The story of the Sun, New York: 1833-1928 / by Frank M. O'Brien ; with an introduction by Edward Page Mitchell ...

16

THE STORY OF "THE SUN"

who held the Bible upon which Washington took the
oath of office as first president. J. Watson Webb had
been in the army and, as a journalist, was never for
peace at any price. He united the Morning Courier
and the Enquirer, and established a daily horse express
between New York and Washington, which is said to
have cost $25,000 a month, in order to get news from
Congress and the White House twenty-four hours before
his rivals.
Webb was famed as a fighter. lie hadl a row with
Duff Green in Washington in 1830. In January, 1836,
he thrashed James Gordon Bennett in Wall Street. lie
incited a mob to drive W\ood, a singer, from the stage
of the Park Theater. In 1838 he sent a challenge to
Representative Cilley, of Maine, a classmate of Longfellow and Hawthorne at Bowdoin. Cilley refused to
fight, on the ground that he had made no personal reflections on Webb's character; whereupon Representative Graves, of Kentucky, who carried the card for WeIJb,
challenged Cilley for himself, as was the custom. They
fought with rifles on the Annapolis Road, and Cilley was
killed at the third shot.
In 1842 Webb fought a duel with Representative
Marshall, of Kentucky, and not only was wounded, but
on his return to New York was sentenced to two years
in prison "for leaving the State with the intention of
giving or receiving a challenge." At the end of two
weeks, however, he was pardoned.
Having deserted Jackson and become a Whig, Webb
continued to own and edit the Courier and Enquirer
until 1861, when it was merged with the World. His
quarrels, all of political origin, brought prestige to his