Rutgers College student Stephen Fiske was expelled from the school around 1860 for writing inappropriate things about the faculty. But he landed a job with the New York Herald and wound up with an exciting career. He held no grudges against his former school. In fact, he still proudly represented Rutgers. He was with Abraham Lincoln on the train that pulled into the George Street station on its way to the Presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. in 1861. The cheers that accompanied the arrival of the train were for not for the President-elect but from the Rutgers friends of Stephen Fiske! Fiske later recalled Lincoln playfully telling him, "Is this your reception or mine?”
According to the August 27, 1909 Daily Home News, Stephen Fiske was living in New York City and, “…while he does not often favor New Brunswick with a visit, he never misses an opportunity to say a good word for the town of his birth, the people and its institutions, particularly Rutgers College. His brothers, Haley Fiske and William H. Fiske, and his nephew, Rev. Charles Fiske, all had a taste of journalism either with the New Brunswick Times or the New Brunswick Home News. The December 2, 1910 Daily Home News also reported he wrote to the Rutgers Targum, “…In response to your paragraph in reference to newspaper reports of Rutgers athletics, I have interviewed the Hon. Melville Stone, secretary and general manager of the Associated Press, and he says that he will order the Rutgers football and baseball games with other colleges to be duly noticed. The other Press Associations will follow this good example. But notices and tickets should be sent to them in advance.”
In addition to covering Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration train ride, the August 27, 1909 Daily Home News said Fiske accompanied the Prince of Wales, Edward VII, on his first American tour, covered General Giuseppe Garibaldi in his last campaign against Rome but spent much of his New York Herald career as a theatre and entertainment critic. He reminisced in the February 15, 1912 Daily Home News, “One morning in London, I received the following note: ‘Shipmate ahoy! How am I to entertain an American who neither eats, drinks, smokes, chews, nor swears? Please come at once. C. D.”
When he arrived, his “intimate friend” was already engaged in conversation with a third party, so Fiske was coached into playing a game of billiards with the son of the man – the son of Charles Dickens.
A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
More about Stephen Fiske:
pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu
According to the August 27, 1909 Daily Home News, Stephen Fiske was living in New York City and, “…while he does not often favor New Brunswick with a visit, he never misses an opportunity to say a good word for the town of his birth, the people and its institutions, particularly Rutgers College. His brothers, Haley Fiske and William H. Fiske, and his nephew, Rev. Charles Fiske, all had a taste of journalism either with the New Brunswick Times or the New Brunswick Home News. The December 2, 1910 Daily Home News also reported he wrote to the Rutgers Targum, “…In response to your paragraph in reference to newspaper reports of Rutgers athletics, I have interviewed the Hon. Melville Stone, secretary and general manager of the Associated Press, and he says that he will order the Rutgers football and baseball games with other colleges to be duly noticed. The other Press Associations will follow this good example. But notices and tickets should be sent to them in advance.”
In addition to covering Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration train ride, the August 27, 1909 Daily Home News said Fiske accompanied the Prince of Wales, Edward VII, on his first American tour, covered General Giuseppe Garibaldi in his last campaign against Rome but spent much of his New York Herald career as a theatre and entertainment critic. He reminisced in the February 15, 1912 Daily Home News, “One morning in London, I received the following note: ‘Shipmate ahoy! How am I to entertain an American who neither eats, drinks, smokes, chews, nor swears? Please come at once. C. D.”
When he arrived, his “intimate friend” was already engaged in conversation with a third party, so Fiske was coached into playing a game of billiards with the son of the man – the son of Charles Dickens.
A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
More about Stephen Fiske:
Fiske, Stephen Ryder (1840-1916) | The Vault at Pfaff's
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