During part of his absence from the Oregonian, Newman J. (Joe) Levinson was city editor. When Joe left the paper to become a publisher in Fresno, California, the competent but not too amiable Sam R. Frazier was appointed city editor. It was not long until dif ferences arose between Frazier and his staff, composed of E. L. (Jerry) Coldwell, then launched on his long and brilliant career as Oregonian reporter, and J. M. Baltimore.
So, in 1888, Baltimore again became city editor of the Oregonian, and Frazier was sent into Washington as a traveling correspondent. Ernest Bross, later editor of the Indianapolis Star, was managing editor. Coldwell, who was to continue for nearly a score of years on the paper, having already served nearly six, was a reporter, as was Bailey Avery, who later carved out a successful career in theatrical work in the East; Leander H. Wells, a third reporter, had a beat extending from the Willamette to Mount Hood and from the Clackamas river to the Columbia; Melvin G. Winstock, later to be prominent as theatrical manager in the Northwest, was reporting, and Henry E. Reed had won his way to the staff from the News by scooping the Oregonian on a big bit of hotel news—the visit of Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, then speaker of the House, and Congressman R. R. Hitt, chairman of the House committee on naval affairs—and was doing sports and general assignments. Baltimore was regarded by Reed[1] as a "writer of the old school, which has all but disappeared by this time (1912)—a flowery writer, who delighted in adjectives and adverbs." Once during his vacation, Mr. Reed relates in the same article, he sent in a story from Long Beach, Wash., in his usual style and with a headline written. One line of the head, "Down by the Sounding Sea," didn't fit the space, and W. M. Davey, who preceded C. A. Morden as head of the mechanical department, filled it out with the words "There's Where the Tide Comes In." This was expected by the staff to upset the city editor, but he "crossed them up" by enjoying it and complimenting Davey.[2]
When taking a drink, as the boys in those days occasionally did, Baltimore had a way of saying, ceremonially, "We will now bite the tail of the adder." On his death the paper said, editorially, he was "not brilliant" but "dependable." (Jan. 10, 1912.)
Newspaper work had a less pressing routine in those days, with no early mails to catch, but the working day was longer. Oregonian reporters came in to write their stuff at 7 p. m., and the city editor at 7:30. At 8:30, as Mr. Reed recalls,[3] Mr. Scott, after reading his proof, would drop in for a chat. Reporters and telegraph staff would take an hour for supper, beginning at 10 o'clock. Reporters continued writing until midnight or as late as 2:30 a. m.
Baltimore was succeeded as city editor in 1891 by Alfred Sorenson, who continued until Edgar B. Piper took hold in 1894. Sorenson after leaving the Oregonian became proprietor of the Omaha (Neb.)
- ↑ Baltimore crossed the plains as a lad of 16, reaching Portland in 1862. After his eight years on the Oregonian's local staff, he went to San Francisco as a member of the Associated Press staff.
- ↑ Henry E. Reed in 50th anniversary edition of Portland Telegram, April 16, 1927.
- ↑ Personal interview, September 6, 1937.
