Many are the stories told of the late James Gordon Bennett. One, more
than any other, reveals one of his weaknesses--a disinclination to
acknowledge an error.
Before taking up his residence abroad he frequently breakfasted at
Delmonico's, then downtown. One Christmas morning he gave the waiter who
always served him a small roll of bills. As soon as opportunity offered
the waiter looked at the roll, and when he recovered his equilibrium
took it to Mr. Delmonico. There were six $1,000 bills in the roll. The
proprietor, sensing that a mistake had been made, put them in the safe.
When the publisher next visited the café Mr. Delmonico told him the
waiter had turned the money in. He added he would return it as Mr.
Bennett departed.
"Why return it? Didn't I give it to him?"
"Yes. But, of course, it was a mistake. You gave him $6,000."
"Mr. Delmonico," replied Bennett, rising to his full height, "you should
know by this time that James Gordon Bennett never makes a mistake."
A pressman had just returned to work after a protracted spree. His face
was battered, an eye was blackened, and an ear showed a tendency to
mushroom. The night of his return was one on which Mr. Bennett visited
the pressroom. He saw Mr. Bennett before Mr. Bennett saw him, and,
daubing a handful of ink on his face, he became so busy that Bennett
noticed him.
"Who is that man?" he asked the foreman. "What do you pay him?"
The foreman gave him the information.
"Double his salary," replied Mr. Bennett. "He's the only man in the
place who seems to be doing any work."
A dramatic critic, still a well-known writer, lost his place because he
would not get his hair cut. Bennett in Paris asked him why he wore his
hair so long and was told because he liked it that way. An order sending
him to Copenhagen followed. When his return was announced by a
secretary, Bennett asked if he had had his hair cut, and being informed
that he had not, ordered him to St. Petersburg. On his return from
Russia, still unshorn, he was sent to the Far East.
"Has he had his hair cut?" asked Bennett when his return was once more
announced.
"No, sir," replied the secretary, "it's as long as ever."
"Then fire him," replied Bennett. "He's too slow to take a hint to suit
me."