USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The story of the Irish in Boston, together with biographical sketches of representative men and noted women > Part 30
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O'NEILL, CHARLES S., editor, born in Boston, April 15, 1853. He is the son of Lieut. James O'Neill, of the old " Fighting Ninth," who o was killed at Spottsylvania, Va., May 8, 1864, and of Ellen C. O'Neill. (née Quinn). Young O'Neill was educated in the public schools of Sandwich, Mass., Boston, and Somerville.
As a boy he caught the journalistic fever, resulting in the publication of a little month- ly at Somerville, called the "Boy's Ad- vocate ; " later, entered the office of the Somerville "Journal," eventually stepping
from the composing-room to the editorial staff. He purchased in 1875 the Milford (Conn.) "Telegram ; " but after some months of hard work a severe and lingering illness compelled the abandonment of that venture. Returning to Boston in 1876, he remained for the succeeding two years engaged in edi- torial and reportorial work on suburban papers, the humdrum monotony of which was somewhat relieved by occasional poetic contributions to the "Pilot" and other papers. In 1878 the field of operations was changed to New York, but shifted again to Boston, near the close of that year. In 1882 he became attached to the reportorial staff of the Boston " Daily Globe," remaining so con- nected for about a year. In 1884 joined the staff of the " Catholic Herald," then published in Boston, and contributed thereto serial sketches of all the Boston Catholic churches. When the paper's place of publication was transferred to New York, went to Gotham to take up the same line of work in behalf of New York churches, but returned to Boston after six-months' experience there. Imme- diately on his return he became attached to the staff of the Roxbury " Advocate," leaving that paper Jan. 1, 1886, to become editor of the " Boston Courier." This position was subsequently exchanged for a place on the staff of the Boston "Commonwealth." He was later called to occupy the editorial chair of the "Budget," in January, 1887, and he is the managing editor of that journal. In the past he has also contributed sketches to the "Commercial Bulletin" and "Ballou's Monthly; " poetry to the " Pilot," " Repub- lic," and New York " Ledger." He has been very successful as a writer of humorous and satiric verse and of songs.
O'NEILL, HELEN F. By ability as a worker in the literary field, and with a keen sense of pleasing and refined humor, she has appropriately won " the distinction of being the only funny man in the country who is a woman!" the honor having been conferred upon her by the New York "Graphic " in a complimentary review of her weekly column
CHARLES S. O'NEILL.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
of humorous verse and prose which appeared in the Roxbury " Advocate " in the year 1886.
Born in Sandwich, Mass., Jan. 5, 1858, while quite young she removed with her parents to Somerville, where she attended the public schools. At an early age she was possessed of a promising contralto voice and an ambition to cultivate the same. Music en- gaged her attention to the exclusion of literary development, although occasional interludes of writing tended to indicate the power that was being kept in subjection. It was not until 1885, when convalescing from a severe lung affection, and finding that her sickness had so impaired her voice as to necessitate the abandonment of hopes previously enter- tained, that the literary instincts, hitherto sub- ordinated, came to the front, - first, as a recreation to relieve the tedium of convales- cence; then, to develop into a life-work. Dur- ing this year poems from her pen appeared in numerous papers. In 1886 she contributed weekly to the Roxbury " Advocate " a col- umn of humorous verse and prose, referred to above. About the same time she also contributed a series of pathetic sketches to the Detroit "Free Press." In the spring of 1887 she secured an engagement on the staff of the Boston " Budget," which position she still holds. Poetry from her pen has ap- peared in the Detroit "Free Press," Boston " Pilot," Boston "Courier," and many other papers. She is considered a versatile writer; her contributions, whether in verse or prose, serious or humorous, have been widely copied. She is the daughter of Lieut. James O'Neill, of the old Ninth Mass. Vols., who was killed at Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Va., May 8, 1864, and of Ellen C. O'Neill (née Quinn).
QUINN, THOMAS C., secretary, born in Woburn, Mass., Aug. 24, 1864. He at- tended the grammar and high schools of Woburn, and after leaving school learned the printer's trade in the office of the Wo- burn " Advertiser." He subsequently acted as local reporter in the town, and was engaged by the Boston "Globe," November, 1885.
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He served as a general reporter on the staff of the latter paper for a while, and did some good newspaper work on special assignments. His creditable efforts were duly appreciated by the management of the "Globe," and he was promoted to the position of private sec- retary to the managing editor. In addition to his duties as secretary, he had charge of many of the news features of the paper, under the direction of his superior officer. In. May, 1889, he accepted the position of managing editor of the New York " Press."
RANKIN, EDWARD B., journalist, was born in Queenstown, Ireland, in December, 1846. His father and mother, the former a native of New York, died while their only child was still in his infancy, and the boy was left to the care of relatives, who shortly afterward immi- grated to the United States and settled in Boston. His early education was received in the public schools of this city, and later at Lynn, Mass. At the latter place he employed his leisure hours in learning the shoemaker's trade. At the age of fourteen years, how- ever, he returned to Boston, and obtained employment of E. C. Bailey, who was then: proprietor of the " Herald." After three years' service he learned the printer's trade, and in 1865 he received an appointment on the reportorial staff. In the latter position he did creditable work, and in due time was pro- moted to a place in the editorial department. During his employment on the " Herald " he has served successively as general reporter, special writer, court and city government re- porter, military, political, sporting, and tele- graph news editor. He is at present engaged as a general writer, with special reference to athletics, aquatics, etc., and has charge of that department. He was a member of the Boston School Committee from 1871 to 1875 inclusive, of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1872-'74-'75, and was a Democratic candi- date for presidential elector from the third district in 1880. He was a member of the Board of Directors for Public Institutions, and is a member of the Boston Press Club, the Order of Elks, Boston Athletic Association,
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THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
Charitable Irish Society; was keeper of the silver key of the latter organization in 1885, and its president in 1886. He is also an honorary member of the Hull Yacht Club, and a Director of the Working Boy's Home, for which institution he has been an earnest worker for some time past. He has been a prominent citizen of South Boston for the last fourteen years.
REYNOLDS, MRS. MARGARET G., is a popular writer, under the nom de plume " Sepperle," and during recent years has won a prominent position as an author and literary worker. Her writings display a remarkable clearness of forethought, care- fully prepared moral instruction, and are interestingly magnetic in construction.
Mrs. Reynolds is a native of Pawtucket, R.I. The little cottage in which she was born, and which now stands a ruin on the Providence pike, was built by her father, an early settler, who cleared the wilderness around it and cultivated the land. Her first impulse to write came while seated on the door-step of her home after school hours, reading Jane Porter's "Scottish Chiefs." Her first story was written during a week of midnight sittings at the north window of her room, the moonlight presentment forming the theme of her sketch. In 1870 she removed to Boston, where she took up her pen for earnest work, and her first Bos- ton story -" All's Well that Ends Well" - appeared in what was then the mart for be- ginners, Dow's " Waverly Magazine." Other periodicals were written for in rapid succes- sion. The " Young Crusaders " - a juvenile magazine now out of the field - encouraged her work with prompt payment, supplying illustrations, to which she wrote many stories for the young. The "Irish World" then accepted her contributions, and awarded her high rates for temperance and emigrant sketches. She has also written for the Boston "Journal," "Transcript," " Record," "Sunday Times," and "Globe; " but her greatest success is thought to have been a long serial, " Corogyne Chronicles," which
appeared in the New York "Freeman's Journal," and which will be reproduced in book form at an early date. That paper, in commenting upon the serial, said: "The plot and construction of this powerfully dramatic work runs out of the beaten track into a field of originality peculiarly the author's own. The strong moral motive underlying the plot culminates in startling strength at the close, the author's intention evidently being to lay a moral ambush, into which the reader wanders through a maze of thrilling mystery, and stumbles unawares. Every line of the story scintillates with a rare phase of genius, and if dramatized would make a play richly suited to the stage enterprise of Catholic Lyceums." She is now engaged upon a second serial, “ Weep- ing Rock." The subject of the story is a high cliff rising close to the windows of her recent home in Whitney place, and which, in sunshine as well as in storm, drips with moisture. The vein of the story, the chief scenes of which are laid in Roxbury, goes to prove why the rock wept.
Mrs. Reynolds is of Irish parentage, an ardent Catholic, and much of her writing is pervaded with a deeply religious spirit.
ROCHE, JAMES JEFFREY, assistant editor of the Boston " Pilot," and poet, born in Queens County, Ireland, May 31, 1847, a most auspi- cious soil for a poet. Through his father, Edward Roche, Esq., an able mathematician and scholar, still living and occupying the office of Provincial Librarian in Prince Edward Island, he inherits the literary quality domi- nant in his temperament and his art. The family settled in Prince Edward Island in the same year. The boy was educated by his father, and later in St. Dunstan's College. Here, at the age of fifteen, foreshadowing his career, he turned journalist, and proudly edited the college weekly "unto the urn and ashes" of its infant end. His youth had a fair share of spirited adventure, an encounter- ing of odd characters and scenes, a sharp observance of events, and a close, rapid, hon- est, mental life. In 1866 he strolled alone
HELEN F. O'NEIL
333
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
into the open gates of Boston, fell into the clutches of commerce, and prospered there; yet with revertings thenceforward to litera- ture, his early love and first unconscious choice, keeping up, in print, a running fire of the arch, absurd, unique humor which has since given his name its note. Already mar- ried, in 1883 he shifted into his natural posture, and became assistant editor of the Boston " Pilot," a position entirely to his mind, which he still fills. A man of activity, eminently social, interested in all public mat- ters, sensitive and independent, he has done, without any premeditation, much energetic and brilliant work, of which a " History of the Filibusters in Spanish America," a novel, and a drama are yet in manuscript. In 1886 he published " Songs and Satires," a distinct success, and an earnest of healthful and un- hurried growth.
Nothing injures Mr. Roche's fun so much as his seriousness. When a throat is able to give out a ringing bass song of sport or war, we cease to demand falsetto of it, however quaint and dexterous. It is, perhaps, an un- happy gift, this of divided skill, for it some- times necessitates a pause, an adjustment, a choice. It is a grim truth that the humorous has no place on the top peaks of Parnassus : to be great, one must be grave. But Mr. Roche, of all men, can afford to let his lighter talent, exquisite as it is in kind, go by, so long as he can throw into his metrical nar- ratives the same keenness and decisiveness of thought, the same life and grace of phrase, which have glorified his cap-and-bells. Something in the generous and sympathetic air of to-day has colored his verses, ever and anon, with a light, humanitarian and revolu- tionary; but his protests, made as they are of beautiful philosophy, come from him with an odd grace only, and belie Timon's part with a look of Mercutio. A poet, as a poet merely, had best sing out his unregenerated music and leave great causes alone, unless they have overwhelmed him of his nature and their own will. The witty secretary of the Papyrus Club is undedicated, however he should deny it, and liegeman to no theory
at heart. He sends his gallant and unbook- ish fancies on profane errands, -
" Some to the wars, to seek their fortune there, Some to discover islands far away."
Mr. Roche is, first, a scrivener and chron- icler, utterly impersonal, full of joy in deeds, a discerner between the expedient and the everlasting right, wholly fitted to throw into enduring song some of the simple heroisms of our American annals. We bid fair to have in him an admirable ballad-writer, choosing instinctively and from affection "that which lieth nearest," and saying it with truth and zest. His muse, like himself, is happy in her place and time; none too much at the mercy of sentiment : coming through sheer intelli- gence to the conclusion of fools, and going her unvexed gypsy ways with an "All's well ! " ever on her lips.
L. I. G.
The sympathetic little poem, "Androm- eda," is one of Mr. Roche's creations. It is full of fine feeling and expression.
ANDROMEDA.
They chained her fair young body to the cold and cruel stone ;
The beast begot of sea and slime had marked her for his own;
The callous world beheld the wrong, and left her there alone.
Base caitiffs who belied her, false kinsmen who denied her,
Ye left her there alone !
My Beautiful, they left thee in thy peril and thy pain ;
The night that hath no morrow was brooding on the main :
But lo! a light is breaking of hope for thee again ;
"Tis Perseus' sword a-flaming, thy dawn of day proclaiming
Across the western main.
O Ireland! O my country ! he comes to break thy chain !
SAUNDERS, DANIEL J., reporter, born in Boston, Feb. 23, 1860. He is of Irish parent- age, and was educated in the public schools. He became employed by the Boston " Globe "
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THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
as office-boy about eleven years ago. After two and one-half years of service he was promoted to the position of reporter, and was engaged in reporting criminal work till September, 1888, when he was trans- ferred to the sporting department, and is now doing general sporting work. He has done good service as a news-gatherer for the paper. The district attorney of Suffolk County made an effort, a few years ago, to have him imprisoned because he would not inform the Grand Jury where he received his information of the confession, by a man in New Mexico, of having killed Lane at Dorchester. The attempt to punish, how- ever, was unsuccessful. He was correspon- dent of the New York "World " and St. Louis " Republican " for over two years. He figured prominently with other reporters, a short time ago, in the investigation of Chief Inspector Hanscom before the Police Com- missioners. During his newspaper experience he has been engaged in many notable cases.
TAYLOR, ALBERT M., reporter, born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 20, 1866. Attended the public schools until 1879. Entered the office of the Boston " Daily Globe " as a space writer. He is now a reporter of day locals.
TAYLOR, JOHN N., sporting editor of the Boston " Daily Globe," born in Hallowell, Me., Sept. 23, 1859. He is a graduate from the Hallowell Classical and Scientific Acad- emy, and was a telegraph operator in Hal- lowell, later operated at the Western Union Telegraph Company's office in Boston for two years. Thence he entered the "Globe " office as the press operator, in which capacity he was employed during four years. He soon did reportorial work, was promoted to the position of assistant night editor, and subsequently advanced to his present posi- tion. He is recognized by newspaper men as an enterprising journalist of ready re- sources, and has many times won applause from the journalistic fraternity for his bold and successful methods of getting news. His reputation as a receiver of press de-
spatches is one of the best in the country, for at one sitting he " took " 27,500 words of news. The wire was acknowledged by all operators to be the " hottest" in the United States. Patrick Ayers, Bob Martin, Frank Klein, and Mr. Waugh manipulated the New York end of the wire at the time. Mr. Taylor did effective service, while night editor of the "Globe," by his rapid work in going to Farmington, Me., in October, 1886, at the time of the big fire in that town, and sending to the " Sunday Globe " the only account published outside of a few local papers in Maine.
His knowledge of telegraphy served him well on this trip. In the spring of 1887 the yacht races between the " Volunteer," " Pur- itan," " Priscilla," and "Mayflower " excited the curiosity of the country, and the Boston journals were eager to command the news for this section. Competition was lively among the representatives of the different Boston newspapers. There were only two wires from Boston to Marblehead Neck. The Boston " Herald " had full control of one, and the "Associated Press" of the other. It was said that the " Globe " would fail to get the news. Mr. Taylor was assigned to the discouraging task of obtaining the details of the race, and thus uphold the reputation of his paper. He began work the night be- fore the race, hired a telephone wire, bor- rowed a sufficient amount of battery, made a telegraph circuit of it, and not only saved his paper from loss of news, but sent his re- port ahead of all other papers in the city on the start and finish of the race. Again, dur- ing the famous yacht race between the " Vol- unteer " and "Thistle," he extended the wire from the editorial room to a platform in front of the building, and had it put through to Sandy Hook, defeating the other Boston papers all the way from five minutes to half an hour on bulletins. He was made sport- ing editor in April, 1888. His first notable work in that department was on the arrival from Europe of Mr. John L. Sullivan. Mr. Taylor laid in wait in a tug, outside the Bos- ton light, for two days, and was the first per- son to shake hands with the famous pugilist,
MARGARET G REYNOLDS.
335
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
and telegraph sighting of ship from Hull, and he arrived in this city while the Cunarder got quarantine. As Mr. Taylor was leaving the tug at Rowe's wharf for the " Globe " office, other Boston reporters were just departing from Commercial wharf for quarantine. At eight o'clock A.M. the first edition of the " Globe " was issued, and two hours later the second extra edition appeared, containing Mr. Taylor's interview with the champion, which was of much interest to many Bosto- nians. This second edition was sold on the street as Mr. Sullivan and his party drove by the "Globe " office in a carriage. The other papers' reports came out four and one-half hours later. Mr. Taylor has suc- cessfully managed the "Globe's " famous newsboy's base-ball team. He is an old ball player and all-round athlete.
WRIGHT, JOHN B., journalist, born in Charlestown, Mass., in February, 1854. He was left an orphan when but a mere lad, and became the protégé of a friend, who encour- aged him substantially, sent him to school, and he graduated from the Warren Grammar School at Charlestown. He entered the Charlestown Navy Yard to learn the black- smith's trade, and while at work there he had the fingers of one hand crushed by a heavy sledge, which necessitated the amputation of one finger. While in service at the Navy Yard he studied phonography, and grew very proficient in that branch of knowledge. After five years and a half of labor at the Navy Yard, Mr. Wright entered upon his career as a newspaper man, and commenced to gather news for the Charlestown " Advertiser " early in the seventies. Following his journalistic bent, his activity led him to become a member of the reportorial staff of the Boston " Daily News," and he won distinction among his associates on that paper. The demise of the " Daily News " caused Mr. Wright to transfer his work to the Woonsocket "Patriot," where he performed the duties of editor, as well as covering all the reportorial fields known to a first-class or all-round journalist. In 1876 he joined the reportorial staff of the Boston
"Herald," and for a period of ten years he and his friend and brother journalist, Mr. Thomas F. Keenan, were identified with many leading and important events connected with their paper. Mr. Wright's capabilities have been evinced frequently in the handling of criminal matters requiring much tact and great deli- cacy. His political articles have often com- manded words of praise, which is due to his active interest in and knowledge of public affairs. During General Butler's campaigns, beginning in 1878, and up to the close of 1884, Mr. Wright accompanied the general throughout the field, faithfully reporting the incidents and speeches for the Boston " Her- ald." He wrote the vivid pen-pictures of the Mechanics' Hall Convention for the Boston " Herald," and the Boston " Herald " men being the only reporters inside the hall up to eight o'clock on that memorable morning, they sent columns of news over the wires to the " Herald." In 1883, while General But- ler was governor, Mr. Wright's fealty was recognized by him, and the general appointed him to the position of assistant private secre- tary. At the close of General Butler's term of office Mr. Wright returned to his post on the " Herald," where he now remains, filling the position of assistant city editor. His fluent pen is never idle, and many Bostonians have read his correspondence under the nom de plume of the " Sentinel at the Outer Gate." He did excellent work on the Costley and Jennie Clarke murder cases, and over a year ago unmasked the Peter Frub Faculty, otherwise known as the Druid University of Maine. In prosecution of this exposure Mr. Wright had the degree of M.D. conferred on him by the " Druids." His utter dislike for hypocrisy and sham and his manly con- duct on all occasions have won him the es- teem of the community. He is wedded to domestic life, and his estimable wife is a sister of Col. Chas. H. Taylor, of the Boston " Daily Globe," and also Mr. Nathaniel H. Taylor, private secretary to ex-Mayor O'Brien. Mr. Wright was for many years an active member of the Volunteer Fire Department of old Charlestown. He comes from Dublin ancestry.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF
PAST AND PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE.
SKETCHES OF PAST AND PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE.
T HE town of Boston was established by the passage of the order of the Court of Assistants on the 17th Sept. [7th O.S.], 1630.
The first city government was organized on the Ist of May, 1822. Roxbury was first recognized by the Court of Assistants as a town on the 8th Oct., 1630. It was incorporated as a city on the 12th March, 1846, and annexed to Boston 6th Jan., 1868 ; accepted 9th Sept. Dorchester was named by the Court of Assistants in the same order in which Boston was named; and it retained its town organi- zation until annexed to Boston on the 3d Jan., 1870; accepted 22d June. Charlestown was founded 4th July, 1629; incorporated as a city in 1847; annexed to Boston, 5th Jan., 1874; accepted, 7th Oct. West Roxbury was incorporated as a town on the 24th March, 1851 ; annexed to Boston on 5th Jan., 1874; accepted, 7th Oct. Brighton was incorporated as a town in 1806; annexed to Boston on the 5th Jan., 1874; accepted, 7th Oct.
ORATORS OF BOSTON
Appointed by the public authorities on the Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770.
I774. HON. JOHN HANCOCK.
1783. THOMAS WELSH, M.D.
ORATORS OF BOSTON
Appointed by the public authorities on the Anniversary of the National Inde-
pendence, July 4, 1776.
1803. HON. WILLIAM SULLIVAN.
I808. ANDREW RITCHIE.
1883. REV. H. BERNARD CARPENTER.
1885. THOMAS J. GARGAN.
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THE IRISH IN BOSTON.
SELECTMEN OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON FROM 1634 TO 1821.
The earliest entry preserved in the Town Records is dated Sept. I, 1634, and a board of ten citizens were in office at that date. Even at this early period there were men of Irish birth holding positions of honor and trust in the city government.
These gentlemen held office as follows : -
Oct. 6, 1634. RICHARD BELLINGHAM and JOHN COGGAN or COGAN.
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