"for the want of my usual life to-day." Referring to his assailant, he stated that Webb had, "by going up behind me, cut a slash in my head about one and one-half inches in length and through the integuments of the skull. The fellow, no doubt, wanted to let out the never-failing supply of good humor and wit, which has created such a reputation for the Herald, and appropriate the contents to supply the emptiness of his own thick skull. He did not succeed, however, in rifling me of my ideas, … He has not injured the skull. My ideas, in a few days, will flow as freely as ever, and he will find it so, to his cost."
Street fights between editors were not rare in these days; Philip Hone recorded in his diary that while shaving "this morning at eight o'clock I witnessed from the front window an encounter in the street nearly opposite, between William Cullen Bryant and William L. Stone; the former one of the editors of the Evening Post and the latter the editor of the Commercial Advertiser."[1] Bryant, the poet, began this particular fight by hitting Stone, the historian, over the head with a cane, but judging from Hone's calm statement, the distinguished and urbane mayor of the city was so little disturbed that the argument did not even interfere with his shaving.
Bennett's method of treating his assault was an innovation, and a success—the circulation of the Herald containing this recital went up to 9,000 copies.
He was now a public character; something equally novel was expected from him with sufficient frequency to keep people buying his paper. He kept his promise as to Webb, with the result that a few months later he was able to report another assault by Webb.
"As I was leisurely pursuing my business yesterday in Wall Street, collecting the information which is daily
- ↑ Hone, Diary, i, 30.
