James Creelman

Journalist, born in Montreal, Canada. A leading reporter for the New York World, New York Journal, and other publications, he was known for his intrepid coverage of wars and insurrections around the globe.

In 1872, Creelman moved to New York, where his interest in literature and law attracted the patronage of Thomas De Witt Talmage and Republican party boss Roscoe Conking.

Creelman traveled extensively to find stories and was unafraid to take on great personal risk in their pursuit.

After stints at several other newspapers, including the Paris Herald, the Evening Telegram, and magazines Illustrated American and Cosmopolitan, Creelman landed at Joseph Pulitzer's New York World in 1894, where he accompanied the Japanese Army and wrote about the tensions between Japan and China.

But Creelman's most significant assignment came in 1896, on a trip to Cuba to report on tensions brewing between the island nation and Spain. By 1897, William Randolph Hearst had recruited Creelman to his newspaper, the New York Journal, and assigned Creelman to cover the war between Cuba and Spain, which broke out in 1898.

Creelman was an open advocate for Cuba in its war against Spain, and like many of his war correspondent peers he carried a sidearm. Seeing the Spanish flag lying on the ground, Creelman seized it, feeling that it was only fair that the Journal, which helped to start the war, should be the first to capture the Spanish flag at this important battle. Creelman waved the flag in front of some Spanish soldiers still entrenched nearby, who responded with a hail of gunfire, wounding Creelman in the arm and back.

In the mold of most yellow journalists of his time, Creelman was as much an advocate as a reporter — in her book The Yellow Kids, author Joyce Milton describes Creelman as the self-described "conscience of the fourth estate," who "normally did as much talking as listening" during interviews, including once lecturing Pope Leo XIII on relations between Protestants and Catholics . Creelman, generally considered one of the premier reporters of his day, also had a bit of an ego — Hearst once said of Creelman:

"The beauty about Creelman is the fact that whatever you give him to do instantly becomes in his mind the most important assignment ever given any writer.

Retiring from service as a daily newspaperman, Creelman wrote editorials for the World until 1906, when he took a job in civil service for the state of New York. On his way to the front to cover the war, Creelman died suddenly in Berlin, of Bright's Disease.