Big-City Newspaperman

In this chapter, Ellis describes Cobb’s difficult first year in the big city. Finding a job to support his family and learning how the New York newspapers were run proved to be a daunting task. Cobb’s big breakthrough came as a reporter for the New York Sun covering the Portsmouth Peace Conference. This led to several job offers, including one from Joseph Pulitzer’s Evening World, which Cobb accepted. Over the next six years, Cobb increased his role at this leading newspaper and honed his skills as a writer. Ellis then explores the development of Cobb’s writing as he branched out to produce a variety of columns and stories. Cobb’s success as a reporter led to his rapid rise to fame as he became one of the most popular writers in New York.