Memoirs of an editor : fifty years of American journalism / Edward P. Mitchell.

CHAPTER XII

LATER YEARS ON THE FIRING LINE
WrmI William Mackay Laffan I was destined to be in
intimate relationship as long as that man of brilliant abilities lived. He was a Dublin boy of good family stock; a
sister, May Laffan, was in her day a novelist of some distinction. His first function in this country was that of
reporter and managing editor of the Bulletin of San
Francisco. He came East, made his way rapidly to be
editor and owner of a Baltimore newspaper likewise named
the Bulletin. His discreet shrewdness and unpushing but
winning social qualities acquired for him not a few very
influential friends. That was his fortune, wherever he
went. "Lafffan's staff of multi-millionaires" became at
one time a phrase in the mouths of some who understood
imperfectly why the multi-millionaires liked him and adhered to him.
He brought from Baltimore to New York about 1877
warmly commendatory letters from the elder Henry
Walters and others. For a time he acted as general passenger agent of the Long Island Railroad; his strong interest
in railway management, politics, and legislation dated
from that experience. Then Mr. Walters sent Laffan
to Samuel L. M. Barlow, who in turn sent him to Dana
and he was taken on The Sun as dramatic critic, and
afterward as general writer on art subjects and business
adviser. With the exception of two years as art editor
and general representative of the Harpers in London his
direct connection with The Sun, writer, publisher, general
manager, and finally proprietor, lasted from 1877 until
his death in 1909.
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