Journalist; born in
Brooklyn, N. Y., June 3, 1833; educated in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
In 1860 he engaged in newspaper work, and has been editor, special writer, and correspondent for the New York
Times,
Herald,
Tribune,
World,
Sun, and
Recorder; the Boston
Herald and
Globe; the
Philadelphia Times and
Press; the
Chicago News,
Tribune, and
Times-Herald; the
San Francisco Chronicle, and other papers.
In 1868-76 he was editor and proprietor of the New York
Star.
In 1895 he became president of the New York Press Club, and in 1897 president of the International League of Press Clubs.
He has published a Life
Of Henry Ward Beecher.
In 1864 he created an unusual sensation by preparing an alleged proclamation, to which were attached the names
[
432]
of the
President of the
United States and the
Secretary of State, and in which various defeats and disasters in the
Union army were narrated, a day of fasting and prayer was recommended, and a call was made for 500,000 additional troops.
Copies of this alleged proclamation were distributed among the newspaper offices of New York at an hour or the night when the “forms” were all made up and the responsible editors had either left for home or were about leaving.
Nearly every one of the newspapers who received a copy had a suspicion of its genuineness.
Two, however, the
World and the
Journal of commerce, both of which had been antagonizing the national government, without awaiting verification, published the document in full in their issue of the following morning.
As soon as the news reached
Washington, orders were issued for the suppression of the two newspapers and the arrest of the author of the document.
Mr. Howard was soon afterwards apprehended, and was taken to Fort Lafayette as a prisoner of state.
He declared, in his defence, that the alleged proclamation was intended as a joke, and it was only through the influence of the late
Henry Ward Beecher and other strong supporters of the administration that he was saved from severe punishment.
