Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/344



Something resembling a cartoon, however, did appear on the first page of The New York Times on the morning of December 11, 1861. Bennett, having won a wager that his Herald had a larger circulation than that of Greeley's Tribune, began blowing a bag of braggadocio that The Tribune and The Times together did not "have one half as many subscribers as The Herald, which sells from one hundred and five thousand to one hundred and thirty-five thousand of its daily issue." Raymond accepted the challenge and The Times offered the following wagers :

$2500 that The Herald daily issue is Not 135,000

$2500 that it is not 105,000

$2500 that it is not 100,000

$2500 that it is not 75,000

$2500 that The Times average daily issue is over. . . 25,000

$2500 that it is over 30,000

$2500 that it is over 40,000

$2500 that it is over 50,000

$2500 that it is over 75,000

On the morning mentioned, The Times published two carica- tures of Bennett. The first pictured him, in Scotch costume, inflating the wind-bag of The Herald. Under it The Times re- printed numerous extracts from The Herald about the latter's boasted circulation and again repeated the wagers offered. The second and lower caricatures, showed Bennett in a recumbent position with pins puncturing the bag, from which all the wind had escaped. Under it The Times reprinted from The Herald the following extracts which had appeared after the wagers were first offered :

BROTHER BENNETT RESORTS TO THE CONSOLATIONS OF RELIGION

From The Herald, Dec. 5.

Betting, even when fair, is AGAINST OUR RELIGION, and we cannot consent to let him have the information he seeks in that way.

From The Herald, Dec. 7.

Mr. Mephistopheles GREELEY and that little villain RAYMOND are greatly moved upon the subject of the relative circulation of The