Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/298

 BENNETT.

HENSON.

meetings; introduced the custom of interviewing l>ersons who had taken a pnuninent j^art in any gre^it occurrence; tirst useil the telegraph for re- porting, and originated the system of distribution by carriers. It was by constantly adding novel features that he managed to keep the Herald be- fore the public eye; and though the paper offended all jiiirties and creeds, the circulation increased rapidly, and at the end of a very few years, the journal had become the most valuable newspaper property in the country. 3Ir. Bennett had an iron constitution, which, conserved by his strictly tem{)erate habits, enabled him to accomplish pro- digious work without experiencing fatigue. He had the journalistic instinct to discriminate as to news most acceptable to his readers, and im- pressetl his personaUty on his paper by directing every detail of management and item of news as ■well as the general shaping of popular thought and opinion. He died in New York city, leaving the Herald to his son, James Gordon Bennett. whom he liad personally trained to the task of its continuance. The date of his death is June 1, 1872. BENNETT, James Gordon, publisher, was b<jru in New York city. May 10, 1841, son of James Gordon and Henrietta Agnes (Crean) Bennett. When he was about fourteen years of age he accompanied his mother to Europe and received the principal part of his education abroad. He - - was summoned to

New York by his father in 1866, where he gained a practical knowledge of news- paper publishing. His talents and tempera- ment were suited to the business, and at his fa ther's death in 1872, the Herald passed into his con- trol. The journal lost none of its individ- uality by this change, and Mr. Bennett added name, fame, and contributors to it, by engaging in a series of enterprises which were remarkable for boldness of conception, bril- liancy of execution, and vital effectiveness of result. Among his achievements the Stanley- Livingstone and the Sir Samuel Baker search- parties, the Jeanette ix)lar exy>edition, all of which he fitted out at his own expense; the remarkable feat of furnishing the Engli.sh government and press with news of the memorable and victorious march of the Anglo-Abyssinian exjjedition, sev- eral days in advance of the regular despatches;

the publishing in England of storm warnings cabled from the United States, and the laying of the Bennett-Mackay cable to compete with the French and English lines, are indicative of his enterprise. Mr. Bennett devoted all liis time, talents, and energies to the interests of the Her- ald, the paramount object of all his ambitions. Residing in Paris, he superintended the conduct not only of the main establishment in New York, but also of the London and Paris branches, being in hourly communication, by cable, with his business agents and associate editors in every part of the world. In 1892-'93 he erected a building for his journal in New York city, the complete and elegant equipment of which is a startling contrast to the lowly subterranean cavern in which the Herald was born. May 6, 1835. Mr. Bennett's interest in sports of all kinds, and espe- cially in yacliting. was marked by successive sur- prises and personal daring. With his schooner, the Henrietta, he won, in 1866, a race from Sandy Hook to the Needles, Isle of Wight, against two competing yachts, making the trip in tliirteen days, twenty-one hours, and fifty-five minutes. In 1870 he took part in a memorable race from Queenstown to New York, and this time his yacht, the Dauntless;, was beaten by the English yacht Cambria by two hours. As an expert polo player he acquired an American and Eu- ropean reputation, and through the Herald he edu- cated the public to an appreciation of athletic sport and made it popular.

BENNETT, Milo Lyman, jurist, was born at Sharon, Conn., in 1790. He was graduated from Y''ale college with the class of 1811, studied law, and began practice at Burlington, Vt. In 1839 he was elected associate justice of the supreme court of Vermont, and with the exception of one year he was re-elected to that office annually till his death. " He was,"' says L. E. Chittenden in " Personal Reminiscences,"' "a judge whom no inducement could swerve one hair's-breadth from his judicial duty."" He received the degree of LL.D. from Dartmouth college in 1851. His death occurred July 7, 1868.

BENSON, Egbert, jurist, was born in New York city. .June 21. 1746. He was graduated from King's college in 1765, studied law, and practised in his native city. He served on the Tevolu- tionarj- committee of safety, was a member of the provisional convention of 1776, and from 1777 to 1787 was attorney -general of New York. In 1777 he was elected to the first state legislature, and in 1784 was sent as delegate to the Conti- nental Congress, where he remained four years. When the 1st U. S. Congress assembled, in 1789, he represented his state, and was re-elected to the 2d Congress, .serving until 1793. From 1792 to 1802 he was regent of the University of the state of \