Daniel, editor of the _Examiner_.
The career of this singular personage had been as remarkable as his
character. He was not a stranger to me. I had known him in 1849 or '50,
when I accompanied my father on a visit to Richmond, and I still recall
the striking appearance of the individual at that time. He had come, a
poor boy of gentle birth, from the bleak hills of Stafford, to the city
of Richmond, to seek his fortune, and, finding nothing better to do,
had accepted the position of librarian to the Richmond library, waiting
for something to "turn up," and ready to grasp it. About the same time,
that experienced journalist, the late B.M. De Witt, had founded the
_Examiner_. He, no doubt, saw the eminent talents of the youth from
Stafford, and the result had been an invitation to assist in the
editorial department of the journal.
Going to the Richmond library, to procure for my father some volume for
reference, I had made the acquaintance of the youthful journalist. At
the first glance, I felt that I was in the presence of an original
character. His labors on the _Examiner_ had just commenced. He was
seated, half-reclining, in an arm-chair, surrounded by "exchanges,"
from which he clipped paragraphs, throwing the papers, as soon as he
had done so, in a pile upon the floor.
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