Julius Wayland

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Julius Wayland
Born
Julius Augustus Wayland

(1854-04-26)April 26, 1854
Versailles, Indiana, U.S.
DiedNovember 10, 1912(1912-11-10) (aged 58)
Girard, Kansas, U.S.
OccupationPublisher
Spouses
Etta Bevan
​
(died)​
Pearl Hunt
​
(died 1911)​

Julius Augustus Wayland (April 26, 1854 – November 10, 1912) was a

socialist during the Progressive Era. He is most noted for publishing Appeal to Reason, a socialist publication often deemed to be the most important socialist periodical of the time.[1][2]

Early life

Julius Wayland was born in Versailles, Indiana, on April 26, 1854. As an infant, his father and four of his siblings died in a cholera epidemic. His early years were spent in abject poverty and he was forced to find work after only two years of schooling. He then apprenticed to a printer in his home town.[citation needed]

Career

Wayland became owner of the Versailles Gazette in 1874. As a result of reading books such as

conservatives and he fled Versailles to avoid lynching.[1]

Moving to

meatpacking houses. Sinclair's novel, titled The Jungle, appeared in 1905 as a serial in Appeal to Reason.[1]

Personal life and death

With his first wife Etta Bevan (1858–1898) and second wife Pearl Hunt (1871–1911), Wayland resided in a historic house in Girard.[4] Despite being a socialist, he became a millionaire.[5]

During the night of June 8, 1911, the 57-year old Wayland, his 39-year old wife Pearl Hunt Wayland, and a family friend and her child, were returning to the Wayland residence after an evening's drive.[6] With J.A. at the wheel, speed was increased to about 20 miles per hour as the car headed home.[6] Tragically, due to mechanical failure the steering wheel became disengaged from the steering shaft and the car slammed into a telephone pole, ejecting Mrs. Wayland, who suffered severe injuries to her head and torso.[6] Pearl Wayland was taken home and a doctor called, but she died of her injuries about five hours later.[6]

Wayland committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun on November 10, 1912, in his Girard home.[7] He had been depressed by the recent death of his wife, his failure to convince a majority of Americans of the merits of socialism, and the smear campaign mounted against him by the conservative press. Afterward, his children and the Appeal to Reason editor Fred Warren successfully sued for damages from newspapers that had published libelous material about Wayland.[1]

Works

References

  1. ^ a b c d Julius Wayland. Spartacus Educational, May 12, 2007.
  2. ^ Murrin, John M. & Johnson, Paul E. & McPherson, James M. & Gerstle, Gary & Rosenberg, Emily S. & Rosenberg, Norman L. Liberty Equality Power: A History of the American People Fourth Edition Wadsworth: Thomson Learning. 2005.
  3. ^ 1886
  4. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Julius A. Wayland House". National Park Service. Retrieved December 29, 2018. With accompanying pictures
  5. Newspapers.com
    .
  6. ^ a b c d "Terrible Automobile Accident: Mrs. J.A. Wayland Killed Last Thursday Night," Girard Press, June 15, 1911, p. 1.
  7. Newspapers.com
    .

Further reading

  • Tim Davenport, "The Appeal to Reason: Forerunner of Haldeman-Julius Publications", Corvallis, OR: Big Blue Newsletter, No. 3 (2004 Q-III).
  • George Allen England, The Story of the Appeal. Girard, KS: Appeal to Reason, 1913.
  • Howard H. Quint, "Julius A. Wayland, Pioneer Socialist Propagandist," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 35, no. 4 (March 1949), pp. 585–606. In JSTOR
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julius_Wayland&oldid=1184558333"