Rogue Editor Tells Truth!
To the extent the Brooklyn Daily Eagle is remembered today, it is largely because of Walt Whitman. The poet edited the Eagle from 1846 to 1848, and returned for a second stint about a decade later. We recently stumbled upon another modest reason for remembering the Eagle: it published, on Sunday, August 5, 1883—as the ailing Whitman, 64, languished 100 miles away in Camden, New Jersey—an 1,800 word item on “The Origin and Growth” of The Twilight Club, “A Successful Club Which Has Neither Club House Nor Caterer.” Now, the Twilight Club itself could probably be safely forgotten, had it not provided a platform for …