ew York Enquirer_,
and in this position inaugurated the style of newspaper correspondence
which is now adopted by all the leading journals of the country. He was
poorly paid for his services, and was obliged to do an immense amount of
miscellaneous literary work in order to earn a bare support. In the
autumn of 1829 he became assistant editor of the _Courier and Enquirer_,
with James Watson Webb as his chief. In this position he did great
service, and really made the success of the paper. He found his position
unpleasant, however, and abandoned it in 1832.

He tried several other expedients, all of which were unsuccessful, and
even tried to induce Horace Greeley, then a struggling printer, to join
him in the establishment of a newspaper. Horace refused, but recommended
him to another printer who accepted his proposition. His next step was
to rent a cellar in Wall street, and in this cellar, on the 6th of May,
1835, the _New York Herald_ was born. The coal vaults of the present
_Herald_ office are an improvement upon the original office, which was
sanctum and counting-house all in one. Mr. Bennett performed all the
work on the paper, except setting it up and printing it. He collected
the news, wrote the contents, sold the paper, and received
advertisements. He worked manfully, but his difficulties were enormous.
He made his little journal spicy, attractive, and even impudent--though
not indecent, as some have wrongly asserted--in the hope of making it
popular. He worked from sixteen to eighteen hours a day, but in spite of
all his efforts he lost money until the end of the third month, after
which he contrived to pay the actual expense of publication for some time
longer. Then a fire destroyed the printing office, and his partners
refused to continue their connection with the paper. By almost
superhuman efforts he succeeded in securing the means of going on with
the _Herald_, and in a short while the "great fire" occurred just in time
to save him. It was the most terrible catastrophe that had ever occurred
in America, and Bennett resolved to profit by it. He went himself among
the ruins, note-book in hand, and the result of his labors was a series
of graphic and accurate reports in the _Herald_ of the disaster, that at
once created a large demand for the paper. This demand did not fall off,
but it was not sufficient to place the _Herald_ on a successful footing.
At this time, Mr. Bennett was fortunate enou