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��COL. JOHN B. CLARKE.
��tinuing his studies with his brother, Wil- liam C. Clarke, and was admitted to the bar of Hillsborough County in 1848.
The next year he was seized by the California fever, being the first of a large number from Manchester who decided to go to the newly discovered gold fields.
Spending about two years on the Pacific Coast, at work in the mines, practicing law, and traveling in Central America and New Grenada, he returned home in February, 1 851, and went to Salem, Mass., with a view of establish- ing himself, but soon removed to Man- chester, where he opened a law office and applied himself to the practice of his profession until February, 1852, when at the request of the publisher, Joseph C. Emerson, he took charge of the editorial department of the Daily Mirror, agreeing to devote half of his time to the work.
This he continued till the September following, when financial embarrass- ments compelled the publisher to dis- pose of the Mirror property, and on the 20th of October it was sold at auction, Mr. Clarke being the pur- chaser of the daily and weekly Mirror and the job printing establishment con- nected therewith, of which he has ever since been the sole owner and mana- ger. Subsequently he purchased the daily and weekly American (in which the weekly Democrat had been pre- viously merged) and the New Hamp- shire Journal of Agriculture. These were combined with the Mirror and the name of the daily changed to Mir- ror and American, and the weekly from Dollar Weekly Mirror to Weekly Mirror and Farmer. Both papers have been twice enlarged since he be- came the publisher. At the time he took possession of_ the Mirror, the weekly had but a few hundred sub- scribers, and the daily not a quarter of its present circulation, but Mr. Clarke's indomitable will, great energy, persist- ence and executive ability, combined with a keen insight into men and meas- ures, a ready perception of the drift of public sentiment, and the hearty en- thusiasm which enters into everything
��he undertakes enabled him rapidly, to increase its circulation and influence until it was brought to the foremost place among the newspapers of the state. Previous to the war of the Re- bellion, the Mirror had been non-par- tisan in politics, but at that time it came out boldly on the side of the adminis- tration and has ever since espoused the principles of the Republican party.
Of his editorial management a few extracts, gathered from the press, when Mr. Clarke was more actively at work, writing not only editorials but attend- ing to all the details of the publishment of the paper, will show the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries.
The Oasis (Nashua) says: "The Mirror is placed under the conduct of John B. Clarke, Esq., a gentleman of wit, wisdom, and worth ; a gentleman and a scholar as well as a traveller."
"Mr. Clarke has long been in the newspaper business, is an enterprising man, an able writer and he is on the right side." — Lowell Citizen.
Compelled to increase the price of the Mirror, during the war of the Re- bellion, the Boston Commercial Bul- letin notices the advance as follows : "The Manchester (N. H.) Mirror, whose enterprise gives it a monopoly of an the local business and circulation in that city, has made a slight advance in its terms. The Mirror has dis- played much tact and industry in ad- vocating the interests of Manchester. Its editor is a gentleman and an able writer, and we doubt not that he will secure a continuance of the same lib- eral patronage that has thus far re- warded his efforts."
The Portsmouth Chronicle, in 1867, from the pen of Col. W. H. Hackett, says : "Among the prominent institu- tions in the city is the Daily Mirror, one of the smartest papers of its class in the United States. We called on its editor, Hon. John B. Clarke, and found him seated in his handsome sanctum (by the way, why can't other editors have a decent place to sit down in?) busy with piles of papers, but received a hearty welcome. His jolly face be- tokens great good nature ; but there
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