| legeros.com > Raleigh/Wake Fire > Raleigh > History > Martin Street, 1915 > N&O, Nov. 9 |
PRESIDENT SENDS WIRE OF SYMPATHY FOR LOSS OF FIRE
"Thinking of You Great Deal," Wilson Telegraphs Secretary Daniels
MANY MESSAGES ARE RECEIVED
Secretary of Treasury and Mrs. McAdoo, Senator Luke Lea, Melville E. Stone of Associated Press, Mr. Roosevelt and Others Express Condolences
Letters and telegrams continue to come to the News and Observer and its publishers, conveying expressions of sympathy in connection with the fire of Saturday which swept the News and Observer plant and left the paper without a home except by the friendship and generosity of its friends.
Those published yesterday were mostly from friends in the State. Many of those which came in yesterday were from more distant points, showing how wide is the circle of friends of the News and Observer. Some of the latest of the messages of sympathy have been:
The White House, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 1915,
Hon. Josephus
Daniels,
Raleigh, N.C.
I hope you know how my sympathy goes out to you
in your renewed loss. I have been thinking of you a great deal and with the
warmest sympathy.
WOODROW WILSON.
Secretary and Mrs. W. G. McAdoo, Washington, D.C.:
We are distressed
beyond measure at this second visitation of bad luck. Hope the loss is
covered and that you may soon have the dauntless News and Observer in full
operation. Best regards.
Senator Luke Lea, Nashville, Tenn:
Regret exceedingly to learn of the
loss you have suffered by fire. You have my sympathy in the misfortune which
has overtaken you, but knowing you as I do, I know a greater paper will rise
from the ruins. If I can serve you, command me.
Howard A. Banks, Washington, D.C.:
Telegrams of sympathy have come in
from Melville E. Stone, W. B. Barrows, Joseph G. Brown, Alex J. Field,
Boylan-Pearce Co., J. W. Jenkins, Baltimore, Mr. Roosevelt and all bureau
chiefs, newspaper men and entire department express profound sympathy.
H. W. Miller, Atlanta, GA:
I regret very much your serious loss by
fire Saturday. Newspaper accounts state Mr. Bagley was injured, but I trust
not seriously. Please express my personal regrets to Mr. Daniels.
John Stewart Bryan, The Richard News-Leader:
You have my hearty
sympathy in loss of your paper. If there is any assistance or help we can
ernder through News-Leader will be glad for you to call on me.
E. Weber Hoen, A. Hoen & Co., Richmond, VA:
We note with sincere
regret the account in today's paper of your plant having destroyed by fire.
Having passing through a like experience we know what it means.
Trust you
will soon be at the good work again. The writer sends his personal
sympathies to Mr. Daniels and his able assistants.
P. T. Barbour, New Your City:
I notice in today's paper an account of
the destruction of your plant and the injury of Mr. Bagley. I sincerely
trust he is not in as bad a fix as the plant seems to be and that he will
soon be up and doing again. Kind regards and best wishes.
J. W. Pless, Marion, NC:
You may draw on me five years in advance.
David W. Bagley, New Your City:
Deplore your hard luck. Hope you
better. Will drop everything and come if needed.
Fred St. Jaques, Brooklyn, NY:
Looking [in?] the Evening World
yesterday I read where The News and Observer had burnt a second time. I hope
it is not so bad as reported and wish you a quick recovery.
----
EDITORS TENDER THEIR SYMPATHY
North Carolina Press Generous in Expressions of Regret For Fire Loss
The press of North Carolina has been quick to take note of the fact that a great calamity has again overtaken the News and Observer and the expressions of sympathy which editors of the State have voiced have been warm and sincere. A few of these expressions are given below.
Burned, But Not Destroyed.
Charlotte Observer - The profound sympathies of the Observer are stirred in behalf of its morning contemporary in Raleigh in the disaster visited upon it by fire. The Raleigh paper might be said to have just assumed a normal condition after a similar visitation quite recently and the work of destruction in the second instance appears to have been even more complete. The financial loss is a tremendous item in itself, but the demoralization into which the business is necessarily thrown is a matter of serious accounting. But while burned out, the News and Observer is not destroyed. It will be crippled for a time, but it will emerge from its present trouble, as it has done before, with its abilities to serve the people unimpaired.
Observer's Great Loss.
Wilson Times - The people of the entire State will deeply sympathize with Secretary Josephus Daniels and his co-workers in the second great loss that has visited his paper, the News and Observer. But Joe is made of the stuff that will not down.
Following his previous fire the paper emerged better than ever before and again we make the same prediction. As soon as we heard of the disaster we called, placing our plant at the disposal of the News and Observer. The Raleigh Times and other printing establishments in the Capital City quickly responded with offers of assistance. The paper will be issued from the presses of the Raleigh Times.
"Mr. Daniels Will Come Back."
Charlotte News - The entire plant and building of the Raleigh News and Observer was destroyed by fire at an early hour this morning. Practically nothing was saved.
The sympathy of the whole state will go out to the Secretary of the Navy Daniels over this loss of his newspaper plant. It was something like three years ago that fire visited him and did immense damage, but scarcely had the embers died out after the fire before Mr. Daniels was arranging to build a larger plant of his own. The co-operation of the people of the state in this undertaking was shown in very material form. And now fire wipes out the splendid establishment he had built.
The News and Observer has long been one of the ablest and most influential newspapers of the South. It has a large circulation and thousand of friends who will be grieved to learn of this loss.
But Mr. Daniels will come back, and we are certain that although severely visited this time, he will start over again with characteristic determination.
To Mr. Daniels, Mr. Bagley, Mr. Britton and all of the News and Observer family we extend sincere sympathy and wish them Godspeed in the work of rebuilding what the fire has destroyed.
Condolences More Than Personal.
Durham-Sun - The condolences we offer to Secretary Daniels in the loss of his splendid newspaper establishment are more than personal, have a larger bearing than the words of one publisher to another.
They voice what we believe to be the feelings of the people of Durham in the essence of this disaster to a great organ of public service, that has served the state righteously and well.
Mr. Daniels by the force of his personality and the single-mindedness of purpose succeeded in building and maintaining in the News and Observer, a paper that was beyond question the most influential morning publication in North Carolina.
For him to witness in ashes the immediate results of his labor, and the labor of his loyal associates, is a situation full of the deepest pathos. The more so that this is the second calamity of the kind to visit him within three years.
Salisbury Sympathy Great.
Salisbury Post - Local friends of the News and Observer will learn with much regret that the paper has soured another disastrous fire. According to the Associated Press reports the paper is a total loss, nothing having been saved from the fire of an early hour this morning. The paper was issued as-usual this morning.
News and Observer's Second Disaster.
Wilmington Dispatch: For a second time in three years the fist of disaster struck the Raleigh News and Observer this morning, fire completely destroying the big, modern and costly newspaper plant of that paper in the Capital City. Not only the fraternity but the State as a whole will extend its sympathy to the News and Observer in the hour of blight and loss. But it is consoling to think to know that the same undaunted spirit, the same energy and the same ability that shook off the clutch of the previous disaster will shake off this one and the News and Observer will again rise grandly from the ashes.
Fullest Sympathies Extended.
Henderson Dispatch: Our fullest sympathies go out to the News and Observer and the E. M. Uzzell Company at Raleigh in their terrible loss by fire suffered today. Especially can we feel a great deal of sympathy with our contemporary, the News and Observer. What makes it all the worse was the tremendous loss by fire sustained by it a little over two years ago, and from which it had begun to recover more completely. With the new fixtures added after the previous fire, there was hardly a newspaper plant in the South more completely equipped. We hope the insurance is sufficient to wipe out at least most of the loss.
A Great Blow.
Greensboro Record: The loss to the News and Observer of its entire plant and equipment earlier today arouses the sympathy of every newspaper in the State, as the attitude of the paper toward the disaster compels their admiration. This is the second blow of its kind, which has fallen in a three-year period on that paper, the second being the heavier of the two. When on the first occasion of a fire the paper announced it would come out next day as usual there was a general sentiment of appreciation of the pluck shown. That fighting spirit is still dominant. The News and Observer will appear on time tomorrow, and we will expect it every day thereafter. The paper is too big to be destroyed by fire, for it is not wholly located in Raleigh, and, despite the devastating blow, we hope it will arise more vigorous than ever from the ashes of its home.
News Brings Regret.
New Bern Sun - [ goes here ]
Regrets Deeply.
Wilmington Star - [ goes here ]
Keenly Sorrowful.
Winston-Salem Journal - [goes here]
Copyright 2023 by Michael J. Legeros