of M. M. Pomeroy, and an index to the character 
 of the man who believes in getting even with those 
 who wrong him. 
 
 At four o clock that same morning he took passage 
 in the stage for Guelph, a pleasant village, some miles 
 distant. The morning was intensely cold, and the 
 sleighing being very fine, he, seated by the side of the 
 driver, whose stage carried the mail, enjoyed his ride 
 very much indeed. 
 
 After they had gone a few miles, the driver com 
 plained of being cold, and Mark told him that he might 
 get out and run behind the stage, and that he would 
 hold on to the reins, and when he got in again then it 
 would be his (Mark s) turn, and he would get out and 
 run, so they could both be warm. 
 
 The driver got out and ran behind the sleigh some 
 little distance, telling Mark to drive faster, that he 
 might have more exercise. He put the whip to the 
 horses, and started off on a run of about three-quarters 
 of a mile, leaving the stage-driver far behind, who ran 
 and yelled with all his might, crying " Stop thief!, stop 
 thief !" fearing that Mark intended running away with 
 the team and the queen s mail. 
 
 After giving him a nice run, the horses were steadied 
 
66 LIFE OF 
 
 down to a more moderate gait, and he overtook the 
 stage, threatening to " mash his bloody head" if ever lie 
 played that trick on him again. Mark told him that 
 " he would not do it again, and, if it would be all the 
 
 O / / 
 
 same to him, he would just as soon as not have his head 
 mashed, but let alone." 
 
 The driver laughed at this as a good joke, and on 
 they went until they reached the stage-office and hotel 
 at Guelph. When the horses were put up, Mark stood 
 treat to some Scotch whisky, and the little exploit of 
 the early morning was entirely forgiven. 
 
 For several weeks Pomeroy worked in Guelph, taking 
 the place in the office of the Guelph Advertiser of one 
 of the employes who was ill at that time. The paper 
 was edited by a worthy gentleman by the name of 
 Smith, who treated the stranger with great kindness 
 and courtesy during all of his stay there. On the day 
 he left, which was not until the gentleman whose place 
 he had taken had fully recovered his health, Mr. Smith 
 gave him a check on the bank for fifty-six dollars, more 
 money than he had before possessed in all his life. 
 
 With this money in his pocket, together with a few 
 dollars he had previously saved, in the early spring of 
 1854 he left Guelph and went to Waverly, where he 
 arrived in time to find the young lady to whom he was 
 engaged married, and all his hopes of happiness in that 
 direction dashed to the earth. He then returned to the 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 67 
 
 home of his uncle, Mr. White, in Southport, near El- 
 mira, where he remained most of the summer. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, George W. Pratt, 
 of the Journal at Corning, wrote Pomeroy to come to 
 his office, and begged that he would accept the situa 
 tion of foreman. He responded promptly to the call ; 
 but the wages offered, although sufficient to cover his 
 expenses, he deemed scarcely worth the services he 
 knew he could render Mr. Pratt. So Mark told him, if 
 he did not consent to pay him a fair salary, which was 
 the moderate sum of seven dollars a week, he would go 
 to New York, buy a job-office, and start it in opposition 
 to him. Mr. Pratt, knowing that the young man had 
 no money, laughed at his, as he thought, idle threat. 
 
 Mark had at that time twenty dollars, with which 
 amount he started for New York. Upon arriving in 
 this great cosmopolitan emporium, he called at the type- 
 foundry of White & Webb, stated to them that he 
 was a young printer a poor young man just coming 
 ef age, without friends whose means would allow them 
 to assist him that he wanted to buy six hundred dol 
 lars worth of printing material, for which he would give 
 a mortgage on the property, and pay them in monthly 
 instalments, until the whole debt was cancelled ; which 
 proposition was rejected. 
 
 He then, no ways discouraged for even in those days 
 Mr. Pomeroy did not exactly understand the meaning 
 
68 LIFE OF 
 
 of the word "fail" called at the foundry of James 
 Connor & Sons, and introduced himself to James Con 
 ner, the senior member of the firm, who invited the 
 young man into his private office, where they conversed 
 some time. The result was, Mr. Connor instructed Mark 
 to select such materials as he needed, saying that he 
 would trust him upon his honor that he thought he 
 would pay, and he was willing to encourage every young 
 man who he thought was honest and ambitious. Mr. 
 Pomeroy thus feelingly speaks of his early friend : 
 
 " Mr. Connor struck me as being one of the best- 
 hearted men I ever saw ; and no one can tell the feeling 
 of gratitude, almost of veneration, I had for him when 
 he gave me the Specimen-book of his foundry, with 
 liberty to select therefrom such articles as I needed for 
 my little office. His kindness gave me confidence ; his 
 advice strength ; the aid he then gave me made me his 
 friend forever; and I would have suffered every cent I 
 had in the world to be taken from me before I would 
 have cheated him out of one penny." 
 
 The office was duly paid for as agreed upon, and 
 when Mr. Connor died a few years since, no printer in 
 all the land, or no friend outside his own family, felt 
 sadder than did the once poor boy he helped through 
 his first venture. 
 
 Upon the hand-press and type purchased from Mr. 
 Connor, the enterprising journalist established a small 
 job-office in Corning, and in the Spring of 1854 began 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 69 
 
 the publication of a little paper the size of a sheet of 
 commercial note-paper, which he called The Sun. First 
 he published one thousand copies for gratuitous circula 
 tion. It was filled with local items, and a few adver 
 tisements of the leading merchants of the place, who 
 jointly paid enough to secure fair wages, and no more, 
 for the week, and also the expenses he had incurred in 
 getting out the little paper, which had probably cost 
 six dollars a thousand. 
 
 The Sun attracted considerable attention, for it con 
 tained some good local hits ; and the people seemed 
 anxious to see the next issue of it. 
 
 The advertisements came pouring in, the demand for 
 it increased, and in a short time Mr. Pomeroy commenced 
 its regular publication; made it a good-sized sheet, 
 and a prosperous local country paper, when in the 
 Spring of 1855, he sold the office for thirteen hundred 
 dollars, being twice as much as it cost. 
 
 In order to make Mr. Connor secure in his payments, 
 Mr. Pomeroy had taken into the office with him a printer 
 by the name of P. C. Van Gelder, who retained his in 
 terest in the paper until they sold it to the Rev. Ira 
 Brown, who changed the name of the paper from T/ie 
 Sun to the Democrat or Corning Democrat, which is 
 now edited by his son Frank Brown. 
 
 Mark then went to New York, and purchased a small 
 card -press and some type, with which he returned to 
 
70 LIFE OF 
 
 Corning, and for a stated sum per week, put it in the 
 office of the Journal, and took the ibremanship of that 
 office, which never was in a more prosperftus condition 
 or did a larger business than while he was working there 
 with his little press and new type. 
 
 While engaged in the publication of the Sun, just be 
 fore its sale, he married Miss Anna A. Wheeler, of Cor 
 ning, a young lady who was connected with one of the 
 oldest families of Broome County, New York. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 71 
 
 LI BRA It if 
 
 UNIYEKSITY 
 
 CHAPTER ix. CALIFORNIA 
 
 Goes West to seek liis fortune. 
 
 IN the Fall of 1855, Mr. Pomeroy was solicited by the 
 citizens and business men of Athens, Pennsylvania, to 
 remove his press, type, and other little articles he had 
 accumulated, to that village, and engage in the publi 
 cation of a newspaper called the Athens Gazette, which 
 he did, and continued publishing it until the Spring of 
 1857, giving the paper a good local name, but failing to 
 draw from it anything more than enough to pay ex 
 penses. "In fact," says Mr. Pomeroy, "many and 
 many a day, while engaged as editor of that paper, 
 working at the press and case myself, with but one 
 journeyman printer, who is now, by the way, in my em 
 ploy in New York, and has been a long time with me 
 in La Crosse my family and myself were entirely des 
 titute of sufficient food wherewith to make a meal. I 
 remember even now, with gratitude, the kindness of 
 some of the citizens there, who brought in from their 
 gardens early vegetables and choice bits of meat, little 
 thinking that they were the only delicacies that we had 
 had for many days ; not but they could be had in the 
 place, but money was required with which to purchase 
 
72 LIFE OF 
 
 them, and money I could not get only in quantities suf 
 ficient to pay my help, and for the paper and ink used 
 in the office." 
 
 In 1856, he was employed by Col. Piolett, a wealthy, 
 prominent Democratic politician of that county, to pub 
 lish a campaign paper for him, edited by a lawycr,. 
 Frank Smith, of Troy. His work on this paper amount 
 ed to two hundred dollars, which was the largest sum 
 of money ever received by Mr. Pomeroy while in Penn 
 sylvania, and was looked upon by him as an immense 
 job. 
 
 In the Spring of 1857, with less than twenty-one dol 
 lars in his pocket, but having free passes over the rail 
 road from Waverly, a village four miles from Athens, 
 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in company with his wife, he 
 left Pennsylvania to seek his fortune in the West, among 
 the young men from the East, and the pioneers of that 
 country. In Mr. Pomeroy s words, " The future was all 
 before me, I had everything to make, and nothing to 
 lose. I had pluck, and ambition ; had paid my debts, 
 though it impoverished my purse ; and with a stiff up 
 per lip, and a stout heart, struck out for the land of the 
 prairies, determined to build myself up with that coun 
 try, and to make a home for my family, and a reputa 
 tion for myself, if it were possible so to do there 
 among strangers." 
 
 In April, 1857, Mr. Pomeroy and his family arrived 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 73 
 
 at Iloricon, Wisconsin, with only seventy-four cents in 
 his pocket. Here he found an old printing-office, from 
 which a paper had been issued until its editor had be 
 come too poor to continue the publication, when it was 
 discontinued. 
 
 ^ An old hand-press and some dirty type were stowed 
 away in a small room, and amounted in value to about 
 seven hundred dollars. This material he purchased 
 from Mr. Croft, the owner thereof, for the price above- 
 named, payable, three hundred dollars at the end of the 
 first year, two hundred more at the end of the second, 
 and the remainder at the end of the third year, with the 
 usual rate of interest. 
 
 Giving his note for this old material, he at once took 
 possession of the office, and with sleeves rolled up, went 
 to work cleaning the materials and putting the press in 
 working order. After a few days hard work, he suc 
 ceeded in getting the material in very good shape, and, 
 within a week or two, issued the first number of the 
 country newspaper called The Iloricon Argus. 
 
 When he took hold of the office, he had not as much 
 as half a dollar; not a cent of money to buy* wood, ink, 
 paper, or to pay the employes. The wood needed, 
 Mark lugged on his back from the sawmill, taking from 
 the refuse piles, boards, slats, knots, and so forth. He 
 was too poor to buy potash to make lye to clean the 
 type, so he improvised a " leech" by filling an old nail- 
 4 
 
74 LIFE OF 
 
 keg with ashes and manufacturing therefrom lye suf 
 ficient to boil the type, which he did, and then boiled 
 it in water, until it was thoroughly cleaned. 
 
 He then sent to Milwaukee for a bundle of paper, and 
 asked credit for it, to the amount of six dollars, for one 
 week. The paper came, to collect on delivery. He ha(^. 
 no money to take it out of the office, and debated for a 
 long time whether he should borrow the money or 
 return the paper, having, at that time, work enough 
 then in the office to more than pay for the paper, the 
 overplus being enough to pay for two or three editions 
 of the weekly issue. 
 
 Upon examination, he found the paper to be of very 
 inferior quality, and at once returned it to the dealers in 
 Milwaukee, objecting to the quality, and also to their 
 disregard of his instructions as to sending it, he want 
 ing credit and they wanting it paid for on delivery. 
 By the next mail an answer came, stating that they 
 would send better paper, and also give credit for it. 
 Whereupon Mr. Pomeroy ordered one hundred dollars 
 worth of paper, to be paid for in thirty days. It came 
 in due time, and made a cart-load, which was more 
 paper than had ever been seen in that town at one time, 
 which of course attracted considerable attention, and 
 led people to suppose that the new editor must be a 
 man of great wealth to be able to buy one hundred dol 
 lars worth of paper at once. 
 
 While this paper was on the road, it having become 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 75 
 
 known that Mr. Pomeroy intended to resurrect the 
 local newspaper, a few subscriptions came into the office, 
 amounting in the aggregate to nearly twenty dollars, 
 which enabled him to pay the freight on the paper, and 
 to have a little money in his pocket. 
 
 In due time the paper came out, well-filled with local 
 and interesting matter original and entertaining and 
 it became a success from the first number, under Mark s 
 management. It attracted a great deal of attention, 
 and in a short time was looked upon as one of the best 
 local papers in Wisconsin, if not in the entire West. 
 It was often quoted, sometimes strongly censured, very 
 often laughed at, sometimes praised, and thus won its 
 way into notoriety, and became a source of profit to its 
 publishers. Mr. Pomeroy was always ready to defend 
 his friends, or to make war upon anybody who attacked 
 the newspaper, the Democracy it advocated, or the 
 friends of the paper, and had a great many newspaper 
 controversies, spats, and repartees, which added very 
 much to its interest and its rei 
 
 L I B E A It Y 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
76 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 He earns the name of " Brick." Goes to Washington. 
 
 A FEW weeks after the paper became fully started, in 
 reply to an attack upon the village of Horicon by a rural 
 paper published in a Western village called Beaver 
 Dam, Mr. Pomeroy published a humorous burlesque a 
 nonsensical bit of criticism, characteristically illustrat 
 ing the people, their habits, and also the architecture 
 of the rural village. It was a new style of literature 
 never before attempted, and ran the rounds of the press 
 West and East. 
 
 The article was copied by George D. Prentice, of the 
 Louisville Journal, prefaced with the remark that the 
 writer of that article, and especially the inventor of that 
 style of sarcasm, was a perfect BRICK. 
 
 A number of newspapers copied the article, with the 
 prefatory remarks of the Journal, endorsing the idea 
 that the man who could write or invent that style of 
 burlesque was indeed a perfect " Brick." 
 
 Soon after the appearance of this article, Mr. Pomeroy 
 took an active part in the Congressional campaign, aid 
 ing to secure the nomination and election of the Hon. 
 Charles II. Larrabee to Congress from that district, in 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 77 
 
 the face of two thousand three hundred Republican 
 majority. To that election Mr. Pomeroy devoted all 
 his time and energies, and also all the money he could 
 get hold of. 
 
 The result of the campaign was, the election by nearly 
 one thousand majority, greatly to the surprise of the 
 Republicans and the delight of the Democrats of that 
 district, very many of whom gave the credit of the elec 
 tion to Mr. Pomeroy, and insisted that for this work, on 
 behalf of the Democracy, he deserved to be called not 
 only a "perfect brick" but that his name ought to be 
 changed by the Legislature from " M. M." to " Brick" 
 Pomeroy. 
 
 Several of the editors of that district and State, and 
 quite a number of Democrats, at once took up the 
 sobriquet, mentioned him in the press as " Brick" Pom 
 eroy, and addressed letters to him by that name. He 
 used the signature in writing a few humorous articles, 
 and in a short time it became so completely attached to 
 his name that, until a very few years, not one man in a 
 hundred in the United States knew of him other than as 
 " Brick" Pomeroy. 
 
 Within a few months after starting in business at 
 Horicon, he was appointed one of the Deputy United 
 States Marshals of that State. He held his office through 
 M. J. Thomas, United States Marshal of Wisconsin 
 under James Buchanan, for several months, and was so 
 prompt, energetic, and reliable in the transaction of 
 
78 LIFE OF 
 
 whatever business came into his hands, that he was 
 looked upon as one of the most efficient officers in the 
 State, and. was given a great many very difficult tasks 
 to attend to, all of which were promptly and very satis 
 factorily performed, with profit to himself from the 
 legitimate fees and nothing more, as well as to the satis 
 faction of all parties concerned. 
 
 The earnings from this office amounted during the 
 year to several hundred dollars, which placed Mr. Pome- 
 roy on a firm financial footing the more so as he was 
 careful not to move beyond his means. 
 
 At the commencement of the quarrel between Douglas 
 and Buchanan, notwithstanding that he held office under 
 the President and was liable to be removed by his order 
 at any moment, Pomeroy took sides personally and edi 
 torially with Mr. Douglas, endorsed his position, de 
 nounced that of the President in advance of any other 
 newspaper in the West, and from that time until the 
 day of Mr. Douglas death was ranked among hiis most 
 intimate personal friends and most earnest political sup 
 porters. 
 
 In 1858, Mr. Pomeroy left his office at Horicon in 
 charge of a foreman, still retaining the editorship and 
 proprietorship of the paper, but accepting the situation 
 of city editor of the Milwaukee Daily News, at a salary 
 of eight hundred dollars per year, a sum insufficient to 
 pay his board and family expenses. 
 
 During his connection with the Milwaukee JVews y he 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 79 
 
 still retained his position as Deputy United States Mar 
 shal, but realized little profit from the office, as his 
 duties as city editor prevented him from making trips 
 into the country for the serving of writs and other pur 
 poses, except in extreme cases, where a prompt, decisive 
 man was required. 
 
 The Milwaukee News, while Mr. Pomeroy was editor, 
 was noted as one of the sharpest and most personal local 
 papers in the West. Its circulation more than doubled. 
 It was quoted all over the country, and some of the arti 
 cles, humorous and otherwise, published in many of the 
 papers, which gave both the paper and the writer con 
 siderable prominence in editorial and other circles. 
 
 A few months after he went to Milwaukee he sold the 
 paper in Horicon to the man he had left in charge 
 thereof as foreman, realizing only a moderate profit in 
 the sale, after paying all his debts and liabilities ; leaving 
 the paper on a firm paying basis, with a circulation 
 equal to that of the largest and best-conducted country 
 newspapers in the State, if not in advance of most of 
 them. His reason for disposing of the Horicon paper 
 was, that he was promised a partnership in the Mil 
 waukee paper, on which he was still engaged ; but, for 
 some unaccountable reason, at the expiration of the first 
 year as city editor on the paper, there was perfect 
 willingness to allow him to continue as city editor, but 
 not to give him the partnership interest which he had 
 been led to expect. He thereupon went, at the expira- 
 
80 LIFE OF 
 
 tion of his year, to Washington to gain a knowledge of 
 the manners, habits, and customs of politicians, and to 
 see for himself of legislative doings, as well as to add a 
 little to his slender income by waiting letters of corres 
 pondence from the Capital to some of the leading news 
 papers of the country. 
 
 He remained some months in Washington, mixing 
 with political men, and all the while earnestly support 
 ing Douglas against Buchanan. It being known that 
 Pomeroy had some friends in the West and entree to 
 Western newspapers, overtures were made by Mr. 
 Buchanan, through his confidential friends first, for 
 him to desert Mr. Douglas and come out against him 
 through all the papers he could reach by letter and 
 otherwise, and to indorse Mr. Buchanan. Refusing to 
 thus desert a friend and turn against him, he was 
 offered the choice of several consulships or second-class 
 missions abroad to leave the country and not further 
 espouse the cause of the " Little Giant," as he was then 
 familiarly known. Refusing to desert Mr. Douglas and 
 his friends in the West, Mr. Pomeroy was soon after 
 notified that his services were no longer required as 
 Deputy U. S. Marshal, and the place which he had held 
 was given to another. 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 81 
 
 t 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 In which he establishes the renowned La Crosse Democrat. 
 
 Ix the spring of 1860, after an eventful and interest 
 ing season at Washington, during which Mr. Pomeroy 
 wrote for several newspapers and furnished quite a num 
 ber of squibs to " Vanity Fair," then edited by " Arte- 
 mas Ward," he returned West, arriving at Milwaukee 
 with a very few dollars in his pocket richer only in 
 knowledge and experience gained in Washington. 
 
 Upon the solicitation of a few of the business men 
 of La Crosse, he made an exploring expedition to that 
 city, the result of which was, that he in time purchased 
 an interest in a paper then published and known as the 
 Union and Democrat, paying for the interest (sup 
 posed to be about half) $1,600, giving his notes there 
 for. He purchased the interest of Mr. C..P. Sykes, 
 a present resident of Boston, and for a number of 
 years a prominent Western man, who, soon after selling 
 his interest to Mr. Pomeroy, removed to Denver City, 
 where he amassed a considerable fortune in the gold- 
 mining business. 
 
 When Mr. Pomeroy took hold of the La Crosse paper, 
 it was with the distinct understanding that he was to 
 be financial and editorial manager thereof. 
 
 4* 
 
82 LIFE OF 
 
 There were two partners in the concern besides him 
 self, each with a similar interest. A difference of opinion 
 arising between one of the partners and Mr. Pomeroy 
 as to the duty of Democrats in supporting Douglas or 
 Buchanan, led to the dissolution of the firm. 
 
 One of the partners insisted that the paper should not 
 be made a " Douglas" organ ; Mr. Pomeroy insisted that 
 it should ; the third party refused to decide whether it 
 should or should not espouse the Douglas cause, and 
 left the "irrepressible conflict" for the two senior 
 editors to settle between themselves. Believing he had 
 a right to decide as to its political character according 
 to the terms of the contract made when he entered the 
 office, Mr. Pomeroy took the position he wished, and 
 made the paper a regular " Douglas" organ, greatly to 
 the disgust of the opposing faction and to the annoy 
 ance of the men there who held office under Buchanan. 
 
 One day, while this dispute was pending, he wrote an 
 editorial, " a leading article," and instructed its inser 
 tion in the small daily which was then being published, 
 leaving the office while it was being put in type. On 
 returning to the office, he found that the article had been 
 prepared, but that one of the partners had refused to 
 allow it to go in the paper, and had written an article 
 directly in opposition to his position, which he insisted 
 must go in as the leading editorial of that day. The 
 result was a quarrel in the office, the preparing for a 
 fight, and a war of words, in which Mr. Pomeroy came 
 
MARK M. rOMEROY. 83 
 
 off victorious, and took the offensive article out of the 
 form, placed his own in its stead, prepared the type, 
 made the press ready for work, and, with hat, coat, vest, 
 necktie, and suspenders off, with sleeves rolled up, he 
 stood in the office until the foreman had worked the 
 entire edition, which then numbered about two hundred 
 copies, from the press, when he retired, as the employes 
 of the office said, "the victor." 
 
 There were several mortgages on this office to secure 
 its payment and for the settlement of claims ; and the 
 partner with whom Mr. Pomeroy had the political diffi 
 culty, soon after the appearance of the paper containing 
 his editorial, gave the keys of the concern to one of the 
 mortgage holders, who foreclosed it at once, with the 
 intention of depriving Mr. Pomeroy of the interest in 
 the paper and the right to speak his sentiments. 
 
 The office remained closed for a day or two, when 
 Pomeroy kicked the door open, took possession, and 
 settled the claim in a manner satisfactory to the parties 
 holding it. He then purchased the interest of the gentle 
 man with whom he had had the difficulty, leaving but 
 one partner in the concern, who took charge of the local 
 department. 
 
 During seven months time, the office was closed nine 
 times by officers of the law under civil process ; and be 
 fore the end of the year, so great were the debts upon 
 it when Pomeroy took hold of it, and so deeply was it 
 involved, that he lost all the materials of the office, and 
 
84 LIFE OP 
 
 found himself one morning devoid of printing material, 
 with a debt of over four thousand dollars on his shoul 
 ders, and not a dime in the world. 
 
 He then went to Chicago, stated his case to S. P. 
 Rounds, a prominent printer and dealer in printing ma 
 terials, who was once a poor boy like himself, who gave 
 him credit for a hand-press and four hundred dollars 
 worth of type, with which he returned to La Crosse, 
 and at once opened business again. 
 
 From this second beginning was built up a property 
 known as the " LA CKOSSE DEMOCRAT," and at present 
 he is holding real estate in La Crosse to the value of 
 nearly two -hundred thousand dollars, and has made 
 the office one of the most valuable enterprises in the 
 known world. 
 
 When the office was taken from him the last time, 
 under the laws of Wisconsin he had an exemption of 
 two hundred dollars worth of printing material, and, 
 through the kindness of the sheriff, who was responsible 
 to the parties for the safe keeping and delivery of the 
 type and press of the old office when it should be called 
 for, he was enabled to put the paper in type, and, though 
 lie did not actually own a dollar s worth of printing ma 
 terials, by having it printed every day on the press of a 
 neighbor in a" competing office, he issued the Democrat, 
 contrary to the expectations and against the wishes of 
 .very many of his enemies, who wondered how it was 
 that a man whose office was closed by the sheriff, and 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 85 
 
 who had not a dollar s worth of type in the world, could 
 throw his paper on the street at the usual hour every 
 afternoon, with no one knowing where it was printed 
 and from whence it came. 
 
86 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy s ideas of justice. His life is attempted. He scorns to play 
 the hypocrite. 
 
 IN the spring of 1860 Mr. Pomeroy attended the ses 
 sion of the Democratic National Convention at Balti 
 more as a " Douglas" man, returned home after his 
 nomination, organized a company of young men, known 
 as the " Douglas Rangers," in opposition to the " Wide 
 Awakes" who were then flourishing in this republican 
 city. 
 
 The paper was published at this time at no profit, the 
 Republican majority in the congressional district, State, 
 county, and city being overwhemningly against the 
 Democrats : with not a man to aid him with money 
 other than the payment for work honestly done and for 
 the newspaper honestly furnished with the Democrats 
 of that section, poor, in all save pluck publishing a 
 Democratic newspaper in that part of Wisconsin, in a 
 district where every other democratic newspaper had 
 been starved out was rather an up-hill business, but it 
 was continued without interruption. 
 
 When the war commenced, the paper which Mr. 
 Pomeroy called the " Democrat," having dropped the 
 
MARK M. FOMEROY. 87 
 
 word "Union" upon purchasing the third partner s 
 interest, which he did as soon as he was able took 
 grounds against the coercion of the States, the depriving 
 them of any of their rights under the Constitution, no 
 matter what the States themselves saw fit to do hold 
 ing that the rights they held were but held in trust for 
 posterity. He was opposed to secession, for the reason 
 that in his opinion the Confederation of the States 
 framed by our fathers was intended to be perpetual, and 
 that the West alone could not stem the tide of Radical 
 ism, which he clearly foresaw was intended to divide 
 the South and West, and array them against each other s 
 forces, the one to help subjugate the other, and giving 
 as a result the enslavement of both sections to the grasp 
 ing radical power of New England, which waged war 
 against the producing sections of the country and 
 against the young men, particularly the laboring men, 
 of all sections. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy advocated and demanded for posterity 
 the putting down of the Rebellion, which opposed the 
 continuance of the Confederation of the States, which 
 fired upon our national flag, and which sought to divide 
 the Union, for two reasons : one was his love for the 
 Union, the Constitution, the laws, and the Government 
 of the founders of the Republic; the second, that we in 
 time mio-ht have the South and West united for mutual 
 
 O 
 
 protection against the policy and schemes of New Eng- 
 and, and the money-power which was growing up at 
 
88 LIFE OF 
 
 the expense of patriotism, to strangle the industry of 
 the future and involve not only the resident white 
 working men of the North, but all new-comers who 
 should seek to escape the taxation and the aristocracy 
 of the old country .by seeking a home in America under 
 a promise of an even voice in the Government as soon as 
 they became citizens ; equal taxation for all, and a 
 governmental protection to rich and poor alike. While 
 insisting on the restoration of the Union and of the 
 country and people to their allegiance to a common 
 Constitution, which was binding on a part only as it- 
 was binding upon the whole, he criticised the acts of the 
 administration and the unholy conduct of the war. 
 
 He denounced as tyrannical, brutal, and unjust the 
 imbecilities of Mr. Lincoln, and the usurpation of power 
 appropriated by him, and those under him. He de 
 nounced as cowardly, wicked, infamous, and tyrannical 
 the arrest of private citizens and their incarceration in 
 dungeons for months, without a speedy trial by jury 
 promised them by the Constitution of our country. He 
 objected to the sacrifice of brave men, who were the 
 fighting soldiers of the land, under a lot of incompetent 
 officers taken from the " pot-houses" and " gutters" of 
 the country because they were willing to become the 
 tools of a wicked, unjust, unprincipled, tyrannical, and 
 despotic administration. 
 
 He was strongly opposed to the continuation of the 
 war for the purpose of plunder only, and for the idea 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 89 
 
 of keeping in power an administration that was clearly 
 known to be against the interests of the very people 
 who were sustaining it. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy strongly opposed the issuing of United 
 States bonds as antagonistic to American interests, argu 
 ing that the debts which were then being created were 
 at the expense of those who were doing the fighting, 
 and for the benefit of those who remained at home, and 
 who were by the legislation of the administration of 
 Lincoln protected and exempted from taxation. He 
 opposed firmly, earnestly, and conscientiously the sacri 
 legious disregard of the Constitution under the plea 
 of " military necessity," holding that the Constitution 
 was sufficient to protect the people in time of war as 
 well as in time of peace. He criticised the administra 
 tion always honestly, but often with great severity, and 
 was on several occasions oifered by Mr. Lincoln, through 
 prominent Republican politicians of the West and East," 
 commissions in the army and places of high authority 
 if he would consent to indorse the war as a whole, and 
 to indorse its manner of prosecution, and to refrain from 
 criticising the President on the plea or excuse that the 
 President was the Government and could never do any 
 wrong. These offers were refused on every occasion, 
 and Mr. Pomeroy continued his war against the course 
 pursued as against the rights of the States and the 
 people, and against the interests of this and future gen 
 erations of working men and producers. 
 
90 LIFE OF 
 
 On several occasions Mr. Pomeroy s life was threat 
 ened and attempted. A number of times was his office 
 in danger of being destroyed by mobs, and was pro 
 tected by the citizens of La Crosse, who gave the infu 
 riated masses to understand that the destruction of his 
 property or the spilling of one drop of his blood, or the 
 destruction of the property of any Democrat, or the 
 spilling of one drop of Democratic blood there, would 
 be followed by the entire destruction of the city, regard 
 less of all and any consequences that might follow. 
 
 He took the ground that as long as there was a law, 
 to that law he was amenable, and to it he owed alle 
 giance ; that he owed allegiance to the law, for the reason 
 that it had a right to punish and had power to protect 
 the citizen ; that when it failed to hold or exercise the 
 power to protect citizens, it was no longer a law, and 
 incapable of protecting or inflicting a punishment ; and 
 that when it failed to protect the citizen in his rights it 
 ceased to become a law, and he owed it from that time 
 no allegiance, was justified in defending himself, and 
 that from the moment he was in danger of losing life or 
 property from the weakness of the law or its inability to 
 protect him, no act of the person threatened could add 
 to his danger. On being sent out of the army in Ar 
 kansas, in 1862, he said to the general who sent him-: 
 
 " Sir, to-day is yours to-morrow will be mine ; for, 
 with your record and my record I will go to the people, 
 and they shall decide." 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 91 
 
 He wrote -to a friend : 
 
 " The army is rotten : not in its body, but its heads. 
 The war is dishonest. It was begun by the people on 
 one side to save themselves, on the other to save the 
 Union; but it has become, through the corruption of 
 Lincoln s court and official minions, but* a murderous 
 crusade for plunder and party power. Its aim is to 
 create a moneyed aristocracy compel the people to 
 support it and the time shall come, if God will spare 
 my life, when the people who are being murdered shall 
 know the crime committed against them. I will gain 
 an audience first, and then woe betide the party now in 
 power. I will be no party to this robbery. They may 
 denounce me, but their children will not, for they shall 
 know the truth." 
 
 The criticism on the Administration was kept up from 
 its first usurpation of power, and its first disregard of 
 the rights of the people both North and South, until the 
 death of Mr. Lincoln, and then upon his followers from 
 that time on. 
 
 At the time of President Lincoln s assassination, 
 Pomeroy was at his home sick, having just arisen from 
 the bed and able to sit in an easy-chair, anxiously wait 
 ing the time when in the physician s opinion he could 
 go to the office and to the labors of the sanctum. During 
 the forenoon of the day following the tragedy, while sit 
 ting in an easy-chair, an employe of the office came run 
 ning up with a dispatch stating that Lincoln had been 
 
92 LIFE OF 
 
 killed and that Seward was not expected to live, his life 
 having been attempted. In a short time another courier 
 from the office came with the announcement that the 
 greatest excitement prevailed on the business streets of 
 the city, and that there was evidence of approaching 
 trouble from the hands of a mob of Republicans, who 
 claimed the assassination as the work of the Democratic 
 party. He stated also that it was threatened to at once 
 destroy the office of the La Crosse -Democrat, for the 
 reason that during the campaign of 1864, while the po 
 litical excitement was at fever-heat, Mr. Pomeroy had 
 in his paper declared that if Lincoln was elected to mis 
 govern the c6untry for the next four years, as he had 
 for the past four, by the power of the bayonet over the 
 ballot, he trusted that some bold hand with a dagger- 
 point would pierce Lincoln s heart for the public good. 
 These were bolder words than were ever before spoken 
 under the administration of the one Pomeroy called a 
 tyrant. The second courier was followed by the third, 
 who stated that it was getting "red-hot" down town, 
 and without a doubt the office would be torn down and 
 its material thrown into the Mississippi river. 
 
 The employes of the office wished to know what 
 should be done, whether to fight or to leave. This 
 courier was followed by a letter from a Republican 
 business man of the city, stating that, as Mr. Lincoln 
 had been killed, the people were in a fearful state of ex 
 citement, and were arranging for the immediate destruc- 
 
MAKK M. POMEROY. 93 
 
 tion of the Democrat office, and the killing of the editor 
 thereof at once. He urged Mr. Pomeroy to take the 
 fastest team he could get, leave the city for some place 
 of security till night came, when he could escape the 
 country, unless he wished to die at the hands of the 
 mob, the excitement being so great it would be impos 
 sible to restrain the mob, as the Republicans were 
 already fired with indignation at the course of the 
 Democrat (the paper even the Government dare not 
 suppress for fear of consequences), and at its continued 
 and bitter denunciations of Mr. Lincoln, his cabinet, 
 and the entire conduct and management of the war, 
 which Pomeroy termed but a murderous crusade for 
 plunder and illegal power. 
 
 Knowing that Mr. Pomeroy s means were limited, he 
 offered to furnish money, if necessary anxious, he said, 
 " to save his life, although he should be unable to do 
 anything towards saving the printing-office property." 
 
 In reply to this kindly written letter from a political 
 opponent, but a personal friend, Mr. Pomeroy despatched 
 the cashier of his office, who by this time had come to 
 his house, with a note to the mayor of the city, telling 
 him that he, Pomeroy, had certain rights as a citizen, 
 which rights he intended to defend till his death. That 
 he should look to the mayor of the city, the city mar 
 shal, the sheriff, and other officers of the city and county, 
 to do their duty and protect the property of citizens ; 
 and if they failed to perform that duty, he himself should 
 
94 LIFE OF 
 
 hold all of the officers personally responsible for any 
 damage done to his property, or for any demand upon 
 his life ; and that if his office was destroyed by a mob, 
 the city of La Crosse would either pay for it within 
 twenty-four hours to the fullest extent of its value, in 
 cluding material and good-will, or he would with his 
 own hands set fire to every Republican house, store, or 
 place of business that he could reach in the city, and 
 should take revenge to the fullest extent of those who 
 had brought upon him this destruction, by every means 
 in his power ; by rifle and by pistol ; by knife, by fire, 
 by poison, in season and out of season ; careful always 
 to save his own life for the accomplishment of as much 
 injury as he could do to those who would not regard the 
 law. That, so far as his property was concerned, he did 
 not care for the loss of it, but he had certain rights as a 
 citizen, which rights he intended to have given him. 
 That his life might be taken, might be sacrificed at any 
 moment, but he should not leave the city, nor would he 
 defend his office, nor would he take any steps for the 
 preservation of property and life other than to com 
 pletely arm himself, and to notify the members of a 
 little club which then existed in La Crosse that one of 
 its members was in danger ; and that, if any one of the 
 members should fall in the defence of his rights, it would 
 be the duty and the pleasure of all other members to 
 settle with those who had gone outside of the law to 
 commit a wrong. 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 95 
 
 Unable to leave his house, anxious to avoid a riot, 
 wishing that there might be no destruction of his prop 
 erty, which would lead to the destruction of thousands 
 and thousands of dollars worth of property of innocent 
 men, he sent to a few prominent Republicans of the 
 city, who called upon him about the hour of noon, when 
 he told them very plainly and earnestly that he should 
 defend himself, and that they must defend his property 
 unless they wished to see their own destroyed. He told 
 them that he might not be able to eifect the destruction 
 of that property at that time, but he would in time, till 
 he had settled with his enemies in full. He threw the 
 entire responsibility of the affair from his shoulders to 
 theirs, so far as his property was concerned or the prop 
 erty of other citizens, taking upon himself only the task 
 of defending himself against all attacks from whatever 
 source. He then sent down town for more firearms. 
 The lady members of the household with baskets re 
 moved all the loose stones, pieces of brick, and other 
 articles of such nature, which would be handy when 
 used by a mob, and calmly awaited events. Night 
 came, the office was still untouched. The employes had 
 sworn to defend it to the last extremity, although he 
 sent word to them that he did not wish them to peril 
 their lives. If the office was destroyed he would 
 take care of the matter himself, and not ask them to 
 place themselves in jeopardy. This request they refused 
 to honor, but remained near the building watching it 
 
96 LIFE OF 
 
 with anxious hearts. Soon after dark the excitement 
 in town was at its greatest height. A number of per 
 sons caring for nothing, with no regard for law, order, 
 or the rights of any person, anxious to still add to the 
 flame of excitement, went about the city from store to 
 store, from, saloon to saloon, compelling people to give 
 into their hands various sums of money varying from 
 ten cents to a dollar, as the possessor might have about 
 his pockets, which money was to be used for buying a 
 rope and procuring the painting of a large banner, with 
 which banner it was the intention of the mob, which 
 had grown to be very large, to march to the printing- 
 office, demolish the same, break up the machinery, 
 and throw all the office-material into the river. This 
 done, the procession was then to march to Mr. Pome- 
 roy s house, take him from thence, drag him by the 
 rope to the public square, where he was to be executed, 
 cut down, cut into four quarters, and a quarter of his 
 body burnt in each of the four wards of the city, as a 
 warning to all traitors. This party of rioters, drunken 
 with whisky and excitement, reckless as to what they 
 attempted, threatened mischief; and, but for the earnest, 
 continued, and laborious exertions of very many of the 
 leading Republicans, of the city, the pastor of the 
 Catholic church, and the mayor in person, no one knows 
 what the result of that night s carnival would have 
 been. Better counsels prevailed. Morning came the 
 office stood as it did previously. 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 97 
 
 The paper had come out the night before at its ap 
 pointed hour, announcing the death of Mr. Lincoln, 
 stating that he had been called to his home, wherever 
 that home might be ; that he was a good man so called 
 but not a great one ; with some other remarks we do 
 not now remember. The excitement of the night before 
 by morning sun had cooled some ; and some of the par 
 ticipants in the "forced collection business," had be 
 come somewhat ashamed of their proceedings the night 
 before, and the better counsel of their cooler and more 
 honorable neighbors prevailed. But the trouble was 
 not over with yet. The afternoon following the recep 
 tion of the news of Lincoln s death, Mr. Pomeroy, who 
 did not leave the house, and who was ready at all times 
 of the day or night to receive visitors, come they with 
 evil or good intent, was so far recovered as to be able to 
 visit the office, and there learned that the mob, which 
 had -been commenced the night before, was that night 
 to continue its work, when the office was certainly to be 
 demolished, and the editor of the paper disposed of as 
 contemplated the night previous. A young friend told 
 him that in a certain paint-shop a large sign was in pro 
 cess of making the same being in form of a banner 
 made of black cloth, on which were painted certain 
 threatening words in large, white letters, and which 
 banner was to head the procession that night. Thank 
 ing his friend for the information, with a couple of re 
 volvers in his pockets, he went to the paint-shop and 
 
 5 
 
98 LIFE OF 
 
 asked to see the banner that was being made there for 
 the mourners of Mr. Lincoln. The painter denied the ex 
 istence of any such banner : said he knew nothing of it : 
 that none had been ordered, and was very much sur 
 prised that such a report should have reached Mr. Pom- 
 eroy. The editor of the Democrat, not believing the 
 statement of the painter, asked to step into another 
 room in the building, to which the owner of the prem 
 ises objected. But by a peculiarly persuasive argument 
 sometimes adopted by men in danger, he prevailed up 
 on the painter to open the door, and there, upon 
 stretchers, was a large, black flag, nearly the size of an 
 ordinary door, on which was painted in large, white 
 letters, the words, "IVb quarter to traitors ! Commence 
 at home /" Following up his peculiarly persuasive rea 
 soning, thrice armed as he was once with the justice 
 of his cause, and twice with the revolvers he learned 
 that the banner had been ordered by the sheriff of the 
 county, a Republican in politics, and two of the sheriff s 
 friends. Securing the promise that the banner should 
 never go from his place till it was taken from thence by 
 the ones who had ordered it, in company with Mr. 
 Symes, a young man superintendent of the office 
 who was also armed, as night was approaching, he went 
 to the sheriff s office, whose residence was in the large 
 stone building occupied for prison purposes, and made 
 known his errand, which was to know why that banner 
 was ordered, and who, besides the sheriff, had ordered it. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 99 
 
 A scene ensued, the result of which was, Pomeroy 
 was informed that two other parties whom he had 
 always looked upon as his friends in town, had, with 
 the sheriff, ordered the banner. He waited upon one 
 of the parties, found him at tea, as the sheriff was at 
 his supper when called upon, and with the second 
 party to the transaction returned to the jail, entered 
 the same, and had a talk, and a very plain one it was 
 too, we understand, with the two principal men who 
 had ordered the banner with which they proposed to 
 head their procession. The effect of this conversation 
 was, that as officers of law he called for them to at once 
 go forth and put a stop, so far as lay in their power, to 
 all riotous or demonstrative proceedings threatening the 
 peace of the city. He demanded, also, that that flag, 
 on which several dollars had been paid, should be 
 taken from its place in the paint-shop by the one who 
 had ordered it, and at early morning, as soon as he 
 should have reached his office, that the flag should be 
 given him, and, in case of refusal, in case the mob was 
 allowed to proceed, he would telegraph to the governor 
 of the State the particulars, and demand the arrest of 
 the parties, call for official help to preserve the peace 
 and property of the city ; and in case this help should 
 not come to him, he would then take the law in his own 
 hands and settle at once, or soon as in his judgment he 
 could safely do so, with those who were warring upon 
 him, his rights, the peace and good name of the city. 
 
100 LIFE OF 
 
 The result of the move was, that the office was saved, 
 the mob was scattered, the threatened riot was averted, 
 the editor of the paper slept soundly, while a few faith 
 ful friends watched about the city, and the next morn 
 ing by half-past seven, the flag, safely wrapped in a 
 newspaper, was handed to him at his office-door by the 
 man who had ordered it, and who expressed sorrow 
 that anything of the kind should have come up, and 
 said that nothing of the kind would have occurred had 
 not the boys felt sorrowful over the death of Mr. Lin 
 coln, become a little excited, and, aided by lager-beer 
 and whisky, had proposed a little demonstration to 
 prove their loyalty, and to punish by their own means 
 and plans the man who, for years, had warred upon Mr. 
 Lincoln, who had advocated his assassination, and had, 
 without doubt in their minds, been instrumental indi 
 rectly, if not directly, in the taking off of the Executive. 
 While this performance was going on, the Republican 
 newspaper of the city, edited by a man entirely devoid 
 of principle, with no honest or patriotic feeling in his 
 heart, anxious only to create a disturbance, from and by 
 which he might reap some advantage or notoriety to 
 himself, had filled his newspaper forms with several col 
 umns of the most bitter articles Mr. Pomeroy had ever 
 written, copied from his paper articles bitter in denun 
 ciation of the President and the conduct of the war 
 articles reflecting severely upon the Administration, and 
 especially the editor we have spoken of before, in which 
 
MARK M. POMEEOT. 101 
 
 lie called for some bold hand to pierce with a dagger- 
 point the heart of the Chief Magistrate of the nation. 
 The object of filling his columns with this matter was 
 to work the populace up to the greatest excitement, and 
 to secure the destruction of the printing-office, and the 
 death of a competitor in business. He also proposed to 
 show, if not his devotion to law, his excessive loyalty 
 and devotion to wickedness. Through some means or 
 other the better class of Republicans of the city hearing 
 of this effort to still farther inflame the minds of the 
 populace, visited his office and compelled the Republican 
 editor to take out the extracts he had made from Mr. 
 Pomeroy s paper, and to put his paper to press, with 
 them, in a great manner oj measure, omitted. 
 
 Among the curiosities of Mr. Pomeroy s sanctum 
 and they are very numerous, and many of them valuable, 
 to each of which there is a history replete with interest 
 there is none more dark in its evidence of intended 
 guilt than the large black flag, of which we have spoken 
 just now, nailed up in the club-room of the office as a 
 relic of times not long since passed by. 
 
 At the time of the death of Mr. Lincoln, the circula 
 tion of the La Crosse Democrat was less than one hun 
 dred and fifty copies per week, including exchanges. 
 The postmaster refused to deliver it to the mails men 
 carried or read it at the peril of their lives. Persons in 
 different parts of the country have often been mobbed 
 for having it in their possession or expressing belief in 
 
102 LIFE OF 
 
 the sentiments of its editor, but it kept steadily on, 
 earnestly, consistently, and persistent in the discharge 
 of what seemed an editorial and patriotic duty, regard 
 less of threats or loss of patronage, or promise of sup 
 port regardless of menaces or dangers of mobs, or of 
 the advice of weak-minded or weak-kneed friends with 
 out the employment of agents, until it has grown 
 simply from its adhesion to its great principles of Amer 
 ican liberty, equal taxation and equal protection for all, 
 rich and poor from an obscure newspaper published in 
 a new and, until the existence of the paper, an unknown 
 Western city to be the leading Democratic paper of 
 the United States, with a circulation of over three hun 
 dred thousand copies weekly, and the establishment of 
 two extensive printing-houses, one on the Mississippi 
 River and the other on the Hudson, the better to carry 
 on its business. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 103 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Office of the La Crosse Democrat. Why he left La Crosse. 
 
 THE office of the celebrated La Crosse Democrat, in 
 La Crosse, Wisconsin, is situated upon the corner of 
 Main and Fourth streets, and is one hundred and twenty 
 feet deep and eighty-five feet wide. The building is 
 constructed entirely of iron, stone, and brick, and is 
 four stories high, exclusive of the basement story of 
 fifteen feet. 
 
 The front portion of the basement is used for a mail 
 ing room, and from that room over three hundred thou 
 sand of the La Crosse Democrat each week have been 
 sent into the world. Connecting with this room is a 
 fire-proof vault, fourteen feet square, in which is kept 
 the immense number of the subscription and commercial 
 books which necessarily Mr. Pomeroy must have. It 
 also contains the filed letters received from subscribers, 
 and letters containing the political history of his en 
 emies. 
 
 The press-room is in the rear of the mailing depart 
 ment, in which can be found three of Hoe s fastest power- 
 presses, which are constantly employed ; also three light 
 ning folders, each having the capacity of folding 
 
104 LIFE OP 
 
 three thousand papers per hour. Back of the press 
 room is the engine-room, where can be seen the most 
 complete and beautiful model engine ever made. The 
 room also contains two force-pumps, with five hundred 
 feet of rubber hose, which can, in case of fire, be laid 
 and in operation in one minute. Adjoining this is the 
 boiler-room, containing two boilers, both of which are 
 always in order, so that, in case of accident, one is 
 always ready to supply the place of the broken one. 
 
 The immense quantity of paper for the use of the 
 office is stored in another room, and also in the large 
 arched vaults under the sidewalk adjoining the engine- 
 room. 
 
 The counting-room, which is divided into four smaller 
 apartments, is in the front portion of the first floor. 
 The workmanship of this room is perfect, the heaviest 
 and finest French glass being used in the windows both 
 outside and inside the room. 
 
 Around the lobby of the counting-room, reaching up 
 to the ceiling, are over one hundred cases of stuffed 
 wild animals, fowls, reptiles, etc., comprising in a whole 
 a beautiful and instructive museum. 
 
 The counting-room contains four offices: 1st. The 
 Superintendent s ; 2d. Assistant Superintendent s ; 3d. 
 Cashier s ; 4th. Subscription Clerk s. A staircase leads 
 to the mailing-room from these offices. 
 
 A door in the rear of the counting-room leads into a 
 fine hall, which is the public entrance to the stairs 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 105 
 
 leading to the sanctum. This hall is beautifully fres 
 coed and handsomely carpeted: upon its right is the 
 private entrance door from Fourth-street. Another 
 door opposite the counting-room leads to the stock 
 room, which is well filled with the finest job stock. In 
 this room can be found the engraving department, 
 where two artists are kept busy all the time getting out 
 designs and cuts for the paper. 
 
 In the job-room, which adjoins this, the finest job- 
 printing in the Western States is done. 
 
 On the second floor we find the Associate Editor s 
 room, which is well lighted, and contains beautiful 
 furniture and desks. The next room is occupied by 
 the Assistant Editor. We pass through a hall on the 
 second floor and find ourselves in the sanctum, which is 
 acknowledged by all who have seen it to be the 
 handsomest furnished room in the United States, and is 
 far superior to the sanctum of any printing-office in the 
 world. 
 
 The floor is carpeted with the finest Brussels, the 
 curtains are of rich lace and velvet rep, the walls are 
 completely covered with paintings from the great 
 masters, while all around upon the different what-nots 
 can be seen countless numbers of photographs of 
 friends, relics, keepsakes, and all kinds of trinkets, 
 every one of which Mr. Pomeroy treasures very highly. 
 
 Upon one side of the room is a magnificent side 
 board well filled with decanters and glasses, through 
 
 5* 
 
106 LIFE OF 
 
 which visitors can, if they wish, see darkly ; but it must 
 be fully understood that Mr. Pomeroy never takes the 
 oath himself. 
 
 Near the centre of the room is a splendid piano, 
 which is of a superior tone and elaborately carved. 
 Adjoining the sanctum is a luxuriant bed-chamber, 
 which is tastefully and beautifully furnished with a 
 large black walnut bedstead and necessary chamber 
 furniture. Opening into the bed-chamber is a bath 
 room with all the modern improvements, hot and cold 
 water, etc. 
 
 The first room in the rear of the third floor is the 
 composing-room, which is constructed differently from 
 any other in the country. Instead of having the cases 
 stand upon the floor in the old fashioned way they are 
 suspended from the ceiling. 
 
 A steam elevator carries the forms from this room to 
 the press-room in the basement below. 
 
 We then find a closet or wash-room for the use of 
 the employes on this floor, for Mr. Pomeroy, in his 
 consideration for working men, arranges, as far as lies 
 in his power, so that his men may have all possible 
 comforts. 
 
 The next room is occupied by the stereotypers, where 
 the plates are cast from the impressions taken upon 
 papier mache from the forms made up in the composing- 
 room. 
 
 After leaving this room we pass into the club-room, 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 107 
 
 which has been fitted up in the finest style for the 
 employes, who pass their evenings and leisure hours 
 here in reading, writing, and playing harmless games. 
 This room is carpeted with fine Brussels, has a very 
 large bookcase filled with the works of standard au 
 thors. 
 
 The corners and niches are filled with curiosities and 
 relics from all parts of the globe. There you may 
 exercise your muscle with dumb-bells weighing from 
 five to fifty-three and three-quarter pounds, the latter 
 bells being Mr. Pomeroy s especial pets. 
 
 In the hall we find a wardrobe, which is divided into 
 compartments, in which each man upon that floor can 
 keep his clothing. 
 
 Another stairway leads into a vacant hall, which will 
 soon be fitted up as a book-bindery. The whole build 
 ing is heated with steam, and lit with gas which is 
 manufactured in a small gas-house a short distance 
 from the office. The whole building is as completely 
 fire-proof as any in the country. 
 
 On the corner of Main and Fourth streets is a corner 
 stone of the finest white Italian marble with the fol 
 lowing inscriptions. On the east side is a hand grasp 
 ing a dagger, with the inscription " Principia non 
 homines" above it, and below is engraven " Nemo me 
 impune lacessit" On the north side you will see 
 " DEMOCRAT M. M. POMEROY." 
 
 This stone was laid with appropriate Masonic honors, 
 
108 LIFE OF 
 
 the full force of city officials, and the largest concourse 
 of citizens ever seen together in that city was present 
 upon that occasion. 
 
 The building adjoining the office, erected this sum 
 mer by Mr. Pomeroy, is sixty-five feet wide and the 
 same heighth and depth as the office. The ground 
 floors are used as store-rooms, the second floors as 
 offices, etc., while the third and fourth stories are used 
 as an opera house, the only one in La Crosse. 
 
 This is also heated with steam, and lit with gas made 
 in the same building as that for the office. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy intends fitting up the opera house in 
 the handsomest style. 
 
 We wish to impress our readers with the richness of 
 these buildings simply because eight years ago their 
 owner did not have sufficient food, or money to buy it 
 with, for himself and family. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy has devoted both time and money to 
 the improvement of La Crosse, which city has become 
 identified with him as the field of his wonderful success, 
 and the people should use every effort to retain him as 
 a citizen. 
 
109 
 
 CHAPTER XlC f 4 J TT 
 
 ^ 
 
 Success of the La Crosse Democrat. Milk and water evaporated b 
 caustic. 
 
 THE marvellous success of the " La Crosse Dem 
 ocrat" is undoubtedly to be attributed to its bold and, 
 at times, almost savage spirit against the men and the 
 measures of the party in power, coupled with what 
 have been called its extreme Democratic views. 
 
 At the close of the war there were here and there 
 Democrats all over the country of a bolder spirit, higher 
 courage, and more positive principles than the mass of 
 those calling themselves Democrats, who had opposed 
 all the measures of the Republican party during the 
 war and had suffered for it. They had been socially 
 and politically proscribed, many of them mobbed and 
 personally maltreated, their property destroyed, and 
 not a few of them had been seized and held as political 
 prisoners in Federal forts and other places of confine 
 ment solely on account of the expression of opinions 
 unpalatable to the men in power. 
 
 Such men as these, and all brave, true, earnest men 
 who were Democrats in principle, were sick of the milk- 
 and-water , cowardly, half Republican newspapers which 
 had passed for Democratic during the war, and wanted 
 
110 LIFE OF 
 
 an outspoken and fearless champion of truth and right 
 to speak for Democracy and the paper. 
 
 They found it in the La Crosse Democrat. In addi 
 tion to the qualities already attributed, Mr. Pomeroy 
 infused into it his own personal enthusiasm and indom 
 itable individuality, by which the paper became not 
 only a faithful exponent of Democratic principles, a 
 fierce, audacious, savage assailant of power, but a part 
 of the man himself, a mirror of his thoughts and feel 
 ings, as rapidly thrown off from his wonderfully active 
 and untiring brain, and a perfect expression of his 
 driving and aspiring spirit. 
 
 It is no wonder that the paper grew rapidly in circu 
 lation. It touched as with live coals the hearts of the 
 Democratic masses, and kindled them into enthusiasm 
 and infused into them hope and courage. The people 
 were always right, but their leaders were false and 
 betrayed them. The people rallied to the support of 
 the Democrats as this became known to them. They 
 were all athirst for truth. They hungered for old- 
 fashioned Democratic principles. They found in the 
 Democrat something that met their great want. 
 They recognized it as their friend, their defender, the 
 undaunted advocate of their opinions and interests. 
 
 Whenever a copy found its way into a neighborhood, 
 it was read and re-read by the whole democratic bro 
 therhood. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. Ill 
 
 Having read one number, they felt an unconquerable 
 longing for more. Of course they subscribed for it. 
 Clubs were formed, and it was taken in large numbers. 
 So it spread and is still spreading. It is to-day found 
 in every part of the land, far away in its remotest set 
 tlements. It is the great exponent of democratic opinion 
 for the whole country ; and its work is not done. Its 
 mission is not ended. It has before it years of labor 
 and struggle, before the country will be fully redeemed 
 from the consequences of political misrule. It has still 
 work to do, and it will do it. As it represents the 
 people, it will be sustained by them. Common interests, 
 common dangers, and a common glory in the triumph 
 of the right, bind them together in indissoluble bonds. 
 It is proper to say, in this connection, that probably no 
 one thing has added more to the universal popularity 
 of the Democrat than its bold advocacy of repudiation 
 of the national debt. It was the first press in the coun 
 try to take this position, and is now its only prominent 
 advocate ; but this will be the next great political issue 
 between parties, however the coming election may turn, 
 but more surely if GRANT shall be elected, than if he 
 shall be defeated. 
 
 MARK M. POMEROY will be the acknowledged head 
 of this grand and patriotic movement. His paper, as 
 heretofore, will stand at the head of the GREAT ARMY OF 
 INDUSTRY, and lead it to victory. 
 
112 LIFE OF 
 
 On this issue he will carry the country by storm in 
 1872, when the people will rejoice in a deliverance, for 
 which, to him, more than any other man, they will be 
 indebted. Then will come his great and just reward. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Treating of Mr. Pomeroy s manner of conducting a printing-office. His 
 kindness to his employes. 
 
 MR. POMEROY S history and career in La Crosse are 
 striking evidences of what can be accomplished by 
 pluck, devotion to principle, habits of economy, busi 
 ness skill, and a determination to succeed. He went 
 there in the spring of 1860, with less than $5.00 in his 
 pocket, to establish, by work, a Democratic paper in a 
 Republican district. 
 
 Many of his friends advised him not to go into a 
 district politically against him, and urged the necessity 
 of his going to New York and trying in a large city to 
 develop the resources of his. genius that friends gave 
 him the credit of possessing. He was advised to let the 
 political field alone, and to devote his time and atten 
 tion to writing humorous articles and sketches for pa 
 pers, and to become, if possible, a magazine editor, and 
 to devote his time to book-making. lie would not 
 consent to this, but preferred, as he said to some friend 
 in Milwaukee, " to go where the political fight was the 
 thickest, and work earnestly in hope to help his party, 
 and if he could not help those who held the same prin- 
 
114 LIFE OF 
 
 ciples as himself, he wanted, at least, to find some place 
 where there was an enemy on whom he could wring his 
 blows." 
 
 La Crosse was, therefore, the field for him. The Re 
 publican majority was counted by thousands in that 
 section. The country was new ; the city was new ; the 
 man was poor. The harvest was sadly in need of 
 reapers there, and he at once entered upon the work. 
 
 His La Crosse Democrat should be an encouragement 
 to every poor printer in the land. We do not mean 
 poor printers, but printers who are poor. 
 
 It shows what a man can do by work. It shows 
 what results may be brought about by a mechanic, by a 
 laboring man, by a young man, if he is only persistent 
 in well-doing. The office, when he purchased an inter 
 est therein, was but a small affair, worth less than the 
 jewelry he now carries upon his person. It was in bad 
 order. The circulation of the paper amounted to noth 
 ing. The business of the office was insufficient to pay 
 its expenses. The material was dirty, and needed to be 
 put in shape. The office had been run on credit, and 
 had been run into bankruptcy. Scarcely a dealer in 
 any kind of goods in La Crosse but what had a bill 
 against the establishment, editors, or employes. The 
 credit of the concern was worthless. The office owed 
 the employes nearly $1,000 for labor and services ren 
 dered, while the debts to tradesmen, boarding-house 
 keepers, and other business men of the place were 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 115 
 
 legion. On taking hold of the office, the first business 
 of Mr. Pomeroy was to put it in repair, clean it up, put 
 things in shape, sweep out, mop out, clean the windows, 
 clean the ink, oil, and dirt from the machinery, put the 
 type in order, and give the place an air of business. 
 This was looked upon as a waste of time and money by 
 his other partners. 
 
 It had always been a rule with Mr. Pomeroy, that 
 success could only follow order ; that prosperity fol 
 lowed neatness, punctuality, and devotion to business. 
 He put the new office in order, making a place for 
 everything, and gave orders that everything must be 
 kept in place, machinery kept clean, type kept in order ; 
 that the men employed about the establishment, instead 
 of spending their time in billiard-saloons and in the 
 office playing various games during working hours, as 
 had been the custom before he took possession of the 
 establishment, must confine their attention to their 
 work, and remain in the office during business hours. 
 
 This little change effected a saving of twenty-five per 
 cent., it being found that too many men were employed 
 in the establishment, and that the time somebody was 
 paying for was being frittered away in places where it 
 ought not to be. Conversing with one of the employes 
 of the establishment, who has been with Mr. Pomeroy 
 for years, we use his exact words as nearly as possible : 
 
 " Pomeroy had not been in the office, as proprietor or 
 part proprietor, more than thirty minutes before us em- 
 
116 LIFE OF 
 
 ploy6s found that there was a new man at the wheel. 
 The greasy pack of cards was thrown out of the window. 
 The old checkerboard was slashed into the street, and 
 half-a-dozen old pipes went through the window. People 
 were set to clearing up, putting things in order, and it 
 seemed as if it was the intention of somebody that that 
 office was to do business in the future, instead of being a 
 sort of loafing-place for those who did not work, for the 
 bothering of those who did. He argued that those who 
 labored should be promptly on time. That they must 
 stay there till the hour of departure. He put a stop to 
 the employing of drunken printers, and compelled a 
 neatness and attention to business that the office had 
 never before known. All who were working in the 
 establishment seemed at once to catch the infection of 
 business, and felt that success would follow. The sec 
 ond day of Mr. Pomeroy s ownership of the office, in 
 talking with th% men as they were standing about the 
 composing-stone, he said to them, that the office could 
 be made to pay. That it did not pay, through the mis 
 management of those connected with it. That too many 
 men had been employed. That there was too much 
 waste, and it must be stopped. He said he wanted only 
 good printers about him, and good men ; and he used, 
 as near as we can remember, .this language : * Now, 
 boys, there is a prospect of a hard time for all of us. 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 117 
 
 You have worked here in this office a long time, and it 
 owes you a good deal of money. You have not collected 
 your wages as you should have done. It was the duty 
 of the managers to pay you every Saturday night. You 
 have. suffered your wages to be kept away from you. 
 This is an injustice to your families. You have squan 
 dered your time, many of you, playing games here in the 
 office during business hours, or at places of amusement 
 or dissipation, when you ought to be at rest. If during 
 business hours, it was an injustice to your employers; 
 if after business hours, it was an injustice to yourself. 
 
 " Now I want to make a success of this newspaper. I 
 want to make a printing-office that will be a credit to 
 all of us. We are all interested. If I succeed, you suc 
 ceed ; if I fail, you fail. The office owes you a good deal 
 of money now. It cannot pay you till it earns it. If 
 you will take hold and work I will go on the streets and 
 solicit business. I will procure job-work. I want you 
 folks to do it in the office ; if you don t know how to do 
 it well, I will teach you. If you can do it well and 
 don t, I don t want you. This is a fair bargain, you 
 work for me and I will pay you for it. In working for 
 me, you work for yourselves. The money this office 
 owes you you shall have. I will agree to pay every 
 Saturday night your earnings, if you want your money 
 then. I would prefer to pay you then, rather than have 
 you give me credit. Your old accounts I will pay you 
 
118 LIFE OF 
 
 as fast as we can get the money. It is expected that I 
 am to manage the concern, look out for the finances, 
 and make a newspaper here. 
 
 " If you will take care of the details, I will take care of 
 the rest. I will try and make a paper interesting to the 
 reader, and you make it neat in appearance, you keep 
 the office neat, and we will all get along together. I 
 want to be your friend, and I want you to be mine. So 
 long as you are gentlemanly and attentive to business, 
 I shall do everything I can to farther your interests, and 
 when you are no longer gentlemen, you can no longer 
 have employment in the office. You stand by me and 
 I will stand by you. The office is unable to pay large 
 wages, but I am going to make it a paying concern, if 
 it takes years to do it, which will not be only able to pay 
 good salaries ; and to those who are the most faithful to 
 the office and are the. best deserving, will I in future give 
 better positions than they are now having, and better 
 salaries, that they may be perfectly contented with their 
 situations, and that the partnership between employer 
 and employe may be mutually beneficial. 1 " 
 
MARK M. POMERC 
 
 . - / . -, -4. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Why Mr. Pomeroy is popular as a writer. 
 
 * 
 
 THE great object of a writer is to be read. How 
 much lie is read frequently depends upon his style, and 
 this country has produced no journalist whose style is 
 as proverbially popular as that of " Brick Pomeroy." 
 It is characterized by a union of grace and ease, point 
 and power, fancy and force, vigor and vim, perspicuity 
 and perspicacity. 
 
 The imagery with which he illustrates an argument 
 delights us while we are made to feel the ratiocination 
 is conclusive. 
 
 The witticisms that his diamond-pointed pen dashes 
 off as it gallops over sheet after sheet of foolscap, 
 while plunging through the discussion of subjects often 
 bare of interest, remind one of the fire we often see fly 
 from the sterile rock under the steel-shod hoof of an 
 impetuous charger. 
 
 It is his wonderful brilliancy of style to which he is 
 doubtless indebted for the unparalleled popularity of his 
 flourishing journals. The wing of his fancy knows no 
 weariness the freshness of his flowers seems to be 
 fadeless ; he takes prudent care, however, not to smother 
 facts with metaphors. His object is always to either 
 
120 LIFE OF 
 
 furnish information or to throw the light of practical 
 sense upon facts already well enough known, but not 
 well enough understood. 
 
 One of his fortes is ridicule.; he seems to have foud a 
 lesson in Don Quixote, and studied it well. Seeing Cer 
 vantes drive knight-errantry into an eternal hermitage 
 before the red-hot shots of his waggery, " Brick," being 
 fortunately endowed with the lively keen sense of the 
 ludicrous, opens the batteries of his humor upon what 
 ever he opposes, until he forces the world to join him in 
 lauorhins: it down. His caricatures are, however, free 
 
 O v^ 
 
 from malice, and personal piques never show themselves 
 in his editorials. 
 
 Another one of his controlling traits of character is, 
 his independence an independence that is, in the 
 largest sense of the term, manly. Journalists generally 
 seek to ascertain how the people feel toward them, and 
 trim their sails accordingly. 
 
 Some paprs have stooped to boast that they followed 
 public opinion. Mr. Pomeroy pursues whatever policy 
 is dictated to him by the convictions of his conscience. 
 He is, in his fidelity to truth, incorruptible. Endowed 
 as he is with a remarkably sanguine temperament, he 
 may, in a glow of enthusiasm, color rather richly some 
 facts he may have to paint, but that the canvas on 
 which he employs his brush is solid material, never 
 fails to be literally true. 
 
 Courage is the best companion independence can 
 
MAEK M. POMEEOY. 121 
 
 have, and "Brick" is distinguished for nothing more 
 than he is for his utter fearlessness. His. independence, 
 in fact, is the natural oifspring of a profound contempt 
 for danger great decision, and immutable firmness. 
 These high qualities conspire to eminently prepare him 
 to become, what he already is, one of the people s truest 
 tribunes. Among other characteristics which belong to 
 him in a rare degree is his exalted sense of justice. 
 That which is right becomes, in his judgment and 
 regard, sacred, because it is right. Haughty he never 
 is to the humble, nor is he humble to the haughty. He 
 has more respect for virtuous rags than he has for vicious 
 ribbons, and he scorns to conceal either his contempt or 
 sympathy. 
 
 That large, blue eye of his does not know bow to 
 look a lie. There is no terror in other men s money for 
 his unquailing spirit. His bearing is the same in the 
 presence of millionaires that it is in the presence of beg 
 gars. He has a far deeper reverence for the white hairs 
 of an honest pauper than he has for the white liver of a 
 tricky nabob, no matter what his party professions* 
 
 It is when we look into the elements of which his re 
 markable character is composed that we cease to wonder 
 at the growth of his fame. It is only once in a century 
 Providence sends us a man endowed with so many ex 
 alted virtues and wonderful attributes all, too, under 
 the care, as it were, of superhuman energy and indom 
 itable will. 
 
 6 
 
122 LIFE OF 
 
 As a politician, Mr. Pomeroy takes broad and com 
 prehensive views of public policy, and seems to thor 
 oughly understand the fundamental principles of polit 
 ical economy upon which constitutional liberty is 
 established. 
 
 He is an earnest Democrat, but his democracy is the 
 result of principle, not partisanship. Were the Democ 
 racy in power to-morrow, and its leaders in office were 
 to prostitute their official positions to private purposes 
 of pelf, no Radical in the land would denounce them 
 any quicker or more fiercely than he would. 
 
 He is in his private character without a stain, and 
 holds, as a cardinal principle of political -ethics, honor 
 to be the life-blood of statesmen and all manner of men 
 in office. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 123 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A chapter of anecdotes. 
 
 MANY amusing anecdotes are related of Mr. Pomeroy 
 during his residence in La Crosse. Upon one occasion, 
 the 4th of July, six or seven years ago, he was invited 
 to read the Declaration of Independence, and also to 
 make a short speech. He accepted the invitation the 
 crowd assembled and the amazement of all can be 
 easily imagined upon seeing Mr. Pomeroy ascend the 
 rostrum with a number of smooth shingles under his 
 arm. In explanation, he stated that, as he had to de 
 liver a primitive speech, he thought it might prove ac 
 ceptable to his hearers to have things done up in a 
 primitive style ; and as in olden times the people used 
 boards instead of writing-paper, he merely followed 
 their example ! Whereupon he proceeded to read the 
 Declaration of Independence from his boards, much to 
 the amusement of all present. Some of his hearers were 
 " board" by his reading ; others were not ! 
 
 During the war it was currently reported that Mr. 
 Pomeroy made large amounts of money ; that is, while 
 he held the position of army correspondent. He did 
 not attempt to deny the statement, but said .in his paper 
 that he made from twelve to twenty million dollars, 
 
124 LIFE OF 
 
 when, in truth, he did not make a dollar, because he re 
 fused to support the Administration. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy, while possessing the gentleness of a 
 woman, inherits from his father, of whom the following 
 characteristic anecdote is related, the coolness and self- 
 possession he exhibits in times of danger. Mr. Pomeroy, 
 Sen., was in possession of a handsome property, which 
 he had invested in lumber, then in rafts ready to be 
 transported by river to Baltimore. During a fearful 
 storm which destroyed many houses on shore, some one 
 sent word to Mr. Pomeroy that his rafts, and " arks" 
 filled with produce, were all going off, or falling to 
 pieces. He hastened to the scene of destruction, sur 
 veyed it calmly for he could do nothing to save it 
 lighted his pipe, and as the last ark was falling to pieces, 
 he coolly remarked to a man who stood by him : 
 
 " If that ark had been stronger, it would not break 
 up so easy, would it ?" 
 
 At one time Mark intended lecturing in Indiana, but 
 was told that a riot was anticipated, and that he might 
 be attacked if he attempted to speak. He shrugged his 
 shoulders, and at the appointed time ascended the ros 
 trum ; as he did so, he allowed his cane to fall a solid 
 steel one and the ring of the metal resounded through 
 the building. Picking it up, and still holding it in his 
 hand, he commenced his lecture. Once he was inter 
 rupted. " My friend," he said, addressing the man who 
 created the disturbance, " I came here to speak, and Pin 
 
MAKK M. POMEROY. 125 
 
 going to say my say if I die for it ; and if you don t 
 hush your noise, I shall be compelled to break your 
 head." He was allowed to continue his talk unmo 
 lested. 
 
 The Republicans of La Crosse soon became afraid to 
 offend Mr. Pomeroy, for his mode of punishment was so 
 unique that it was far more disagreeable than corporeal 
 infliction. A stranger one day went into a bank in La 
 Crosse to draw a certain amount on a check. As refer 
 ence he used the name of Pomeroy. With an oath the 
 banker exclaimed : 
 
 " He is poor reference." 
 
 Nothing was said ; but in the next issue of the La 
 Crosse Democrat was published an article advising all 
 the friends of the paper to transact their business with 
 the other city bank, stating that it was the best and 
 only reliable bank in La Crosse. 
 
 The banker at once came to Mr. Pomeroy and made 
 all necessary apologies, which were accepted, and the 
 enemies became good friends. 
 
 Once, while in a place of public amusement, one of 
 the employes of Mr. Pomeroy resented an offensive re 
 mark which was made by a bully in the crowd. As the 
 man was well known for his fighting propensities, no 
 one dared to espouse the cause of Mr. Pomeroy s friend. 
 The words became louder, until a powerful Western 
 man, some distance from the disputants, rose from his 
 seat, and asked the cause of the disturbance. Upon re- 
 
126 LIFE OF 
 
 ceiving an explanation, he came forward, his huge form 
 towering above all there, and said to the man : 
 
 "I am not personally acquainted with Brick Pom- 
 eroy, but I know of him as a brave and honest man, 
 while you are a coward and a liar ! Now, if you don t 
 like that, come and I ll fight you to your heart s con 
 tent." The man must have been pleased with the 
 statement, for he disappeared in the crowd. 
 
 In the early days of the La Crosse Democrat, money 
 was so very scarce with Mr. Pomeroy, that he was often 
 compelled to give his men his promise to pay instead 
 of their money, which, singular to say, so great was 
 their confidence in him, was always accepted, and never 
 once were those notes left in the hands of the men be 
 yond their maturity. 
 
 When travelling, Mr. Pomeroy was constantly play 
 ing some practical joke, which usually resulted in benefit 
 to himself; for instance, he would often mark his bag 
 gage M. M. Pomeroy, U. S. Navy, which secured him 
 every attention. During the Tom Hyer excitement, 
 Mr. Pomeroy tried in vain to find a vacant seat in the 
 cars upon the New York and Erie railroad. In passing 
 through one of the cars, he remarked in rather a loud 
 tone to one of his friends 
 
 " Did you see Tom Hyer when he went into the next 
 car?" 
 
 In a moment nearly every seat was vacated, and 
 Mark selected one of the most comfortable, and watched 
 
MAKK M. POME ROY. 127 
 
 at leisure the disappointed faces of those who rushed to 
 see Tom Hyer. 
 
 The original name of " Brick" was Marcus. He was 
 named after an uncle who was terribly opposed to De 
 mocracy. The old gentleman tried to convert his 
 nephew, but in vain ; and therefore he considered him 
 not only a hardened sinner, but a lost sheep to the Re 
 publican fold. When "Brick" became editor of a 
 Democratic paper, the old uncle was still more exaspe 
 rated, and after some words between Mark and himself 
 in regard to political matters, he remarked to one of the 
 boy s relatives, that if Marcus was his son, he would disin 
 herit him, and that he was sorry he was named for him. 
 
 " Easy enough to change it," replied the independent 
 young man, and from that day he has written his name 
 Mark. 
 
 The old gentleman has at last come to declare, that 
 Marcus was about right anyhow, in his opinion. 
 
 Although very muscular and firmly built, Mr. Pom- 
 eroy is as agile as a race-horse. He once, for mere 
 amusement, became a competitor in a foot-race, which 
 he won, running three hundred yards in the incredible 
 short time of twenty-nine and a-half seconds. 
 
 Sometimes the most simple of "Brick s" practical 
 jokes cause him some " compunctious visitings," but he 
 always makes all the restitution in his power to the 
 party practised upon. He, one day, while journeying 
 in the cars with a party of friends, became very much 
 
128 LIFE OF 
 
 interested in an old lady whose early training had so 
 inculcated habits of industry that she, to save time, had 
 brought her knitting with her, and was pegging away 
 with all her might. 
 
 The old lady having occasion to leave her seat for a few 
 moments, laid her knitting down : when she returned, it 
 had disappeared. Presently a well-dressed, sober-look 
 ing chap took the seat before her, quietly pulled a sock 
 from his pocket, and commenced knitting. 
 
 " That ar knitten is mine," said the old lady, eagerly. 
 
 " Excuse me, madam," said the humorist ; " perhaps 
 you are mistaken, but please examine it." 
 
 The old lady took the work, peered at it through her 
 spectacles. The yarn certainly looked like hers she 
 ought to know it, cause her Sal spun it but the sock 
 puzzled her, it was not near so far progressed, and then 
 her knitting had only two needles in it, while this young 
 man was knitting with three. With a sigh of intense 
 disappointment, the old lady returned the knitting with 
 the remark, " Wall, stranger, you knit powerful well for 
 a man, but you are the first critter I ever saw what knit 
 a sock with three needles." Having ravelled out her, 
 work and wound the yarn on the ball again, the ball 
 was so much larger, and the stocking so much shorter, 
 the old lady knew at once it was not her work, and gave 
 it up as lost. Mark took the knitting home with him, 
 and put it in his museum, for a curiosity, and wrote to 
 
MARK M. TOMEROT. 129 
 
 the old lady, whose address he had taken, to draw on 
 him for any amount of money. 
 
 At the commencement of the war, Mr. Pomeroy s 
 means were so limited that he could not be very liberal, 
 but he always divided his mite with the poor around 
 him. When, however, he became prosperous, he was 
 noted for his generosity. Soldiers and their families 
 often had cause to bless him. 
 
 As one instance, I cite this : The son of a poor widow 
 lady was offered a good position if he could procure for 
 himself a suitable outfit, which required forty dollars in 
 addition to what he had. His mother went to some of 
 her friends, but failed to get the desired amount. Mr. 
 Pomeroy, hearing the difficulty, gave the full sum, with 
 the message that if the boy needed more to come to 
 him, that he was always willing to assist those who 
 were industrious in their efforts to procure work. The 
 boy is now in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., 
 and we presume a friend to the man who aided him 
 when hardly able to help himself. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Pomeroy endeavored to elect, by a piece 
 of political manoeuvring, the independent candidate of 
 that district, the Hon. S. B. Stoddard. The office of 
 the principal Republican paper of the city was in the 
 same building as the La Crosse Democrat. One even 
 ing, after the forms had been prepared for the weekly 
 issue and left for the night, Mr. Pomeroy went into the 
 
 G* 
 
130 LIFE OF 
 
 * 
 
 press-room, took the leading article from the form, 
 which was in favor of the other candidate, and inserted 
 in its place an editorial of his own in favor of Stoddard. 
 The paper came out in due time the next morning, nor 
 was the change discovered until a man came into the 
 city from a country place twenty miles distant, to thrash 
 the editor for going back upon the Republican can 
 didate. 
 
 The mistake, a joke, was never explained ; but the 
 proprietors concluded that it would scarcely do to 
 remain in the same building with M. M. Pomeroy, and 
 so they moved their office. By this act the Republican 
 vote was greatly reduced, as many Republicans voted 
 for Stoddard on reading in their organ that it was their 
 duty to do so. 
 
 The good citizens of La Crosse certainly remember 
 when this call appeared in the city papers : " All those 
 who love their country more than party, who revere 
 the Constitution, and who love the Union, are requested 
 to meet at Singer s Hall on Monday evening at eight 
 o clock. Per order loyal citizens." 
 
 "Brick" read the order; said it meant Democrats. 
 Monday evening the Democrats, headed by M. M. 
 Pomeroy, assembled at an early hour in the hall, called 
 the meeting to orfler, and elected a president. The 
 Republicans came, found three Democrats to one Re 
 publican ; therefore the largest force held the ground, 
 and the Republicans were obliged to assemble and hold 
 
MARK M. rOMEKOY. 131 
 
 their meeting in an old building to transact their busi 
 ness in words, the formation of a " loyal league." 
 
 Only yesterday a gentleman remarked that it was 
 perfectly marvellous to see the effect of the La Crosse 
 Democrat upon the minds of the lower classes, particu 
 larly the backwoodsmen, whose senses can best be 
 reached by something plain, and, in some acceptations 
 of the word, "broad." As an illustration, he gave the 
 following fact, which was related to him by a friend who 
 formerly held some position in Mr. Pomeroy s office in 
 La Crosse. "In 1867, a party of gentlemen were on 
 their way from Nebraska City to St. Joseph and were 
 overtaken by a violent storm of rain and snow. It was 
 intensely cold, and they feared to go further, as night 
 had almost overtaken them, so they decided to take 
 refuge in the next hut they came to. They were then 
 on the north bank of the Big Tarkio, where houses are 
 few and far between, but at last they reached a log 
 cabin, uninviting it is true, but from the chimney issued 
 a smoke which gave every indication of a good fire 
 within. The inside of the cabin was still more repulsive 
 than the exterior, and the surly man who opened the 
 door, bade them continue their journey, as he had no 
 accommodations for strangers. They however entered, 
 and saw from the number of loop-holes in the walls, that 
 they were in the presence of a bushwhacker. 
 
 " In looking around the room, one of the gentlemen 
 discovered a La Crosse Democrat, and he knew that they 
 
132 LIFE OF 
 
 were saved. So taking the paper in bis hand he ap 
 proached the host with these words : * I see, my friend, 
 that you subscribe for the La Crosse Democrat, and any 
 man who takes that paper, and heeds the teachings of 
 Brick Pomeroy, can t have a bad heart enough to 
 turn a man out in the storm such a night as this. 
 
 " Do you take it ? he eagerly questioned. 
 
 " * Of course I do, was the reply, and last year I 
 helped to print it. Mr. Pomeroy is a friend of mine. 
 
 " It is needless to say that the party remained over 
 night, and were as hospitably entertained as if they had 
 been in a palace." 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Organization of " The New York Democrat." Interview with Mr. J. Howard. 
 
 Ox the 24th of July, 1868, as the result of some cor 
 respondence, Mr. Jos. Howard, Jr., an accomplished 
 journalist, called upon Mr. .Pomeroy, and during the 
 conversation, the latter said : 
 
 " Howard, I want to start a New York Daily ; which 
 would you advise, a morning or an evening paper ?" 
 
 " That depends," answered Mr. Howard, " if you have 
 8200,000 you care to risk, start a morning paper it has 
 more influence ; but if you care to venture not more 
 than $50,000 your better opening is an evening." 
 
 "Suppose," said Mr. Pomeroy, "you figure on an 
 evening paper and let me know exactly what it will 
 require to put it through in good shape." 
 
 " All right," rejoined Mr. Howard. " Dine with me 
 to-morrow, at six o clock, and we will talk it over." 
 
 The next evening Mr. Howard produced the figures 
 and estimates and said : 
 
 " Well, what do you think, Pomeroy ?" 
 
 Pomeroy. " I ll do it." 
 
 Howard. " You need an editor." 
 
 Pomeroy. " That s M. M. Pomeroy." 
 
134 LIFE OF 
 
 Howard. " And a managing editor." 
 
 Pomeroy. " That s Joe Howard." 
 
 Howard. " I guess not." 
 
 Pomeroy. "I guess yes. It s a matter of money, 
 isn t it ?" 
 
 Howard. "Yes." 
 
 Pomeroy. " That part consider settled. How soon 
 can you have the force engaged, the rooms ready, and 
 the paper on the street ?" 
 
 Howard. " This is the 25th of July. I ll agree to 
 have the paper ready on the 15th August. 
 
 Pomeroy. "All right. Go ahead. Be thorough. 
 Draw on me for funds." 
 
 The difficulties in the way of a newspaper enterprise 
 but few appreciate. They are of many species me 
 chanical, physical, mental, and moral. 
 
 They were all overcome. The corps a peculiarly 
 apt and experienced set of men were engaged and at 
 work on the 14th of August. The editorial and business 
 offices were furnished and occupied. The composing- 
 room, with new cases, type, and appliances, was in 
 readiness, and at two o clock on the day appointed the 
 presses delivered the first edition of the NEW YORK 
 DEMOCRAT to the score of thousands ready for it. 
 
 It started with more than 20,000 and ran rapidly up, 
 ranging from 25,000 to 30,000, and from 30,000 to 
 35,000, until the middle of September, by which time 
 the pressure from all sections of the country was so 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 135 
 
 great, that Mr. Pomeroy determined to add to his en 
 terprise, a daily morning paper, which should be not 
 only democratic in name, but in essence, and so at all 
 times and under all circumstances. He accordingly 
 gave directions to that effect, and the proper steps are 
 taken at this writing, September 18, 1868, which will 
 ensure the early forthcoming of that greatly needed 
 sheet. 
 
 Perhaps it is proper here to call attention to a marked 
 peculiarity of Mr. Pomeroy s nature. He directs, and 
 others perform as he directs/ Although the responsible 
 editor of his several papers, he throws the immediate 
 responsibility upon his assistants. He marks out the 
 course, and indicates the goal, but assumes none of the 
 petty cares that attend the actual conduct of these en 
 terprises. 
 
 This not only leaves him time for thought and op 
 portunity for occnpance of new fields, but insures that 
 perfection of result, which can only attend the use 
 of power in the hands of responsibility. 
 
 The wonderful success attending Mr. Pomeroy and 
 his journals, is rightfully attributed to his sincerity, his 
 honesty, his pluck, his endurance, and his rare know 
 ledge of human nature. 
 
 Two favorite sayings of his tell the story : 
 
 " I am democratic at all times, and under all circum 
 stances." "Principles; not men." 
 
 The eternal fitness of things would seem to be his 
 
130 LIFE OF 
 
 omnipresent guide, and with that end in view, what 
 may he not attempt, with brain and opportunity on his 
 right and on his left. 
 
 We see by the fact related in this chapter, the organ 
 ization of THE DEMOCRAT, a peculiar trait of character 
 with Mr. Pomeroy, his quickness, be it at repartee, 
 to seize an opportunity, or in making decisions. It is 
 yes or no. He seems to know what a person wants 
 the moment he enters the room, or his presence, often 
 deciding before a story is half told, but not before he 
 has comprehended it fully r We have seen him refuse 
 charity to impostors the next moment to open his 
 purse unasked to relieve real necessity. 
 
 In the manner of writing he is peculiar. Seated at 
 the desk, he will- write a column of bitter invective 
 then a column of pathetic appeal then one of the 
 humorous, descriptive, or political articles which have 
 given him such a wide-spread name and reputation- 
 then dash off a column of jokes and personals; doing 
 in two hours what other men could never do, or writing 
 in an hour more of, or upon a subject than most profes 
 sional men could do in a day. 
 
 He never re-writes ; pages after pages of his manu 
 script go into the hands of his printers without addition, 
 erasure, or change of a comma or word. 
 
 If a writer in his paper furnishes an article that in his 
 idea is not quite up to the mark, he finds no fault, but 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 137 
 
 " Yes, that is good, but see if this will not fit the case 
 a little closer." 
 
 Then he will snatch a pen or pencil, and, in half the 
 time used to prepare the original article, write one, red- 
 hot, as the saying is, and say : 
 
 " Read this Follow the idea write to the point hit 
 em right on top of the head never do you look for 
 consequences I ll take care of the rest !" 
 
 He is the most rapid writer living, and will, while 
 writing one article, be dictating another to a man on 
 his right, and still another to a person on his left. The 
 amount of mental labor he performs astonishes all who 
 know him. 
 
 A prominent New York journalist asked him one day, 
 in our hearing : 
 
 " Mr. Pomeroy, how under heaven do you accomplish 
 so much ? How do you live under the enormous labor 
 you perform ?" 
 
 Says he, in reply : 
 
 " Oh, easy enough it s no work for me ! I believe 
 what I write never w^rite unless I have something to 
 say know what I wish to say, and say it, without 
 thinking about the consequences. And then I never 
 dissipate in any way. God gave me a work to do, and 
 He is helping me. He will help me so long as 1 take 
 care of myself and strive to do my duty. I never drink 
 liquor as a beverage never injure my brain by the use 
 of tobacco or stimulants try to keep my health have 
 
138 LIFE OF 
 
 a clea$ conscience, and a disposition to work. And I 
 know, if I work earnestly 1 shall succeed some day, for 
 those for whom I labor will help me when I prove my 
 self worthy of help." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Pomeroy, your enemies say hard things 
 about you." 
 
 " Yes, but they don t know me ; and when they learn 
 what kind of a man I am, they feel foolish. But I don t 
 care what my enemies say. Thank God ! my friends 
 are satisfied with me I am satisfied with myself and 
 the cause I am engaged in and He who rules us all 
 seems satisfied with me, or I should not succeed in the 
 face of the opposition before me." 
 
 " Well," said a personal friend, " I don t endorse your 
 ideas, but I like you as a man, and wish you well." 
 
 " If you wish me well you must endorse my ideas, for 
 to wish me well is to wish me success." 
 
 " That is so, isn t it ? well, so be it !" 
 
 M. M. Pomeroy came to New York backed by the 
 people of the United States as never was man endorsed 
 before. He asks no man for a dollar, has abundant 
 means to lose half-a-dozen ordinary fortunes, if need be, 
 to insure his success. He intends to fight the bond 
 holders, all corrupt politicians and robbers of the people, 
 to defend the rights of States and the interests of the 
 working class. He cares not for losses to property or 
 life he means conscientiously to fight for a principle, 
 and intends to see that principle win, if at the end of a 
 
MAKK M. POMEROY. 139 
 
 bitter war in the North. He is the most implacable 
 enemy the Republican party ever had ; and he will, if 
 in the power of mortal, give that party the death 
 blow. 
 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CAL1F< [A. 
 
140 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 An author cannot be judged by his writings. Mr. Pomeroy s ideas of 
 Masonry. 
 
 MARK M. POMEROY is a practical demonstration of 
 the fact that you cannot always judge an author by his 
 writings. As a man, he is a singular compound of wis 
 dom and simplicity. Many judging him from some of 
 his articles in the La Crosse Democrat, believe him to 
 be a rough, unpolished man, given to the use of profane 
 language, intoxicating beverages, tobacco, and all other 
 vices incidental to the fast men of the age. In his pri 
 vate character Mr. Porneroy is unimpeachable ; he is 
 never the companion of dissolute or bad characters ; 
 does not use tobacco in any form ; entirely ignores the 
 use of stimulants, and will discharge a man from his 
 employ quicker for indulging in liquor than for any 
 other failing. 
 
 He is very tender-hearted, and is generous to a fault. 
 The following characteristic anecdote is related of him, 
 which shows his simplicity of manners, and his sym 
 pathy for toilers for bread, especially women : 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy, during a conversation with an almost 
 unknown lady writer, asked for one of her books, that 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 141 
 
 he might notice it in his paper. The lady, appreciating 
 the compliment, gladly presented him with the book. 
 
 " Can you make it convenient to call at my office to 
 morrow ?" he asked, " and I will pay you for it." 
 
 " I believe, sir," replied she, " that it is customary to 
 present editors with the book for the notice, is it not ? 
 And besides, you have given me copies j)f your Sense 
 and * Nonsense. " 
 
 He stood a moment as if embarrassed, and then said : 
 " I will feel badly if you don t let me pay you ; and as 
 for giving you my book, that s a different matter. I am 
 able to do it, for I m a great big man, and you are only 
 a little delicate woman, who should not be obliged to 
 battle with the world." 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy appreciates fun, and never neglects an 
 opportunity of creating mirth. Only a short time ago, 
 as " Brick," with his coat off, was working in his office, 
 there entered a handsomely dressed, pompous-looking 
 man, who scarcely noticed the hard-working man. The 
 great " Brick" was the one he wanted to see, but he con 
 descended to ask the following questions : 
 
 " This is Mr. Pomeroy s office, is it not, young man ?" 
 
 " It is, sir," answered Brick, politely. 
 
 " Office of the La Crosse Democrat?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, a branch office." 
 
 " Will Mr. Pomeroy be in to-day ?" 
 
 " He will, sir." 
 
 " He has rooms at the Astor-House, has he not ?" 
 
142 LIFE OP 
 
 
 
 " He has, sir." 
 
 " Will you give me the number of his room ? v 
 
 " Certainly, sir," said the obliging " Brick ;" and writ 
 ing the number of his room he handed the card politely 
 to the man, who walked across the City-Hall Park in 
 search of the "Brick" he had just been talking to. 
 
 Brick looked^into the office where we were sitting 
 laughing at the scene, and asked, with a sober face, but 
 mirthful eyes, what pleased us so ; and then added : 
 
 " I answered his questions politely, did I not every 
 one he asked me ? 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy has a hearty, genial way about him that 
 fascinates even his political foes, who cannot help re 
 specting his character as a man, although they do not 
 admire his political course. -One fact is indisputable, 
 that those who have known him longest like him best. 
 
 " Tell me some of Mr. Pomeroy s faults," I asked in 
 my search for facts in regard to his life, of a young man 
 who had been with him many years. 
 
 " Indeed," was the reply, " you must go to some one 
 who has never known Mr. Pomeroy, to find out his 
 failings. I have been with him too many years to see 
 them." Although far from being cruel, it is not best 
 to make an enemy of him, for his memory is powerful, 
 and his manner of resenting an injury original. 
 
 He has many peculiar traits of character, one of which 
 is, secrecy in regard to his anticipated movements po- 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 143 
 
 litical and financial. Another is, his rapidity of thought, 
 which enables him to decide in a moment ; he then 
 moves with sudden and overpowering energy, bending 
 every power to the accomplishment of the matter in 
 hand. Quick to decide prompt to act he deems ar 
 gument on an abandoned project a loss of time and waste 
 of energy, unfitting a man for what is in immediate 
 view. Perseverance in any course he has adopted, is 
 another striking trait. If he cannot master a man to-day, 
 he at once plans, and waits to capture him to-morrow, 
 or when the proper time comes. He abandons a fight 
 to-day, to renew it in a month or year, with tenfold 
 vigor going down like a duck, to come up again when 
 least expected. 
 
 He delights in an open fight in argument with an 
 enemy, and never holds off from pursuit of a flying foe, 
 until he grounds arms and surrenders, when all the past 
 is forgiven, and the only desire is to work in unison for 
 the future good of mankind. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy is a worker himself, and he hates a man 
 who will not bear his share of toil fairly. He himself 
 devotes to his duties from sixteen to twenty hours per 
 day. 
 
 He is also fond of out-door sports, is a thorough 
 horseman, a capital pistol and rifle shot, and expert with 
 the bowie-knife, is of powerful build, can easily hold fifty 
 or sixty pounds on the back of his hand at arm s length. 
 
144 LIFE OF 
 
 He is a great lover of art and literature, and regrets 
 that his early opportunities were such as would not ad 
 mit of the gratification of his tastes, nor the cultivation 
 of his remarkable talents. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy is a Mason, Brother, Companion, and 
 Sir Knight : a true Mason in every sense of the word ; 
 created by God and confirmed by man. 
 
 As a Mason, he is peculiarly consistent, believing that 
 there is more of religion in the teachings of Masonry, 
 than in many so-called Christian societies. He never 
 speaks ill of a brother or relative of one, unless he does 
 it in defence of truth ; and to worthy Masons, he has al 
 ways an open hand. But he insists that it is no part 
 of a Mason s duty to pay money or go out of the way to 
 aid Masons who are addicted to intoxication who squan 
 der money foolishly who will not try to help them 
 selves, and who would use the sacred ties of Masonic 
 Brotherhood to support them in idleness and dissipation. 
 
 The "Jewels" of a brother Mason he would defend at 
 peril of his life, as is the duty of every valiant Sir Knight. 
 While he never asks aid himself on this score, he is only 
 too glad to recognize the calls of others, if they be 
 worthy. One idea of his is this. In response to the 
 question to him one day propounded : 
 
 " What does that lot of letters H. T. W. S. S. T. K. S. 
 on your Masonic charm stand for ?" 
 
 He at once replied ; 
 
"MARK M. POMEROY. 145 
 
 " He That Whispers Scandal Seeks To Kill Society." 
 Whether this is the correct interpretation or not we 
 cannot tell, but it seems to us to be a very good one, 
 and worthy of remembrance, and of general adoption. 
 
 7 
 
 I UNIVERSITY OF 
 
146 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Difference of opinion in regard to the personal appearance of "Brick." 
 Pomeroy a twin. Praise from Mr. Greeley. 
 
 A MASSACHUSETTS paper says : 
 
 " We saw Brick Pomeroy in New York a little old 
 drunkard, with narrow face, low forehead, and piggy 
 looking eye." 
 
 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the spiciest daily in the 
 world, says: 
 
 " BRICK" POMEROY. Mr. M. M. Pomeroy, editor and 
 proprietor of the La Crosse Democrat, is now in New 
 York. One who knows of him only by his writings, 
 knows but little of him as a man. He has one of the 
 best built heads we ever saw ; a tremendous brow, with 
 a forehead as fine and white as that of a girl ; his great 
 blue eyes are as innocent, as full of fun, as those of a 
 baby, but as sharp as those of a lynx ; he is graceful in 
 demeanor, quiet voiced, full of vim, and nervous in tem 
 perament. He writes like a steam-engine ; his pen fly 
 ing over the paper like a flash of greased lightning. 
 The Weekly Democrat has a circulation of over 270,000 
 copies ; and goes into every city, town, and hamlet of 
 the nation. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 147 
 
 [From the If. Y. Citizen. ] 
 
 QUESTION OP IDENTITY. It is -not generally known 
 that Mr. Pomeroy, the editor of the" La Crosse Demo 
 crat, and more lately of the Democrat in this city, is a 
 young man of refined and elegant appearance, with a 
 small, white hand, a broad forehead, and slim shape. 
 He neither drinks nor smokes, and has none of the char 
 acteristics of a seasoned Hard-shell of the olden school, 
 w^hile a steady glance from a woman will make him 
 blush to his ears. His disposition naturally throw s him 
 with those of a religious tendency. Clergymen are 
 common visitors at his office, and find him always ready 
 to assist the objects they have in view. One of these 
 who had a bald head, and on whom nature had most 
 unjustly set the seal of the wine-bibber, was seated in 
 his outer office writing, when a specimen Fourth Ward 
 Democrat, more than three sheets in the wind, called to 
 pay his respects to the King of the Copperheads. This 
 fellow was shown into the same room with the clergy 
 man ; and, stalking up behind the latter, who was lean 
 ing over the desk deeply occupied, brought a huge, 
 dirty hand down upon his bald head, so that the marks 
 of his fingers were visible for hours, shouting : " How 
 are you, Brick, old fellow ? I knowed you at once, I 
 did. How are you, old cuss ? I knowed you by your 
 bald head and your red nose. You are one of our sort, 
 you are. Give em Old Nick, them Republican cusses ; 
 
148 LIFE OF 
 
 you are the chap that can do that same, you are. I see 
 it in your eye." 
 
 Explanations were useless, and the clergyman rushed 
 into Mr. Pomeroy s private apartments for protection, 
 with the marks of the strong admiration of his friend 
 still upon him. 
 
 [From tJie Crawford County (07tio) Forum]. 
 
 BRICK POMEROY. While riding leisurely along in 
 one of those elegant street-coaches for which New York 
 is famous, from the seething Convention at Tammany 
 Hall, down Bowery, past the Tombs, and to City Hall 
 Park, our attention was arrested by a modest and un 
 pretentious sign, hung out from the corner of the old 
 Sun building, which read : " THE LA CKOSSE DEMO 
 CRAT." Curiosity, as well as a commendable desire to 
 see and form the acquaintance of its distinguished ed 
 itor, induced us to call a " halt ;" and in a few moments 
 we were ushered into the sanctum. After a formal in 
 troduction, we were greeted with the words, " Welcome, 
 a thousand times welcome !" from the lips of the man 
 whom the bondholders and gold-brokers of Wall-street 
 fear more than any other who treads this continent. 
 
 And now, while our conversation is momentarily in 
 terrupted by one of his business agents, who is directed 
 to the news-room, where enormous piles of weekly Dem 
 ocrats are lying upon the counter, allow us to daguer 
 reotype his physique and general appearance to our 
 
MARK M. POMEIIOY. 149 
 
 readers. Imagine a man very neatly and genteelly 
 dressed, five feet ten or eleven inches in height, about 
 forty years of age, symmetrically built, neither heavy 
 nor slender, straight as an Indian chief, a fine, shapely 
 head, somewhat bald, sitting firmly on a finely propor 
 tioned neck and shoulders, blonde complexion, as fair 
 as a woman s, darkish auburn hair, large, liquid, lus 
 trous, speaking eyes, and a countenance expressive of 
 mental overwork, yet lighted up with calm, but terrible 
 earnestness and BRICK POMEROY stands before you. 
 
 Whoever looks upon that face is at once prepared for 
 the curious anomaly of seeing side by side, in alternate 
 columns of the La Crosse, some prose idyl, like " Satur 
 day Night," in which the tenderest cords of the harp of 
 humanity are played upon with exquisite fingers, and a 
 venomous philippic, scarcely inferior in quality and con 
 centrated energy to its great Demosthenian original, 
 against " Ben. Butler, the cock-eyed beast of New 
 Orleans." 
 
 " Brick s" conversation is like his editorials nervous, 
 sententious; in short, a melange of sense, tenderness, 
 Attic wit, flashes of thought like flashes of lightning, 
 and above all and beyond all, an earnest, intense enthu 
 siasm, which invincibly fascinates and enchains the 
 listener. 
 
 Republicanism laughed scornfully at his fiery edito 
 rials four years ago, as they appeared in the little, slen 
 der columns of his paper, which enjoyed a still slenderer 
 
150 LIFE OF 
 
 circulation. To-day, his mammoth steam-presses in La 
 Crosse and New York, send to the world nearly three 
 hundred thousand copies, laden with every species of 
 argument and illustration to catch the eye or appeal to 
 the sense of working men ; and if " Brick" Pomeroy 
 stamps his foot, the bondholders, from Wall-street to 
 Hamburg, clutch tremblingly their golden couponed 
 bonds, to make them sure. 
 
 On exchanging farewells, "Brick" kindly presented 
 us with a beautifully bound copy of his late work, enti 
 tled " Sense." We have read it carefully through with 
 one whose opinion is more valuable than our own, and 
 found it gold ; pure, beaten gold. It is exactly adapted 
 to make men out of boys men of worth, stamina, char 
 acter, probity, and vigorous manhood. 
 
 A health to you, " Brick," wherever you are ! Be 
 firm, be true ! Our heart is with you in the conflict of 
 Labor against Capital, Taxpayers against Bondholders, 
 Union against Disunion, and Right against Wrong. 
 
 We clip from the Reading Eagle the following ex 
 tracts from the report of Mr. Pomeroy s reception and 
 speech at Reading a few weeks since : 
 
 " Mr. Pomeroy stepped upon the top of the railing, 
 not over nine inches wide, and from that rather insecure 
 position addressed the people for more than two hours. 
 He is a fluent, eloquent, and graceful speaker; and 
 though on his first appearance, and at intervals through- 
 
fam 
 
 MARK M. 
 
 oat his address, he was greeted with tremendous ap 
 plause, the motionless attitude and close attention of 
 the people, closely packed together under the cold star 
 light, listening in the utmost silence, was still more 
 complimentary to the speaker. 
 
 " We regret that our space prevents us from publish 
 ing his address entire. It was eloquent and unanswer 
 able, and was addressed principally to Republicans. 
 There was no coarse language, no profanity, no bitter 
 personal denunciation, but the plain truth, spoken by 
 a plain man, and intended for plain, common-sense 
 people.. Those persons who expected to hear Mr. Pome- 
 roy disgrace himself and his party were disappointed. 
 
 "A large number of ladies were present, and remained 
 to a late hour. Mr. Pomeroy spoke rapidly, and with 
 out apparent fatigue, though somewhat wearied by 
 travel. He has a clear and sonorous voice, which could 
 be heard distinctly by the vast crowd in attendance, 
 which is estimated at five thousand persons at least, 
 most of whom were working-men. 
 
 " Only one slight disturbance took place, caused by 
 an intoxicated loiP man on the outskirts of the crowd, 
 but he was speedily silenced, and made a retreat to the 
 Mansion House, where he concealed himself. Mr. Pome 
 roy expressed his thanks to the people of Reading for 
 his kind reception and their close attention, and closed 
 his speech by proposing three cheers for Seymour and 
 
152 LIFE OF 
 
 Blair, which were given with a will, immediately fol 
 lowed by three tremendous cheers and a tiger for 
 Brick Pomeroy. 
 
 " In person Mr. Pomeroy is of medium height, and 
 well built, somewhat bald, with light hair and light 
 complexion. He has a fine forehead, and an open, pre 
 possessing countenance, with an expression of quickness, 
 tireless energy, and dauntless bravery. As a speaker 
 we have never heard him excelled. His humorous re 
 marks drew forth bursts of irrepressible laughter, and 
 his eloquent, and frequently pathetic remarks, were 
 listened to with the closest attention and highest ap 
 parent appreciation by all. His voice, clear and pene 
 trating as the notes of a bugle, penetrated to an in 
 credible distance, and every sentence was distinctly 
 audible. 
 
 " In manner Mr. Pomeroy is a plain, unassuming, and 
 courteous gentleman. He dresses plainly, but elegantly, 
 in black, and wears on his breast a beautiful and costly 
 emblem of the Masonic fraternity, of which , he is a 
 prominent and respected member. He is strictly tem 
 perate, using neither liquor nor tobacco in any form, 
 though he is not a fanatical prohibitionist, preferring 
 to let every man make his own choice in his mode of 
 living. 
 
 " Mr. Pomeroy greatly admired our beautiful city, 
 and was delighted with the people, the" scenery, and the 
 blooming fertility of Old Berks, which he promises to 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 153 
 
 visit again. He has left behind him hosts of friends, of 
 all parties, some of whom were agreeably disappointed 
 to find that the terrible Brick Pomeroy is not a ruffian 
 nor a fiend, but a modest, unassuming, courteous, and 
 affable gentleman in every sense of the word. The im 
 mense turnout of the people is an evidence that the best 
 wishes of the masses are with the Democracy and their 
 champion, and that Berks county will respond heartily 
 to the request of Mr. Pomeroy, for an unprecedented 
 Democratic majority at the coming elections." 
 
 None of the newspaper descriptions of Mr. Pomeroy 
 are perfectly correct, and, in truth, it is as difficult to 
 describe the personal appearance of this most singular 
 man as it is to enumerate the phases of his character. 
 
 He is five feet eight inches in height, firmly built, 
 with powerful chest and lungs, measuring around his 
 chest forty-three inches. Although accustomed to labor 
 in his early life, his feet and hands are small. His face 
 is peculiar. He has a very high forehead, and the thin 
 light hair of susceptible, nervous temperament, and also 
 light, or sandy whiskers. His mouth is not small, and 
 his lips are full, but refined and pure. They are impul 
 sive, and indicate both affection and hospitality. Even 
 before he speaks, those who know him well can tell by 
 the curve of his lips if he will utter words of kindness 
 or fierce denunciation. His lips denote ambition, firm 
 ness, self-esteem, and self-control also approbativeness. 
 He is pleased with himself and all he does. 
 
 7* 
 
154 LIFE OF 
 
 His nose is far from being handsome, but it is de 
 cidedly characteristic. It is apprehensive and inquisi 
 tive. His is not a combative nose, but on it you may 
 read noli me tangere (touch me not). On his own 
 ground he will fight to the death, and in argument is 
 pretty sure to have the last word. 
 
 His ears are large, and indicate the Democratic ele 
 ment of character. 
 
 It will perhaps be observed that we have spoken of 
 the eyes of Mr. Pomeroy in one place as gray, in an 
 other we have called them blue. In reading the num 
 bers of the first portion of this book, Mr. Pomeroy in 
 serted gray for blue. As we glanced into his eyes to 
 satisfy ourselves as to their real color, we found they 
 were black, for the sight of the eye covered nearly all 
 the pupil, so large and intense it was. One singular 
 fact has never been mentioned. In the pupil of his left 
 eye is a red brick, which grows darker and more fiery 
 when Mr. Pomeroy is politically excited. Some poet 
 calls the eye " the window of the soul ;" and we believe 
 it is, for Mr. Pomeroy s eyes are irrepressible so is he. 
 Sometimes they glow with intense emotion, gleam with 
 hate, sparkle with mirth, flash with anger, melt with 
 pity, light up with joy, and darken in sorrow. 
 
 His is not an educated eye ; it is the impulsive eye of 
 a child ; and we can scarcely realize how any one who 
 has ever looked in Mr. Pomeroy s eye can consider him 
 
MARK M. POMEIIOY. 155 
 
 anything but pure, honest, and noble, in his efforts for 
 the grand cause he has espoused. 
 
 (From the La Crosse Democrat. ) 
 
 " TIME is THE VINDICATOR. There have been few 
 people in the world more maligned, slandered, misrepre 
 sented, and abused, than the editor of this paper 
 M. M. PQMEROY. 
 
 " So long as we can remember, Radicals have suffered 
 and writhed under his sharp lashings, and, as a defence, 
 have invented the most absurd and improbable stories 
 relative to Mr. POMEROY S character or want of char 
 acter one could possibly conceive. 
 
 " There is hardly a big or little print in the whole 
 country that has not had its snarl; but all were to 
 little purpose in crushing out the renowned traitor they 
 sought to annihilate. While all of them were the 
 vilest and grossest misrepresentations, they were also 
 devoid of the strength that attaches to decency and 
 earnestness. 
 
 " Finally, however, about a year ago, the editor of a 
 small, obscure paper, printed at Corry, Pa., got his 
 * mad up, and sent out a scorching shell, that was 
 pushed along by the whining Radical press, until it 
 had gone the length and breadth of the country. At 
 the time we paid no attention to the effervescing vile- 
 ness of this scab of Jacobinism, trusting to time to set 
 all things even. And time has done it. 
 
156 LIFE OF 
 
 " We have before us a slip cut from the Oregon (111.) 
 National Guard, from which we take the following 
 extracts : 
 
 " Not many months since, the people of this county 
 were regaled with an article on Brick POMEROY, by a 
 portion of our county press, copied from the Corry 
 (Pa.) Republican. Every paper caught it up, and 
 many of them testified that it was true to their own 
 knowledge. While in Rockford the other day, we met 
 the gentleman who edited the Republican, and while in 
 conversation with him referred to the article in ques 
 tion. He acknowledged that he wrote it, and also that 
 it was manufactured entirely from fancy, not a word of 
 truth being in it. He said, as a publisher of a Radical 
 paper he thought if he couldn t tell anything against a 
 copperhead by telling the truth on him, he would lie. 
 He said the other Radical papers did it, and he wanted 
 to keep up. 
 
 " Here is a first-rate Radical confession, showing that 
 the stock in trade of the Jacobin mob is lying and 
 slandering. This Pennsylvania editor confesses to hav 
 ing never seen us, yet he published what he called a 
 personal description, and gives reputed happenings in 
 our career, which he now confesses to have been en 
 tirely imaginary, and without the slightest foundation 
 in truth ; and such w r ere all the vile stories that have 
 been published in that connection. We took not the 
 trouble to denounce them, because our friends, and 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 157 
 
 those who knew us, knew them to be lies, and for our 
 enemies we had no care. 
 
 "TWINS BEECHER AND POMEROY. The coming 
 monthly of that eccentric genius, Packard, the advance 
 sheets of which the editor has kindly furnished us, con 
 tains a peculiar article on Twins. In it the author 
 makes the absurd point, that men in general are 
 ashamed of twins, that they go back on them, and 
 rather avoid the honor of their paternity. But read 
 him: 
 
 " Another singular twinitarian fact is, that, whereas 
 the mother is always inexpressibly proud of twins, the 
 father not unfrequently has to contend with a sharne- 
 facedness on the subject, of which he is, in turn, still 
 more ashamed. You see a couple blessed with twins 
 get aboard of a street-car with their double chubby 
 treasures. The mother makes the most of them,shows 
 them off in a variety of cunning maternal ways, and 
 challenges the admiration of the whole company ; but 
 the father sneaks off to the platform outside, under 
 pretence of requiring the fresh air. We saw that. very 
 thing done no longer ago than the day before yester 
 day, in a street-car in Brooklyn. 
 
 " In fact, the only man that we have any idea would 
 always be proud of twins, everywhere, on every occa 
 sion, and under whatever circumstance, is Brick Pom- 
 eroy. Although we never saw Brick Pomeroy, we 
 
158 LIFE OF 
 
 feel an assured conviction that he would never think of 
 going back on a pair of twin Bricks in a street-car, or 
 anywhere else. 
 
 " Does the reader ask us why, in this particular 
 matter, we have such an exalted opinion of the young 
 Democratic David? We answer, our faith in Brick 
 Pomeroy s loyalty to twins is founded on the fact 
 that 
 
 " Brick is himself a twin ! and that Henry Ward 
 Beecher is the other one ! 
 
 " It cannot have been forgotten that, on a memor 
 able occasion, when Mr. Beecher was expostulated with 
 for saying original and live things in the pulpit, he 
 plaintively responded : 
 
 " But if you only knew the things I don t say ! 
 
 " Too true ! alas, too true ! And here is where the 
 twinship comes in : 
 
 " Mr. Beecher does not say em, but his fellow twin 
 does say em. Brick thus supplements or twins Beecher, 
 whereby we get an entire man, which is a purely provi 
 dential matter. 
 
 " And Brick has made a vast deal more by saying 
 the things which Beecher does not say, than Mr. 
 Beecher has ever made by not saying the things which 
 Brick does say. 
 
 " But if Mr. Beecher only would say em in his own 
 heaven-gifted way, what a commotion he could raise, 
 what a newspaper he could make! He could be the 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 159 
 
 monarch of the world the adored leader of the choice 
 and master spirits of this age. 
 
 " The twin that speaks its uttermost convictions 
 without fear, favor, or affection, is the favorite of these 
 times, and we feel .obliged to providence for proving 
 this truth so strikingly by means of Brick Pomeroy. 
 Not that we sympathize or agree in principles or con 
 victions with that conspicuous twin, far from it; but 
 we do go in for the out-and-out expression to one s 
 personality, under any and all circumstances. 
 
 " The application of this short secular sermon is, 
 therefore, this, oh reader: If you are going to be a 
 twin at all, be the twin that says it, rather than the 
 twin that doesn t say it the twin that does it, rather 
 than the twin that doesn t do it. r 
 
 " TRUTH FROM THE TRIBUNE. The Tribune of this 
 morning is disposed to be complimentary. We begin 
 to tremble lest we have done something wrong. Praise 
 from happy HORACE goodness gracious ; praise from 
 godless GREELEY really, this will not do. Pitch into 
 us, old buffers, but for pity s sake don t slather us with 
 flattery. We always knew that we were good ; but 
 great oh, go long. This is what HORACE says : 
 
 " The Hon. Mark M. Pomeroy, the great Democratic 
 editor and statesman of the West, has honored us with 
 a copy of his new national daily .paper, The Democrat. 
 We are glad to have an opportunity of congratulating 
 
160 LIFE OF 
 
 Mr. Tilden and his friends that they are about to have 
 an organ that will forte the fighting. We have been 
 convinced that the disgust which the pure Democracy 
 of New York felt for the Herald and the World would 
 take expression in this form. It was impossible for a 
 great party, a party of lusty, zealous, and bold men, to 
 forever follow the uncertain leadership of the Herald, 
 or to find comfort in the endless columns of twaddle 
 which the hangers-on of the Manhattan Club daily dis 
 till into the New York World. They have yearned for 
 a leader like Pomeroy ; and now Pomeroy comes 
 among them, a Saul among Democratic prophets, and 
 raises the banner of true Democracy in New York. 
 
 " Mr. Pomeroy informs us that his paper will be 
 red-hot ; that it will be * a true, reliable, out-and-out 
 Democratic daily paper ; that it will be the sharpest, 
 plainest, most readable, best edited and most interesting 
 daily paper ever issued in America ; and that it will 
 persistently and unflinchingly advocate the equality of 
 States or another war. He also assures us, that in 
 arranging this platform, it is * with a full knowledge of 
 the wants of the people, their sentiments and demands. 
 The difference between Mr. Pomeroy and the other 
 Democratic editors is, that he is sincere. He claims to 
 be a Democrat, and nothing else. It is all very well 
 for these curled darlings of the Manhattan Club, sod 
 den with the fumes of Mr. Barlow s champagne, to 
 write their rhetorical fribbles about the Constitution 
 
MAKK M. POMEROY. 161 
 
 and the laws, but the true-hearted Democrat, the Dem 
 ocrat who goes to the polls and assists in swelling the 
 great Democratic majority of New York, wants just 
 such teaching as Mr. Pomeroy proposes to give him. 
 
 " The advent of Mr. Pomeroy is a matter that more 
 immediately concerns the World, the Herald, and the 
 Express than it does the Tribune. At the same time, 
 it is an event in New York journalism. It is also 
 something to know that we have Mr. Brick Pomeroy in 
 journalism, and that he leads a mighty and well- 
 disciplined party. As for the World, it serves no pur 
 pose, either useful or ornamental, except to print the 
 inexhaustible letters of George T. Curtis, and the inter 
 minable speeches of Mr. Tilden." 
 
162 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Mr. Wells description of a true Orator. Pomeroy as a Poet, Artist, Philoso 
 pher, and Actor. 
 
 Mr. S. R. WELLS, in his " New Physiognomy, or 
 Signs of Character," thus speaks of the true orator : 
 . " The orator requires the mental and vital tempera 
 ments. He must be feelingful, emotional, frank, and 
 open, and be largely endowed with Language, as an 
 outlet for his thoughts and feelings. He must have a 
 vivid imagination to give its charm to his ideas, arid 
 Ideality to adorn his style. He should have strong affec 
 tions, to warm up and animate his nature. The more 
 highly educated, the better he can use his faculties. 
 Still, the Indian of the forest may possess all the natural 
 oratorical qualities and become celebrated, although 
 untaught. And we have had very fine specimens of 
 native orators even among backwoodsmen, who were 
 unlettered. 
 
 " One may excel as a debater without rising into the 
 sphere of the orator. He may preach a most eloquent 
 sermon without any oratorical display. He may be 
 purely of the intellectual sort, and, as a speaker, he may 
 claim some degree of reputation ; but if he combine 
 something of the poet and actor, with real devotion, 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 163 
 
 his power will be proportionately increased. Truth 
 should be a crowning principle, and he who speaks, 
 should speak from the heart to the heart, if he would 
 move the heart. 
 
 " He is the best orator who knows most of the human 
 mind. Would he awaken the affections, he knows what 
 chord to touch. Would he excite the passions, he 
 knows where to strike. Would he stimulate the sym 
 pathies, or develop the reverential emotions, he must 
 appeal to them through Benevolence and Veneration. 
 Would he touch our sense of honor, our manliness, he 
 must appeal to those faculties on which these sentiments 
 depend, and he must feel and express these sentiments 
 if he would work on the feelings of those who hear. 
 This is the secret of oratory. 
 
 " A man with a bad cause, and knowing himself to be 
 in the wrong, can make but a weak appeal compared 
 with him who is actuated by the consciousness of being 
 in the right, and of serving God as well as man. Take 
 the case of Patrick Henry on that memorable occasion 
 when he exclaimed : I know not what course others 
 may take, but as for my single self, GIVE ME LIBERTY, 
 
 OR GIVE ME DEATH. ! : 
 
 We thank Mr. Weils for so clearly defining the secret 
 
 of Mr. Pomeroy s success as an orator. Like the Indian 
 
 of the forest, his sole preceptor in elocution was the 
 
 grand master of the Indian, Nature. He speaks from 
 
 the heart to the heart, and he not only feels the truth 
 
164 LIFE OP 
 
 of every word he utters, but he convinces his hearers 
 that he believes in his expressed sentiments. 
 
 Like our good, kind-hearted Horace Greeley, Mr. 
 Pomeroy is honest, and in this age when honest men are 
 so hard to find, be they Republican or Democrat, they 
 should be appreciated. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy is a poet his mental temperament is 
 exquisitely susceptible he has not the poetry of the 
 passions, nor of the intellect ; his is the inspired poetry 
 of the spiritual sentiments. Read his " Magic Article" 
 in his book of " Sensed It is a prose poem. In the 
 delicate finger-tracery of the frost on his windows 
 he sees all that is beautiful in nature. He says : 
 " It seemed as though a convention of angel-artists had 
 been summoned by the dying Winter-king, and by the 
 light of the aurora borealis, had made him a picture of 
 such magic beauty, that no one could look upon it 
 without feeling to do him homage. There were the 
 bold, heavy strokes of some rough old forest-spirit who 
 delighted in making mountains, rocks, cascades, and 
 deep ravines. There stood the work of less dashing 
 artists, delighting in the production of plains, rivers, 
 oceans, and deserts. Then there were plains filled with 
 forests deep and dark with woods resembling the 
 famed Bois de Boulogne with prairies and deserts 
 stretching off into the distance, till lost in touches so 
 delicate that the breath of a spirit even> must drive the 
 work away. There were sketches by gentler artists 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 165 
 
 ft 
 
 of birds, of plants, of flowers, and a thousand beautiful 
 fancies. There were the choicest, most delicate era- 
 broideries, rivalling the finest Honiton, so neatly woven, 
 of so fine a texture, and of such handsome patterns, that 
 it seemed as if the wedding lace and bridal veils of 
 angels had been stolen from their heavenly wardrobe, 
 and placed on the windows before me to teach man his 
 utter insignificance." 
 
 We see in this beautiful poem the ideality and sub 
 limity which he sometimes shows in his speeches. 
 
 He is sympathetic, and can at once read the style of 
 his audience, and adapt his oration to their intellects. 
 He is a splendid imitator, and his sense of the ludicrous 
 is intense. I have seen his audience one moment shed 
 ding tears over some pitiful tale of woe, and the next 
 laughing at his truthful imitation of some drunken sot. 
 He is, as a speaker, fiery, honest, and earnest ; he 
 speaks, urged on by his love of liberty and sense of 
 manly independence, and his words fall like hot shot 
 and strike home to the hearts of his hearers. He is not 
 a cautious speaker, and does not feel his way, but dashes 
 at once into the heart of the argument regardless of con 
 sequences. 
 
 His language is large ; his sympathies and affections 
 strong, and his executiveness almost boundless. If 
 trained for the stage he would have been a consummate 
 impassioned actor. 
 
 He is no philosopher; he does not spend time in ana- 
 
166 LIFE OF 
 
 lyzing causes or in indulging in comparisons; he grasps 
 results, and uses his powerful perspective gift in carving 
 out his way politically. 
 
 He is very original and comprehensive, and is capable 
 of putting parts together and drawing conclusions. He 
 is reverential, and his religion consists in " doing unto 
 others as he would have them do unto him." His Hope 
 and Faith are strong ; he trusts God always, and man 
 until deceived by him. 
 
 His social affections are strong. He, when not en 
 gaged in national affairs, is, strictly speaking, a family- 
 man, fond of home enjoyments, and devoted to wife and 
 child his little Mary, a fairy of seven years of whom 
 he speaks with all the tenderness of a fond father. He 
 is mirthful as a child, and enjoys the sports and pas 
 times of a boyish nature. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy is an artist. His creative ability is 
 large. His pen-and-ink sketches are so ably drawn that 
 we can shut our eyes and still see the pictures portrayed 
 in them. As a man he is familiar and democratic ; there 
 is nothing exclusive about him ; he uses as studies the 
 highest and the lowest specimens of humanity, and his 
 wonderful descriptive powers enable him to give to the 
 world the result of his investigations. 
 
 We have faithfully endeavored to give a fair estimate 
 of Mr. Pomeroy, politically and intellectually, judging 
 as well by what we know of him as by the facts given 
 us by those who have been long and intimately con- 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 167 
 
 nected with him, and we sum up all by giving the 
 secrets of his wonderful success. In the first place he 
 thoroughly understands himself, and therefore is con 
 versant with every phase of human nature, and when he 
 undertakes to reach a goal, he does so, fully determined 
 to win. 
 
168 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 As a popular orator. 
 
 As we said before, Mr. Pomeroy is, as an orator, bold, 
 dashing, original, forcible and eloquent, be it in appeal, 
 illustration, or sarcasm. Fowler and Wells, the well- 
 known phrenologists, say that he should have been a 
 public speaker, rather than a writer, and class him as a 
 statesman of high order, combining sense with ability. 
 When speaking he is extempore entirely never at a loss 
 for words. 
 
 He handles an audience as he would four-in-hand, and 
 becomes at once on familiar terms with it. 
 
 He uses wit, satire, sarcasm, appeal, argument, and 
 illustration, alike with force, and holds his audience till 
 the work be done. As a specimen of his powers in this 
 respect, we give an extempore speech made by him at 
 Waverly, N. Y., on the evening of Sept. 26, 1868, with 
 out other preparation than the school of events. It is a 
 verbatim report as taken down by his short-hand re 
 porters, without addition, erasure, or alteration, and will 
 bear perusal the more, as it indicates his reasons for his 
 political earnestness. 
 
JV v / 
 
 MARK M. POMEROYU N I V j 1^ J69 
 
 SPEECH OF ME. POMERoV. 
 
 A I ,1 kY\l , 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen of "YVaverly After thanking 
 you from a full heart for your generous welcome here, 
 I ask from you to-night your attention more than your 
 cheers. Let me say to you, my friends- for every work 
 ing man in America, every young man in this country, 
 I care not whether he is Democrat or Republican, so 
 long as he is honest, is my friend, and his prosperity is 
 my happiness let me say to you here to-night, I would 
 rather have your attention than your cheers, and you 
 will please me, as your friend, as one working for your 
 interests, if you will remain perfectly quiet and not cheer 
 me at all, and not give any demonstration of applause 
 to anything I may say. I will state, furthermore, that 
 if I am interrupted, if any gentleman sees fit to inter 
 rupt me by. talking to his companions in the crowd, 
 although he may do it kindly, that moment I shall 
 leave the platform and talk to the people outside this 
 densely packed temple. I wish to be heard. I ask 
 your attention that you, my former fellow-citizens, my 
 friends, all may understand what I say to indorse the 
 right and denounce the wrong, if any wrong positions 
 are taken or words said here before the thousands as 
 sembled. First I will read to you from a very loyal, 
 dark-complexioned, black and tan-colored handbill, 
 which has been, by Republicans, distributed broadcast 
 over the streets of Waverly. I wish your attention, 
 
170 LIFE OF 
 
 ladies and men, as I intend to convert every "Republican 
 in this wigwam. I presume they call them wigwams 
 out of compliment to Grant s early Indian experience. 
 (Applause.) I see there are about one hundred and 
 seventy-five Republicans here to-night ; I can tell them 
 by their looks. They are not as wide between the eyes 
 as Democrats, and act as if their palms itched for wool. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 " The bill reads as follows : 
 
 " INCANTATION QF THE DEMONS. 
 
 KU-KLUX KLAN ! TURN OUT ! 
 
 Double, double, toil and trouble, 
 
 Fire bum and cauldron bubble ; 
 Adder s fork, Copperhead s sting, 
 
 Lizard s leg and owlet s wing, 
 With the charm and powerful trouble, 
 
 Like devil-broth, boil and bubble. 
 
 "Brick Pomeroy, the champion of modern Democ 
 racy, the man who was driven out of Rosecrans army, 
 will boil the charmed pot in fort hell to-night in Wa- 
 verly. 
 
 "Brick Pomeroy, who happily calls the citizens of 
 Waverly God-and-morality sneaks, who curses green 
 backs, and glorifies gray-backs, will give the Democracy 
 the latest news from the place where it is Red-Hot. 
 
 I presume you are the demons, and have come out 
 to hear the head demon of all ! (Applause.) I have 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 171 
 
 been represented as the very worst pill in the box. 
 (Cheers.) But I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, and 
 especially ladies of Waverly sewing-societies, that I am 
 no worse than your own husbands, sons, brothers, and 
 lovers, who run me down as th e worst man in the world. 
 Nor am I bad enough to become a Republican. (Ap 
 plause.) 
 
 For the kindness of some of my left-handed friends, 
 in issuing this bill, and thus advertising me, they will 
 please accept my heartfelt thanks the more, as it is all 
 at their expense. They tell us of a Ku-klux Klan: 
 that it will be manifest at the election in November. 
 Well, it will be a klan of working-men of the young 
 men who are now mortgaged to support an aristocracy 
 of bondholders ; it will be a klan of men working for 
 their own interests ; it will be a klan that will vote for 
 the right vote to bring this country back to the peace 
 and prosperity it does not now enjoy, and which it never 
 will under Republican rule. (Applause.) This bill 
 says that "Brick" Pomeroy, champion of the modern 
 Democracy, was driven out of Rosecrans army. It 
 has been said I was driven out of Rosecrans army. I 
 never was in Rosecrans army. I never was in any army 
 except as newspaper writer. In 1862, I was driven 
 out from the army of eastern Arkansas, from the army 
 of the trans-Mississippi valley, then commanded by one 
 Prentiss, of Illinois, one of the illustrious liars, robbers, 
 and cotton-thieves of the army. Not because I was in 
 
172 LIFE OF 
 
 the army, not for corruption, not for stealing, but, as the 
 order stated, for stating, in the LA. CROSSE DEMOCRAT, 
 which, till that time, was an almost unknown paper, 
 that in my opinion, after thirteen weeks of earnest ob 
 servation and attentive study of the way in which the 
 war was conducted, it was my conviction, with a full 
 understanding of what I said, that the war, which was 
 being carried on by the people of the North, for the 
 restoration of the Union and the preservation of their 
 liberties, had become, through the mismanagement of 
 cotton-stealing Generals, through the corruption of po 
 litical officers, under the sanction of an incompetent 
 President, a murderous crusade for cotton, niggers, and 
 plunder generally. For these writings I was given a 
 mock trial, and ordered to leave the lines, go North, 
 and not return to the army under a penalty of being 
 hung as a spy. It was not Rosecrans army, but it was 
 the army of the Northern people, commanded by a thief. 
 It is a trifling thing, but there is nothing like having a 
 thing right. One word more : I have been often ac 
 cused of being a traitor to my country ; accused of 
 being in sympathy with the rebellion, and opposed to 
 the Union. I have been accused thousands of times by 
 the leaders of the Republican party now in power, but 
 so rapidly going out of power, of being in sympathy 
 with those who, they say, sought to destroy the princi 
 ples of liberty, and the institutions of America. Allow 
 me here to state to you, my friends, and many are here 
 
MAJJK H. POMEROY. 173 
 
 in this large temple who knew me years ago, before 
 events crowded so thick and fast upon us, that never in 
 my life was I an enemy to my country ! (Applause.) I 
 have never sought to war upon the principles of liberty 
 or the right. I have never joined issue with any party 
 or people in a war upon the Constitution, the liberties 
 of the people, the rights of the States, or the laws of my 
 country. (Applause.) I loved my country in her peril. 
 When a boy a poor, dirty-fingered mechanic, a young 
 working-man the world lay all unopened before me. 
 I had the same promise of life, the same hopes for the 
 future, that you young men, you working-men, you Re 
 publicans who intend to vote for Grant and Cdlfax, and 
 you who intend to vote for Seymour and Blair, have. 
 I had the same hopes, same ambition, same desire to 
 work and make myself a home, that you have. I was 
 poor. Many of you knew me as a poor boy. I was 
 young. I was inexperienced. I had been taught 
 from earliest infancy that the lessons given us by the 
 statesmen of America, were lessons for us youths to 
 learn from, and for the citizens of America to emu 
 late. (Cheers.) I was taught that it was the duty of 
 every citizen to love his country, to love his God, to 
 love the home-ones of his heart, to love the principles 
 of liberty, and to defend those principles, and the Con 
 stitution of his country, which protected him and his 
 alike in the enjoyment of personal and national bless 
 ings. (Cheers.) I looked forward, as the young work- 
 
174 LIFE OF 
 
 ing-men of my country all looked forward, to the day 
 when I might have a happy home, earned by myself, 
 when I might be surrounded by beloved ones, whom 
 I could care for as we journeyed on toward the " golden 
 home," to which we are all hastening, in the land of the 
 leal, just over the Great River. I was willing to labor, 
 as you are willing ; I wished wages, that when Saturday 
 night came the most blessed of all nights which God 
 has given to us men of toil I might take home to the 
 loved ones the fruits of my industry. I have never 
 wished to war upon the people, the principles of liberty, 
 the rights of States, or the Constitution that protected 
 me as a citizen, penniless though I often was ; and from 
 that time to this I never have had any wish to injure 
 my country, or to insult the patriotic sires now with Him 
 above. I wanted protection for my earnings. I wanted 
 to live as others who are good and true lived. I wished 
 to grow up a man among men, a lover of the principles 
 of liberty, and defender of the faith of my fathers. 
 (Applause, long continued). 
 
 When I was an apprentice boy here in Waverly, 
 almost before Waverly was founded or formed into a 
 village, I was tempted by the Republican party to for 
 sake Democracy, to forsake the principles and teachings 
 of my fathers, forsake the interests of the people, and 
 join the Republican party, which was then coming into 
 power. Why was I tempted ? I will tell you why. The 
 Republican party came into power before my initial 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 175 
 
 vote was cast. When it commenced its career, it asked 
 the people of America to forsake Democracy. It asked 
 the young men, and especially the workingmen, to leave 
 the Democracy and join issue with this new Republican 
 party. Why ? Because it said it was a party in favor 
 of retrenchment and reform a party in favor of the 
 protection of the people in their rights and interests. 
 The Republican party said to us that there existed at 
 the South an institution known as Slavery; that that 
 institution was at war with us ; that it was antagonistic 
 to the industrial interests of the North ; that it was the 
 duty of every man in the North who loved his country, 
 to defend the interests of his country by putting down 
 the aristocracy at the South, by putting down those 
 twin relics of barbarism Slavery and Polygamy. We 
 were told that there was an irrepressible conflict be 
 tween free and slave labor, and it was our duty here to 
 put down the aristocracy in the South, no matter if that 
 aristocracy was protected by the constitution of our 
 country. 
 
 Let us digress. Let us look at the constitution of 
 our country. What was it ? Who made it ? What its 
 purposes ? What its object ? Who gave it strength and 
 power ? How was it observed ? It was a sacred com 
 pact made between States, between Commonwealths at 
 the time when our confederation of States was formed. 
 That constitution guaranteed to the peopie North and 
 to the people South certain rights and certain privileges, 
 
"176 LIFE OF 
 
 and it promised to defend them in their interests, earn 
 ings, and industry. At the time the constitution was 
 formed, there existed in America an institution known 
 as slavery. Those who formed the constitution held 
 different ideas. Some men of the North wished slavery 
 abolished, and some of the South did not wish it abol 
 ished. The people of the South refused to join the con 
 federation ; they refused to cast in their lot with the 
 people ; they refused to surrender their rights as States 
 or Commonwealths, unless this common constitution 
 which was to be adopted would protect the people of 
 the South the same as it protected the people of the 
 North, in their principles, earnings, and rights. The 
 constitution was adopted, and it pledged the people of 
 the South and North Virginia and Massachusetts alike 
 protection for their- common interests. The Abolition 
 ists came into power following a forced necessity. They 
 claimed " that the will of the people was the supreme 
 law of the land." It was the right of the people of the 
 North to abolish slavery no matter how many prom 
 ises were made in times of common danger to pro 
 tect it. 
 
 The war came upon us. It broke in upon the interest 
 of the people of the North, the people of New England, 
 the people who are so excessively pious that they " hang 
 a cat on Monday for killing a rat on Sunday." (Cheers.) 
 This agitatiom culminated, or brought on the war, which 
 it has conducted ; and of its results I will speak in a few 
 
MAKK M. POMEEOY. 177 
 
 moments. That war was a very serious one. It was a 
 gigantic one. When I was a boy here in Waverly, we 
 had no idea of war. . The dark cloud of battle hung not 
 upon us &s it has since. The Republican Party brought 
 on the war brought it on by seeking to interfere with 
 the rights of the States, and seeking to deprive States 
 in the South of the rights they had, under a common 
 Constitution, helped create. It educated the South to 
 believe, through Greeley, Banks, Helper book and 
 Helper doctrine, that they had the right to secede ; and 
 that it was for the interests of the Confederation that 
 they would secede and depart from the Union. Horace 
 Greeley, the illustrious father of the Republican Party, 
 almost, or rather its wet-nurse, and the one who has 
 adopted it, said that if the South wants to go out of the 
 Union, let it go. It was the general opinion of the Re 
 publican Party through the North, that the people of 
 the South had the right to go out from the Union if 
 they saw fit. The people of the South, misguided, mis 
 informed, under the influence of certain men who be 
 lieved they were right, at last attempted secession. At 
 last the South sought to withdraw from the Confedera 
 tion, because, as they said, they could not live at peace 
 with their neighbors at the North, for the reason that 
 their neighbors of the North did not wish to live at peace 
 with them. They said if they had an aristocracy it only 
 affected them and their interests, and did not interfere 
 with the North. They said that if they had an aris- 
 
178 LIFE OP 
 
 tocracy, it paid taxes and helped the North. They 
 cited, in proof of their claims, the fact, that although 
 they made large sums of money at the South by carry 
 ing on the husbandry of that section, they spent millions 
 of dollars at the North ; that they gave employment to 
 the mechanics of the North ; that they bought pianos, 
 clocks, and carriages ; they bought articles of furniture, 
 bought articles of luxury, because there was a superi 
 ority and ingenuity of mechanism in the North that had 
 not been developed at the South, and which beautified 
 and cheapened these articles, for the reason that it was 
 the interest of the people there to give their attention 
 to agricultural affairs, and they had not developed the 
 mechanical resources of the South. They claimed that 
 their so-called aristocracy benefited the people of the 
 North. That it gave employment to thousands of 
 workingmen ; and that the money made on the rice, 
 sugar, and cotton plantations of the South, was largely 
 expended in the machine-shops of New England. That 
 it was expended all over New York ; that it gave em 
 ployment to thousands of women and children in the 
 factories of New England. They sought to go out of 
 the Union, and not interfere with our affairs as we had 
 interfered with theirs. They went out to establish for 
 themselves a separate and independent government and 
 confederation, under their Constitution, looking for their 
 interests, their rights, and their toil, as we looked out 
 for ours where they could have a right to regulate 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 179 
 
 their affairs in their own way. Then it was the war 
 came upon us. When the people South had been led to 
 believe that they had a right to secede, then it was that 
 the loyal people of the North declared that secession 
 was a heresy, and could not for one moment be tol 
 erated. I was at that time a Douglas Democrat. I 
 said, as a young man, that the principle of State rights, 
 and allowing every State to govern its own affairs, was 
 the only safeguard of liberty here in America. (Great 
 applause.) I was in favor of the continuation of the 
 Union in accordance with the good old plan. I said 
 that the people of the North, through legislation in Con 
 gress, had no right to interfere with the local questions 
 affecting the interests of any one of the counties in any 
 one of the States. If we allow the people of one State, 
 in her Legislature, or by her Congressional representa 
 tives, to interfere with another State to disturb her do 
 mestic relations, what safeguard for the future have we ? 
 The State gives us protection. The State takes care of 
 our children for us ; and it is to the State laws that we, 
 the people, look for protection, as the States look to 
 Congress for mutual protection in time of peace or war. 
 The State alone protects us ; for the Confederation was 
 formed for the better protection of the States by each 
 other, and not to deprive each other of any right 
 they had under the Constitution. (Many voices : 
 * That s so, Good, Good. ) It is so! The Amer 
 ican people said so in days agone, when the Constitu- 
 
180 LIFE OF 
 
 tion was formed, and they are stating so to-day, all over 
 the land, as you will see by the masses of enthusiastic 
 people who are speaking for State rights, white suprem 
 acy, equal taxation, and an honest administration of the 
 laws. (Cheers, and loud cries of Good! good! ) At 
 that time I was opposed to secession. I did not join 
 with the rebels South. I said it was the duty of the 
 people to put down rebellion ; said that the States in 
 the Union could not go out of the Union. I said the 
 Confederation was formed to last till eternity. That it 
 was the duty of every man, Democratic or Republican, 
 young man or old, who loved his country, to stand by 
 and defend the beautiful flag in front of me ; to stand 
 by the defence of American liberty ; to stand by Amer 
 ica as our forefathers stood by it and for us ; and that 
 he who would not stand by it, that he who would not 
 give his voice, strength, or means to put down an armed 
 rebellion that the Union might be saved until dissolved 
 by common consent that that man was not a patriot, 
 and I did not like him ; I cared not whether he was 
 Democrat or Republican, foreign or native-born, it made 
 no difference. If he was for his country, and for the 
 Constitution, liberty, and the laws, he was my friend. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 If he was for the Constitution I would support him, 
 as he would support the Constitution. If he was in 
 favor of warring upon the interests and constitutional 
 
rights of any State or people he was my enemy, and I 
 should so consider him. 
 
 At last, when the war was well upon us, after the 
 Republican party had educated the workingmen to 
 hate the aristocracy South which brought us blessings 
 instead of curses after the fanatics of America had 
 educated the people that it was their duty to war 
 upon the Constitution after the war came upon us 
 then came a chance for the people to show their patri 
 otism. Then, also, came a right for them to criticise 
 the administration, then came a duty for them to per 
 form, which was to hold the Republican party respon 
 sible to force it to live up to its promises, and that 
 duty as a citizen I proposed to do. (Great applause.) 
 
 The Republican party came into power promising 
 retrenchment and reform. (Cries of That s so. ) It 
 said to me, as a young man, at a mass-meeting held in 
 Waverly, in 1856, that it was the duty of the working- 
 men to protect their interests, that it was the duty of 
 the young men of America to look out for their inter 
 ests. (Great applause.) They said it was their duty 
 to protect themselves, their States, and their children 
 according to law, and according to the soul of the leg 
 acy left us by the patriot sires of the Revolution, who 
 have gone to their homes just over the river. They 
 said to us young men, that it was our duty to put down 
 an administration that was corrupt. They said it was 
 
182 LIFE OF 
 
 our duty to put down an aristocracy that compelled 
 the laboring men of America to support it. (Cheers, 
 and cries of Hear, hear. ) 
 
 The Republican party promised us retrenchment 
 and reform. It said to me, if you will join with us, if 
 you will forsake Democracy, we will give you a better 
 government, a cheaper government. ( That s so, and 
 Good, good. ) We will give you more protection for 
 life and liberty. We will give you greater freedom of 
 speech. (Voices, But they didn t. ) More protection 
 for your homes, persons, and earnings. I will tell you 
 why I warred upon it (the Republican party), why I 
 did not and do not like it ; why I am in earnest, and 
 positive in defence of the interests of my countrymen 
 by birth or adoption, and why I intend to be while God 
 spares me to work. 
 
 I was branded as a traitor. For what ? Because I 
 criticised the acts of the administration. (Cries of You 
 did right. ) I urged the putting down of the rebellion 
 urged the keeping of the States in the Union, I 
 urged the defence of the flag and the Constitution, and 
 the preservation, unimpaired, of the laws of the land ; 
 but I did criticise the administration. I criticised the 
 acts of Mr. Lincoln, for there was great cause. I criti 
 cised the acts of the Republican party. And I will tell 
 you why. I had the right to under the Constitution of 
 my country, as a citizen of America, as one endeavor 
 ing to guard the interests of the people : as the editor 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 183 
 
 of a newspaper, and especially a Democratic newspaper, 
 it was my sworn duty to stand by the principles of 
 liberty, to stand by the Constitution of my country ; 
 and, thank God, that duty I never have shirked in the 
 hour of most extreme peril of life and property. (Cries 
 of Good, good, and tremendous cheering.) 
 
 The Republican party said it was wrong to continue 
 a party in power that warred upon our principles. 
 After the country had been brought into war ; after 
 the people had been educated to hate the right ; after 
 the people of the North had been educated to hate the 
 South who were of us and with us, as they shall be 
 again (cheers) ; after the minds of the young men and 
 workingmen of the land had been poisoned against the 
 sacred, blood-bought institutions of our country, and 
 against the Constitution, and against the States, which 
 it was alike our duty to stand by, support, and protect ; 
 after the Republican party had come in power, and had 
 demanded the management of its own aifairs in its own 
 way, then came a season of most extravagant corrup 
 tion, and wanton robbery of dead, living, and unborn 
 people. Then came a season of tyranny and usurpation 
 of power, the like of which was never before. Then 
 came a season of profligacy and total disregard of right, 
 and disregard of all promises to the people, to the 
 workingmen, such as never had been witnessed by any 
 other people on the face of the habitable globe. (Great 
 cheering, and cries of Give it to them. ) 
 
184 LIFE OF 
 
 (A gentleman here arose and said : Mr. Speaker I 
 would state that there is some danger that the roof 
 will fall in because there are so many upon it.) Well, 
 I will appoint those on the roof a special guard to see 
 that no more get up there. We have stood it out in 
 times of danger (cheers), and so long as it holds, we 
 are safe. (Cheers.) There are a great many Dem 
 ocrats now-a-days ; they are coming up from out of the 
 ground, coming from the roof, coming from the woods ; 
 and they are marching on toward the White House. 
 (Cheers.) You see many of them here to-night, but you 
 will see more before November. (Loud Cheers.) This 
 Republican party promised us retrenchment and reform. 
 What kind of retrenchment was it that took from the 
 earnings of the workingmen of the East and the farmers 
 of the West dollar after dollar to enrich New England 
 speculators? Do you call this regarding the promise 
 made the people when the Republicans sanctioned the 
 destruction of two hundred and ninety-eight print 
 ing-offices in the land? Years agone, when there was 
 one printing-office mobbed over there in Kansas, there 
 went up a cry, a shriek and a howl from all the Re 
 publicans in the land. (Loud cries of That s so. ) 
 They shouted " A free press, free speech, free men, Fre 
 mont ! Down with Democracy ! down with the party 
 that will not throw the protecting arm of the adminis 
 tration around the people and protect them and their 
 outspoken newspapers in their long-established rights." 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 185 
 
 (Cheers.) And yet that party which came in power 
 crying for free speech, which came in power charging 
 .corruption, profligacy, and usurpation of power, tyranny, 
 and wrong upon the democratic party, sanctioned the 
 destruction of nearly three hundred printing-offices. 
 (Cries of, * That s too true that s so. ) It ordered the 
 incarceration of hundreds and hundreds of the earnest 
 defenders of liberty in the North. (Cries of Shame 
 on the tyrants. ) It put manacles on the wrists of hun 
 dreds of brave Democrats, and without trial or charge 
 merely answering the tinkling of a tyrant s bell at 
 Washington sent honest citizens to the dungeons and 
 bastiles, the Forts Warrens and Fort Lafayette of the 
 land, and kept them there till, in many cases, reason 
 deserted its throne, and till some satrap till the ven 
 geance of some infamous, cowardly, rotten, devilish, 
 tyrant-protected despot had been satiated, and then 
 men would be turned loose without a trial or a charge 
 from which to clear themselves. This is the way the 
 Republican party kept faith with us. This is the way, 
 when that party promised to protect the freedom of 
 speech it commenced from the first to war upon it, and as 
 one of the editors of the country, as a young man stand 
 ing by the principles of liberty, honest and unused to 
 court ways, it was my duty to denounce it. (Cries of 
 4 You did, good boy, etc.) And it was my duty to 
 charge it with infamous tyranny, usurpation of power, 
 and disregard of every pledge made to the people, and I 
 
186 LIFE OF 
 
 thank my God, standing here before assembled thou 
 sands, that through all the lessons and troubles of the 
 past, I can raise my face to Heaven, place my hand upon 
 my heart, and say that I never indorsed the Repub 
 lican war upon liberty ; nor have I ever feared or ceased 
 to denounce it as inhuman and at war with the inter 
 ests of America and the laboring men of my land, and 
 I intend to fight that party as long as I live, because it 
 is my duty and pleasure, my right and my sworn pur 
 pose, to defend liberty here in America. (Great cheer 
 ing.) No matter how many others may fail because 
 of lack of pluck or moral courage, I shall stand by it 
 to defend, till our country is saved or till we have all 
 gone down together, buried under the bayonets of a 
 centralized despotism that despotism which wars upon 
 ten States of the Union, and which to-day is hurrahing 
 for Grant and Colfax, the nigger, and the- bondholder 
 of America. 
 
 Look at your pet, Benjamin Butler, better known as 
 the spoon-thief and woman-insulter of America ! (Groans 
 for Butler). Look at that man and tell us of him. He 
 helped educate the people of the South to believe that 
 the Democratic element of the North would never war 
 upon them under any circumstances. He told them 
 that if they wished to go out of the Union the Democ 
 racy would let them go. But the Democracy of the 
 Union was for the Union and its Constitution, and de 
 fended that great heritage because that heritage and 
 
MAKK M. POMEEOY. 187 
 
 that instrument defended us, and it shall defend our 
 children as it has defended us, if to re-establish it must 
 come another war. (Cheers). Butler, years ago, told 
 the South that the Democratic party was in sympathy 
 with them, and in Baltimore and Charleston he voted 
 fifty-two times for Jeff. Davis, and voted for secession. 
 He voted to bring war upon the country. He was re 
 warded by Lincoln with a Brigadier-General s com 
 mission ; and from the time he donned the uniform he 
 has with other thieves disgraced, his course has been 
 one of corruption and wrong-doing, of fraud, deceit, in 
 famy, treachery, venality, and wickedness ; and for his 
 aiding in the misleading of the people of America, for 
 his sacrifice of life, and for his incompetency, he was 
 rewarded by the Republican party that is in power to 
 day, with the position of leader. He stands to-day be 
 fore the world the leader of the Republican party. 
 The man who forced his way from a back-seat to a front 
 one in the intended impeachment of the chief Executive. 
 He is the man who is looked upon as the great leader 
 of the Republican party; the man who furnishes it with 
 more brains than all the other Republicans in the party. 
 (Cries of spoons, spoons. ) He don t furnish spoons, 
 he takes them. (Applause.) He is playing the game 
 where the more you put down the less you take up. 
 (Cheers.) The Republican party has made its leaders 
 of the Butlers the spoon-thieves of the Logans, of the 
 men who attempted to raise regiments to go into the 
 
188 LIFE OF 
 
 Southern army, and even General Grant, who offered 
 his services to the Southern Confederacy, and whose 
 services were rejected, because the South had no faith 
 in his competency, sobriety, or honesty. (Cheers and 
 great laughter.) The Republican party promised us 
 retrenchment and reform ; it has not given us that. It 
 promised us an honest administration ; and I will ask 
 any fair-minded Republican here to-night ask any 
 honest Republican in the country if that party was 
 honest if it has kept faith with the people ? If it has 
 defended free speech ? If it has stood by the interests 
 of the people ? If it has protected the workingman ? 
 If it has done well for the young man ? I Avill leave 
 it for any of you Republicans ; and if there are any here 
 who are honest, who can say that the Republican party 
 has kept faith with the people ; if I cannot contradict 
 him successfully, I will step from this stand never more 
 to raise my voice in defence of the liberties of my 
 country. It did not care for the interests of the people 
 when it gave contracts whereby millions of dollars were 
 stolen from the United States during its hours of agony. 
 It did not keep faith with the workingmen while they 
 were seeking to put down the rebellion at the South. 
 While the workingmen were seeking to defend their 
 rights and themselves under the Constitution, (cries of 
 4 That s so, ) it, by Republican legislation, gave your 
 notes, as workingmen. It made your notes the bonds. 
 It sold those bonds for forty cents on the dollar. It de- 
 
MARK M. POMEEOT. 189 
 
 clared that the holders of these bonds or notes, which 
 you must pay, should be exempt from taxation, in the 
 pockets of the bondholders of the country; and yet 
 there are in the land, men who ask us still to work with 
 the Republican party. There are men who have the 
 brazon effrontery to ask us to vote for their candidates, 
 who ask us to support bondholders in idleness, after 
 they have robbed the people to put gold in the pockets 
 of the rich, and furrows on the face of the poor ; and 
 who voted for the paying of the people the working- 
 men, the soldier who fought, and .the widows of those 
 who fell in a depreciated currency; while the bond 
 holders who gave no blood, and the speculator who 
 stole himself rich, is to have gold. (Cries of * Good 
 boy. ) Is this the way you keep faith with the laboring- 
 man of America ? Is this the way to encourage indus- 
 try 3 by legistating labor into slavery, and setting up 
 protected aristocrats for us to worship? Is this the 
 way you propose to win votes from the people of Amer 
 ica, by telling them in advance that you will make them 
 the slaves of the moneyed power of the country? 
 
 I don t like the Republican party, because it trifled 
 with our interests and set its filthy body on the beauti 
 ful robe of Liberty, and tore the canvas of our national 
 painting with its bayonets. (Applause.) It trampled 
 the workingmen and the young men of America under 
 an aristocracy that never existed in this country till the 
 Republican party came in power ; and which aristocracy 
 
190 LIFE OP 
 
 I believe, as I believe in Almighty God, I shall live to 
 see put down under the feet of the honest, home-loving, 
 patriotic, laboring men of the country, the Constitution 
 of which declares that taxation must and shall be 
 equal. (Continued cheering, and loud cries of Good, 
 good ! Go on ! ) As the editor of a Democratic news 
 paper, striving for the defence of liberty, I thought I 
 had a right to criticise the acts of the Administration. 
 (Cries of You had, you had ! ) When I saw bad men 
 placed in office when I saw your sons, your brothers, 
 your friends, and my friends, soldiers of the country 
 the private soldiers of America, who were carrying on 
 the war when I saw them sacrificed at the South, as I 
 did, merely for the gathering in of cotton, horses, mules, 
 plunder, and confiscated property when I saw them 
 fall under the fire of the farmers of the South, w T ho were 
 called guerrillas when I saw them go down hundreds 
 by hundreds into the hospitals, to suffer and to die 
 then I said the war, which was begun by the people of 
 America, had become, through the profligacy, corrup 
 tion, and incompetency of the Administration, but a 
 murderous crusade for cotton and plunder ; and, gentle 
 men, I believe I was right. (Cries of You were good 
 boy ! ) And the people of America, and the people of 
 other nations, believed that I was right then ; and as 
 the day dawns upon us anew, they are believing still 
 more that I was right. And the people will strengthen 
 that belief by their increased Democratic votes this fall, 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 191 
 
 and the denunciation of the rotten party now in power, 
 but soon to go out. When I saw the Republican party 
 warring upon the principles of liberty, I spoke against 
 it ; when I saw it warring upon the interests of the 
 workingmen, I spoke against it. 1 never in my life said 
 one word against the honest soldiers of my country. I 
 defy any man, alive or dead, standing here in fleshly 
 presence, or by ghostly power, coming from any place, 
 known or unknown, to point to one spot where, by word 
 or letter, by pen, ink, or with types, I ever said one 
 word against the honest soldiers of my country. (Great 
 applause. ) I defy any man to show it. If any man can 
 show it, I will give that man every dollar I am worth in 
 the world, and agree to black my face, curl my hair, 
 and become his most abject slave the rest of my life, al 
 though black slaves are more fashionable now. (Cheers.) 
 I will tell you, workingmen, and you soldiers who have 
 been to the front, what I did say, openly and boldly : 
 I said that the Administration which would see private 
 soldiers sacrificed, to put money in the pockets of in 
 competent generals, was cruel, wrong, corrupt ; that it 
 was trifling with the liberties of the people, and I hated 
 that Administration. (Applause.) I never said one word 
 against the honest private soldiers or the honest officers 
 of the armies of my country. I spoke against those who 
 wore the straps, and who sacrificed private soldiers for 
 the purpose of plunder. I said these men were wrong. 
 They did not care how much of your blood they spilled 
 
192 LIFE OF 
 
 so they could put money in their pockets. The man, 
 North, South, East, or West, Democrat or Republican, 
 old man or young man, who will defend that flag the 
 man who will stand by the interests of his country, to 
 defend the principles of liberty the man who will bare 
 his heart to the rattling storm of hail as it comes from 
 the enemy s guns that man is a patriot, he is a soldier, 
 he is a brave man, and I love him. And I care not what 
 be his creed or politics, nor where he fights ; and as I 
 love him, so do I hate, despise and God knows I am 
 honest in the matter the coward who would take ad 
 vantage of his official position, and, because given shoul 
 der-straps to wear, would sacrifice, for the purpose of 
 plunder, private soldiers ; who, unmoved, saw them 
 suffering in hospitals who put. them on board rotten 
 steamboats, and saw them go down, never to rise again. 
 I have warred against incompetent American generals. 
 I have warred upon a rotten Administration, and warred 
 upon incompetent officers who entered the army solely 
 for purpose of plunder; and, thank God, I have never 
 had occasion to ask pardon of any power on earth for 
 this offence against Republican loyalty, and I never 
 intend to. There is no power that can pardon a man 
 simply for doing his duty. (Applause.) They called me 
 traitor." They say I am the worst man in the world. If 
 I am that, why have I not been punished ? I stood by 
 iny lights. I stood by my principles. I stood by the 
 interests of those who were fighting, better than they 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 193 
 
 stand by themselves, when they hurrah for the party 
 that has divided this country ; that keeps ten States out 
 of the Union ; that has mortgaged every son of America, 
 every laborer, every child of the poor man to the bond 
 holders of the country, who are exempt from taxation, 
 and who live on the hard-earned money of the working- 
 men of my country. (Cheers, and cries of c Good boy. ) 
 
 Some of them say I am red-hot. I have been opposed 
 by Democrats and Republicans. They tell me I am 
 too extreme, too violent ; that it was not according to 
 Democratic principles to stand to Democratic profes 
 sions. Gentlemen, I tell you this, I take my Democracy 
 just as many of you take your whisky straight, with 
 out milk or water. (Laughter.) Democracy with me 
 means Democracy; liberty means liberty; right means 
 right; wrong means wrong ; and the wrong I war 
 against. The Constitution means the Constitution; 
 the rights of the States means the rights of the States ; 
 the rights of the people means the rights of the people. 
 (Cheers.) If I see a man stealing, I call him a thief. 
 (Cries of That is right. ) 
 
 My dictionary was brief. My education was, per 
 haps, neglected in my youth ; but I was educated to be 
 honest, and that education I have never departed from. 
 (Applause, and cries of That is right. ) If a man lied, 
 I said he was a liar. If a man tinkled a little bell and 
 sent people to the bastiles of the land, I said he was a 
 despot. (Applause, and loud cries of * Good boy. ) If 
 
 9 
 
194 LIFE OF 
 
 the President of the United States sanctioned this war 
 upon liberty, while sworn to defend that liberty, while 
 asking the people of America to fight for that liberty, 
 and when he had the full power of America in his 
 hands, when he consented to this great wrong, I said 
 he was a tyrant and before God I believe I was right. 
 (Great applause.) If I am not right, then, gentlemen, 
 history will correct me, and the American people will 
 correct me ; but they are not correcting me this year 
 quite as much as they were. (Cheers.) 
 
 Then the Democrats said to me : " Go slow ; don t 
 be so extreme ; don t talk out so ; don t dortt don t 
 be so ugly, * Brick. " (Laughter.) Some of my friends 
 said, if you will just come in with this party you will 
 make money ! You can t fight against the current ! 
 This is now a military necessity. If you will only go 
 just a little slow, and help Jones, or Smith, or Brown 
 to get the straps on the shoulders, we will make money, 
 we will divide, and we will get along nicely ! We will 
 float with the current, and we can all get rich. The 
 trouble was, too many men wanted to get rich, no mat 
 ter at whose expense. (Applause.) 
 
 " Gentlemen," said I, " you can t do it in that way. 
 Go into the Republican party, steal, rob, plunder, com 
 mit all sorts of outrages ; but don t claim to be Demo 
 crats. (Cries of Good boy. ) If it is Democracy to 
 endorse Republicanism, if it is Democracy to endorse 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 195 
 
 corruption, endorse tyranny, endorse despotism, endorse 
 this trifling with the rights of the people, then, thank 
 God, I am. no Democrat. (Loud cries of Right ! 
 right ! ) But if it is Democratic to stand by liberty, by 
 the Constitution, by the rights of the States, to stand 
 by the laws of my country, to stand by the interests of 
 the workingmen and young men of the land, then I am 
 Democratic, and always intend to remain such. (En 
 thusiastic applause.) 
 
 Some said, " Go slow ; you can t catch flies with 
 vinegar." They said we must use honey for catching 
 flies. I was not in the fly-catching business; I was 
 fighting the men who were mortgaging the people of 
 America as slaves to the bondholders, and those who 
 were trampling the interests of our country under their 
 feet. The result was this. After I was sent home from 
 the army I was a very bad man. The administration 
 thought I was a bad man ; but it said : " Pomeroy, 
 don t criticise us, we don t like it ; you are a little too 
 red-hot." The administration offered me a situation in 
 the army ; offered me the colonelcy of a cavalry regi 
 ment if I would agree not to criticise the acts of the 
 administration. I said : " There are thousands of weak- 
 kneed Democrats who will do this ; but I can t do it. 
 I cannot agree to become any man s slave and not crit 
 icise his acts." 
 
 Let me relate a little incident that occurred in New 
 
196 LIFE OF 
 
 York. It is funny rather funny ; but still it is true. 
 I relate it at the request of the gentleman on the stage, 
 who just now, in a whisper, asked me to. 
 
 Coming out from dinner on Monday, I saw standing 
 on the streets a one-legged soldier. He had attached 
 to his back by a strap a hand-organ. By means of this 
 organ he procured the means of subsisting himself, 
 wife, and three children. I walked along beside him, 
 and asked him his name ; he told me. I asked him 
 where he lost his arm ; he said at Gettysburg. 
 
 " You were in the army ?" 
 
 "I was." 
 
 " Go in a Republican ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Come out a Republican ?" 
 
 " No, by " (and he swore, but I will not.) 
 
 " Grind that organ for a living ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Come up in front of my office and you can start up 
 a little tune for me." 
 
 He went to the office, No. 166 Nassau-street, dropped 
 his hand-organ for business, and I noticed on the top 
 of his organ a paper announcing that the man who car 
 ried that organ had paid ten dollars a year license to 
 the Government for the privilege of grinding that organ 
 one year. 
 
 " Did you say you were a soldier ?" 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 197 
 
 " I was." 
 
 " Fought to restore the country ?" 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " Paid ten dollars license to the Government you lost 
 a leg to save !" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " What is that license for?" 
 
 " That goes to make up a revenue for the bond 
 holder, as I understand it, and that s what makes me 
 a Democrat. I don t like any such business as that." 
 
 " Play a tune, and I will pay you for hO 
 
 He played "Away Down South in Dixie." I said : 
 
 " That is nice ; I like that. That was a loyal tune. 
 I like it for two reasons : Abraham Lincoln said it was 
 the nicest tune he ever heard in his life. (Laughter.) 
 He fell in love with it. Abraham was loyal no man 
 can doubt that and wishing to emulate his example, I 
 loved Dixie. Dixie was loyal I loved Dixie, and 
 therefore I was loyal. (Great laughter.) 
 
 " Play it again." 
 
 He played it. 
 
 " What will you ask to sit in front of my office for a 
 week, from one o clock till four, and play that one tune 
 continually ?" 
 
 " Two dollars per day." 
 
 " Very well, I am going into the country to talk to 
 the Democrats, and with all who labor, who come to 
 
198 LIFE OF 
 
 hear me, and I want you to play this tune here till I 
 come back. Go into the office on Saturday night, and 
 my cashier will pay you." 
 
 Down went his organ and out came " Away down 
 South in Dixie." He played it right straight along. 
 A crowd gathered around, and one old gentleman 
 
 " When are you going to change that tune ?" 
 
 " I don t know ; that man hired me to play this one." 
 
 " Oh, my God !" says he, and moved on. (Great 
 laughter.) 
 
 By-and-by, down came a gentleman from up-stairs, 
 of whom I lease the premises, and said : 
 
 "Move on, or you will attract a crowd. You are 
 getting up a nuisance." 
 
 He said, " I cannot move on. I am hired to stay 
 here." 
 
 "Who hired you?" 
 
 " This fellow that runs this newspaper here." 
 
 " I don t want you to play here. You are a nuisance. 
 Move on." 
 
 " I cannot ; I will lose my wages." 
 
 " Play some other tune, then." 
 
 " No, it is in the contract that I play this one tune," 
 and he kept playing away. 
 
 The gentleman went up stairs, and in a few moments 
 came down again. He spoke to one of my clerks and 
 said: 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 199 
 
 " I wish you would get an order for this man to 
 leave." 
 
 The clerk replied : 
 
 "I can t do it. If I order him away I lose my 
 place." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that Mr. Pomeroy has hired 
 this fellow to play that tune all day ?" 
 
 " Yes, and every day for a week." (Laughter.) 
 
 "Do you think Pomeroy would maintain- a nui 
 sance ?" 
 
 " I don t know anything about that, but if Mr. Pome 
 roy has told the soldier he will maintain him playing 
 Dixie for a week, you may bet your bottom dollar he 
 will do it. (Laughter.) 
 
 The third time he came down and said : 
 
 " I want you to move away from the front of this 
 building." 
 
 I heard the remark and said to him : 
 
 " Hold on ; I rent half this building ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Pay ten thousand dollars a year for what I oc 
 cupy ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 "This half is mine-?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " This man has a right to play this tune in front of 
 my half." 
 
 " I don t like the tune. Let him play some other tune." 
 
200 LIFE OP 
 
 " No ; I want that one tune played. It suits me. Mr. 
 Lincoln said it was the best tune that ever was in 
 vented." (Great laughter.) 
 
 "That soldier," said he, "cannot stay here." 
 
 Said I, " He can stay there. That soldier was a Re 
 publican soldier. He went into the army and fought. 
 He went there to save the country. He lost a leg fight 
 ing the rebellion. He has returned to his home. He 
 finds his wife and children in want. He pays ten dollars 
 a year license for the privilege of grinding this rickety 
 old hand-organ. That license goes to make up a reve 
 nue, which goes into the pockets of your bondholders. 
 (Applause.) That soldier fought for his liberty ; he is 
 having it now. I want him to stand right here, and 
 play every day, and this same tune." 
 
 " Will not some other tune do ?" 
 
 " No, I want this tune, to remind the workingmen of 
 New York who pass by here every day, that i Away 
 down South in Dixie are carpet-baggers, lazy niggers, 
 and Freedmen s Bureaus, a great big standing army, 
 that the workingmen of the North are laboring day 
 after day to support, at war upon the receipts and in 
 terests of the North, as they are at war upon the hus 
 bandry of the South. I want him to play that same 
 tune, in order that the people of the North may know 
 where their money has gone to. He is going to play 
 here ; and if you molest him I will mash your head for 
 you." (Great laughter.) 
 
MARK M. POMEKOY. 201 
 
 I left the office at five minutes before four yesterday, 
 and he stood there grinding, "Away down South in 
 Dixie." I am going to hire him to grind all next week. 
 Still, it is not pleasant music for the bondholder. I 
 know it is not nice; but they have given us a little 
 trouble, and this is one of the ways in which I propose 
 to have my share of revenge out of them. 
 
 Makes a Republican speech. 
 
 Now, a little Republican speech, if it is possible for a 
 Democrat to make one. I may fail. If I do, you must 
 take the will for the deed. A few years ago (I am talk 
 ing as a Republican), I came as a Republican, and 
 preached to you here the necessity of a change of the 
 Government. I said that the power of the Government 
 depended on the consent of the governed. I said there 
 was a need of change that we must have retrenchment 
 and reform ; and I told you, Mr. President, that the 
 Administration that" the party which would submit to 
 the mobbing of one printing-office in America deserves 
 to be forever annihilated. I said, as a Republican, 
 that the Democrats were wrong ; that they were dis 
 honest. I made speeches here, and charged you to take 
 care of your interests. I made war speeches ; I urged 
 the necessity of putting down the aristocracy at the 
 South. I asked you to look out for your interests, that 
 America might be greater. I charged you that it was 
 your duty to protect your earnings. Then came a war. 
 9* 
 
202 LIFE OF 
 
 Then I was in my glory. I did not fight worth a cent. 
 As a military genius I never was a success. But I could 
 make war speeches. I was blessed with more gift of 
 gab than any six auctioneers. I urged you working- 
 men, you young men, to leave your homes. I said : 
 " Follow the destinies of your flag take the flag and go 
 forth against the rebellion. We at home will take care 
 of your interests." Oh yes ! I made lots of war speeches. 
 I promised the workingman a great deal. I told him : 
 " If you will fight, I will take care of your wife ; I w r ill 
 protect your children ; I will hoe your farm ; I will milk 
 your cows ; I will churn the milk into butter ; I will sell 
 the butter, and put the money in my pocket, if I get a 
 chance." I figured up how much you could make, you 
 men who really loved your country, by going to the 
 war. I did not put this question to you on a patriotic 
 basis. I said : " If you will leav e your homes, your 
 farms, your workshops, and go forth to put down the 
 rebellion, we will pay you thirteen dollars a month. 
 Besides that, we will pay bounties money in advance 
 so you may leave it with your families ; us good loyal 
 Republican fellows will do it ;" and lots of you believed 
 we were honest. Some of you fought, some of you re 
 turned, others sleep on the battle-fields of the South. 
 What have I been doing meanwhile? I didn t fight. 
 Fightjng was not my best hold ! I was willing to carry 
 on this war, no matter at what expense of life. I was 
 willing to shed the last drop of blood, and yet, some- 
 
MARK M. POMERO**" 203 
 
 how, I could not get the first drop of my own started. 
 I was willing to sacrifice my uncles, my cousins, my 
 nephews everybody fit to carry a musket. I was wil 
 ling to sacrifice every one of the relatives I had pro 
 vided they would leave me their property. That was 
 what I was after spoons. I made war speeches to you. 
 You did not want to go to the front. I said it was 
 necessary to go. I cited the Constitution your inter 
 ests. I said it was a duty you owed to your country to 
 fight ; and that we would pay you for it. How did I 
 pay you ? I didn t put my hand into my pocket and 
 haul out the money. I gave you bounties. I had a 
 certain New England knack which allowed me to figure 
 this thing out very nicely. 
 
 But then came calls for more troops. The war was 
 lagging. We must have more men. The poor people 
 must be more interested in their country, because this 
 Government was established in their interest. There 
 fore let us, gentlemen, who can t fight Republicans 
 who must remain at home to take care of the Demo 
 crats, and protect our soldiers from the fire in the rear 
 let us devise means to start the people off to the front. 
 We will pay every poor man, every .Irishman, every 
 German, every young man, $250. How will we raise 
 the money ? We will sign the notes of the country : 
 we will give the bonds of Waverly, and sell them in 
 market. For a hundred dollars worth of bonds we will 
 receive a hundred dollars cash. Then we will pay the 
 
204 LIFE OF 
 
 money to the poor man, and he can do the fighting. 
 The poor man takes the money, leaves it with his wife, 
 goes to the front and becomes a patriot. This is a very 
 nice arrangement. Therefore, we vote that we will thus 
 raise $10,000 in this city. We sign the bonds which 
 are but your notes you men who own property, who 
 own machine-shops, stores, farms these notes you must 
 pay at some time. "We signed $10,000 worth of your 
 notes. We then take these notes over to the ricli man 
 across the way, and say : " Here are notes which the 
 people will pay in five years. We will give you seven 
 per cent, interest on your money. We want to borrow 
 $10,000 on the notes." The rich man says, " No : I 
 can t see it. It is a great question with me whether the 
 rebellion will be put down. I worked hard for my money, 
 and don t propose to squander it." " But we must have 
 the money. Those poor people won t fight unless they 
 have some recompense." The rich man says he will let 
 us have, for a thousand-dollar note, four hundred dollars 
 in currency, or give us, perhaps, five hundred dollars on 
 the note, the best bargain we can make. If you don t 
 go forward at one call and for one bounty, you are 
 drafted ; therefore you are compelled to take the money 
 we offer you. The rich man pays five hundred dollars 
 on the note, and we hand the money to you. We re 
 alize, as agents, a few dollars for our trouble. You go 
 forth to fight. What is the result? The working-man 
 who went to the front and perilled his life to put down 
 
MARK M. TOMEROY. 205 
 
 the rebellion returns to his home and works year after 
 year to take up the note which was sold for him sold 
 at fifty cents he pays one hundred cents on the dollar 
 back. He pays interest to the rich man. He pays 
 the entire debt of the nation, and the rich money 
 lender pays nothing. I, as a Republican, made lots of 
 money in the bonnty business. I took the contract to 
 fill the quota for Tioga County. I sold the bonds 
 your bonds bonds on every foot of land in this country 
 notes which you, workingmen, must pay and with 
 the money put five hundred men into the army, and ten 
 percent, of $10,000 of it went into my pocket. That 
 was not much money for a loyal man to make. 
 
 I had been talking of retrenchment and reform 
 talking nicely of conducting the Government with econ 
 omy. I had said it was an insult to the American peo 
 ple to rob labor of its reward. I went to Washington 
 one day and secured a contract. They wanted ships in 
 which to send soldiers down to New Orleans and bring 
 confiscated goods back. I bought a rotten old hulk of 
 a steamer in New York. Wishing to benefit the coun 
 try in its hour of peril, I sold this old hulk, which I 
 gave $5,000 for, for $100,000: I only made $95,000 
 profit. 1 was loyal. I was an honest man, the noblest 
 work of God. I was a man in sympathy with the peo 
 ple ; therefore $95,000 was all I wanted. I could not 
 have made money if I had not been loyal ; if I had not 
 had friends in Washington a cousin in Congress a 
 
206 LIFE OP 
 
 loyal man a man who shouted : " Down with aristoc 
 racy ; take care of the people." 
 
 I had also another cousin in the Senate. He was 
 also loyal. I had to divide profits with them both, for 
 it is expensive to be loyal. But I made $50,000 or 
 $75,000 clear, and put it in my pocket. I had friends 
 in Washington ; and I tell you, my friends, there is 
 nothing like having friends in power. You may talk 
 of having friends in the West, friends in Ireland, friends 
 in Heaven even ; fyut they donH, hold a candle to the 
 friends you have in the Treasury those who are will 
 ing to haul out and divide with you those friends who 
 put their hands into the Treasury, and who all the 
 while pray : O Lord, deliver us from these Democrats, 
 who keep up a fire in the rear. The hulk I sold was 
 rotten. It was laden with a thousand troops your 
 brothers, sons and started for Hatteras Inlet. Up 
 came a storm; down went your troops, your muskets, 
 article after article, which had cost the people money. 
 Up comes a call for more troops, for more muskets. I 
 have contracts with my rich New England friends, 
 who don t like the Democratic majorities because they 
 say they war with New England interests. I have a 
 chance to sign more bonds. I am growing richer. You 
 are growing poorer. The war is carried on successfully. 
 But we Republican leaders, the great head-lights of this 
 * God and morality engine, we are all right. 
 
 At last the war is over. The rebellion is put down. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 207 
 
 You are told you can return to your homes. The Pres 
 ident told you you were not warring upon the rights of 
 States or of any people. You were simply defending 
 your own interests. You return, and find things greatly 
 changed. I was poor when the war commenced. I 
 could not have got trusted for a No. 2 mackerel. I 
 was immensely poor but loyal but now am all safe 
 and sound. 
 
 * The taxes are very high now. Let us see how you 
 raise your money for Improvements, for education, for 
 taking care of your paupers. By taxation. How do 
 you do it ? I, as an assessor, take my book in my hand, 
 start out and call on the poor people. 
 
 " I go over to my friend Michael Flanagan, who 
 came here from Ireland. 
 
 " How are you getting along ?" 
 
 "Divilish hard luck I have of it." 
 
 " Do you like America ?" 
 
 " Bad cess to America." 
 
 " How much money are you worth ?" 
 
 " Nothin at all." 
 
 " You have a horse and cart you are a drayman 
 down here in the village that is worth $300, and taxes 
 are very high. You came from Ireland, Michael, to 
 America to escape the oppression and unequal taxation 
 of the old country, which kept you always in debt. 
 You cast in your lot with us, and therefore you must 
 pay your share of the tax. Don t we take care of you, 
 
208 LIFE OF 
 
 don t we give you work on the public works, and don t 
 we cheat you out of the money if we get a good 
 chance ?" 
 
 " Faith, that s so." 
 
 "How long have you been working to earn that 
 horse and cart ?" 
 
 " I commenced working on the railroad. I had a 
 Collar a day in Democratic times, and saved a dollar a 
 week. I laid up three hundred dollars, and bought ft 
 horse and an Irishman s buggy. I earned a living for 
 myself and family." 
 
 " I want you to pay seventeen dollars on your horse 
 and cart." 
 
 Michael says he hasn t that much money to his 
 name. I tell him it is his duty to have that much. I 
 tell him to sell his horse, and he will have enough to 
 pay his tax and something over, and next year, Michael, 
 you will only have to pay taxes on your cart, d ye see ? 
 Your taxes will be just half as high, and you will have 
 a lot of money left, so you can buy a dress for your 
 wife. You can educate your children, go on a spree, 
 sit on your cart and whistle Dixie or St. Patrick s 
 Day in the Morning. Next year you sell your cart, 
 and you will have enough money to pay your taxes and 
 have something over. And the year after that, Michael, 
 you will not have anything at all to pay taxes on. The 
 property is all in the country : you should not grumble. 
 What s the difference whether the rich man or the poor 
 
MAEK M. POMEIIOY. 209 
 
 man has it ? We will fix it for you, Michael, you go 
 and pay your taxes. Michael says he don t exactly see 
 it ; but he is obliged to see it. 
 
 Then I go over to my friend Von Schneider, and I 
 say : " Good-morning, Mr. Von Schneider, how do you 
 get along ?" 
 
 "Very good, Mr. Bumeroy, I hope you ish veil." 
 " Well, Mr. Van Schneider, how are you fixed ?" 
 "Veil, Mr. Bumeroy, I ish fixed so bad as never 
 vas !" 
 
 " How long have you been to this country ?" 
 " I dink it ish apout ten years I guess not !" 
 "How much money did you have when you came 
 here?" 
 
 " About six tousand dollar." 
 " Any children, Mr. Von Schneider ?" 
 " Veil now, Mr. Bumeroy, I told you how it vas : You 
 see, pout ten year ago I come mit dis country, und I 
 pring mine frau and mine two sons, and I makes mine- 
 self a little home, and I live mit mine boys, who ish 
 such goot poys as never vas. Und den py and py dey 
 comes mit de fitens, und dey say to mine boy Yacup 
 (Jacob) dat if he pese loyal he vill go mit de flag und 
 fight de patties mit de country. Und so dey corne 
 along mit de pig prass pand speiiin Who s pin here 
 since I s pin gone (laughter), or some other of dem 
 patriotic tunes, and dey takes mine boy down to Pig 
 Pethel, where dem troops mit General Butler shoots at 
 
210 LIFE OF 
 
 each other for exercise (loud laughter, and cries of The 
 Beast ! Spoons ! &c.) ; und den my poy gets killed 
 down dere. Und den py and py dey comes along again 
 speilin mit der pand, and dey takes mine boy Yohannas 
 (Johannas) down where General Panks is preakin de 
 pack pone of de rebellion mit cotton (laughter), und 
 den my other boy he git killed. Den I vas loyal, and 
 I takes my monish what is all gold, und I lends him to 
 de Government to help put down de rebellion. Veil, 
 den, py and py I tinks I go pack to de old country and 
 pring mine m udder and some of my brudders over to 
 dis country, und I go to de man what has de sheeps, 
 und I say I want some little dickets, but de man he 
 say, Oh, no ; we don t take that kind of monish here. 
 Und I say, All right ; I goes pack and gits my monish 
 from de Government. When I comes to de Govern 
 ment I say, Mr. Government, now I vants to go to de 
 old country, and you vill please give me my monish ; 
 but he say, -2V0, NO ! Und de Mr. Government he look 
 very wise, and he say, Ve vill give you dis other kind 
 of monish ; and so I gits fifty cent in de greenbacks for 
 every one of my dollar in gold. Yat you dink of dat, 
 Mr. Bumeroy?" 
 
 " Well, how much have you got now ?" 
 " Veil, I got pout three thousand tollar in greenbacks, 
 und it is all in my little farm, und I makes a little monish 
 to support mine frau and mineself." 
 
 And then I tell Mr. Von Schneider that I must tax 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 211 
 
 him for his property, and he must pay it to my partner, 
 Mr. Collector. 
 
 [The speaker was here interrupted by the delegation 
 from Owego, Towanda, Elmira, and other cities and 
 towns, being compelled to leave the Wigwam to take 
 their respective trains for home. Before leaving, at the 
 request of the speaker, enthusiastic cheers were given 
 for Seymour and Blair and the white ladies of America, 
 followed by continued cheers for Mr. Pomeroy.] 
 
 I next go to my friend Billy Williams. 
 
 " How are you ? 
 
 " Very well, considering. I was in the army. Lost 
 a leg. Am now hobbling around my farm, trying to 
 support my mother." 
 
 " How much money are you worth ?" 
 
 "About a thousand dollars." 
 
 " Fought to save the country ?" 
 
 " I did, sir, like a little man." 
 
 " Are you a Republican ?" 
 
 " I am, sir, every time." 
 
 " All right ; I honor your spunk. The Government 
 exempts you from taxation ?" 
 
 " JVb, sir; I don t want exemption." 
 
 " You pay taxes ?" 
 
 Yes, sir." 
 
 " For what ?" 
 
 " Don t know and don t care. A soldier asks no ques 
 tions but obeys orders." (Applause.) 
 
212 LIFE OF 
 
 The next morning the Collector comes along to me. 
 Ah! Good-morning ! Come and take a glass of wine 
 with me. It don t cost me anything you know, the 
 Government pays for all this. How much are you 
 worth ? I reply : Half a million. 
 
 " Why, Pomeroy, I knew you when you was not worth 
 a dollar." 
 
 " Oh, yes, but I was loyal. I went into the spoon 
 business ; I sold clocks ; I filled contracts ; I fixed my 
 self very nice." 
 
 " I knew you when you first started out as a Repub 
 lican ; when you could have carried all your clothes in 
 a cigar-box, and had room for a Grecian bend besides." 
 " Can t help that. Was loyal. I was a Republican. 
 I took care of the people s money." 
 " How much are you worth ?" 
 " Half a million." 
 
 " That s very nice. We have to raise taxes, and they 
 are very heavy this year. We have to take care of 
 several crippled soldiers. We must have free schools. 
 We must pay for sheriffs; we have judges and juries 
 to pay. We have town and city expenses, road expenses, 
 State expenses, all sorts of expenses. Taxes are very 
 high. As you are worth $500,000 your taxes will be 
 $17,000, and you will not feel it. How much is your 
 income ?" 
 
 " About $73,000." 
 
 " We will tax you about $11,000 on it." 
 
MAEK M. POMEEOY. 213 
 
 " Oh, no ! I can t see it. I don t intend to pay taxes." 
 " Where is your money invested ? In machine- 
 shops ?" 
 
 " No: 3 
 
 " In railroad enterprises ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Where ?" 
 
 "In Government bonds. A Radical Legislature, a 
 Radical Congress, caring for the interests of the people 
 while the people were straining every nerve to put 
 down the rebellion has kindly freed the aristocracy 
 from paying its share of the tax, and created an aris 
 tocracy at the North. We hold the bonds which the 
 people must pay ; and it is declared that these bonds 
 are exempt from taxation ; and I hold these bonds. I 
 have not a dollar tax to pay. I am one of the pets of 
 New England. Excuse me, I do not pay taxes. You 
 can ask Flanagan, Schneider, and Williams. You may 
 ask the workingmen for their taxes. Go to the widows. 
 Go to the wives. Go to the orphan children. Go all 
 over the country, but don t ask me. I am protected by 
 Republican legislation ; I am protected by Congress, 
 that has legislated the people into slavery. The people 
 must pay me interest in gold. I bought those notes at 
 forty cents on the dollar." 
 
 Now hurrah for Grant and Colfax the bondholder 
 for anything that compels the poor man to support the 
 rich. Why don t you cheer? (Unbroken silence.) 
 
214 LIFE OF 
 
 [The speaker here resumed Ms Democratic speech.] 
 
 Yesterday morning, while a guest of George Magee, 
 at Watkins, while reading in the Bible my morning 
 chapter, I found a passage, to which I wish to call the 
 special attention of the Republicans here to-night who 
 believe in St. Paul. I believe in the Bible ; I believe in 
 morality; I believe in Democracy; I believe in the 
 right ; I believe in protecting the interests of the work- 
 ingnien ; and I believe St. Paul was a workingman when 
 he wrote the inspired words of which I hold here a copy. 
 I would state to you, my friends in Waverley, that many 
 of you believe, or have been told, that I was a drunken 
 loafer ; that I was a very bad man ; but I say to you 
 here to-night, friends, that here stands before you a man 
 who never was intoxicated in his life ; who is employ 
 ing, to-day, over two hundred men in his respective 
 printing-offices, and employs not one man who uses in 
 toxicating liquor as a beverage. (Continued applause.) 
 That is sufficient for that charge. 
 
 The passage is 2d Thessalonians, third chapter, 
 6-15 verses. 
 
 " 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves 
 from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not 
 after the tradition which he received of us. 
 
 " 7. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow 
 us : for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among 
 you; 
 
MARK M. POMEEOY. 215 
 
 " 8. Neither did we eat any man s bread for naught: 
 but wrought with labor and travail, night and day, that 
 we might not be chargeable to any of you. 
 
 " 9. Not because we have not power, but to make 
 ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. 
 
 " 10. For even when we were with you this we com 
 manded you, that if any would not work neither should 
 he eat. 
 
 "11. For we hear that there are some which walk 
 among you disorderly, working not at * all, but are 
 busy-bodies. 
 
 " 12. Now, them that are such, we command arid 
 exhort, by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness 
 they work, and eat their own bread. 
 
 " 13. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. 
 
 " 14. And if any man obey not our word by this 
 epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, 
 that he may be ashamed. 
 
 " 15. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish 
 him as a brother." 
 
 Now these brethren who walk disorderly are carpet 
 baggers down South, and the men who attempted to 
 disturb this Democratic meeting. 
 
 Now, I believe that there is a duty you owe to 
 yourselves and to your children, and that duty you will 
 find in the inspired writings, when it tells you not to 
 walk with those that are disorderly. When it tells you 
 that those who do not work shall not eat. And the 
 
216 LIFE OF 
 
 non-laboring ones are the bondholders of America the 
 ones protected by Republican legislation, those who 
 demand gold from your earnings, gold from your 
 pockets, gold from your children, and demand that 
 your children be made slaves of those who don t work. 
 Are you willing to make your children slaves ? (Cries 
 of No, no, no! ) Have you no love for your homes? 
 (Cries of Yes, yes ! ) If you are willing to benefit the 
 political tricksters who have lied to you, toyed with 
 your liberties, trampled your interests under their feet ; 
 if you care not for yourself, in God s name, my fellow- 
 countrymen, young men, and workingmen, have some 
 mercy upon the children of America ! And don t, in 
 behalf of these children, do not, I beg of you, make 
 them slaves to an aristocracy, slaves to the bondholders, 
 that are growing richer and richer, year after year, at 
 your expense, and who are educating their children to 
 look with contempt upon the children of laborers of 
 America. For your attention to-night, for your gen 
 erous welcome that you have given me, citizens, I in 
 days of boyish poverty knew, please accep t my sin 
 cere, earnest, heartfelt thanks. Good-night. (Immense 
 cheering." 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 217 
 
 i JVKKS]T U 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Specimens of Mr. Pomeroy s miscellaneous writings. 
 
 THE PRAYER OF THE WIDOW. Beside a grave knelt 
 a young widow, not long since, in a quiet town in the 
 State of Pennsylvania. By the foot of the little * home 
 where slept her husband, a child lay, innocent and ig 
 norant of its mother s sorrow. Curiosity excited us, 
 and we approached, to hear her, in broken words, with 
 hands clasped and upheld, face upturned and dishev 
 elled hair, pray as follows. The first of the prayer 
 we did not hear ; the close was this : 
 
 " And, Father in Heaven, I loved him. He was all 
 the world to me. He loved me he held my head so 
 close to his heart he cared for me so tenderly. But I 
 let him go when his country called, for it was to save 
 his country they told me. And oh ! my Father in 
 Heaven, how I watched and waited for him how I 
 prayed for his safe return ! But Thy will was done, and 
 he was taken from me. And with him went to save 
 his country my brother. And he came home wounded, 
 and then he died, and left a mourner like me. And she 
 died broken-hearted, and left me this little child to love 
 as my own as my own was denied me. And oh ! 
 
 10 
 
218 LIFE OP 
 
 Father in Heaven, help me to keep this charge tell me 
 how to care for it show me how to rear it and make it 
 good. And give me oh ! give me, Father in Heaven, 
 strength to labor for it ; for we are all poor, and alone, 
 and no one to care for us now. Oh ! give rne health 
 give me strength to work fjjthis dear one, for if I, too, 
 fail, who will care for the little one now ?" 
 
 And in the air we saw, over her, the spectre of her 
 loved and lost ; and this is what he told her, or tried to : 
 
 " Ah, my poor wife, pray on. Pray to God, for none 
 other in power will hear your prayer. I was taken 
 from you I lost an arm in battle a leg in the same 
 I suffered in hospital I died and left you at the mercy 
 of those who fooled me. Yes, pray to God ! He will 
 hear you ; but those who murdered me who are rob 
 bing you who hold a mortgage on that little one 
 they will hear nothing unless it has the chink and clink 
 of gold. The country to them is nothing. The suffer 
 ings of soldiers who fought while they stole is nothing 
 to these. The agony of those who mourn is nothing. 
 All they want is the gold. And for this, for them, I died ! 
 And for them I left you in poverty ! For them I gave 
 my life and your heart ! Twas to enrich them and 
 make a slave of that little one I died ! Yes, pray to 
 God, for none other in power will help you !" 
 
 EDITING A NEWSPAPER. It is fun ! All you have 
 to do in New York, as elsewhere, is to nail up a sign 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 219 
 
 and go it. Editors are as plenty as whiskey bottles in 
 Grant s wigwam ! So many eminent roosters come for 
 ward with advice. Advice is good. That is, when we 
 have enough of it. We lack advisers a few more 
 wanted. Apply to the devil, or next oldest apprentice. 
 Come early and stay late, and bring your advice. We 
 have had a few of those already. There are so many 
 men who know so much just struck em ! If in luck, 
 they may know more. 
 
 They all wish us to succeed, and know just how we 
 can do it. Kind roosters our pot of thanks for them is 
 red hot. Experience having proved that we cannot edit 
 a paper, or give it circulation, it is proposed to teach us. 
 CHRIST never had more lepers to heal than we have emi 
 nent roosters to give us advice, and who know just what 
 is needed to make The Democrat paper a success. One 
 red hot delegate says, " Give em more hell !" Another 
 long-headed rooster says, "Rip it into old G-reeley /" 
 Please excuse us he don t wish us to ! Another old 
 cove, with moss on his back, calls to say we are an injury 
 to the party, and advises us to go slow, and put in more 
 about the Monroe doctrine ! Here comes a loose king, 
 bald with the head knocked off, who brings twenty 
 pages of foolscap for us to publish, defending him in a 
 private quarrel originating between two hired girls. 
 
 Another moral dispenser wishes us to insert his article 
 every day proving that the Constitution was intended 
 by the consolidated commonwealths to protect the natu- 
 
220 LIFE OF 
 
 ral contested elongations of the organic laws of the 
 patriarchs of our present form of government, originat 
 ing with Juvius Xeumus Domesticulus, as exemplified 
 by Ovid in the reign of Charlemagne, and based upon 
 the normal elements of a great fundamental principle 
 according to Dryden, as set forth by Josephus in book 
 ninety-five, to which, and the preceding volumes, the 
 reader is referred. We send him out upon the World 
 rejoicing ! 
 
 Another man of genius comes in with an article cheap 
 at eighty-seven dollars, in which he proves that if the 
 steamer Merrimac had been erected on the plan adopted 
 by Noah, the unholy conflict lately in fashion, would 
 not have terminated the day it did. Referred to one of 
 the assistant editors who has gone to the country. 
 
 One man wants to furnish a column a day for two 
 years on the legal rate of interest in Utah. Another 
 statesman wishes us to give a three-column puff for a 
 personal friend of his who sent in a bottle of peppermint 
 essence when his Aunt Jerulia had the hooping distem 
 per. Another man, who don t know enough to catch a 
 decent cold, stops to tell us that an article in the paper 
 five weeks ago will injure us if rejected. Another man 
 comes in to say he is exceeding glad we are succeeding, 
 and then wants to borrow a dollar till he goes home. 
 One wants more poetry another more fun another 
 more statistics another wants more about Mrs. Lin? 
 coin. Another man comes in with a five-column dilu- 
 
MARK AT. POMEROY. 221 
 
 tion of one of our last month s editorials, and says it 
 would be good policy, now that the people demand it, 
 to say something about United States bonds. 
 
 Another man with kid gloves comes in to say, " It 
 won t do, sir it won t do, by ; it won t do to at 
 tack the moneyed men of the country the country, sir ! 
 We ll not take your paper your paper, sir ! We won t 
 advertise with you, sir ! You ll fail and burst up, sir, if 
 you intend to advocate the cause of the fools who know 
 nothing about finances about finances, sir !" Just so, 
 Judge. 
 
 And so they come, day after day old men and young 
 men, smart men and fools. Men who can write, and 
 men who cannot. Nine-tenths of them with an axe to 
 grind all with advice. In two weeks we have had 
 over a hundred distinct lines of policy marked out for 
 us, and no two alike. And we ll follow them all when 
 success has become irksome, and we wish to make a fool 
 of ourself, and fail. Some of our advisers know so 
 much, we wonder they don t run for President, or start 
 a cat-skin tannery out in the woods ! 
 
 Meanwhile, send in .the advice. Deliver all large 
 packages at the back-door, and mark the heaviest, 
 " C. O. D.," which, being interpreted, means : Cshtay 
 Out Doors. 
 
 Young men, if you are in need of advice, hire out for 
 an editor ! 
 
222 LIFE OF 
 
 SATURDAY NIGHT. 
 
 Young men and workingmen of the great cities 
 Fathers, husbaods, and lovers will you sit with us to 
 night this Saturday night, and talk with us, your 
 friend ? The labors of the week are ended. The little 
 tin-pail which so oft has accompanied you to the places 
 of toil, sits in its place the home ones so dear to you 
 are indeed glad Saturday night, the most blessed of all 
 God s earthly nights, has come again. 
 
 We are weary. Hours of toil and tension of brain 
 hours of severe mental labor have for years made us 
 long for this, best night of all the week to us. As we 
 have worked through the week, we can rest, muse, and 
 think now ; we can all leave the work-room behind and 
 rest, and tell the dear one of our heart, and the loved ones 
 of the household, that we love them, and with them to 
 night shall rest. 
 
 Throw care to the winds. Gather the loved ones 
 about you. Tell the wife who for days, weeks, months 
 or years, has shared more of your troubles than of your 
 joys, that you love her as in the days agone. And you 
 will see her face light up with the same smile which 
 so crazed your heart once will see the love-light in her 
 eye, and out to each will swell the heart as in days long 
 since. 
 
 Gather the little one, or the little ones, about you. 
 Unbend from business. Romp with the home ones. 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 223 
 
 Men should not be statues, never bending, always cold 
 and forbidding. Down from your assumed dignity, and 
 be a true, noble-hearted man. Draw her you love to 
 your heart. Look into her eyes go down into their 
 wondrous depths remember it is intolerable selfishness 
 which strangles so many hearts ; be good, kind, loving, 
 happy. 
 
 All the week she has toiled and waited for to-night. 
 Do not disappoint her now, and your home will be 
 happier each coming week. Her task is harder yet than 
 yours, for the walls of a house, no matter how large, 
 are not like the walls of a city. Perhaps the bloom of 
 youth, the silent eloquence of the eye, the loved presence 
 are not there as once. Then, workingman and brother, 
 see if you cannot call them back ; for you are the man 
 she is but the patient, toiling, trusting, loving woman, 
 who would die for you and your love. 
 
 Are you going out ? 
 
 Do not go alone. Take your home ones with you. 
 Give them a treat to-night. If you have saved only 
 enough for your own gratification, save it and stay at 
 home. If you cannot take her and them to a place of 
 amusement, walk the streets and see the beautiful, or 
 throw off your coat and romp in the parlor or sitting- 
 room of mansion or shanty, as the case may be. Give 
 this night to your family and you will be a better, 
 happier man. 
 
 We love the laborers of America. We love the work- 
 
224 LIFE OF 
 
 ingmen enough to speak truth to them, for we would 
 make their homes happier, their labor less, their enjoy 
 ments s more their eternity brighter. And this we tell 
 them: 
 
 Save your earnings. Do not squander it in haunts 
 of vice and dens of degradation. Ten dimes saved will 
 make a dollar. The dollar will buy shoes for the little 
 one a keepsake for the wife a book for her to read 
 when tired and weary with watching for your coming 
 a picture for you both to look at, as it adds beauty to 
 your room. Save the dollar you are tempted to spend 
 foolishly. Beautify your home rather than some gilded 
 saloon. Try and be better, more noble, manly, and 
 more of a good husband and father. No man is so 
 happy as he who does his duty. You owe a duty to 
 yourself a duty to your family. All the world is not 
 to them what you are, or should be. Your home can be 
 happier if you seek to make it so. Hours and dollars 
 squandered are worse than lost. 
 
 If your wife is not dressed as are those you visit, save 
 your earnings and dress her so. If your home is not 
 attractive, see if you cannot help make it so. Life is 
 but a book full of littles woven together. It takes but 
 little to make home happy. Little by little, day by 
 day, week after week, see if you cannot add to it more 
 attractions. Read this chapter, a workingman s sermon, 
 to her you love, and see if she does not agree with us, 
 
MARK M. POMEROY. 225 
 
 and will not agree to aid you to make you more happy. 
 Seal the bargain with a kiss, and begin to-night. 
 
 Do not squander your money in drink, for it weakens 
 your brain and heart ; it makes a kiss nauseating to a 
 woman who loves ; it robs you of the result of toil ; it, 
 makes you less a man. We would not dictate, but in 
 kindness would say, drink is of no benefit. We wish 
 to see workingmen protected, but they should first pro 
 tect themselves ! We are made heart-sick to see them 
 over-taxed and over-worked to support an aristocracy 
 that is exempt from taxation and at war upon their 
 prosperity; we are pained to see them so careless of 
 their earnings. We wish their homes, even if small, to 
 be more beautiful, and to see them enjoying their homes 
 and the society of their loved ones if not every night, 
 every night they can. The days are fading out the 
 furrows are stealing over our faces the -muscle which 
 now is wedded to toil is growing weaker ; and if we 
 who would be happy will not try to be happy and to 
 make our loved ones really so, then He who loves us all 
 has given us in vain Saturday night. 
 
 " BRICK" POMEROY. 
 
 BRICK POMEROY KEEPETH A HORSE ! Nothing like it ! 
 
 If you don t have, keep, hold, possess, and operate a 
 horse you are nobody. Worse than a girl without rib 
 bons a boy minus a moustache a prayer without an 
 amen. 
 
 10* 
 
226 LIFE OP 
 
 You can t be in style except you keep a horse darn 
 the expense. That is the stamp on fashion a horse, 
 rearibus cum go-em ! Smith goes without life insurance 
 to keep a horse and be in style. Jones keeps a trotting- 
 horse and sulky, and wears linen pants all winter. 
 Blefe keeps a saddle-horse, rather than send his children 
 to school. White keeps a roadster rather than hear his 
 wife thumping on a piano. Everybody keeps one, so I 
 wanted one. Black told me there was nothing like it. 
 Said he, one day as I rode to dinner with him : 
 
 " You see, Brick, there is nothing like a horse. It 
 don t cost anything to keep one, and they are so- con 
 venient. All you have to do is to rent a little stable, 
 buy a harness, carriage, robes, and a horse, hire a cheap 
 boy to care for him, and then you can ride to your 
 place of business, or, if you wish exercise, take care of 
 him yourself. It don t cost much a horse don t eat 
 much ! And then you can ride out in the morning or 
 evening take a friend, go and come to dinner quick, 
 and if you have an errand to do, there is your horse all 
 ready. 
 
 And I went to a sale stable and gave a man five dol 
 lars to find me one. He did. I bought him, a beautiful 
 creature, seven hands high, fifteen years old, gentle as a 
 lamb, fleet as the steeds of Arabia, and easy to keep as 
 a poodle dog. He was a white chap, well broke, could 
 trot, pace, gallop, rack, canter, amble, and walk could 
 stand on his two fore legs, or his hind two legs, or his 
 
MAKK M. POMEKOY. 227 
 
 four fore and hind legs, either or neither end up, and 
 then roll over, and get up or not as he wished to. 
 
 Just the horse for me. Was good under a saddle, in 
 harness or stable. I bought him. Price three hundred 
 dollars got him at a bargain ; owner had just died, 
 and the widow did not care to go in company except in 
 mourning, and white is no mourning, you know. 
 
 I sold my watch and Jerulia s old jewelry for a hun 
 dred dollars, borrowed at the bank a hundred more, and 
 gave a mortgage on my house as security, and then 
 gave my note for another hundred, secured by mort 
 gage on the horse, and at last owned a beauty of an 
 equine. Then I sold the piano under promise of getting 
 a new one, and bought a buggy, sold the cow for a har 
 ness for cows are not neat, you know and run in debt 
 at a harness store for a whip, blanket, robes, brushes, 
 etc., till at last I owned a complete rig. 
 
 I never had fun before. Not being able to hire a 
 boy, I took care of the horse. Got up at four o clock, 
 curried him, rubbed him with wads of hay, old cloths 
 and brushes, fed him oats, hay, salt and saltpetre, 
 anointed his tail and mane to keep the hair on, led him 
 to the blacksmith shop once a week, blistered my hands 
 every day cleaning him, carried him water, and called 
 him pet names till he loved me like a mule ! 
 
 Had lots of fun, and such exercise ! Never worked 
 so hard before in all my born or unborn days. Never 
 did so much for fun ! Once I was sick a month, and 
 
228 LIFE OF 
 
 Jerulia had to take care of him. She loved me or 
 would Dot have done it. One day he playfully pro 
 truded his left hind foot into Jerulia s face, cutting an 
 ugly hole in her cheek and cracking five teeth out of 
 place. I had the laugh on Jerulia then ! Once he 
 playfully bit three inches of scalp from the top of my 
 head ! I amused him about twenty minutes with an 
 old fork handle ! Better than dumb-bells for enlarging 
 muscle ! 
 
 And it was so nice to have a horse ! I could take 
 Jones, Smith, and Brown to their meals, and have 
 something to pay taxes on. And it was so nice to keep 
 a horse to lend your neighbors. One time our minister 
 borrowed the horse and buggy to visit his aunt over in 
 Pinville, ninety miles away. He went with his wife and 
 four children in the buggy, with a trunk strapped on 
 behind for the children to sit on. Was gone a week. 
 It didn t cost but sixty dollars to repair horse, harness, 
 and buggy. 
 
 Then one of the boys wanted the rig to go out girling. 
 He drove twenty miles in eighty minutes, to let his Ma 
 tilda see how fast he could go. The horse was a little 
 stiff for a month after that, but fifty dollars worth of 
 liniment cured him, or nearly. 
 
 I like exercise, and this horse gave it to me. Once I 
 left him unhitched before the office for a minute. He 
 saw something and started. Ran over an old woman 
 and a calf. Broke the calf of the old woman, arid I had 
 
MARK M. POHEROY. 229 
 
 to carry her to a drug-store and pay damages. Ran 
 over a calf, upset the buggy and irritated the dash 
 board and one wheel quite much. He broke loose and 
 ran playfully six miles on the prairie. I caught him in 
 five hours, and now wear a truss. Playful animal 
 
 Another time I went out to ride with a niece of my 
 first uncle s fourth wife. She wanted to see the grave 
 yard. We rode five miles out in the woods. I had 
 every confidence in that horse, dropped the lines in 
 order to do something, read a newspaper I think, and 
 just as the niece of my first uncle s fourth wife squealed 
 out sort of tickledly, the horse ran gently against a tree 
 and we both got out. The horse went on, and so did I, 
 but I ran a mile before I caught him. Lost my way in 
 the woods and never saw the niece of my first uncle s 
 fourth w r ife, nor the buggy again ! 
 
 I like a horse. It costs nothing to keep one ! If you 
 have a five minutes walk it is easier to clean off, hitch 
 up, water, and drive your horse, unless the buggy be 
 broken, or harness out of order. And it don t cost 
 much ! We had white sugar in the house once, 
 and dessert after dinner twice this year ! And I have 
 stopped all these foolish ladies magazines and picture- 
 books, and Jerulia now stays at home like a sensible 
 woman. Can t aiford to gratify all these little whims ! 
 
 And it is such fun to see him play ! Once he kicked 
 the frontispiece of the buggy in, and I let him run in 
 the yard after admonishing him half an hour with a 
 
230 LIFE OF MARK M. POMEROY. 
 
 broken thill. He likes out-door play. He ran over a 
 hencoop and killed the old hen, leaving nine orphan 
 children for the cat to eat ! Then he left his private 
 stamp on the bosom of two shirts, male and female, 
 and masked his feet through a pair of sheets bleaching 
 on the grass. And he knocked a ladder down, with 
 the end through the parlor-window, kicked the dust out 
 of the flower-beds and scared thunder out of the twins 
 who were sleeping on the grass under a plum-tree. 
 Playful animal ! so full of life ! 
 
 I have had him five months, and he has not cost over 
 nine hundred dollars nor given me over two hundred 
 miles extra travel. I have been offered nineteen dollars 
 for him, and if any poor man wants to take style and 
 have something to care for which will cost him nothing, 
 he can have him. Address, for two hours, 
 Horsetally thine, 
 
 " BRICK" POMEROY. 
 
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