Home › S › Swinton (JOHN an American journalist)

Swinton (JOHN an American journalist)

JOHN, an American journalist; born in Salton, Scotland, Dec. 12, 1830; early learned the printer's trade; came to Canada about 1853 and afterward to New York City; took part in the Kansas "free State" contest; studied medicine; was chief of editorial staff of the "Times" from 1860 through the war; resigned post of managing editor, but continued his connection with the paper till 1869; then with Horace Greely on the "Tribune" till about 1874; then chief of staff of the "Sun" till 1883, when he resigned to start "John Swinton's Paper," conducting it till 1887. In the spring of 1874 he became the active champion of workingmen; was nominated by them for mayor of New York, but polled only 200 votes; took active part as public speaker, writer, and worker in all the movements of labor in New York after 1874. He wrote "The New Issue" (1870); "Eulogy on Henry J. Raymond" (1870); "John Swinton's Travels" (1880); and an "Oration on John Brown" (1881). He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 15, 1901.