Editing John Hay (section)

===''Tribune'' and marriage===

[[File:Clara Louise Stone.jpg|thumb|Clara Louise Stone]]
While still in Spain, Hay had been offered the position of assistant editor at the ''[[New-York Tribune]]''—both the editor, Horace Greeley, and his managing editor, [[Whitelaw Reid]], were anxious to hire Hay. He joined the staff in October 1870. The ''Tribune'' was the leading reform newspaper in New York,{{sfn|Kushner|p=372}} and through mail subscriptions, the largest-circulating newspaper in the nation.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=130–31}} Hay wrote editorials for the ''Tribune'', and Greeley soon proclaimed him the most brilliant writer of "breviers" (as such editorials were called) that he had ever had.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=132–33}}

With his success as an editorial writer, Hay's duties expanded. In October 1871, he journeyed to Chicago after the [[Great Chicago Fire|great fire there]], interviewing [[Catherine O'Leary|Mrs. O'Leary]], whose cow was said to have started the blaze, describing her as "a woman with a lamp [who went] to the barn behind the house, to milk the cow with the crumpled temper, that kicked the lamp, that spilled the kerosene, that fired the straw that burned Chicago".{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|p=194}} His work at the ''Tribune'' came as [[John Hay#Literary career|his fame as a poet]] was reaching its peak, and one colleague<!-- unnamed in source --> described it as "a liberal education in the delights of intellectual life to sit in intimate companionship with John Hay and watch the play of that well-stored and brilliant mind".{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|pp=195–96}} In addition to writing, Hay was signed by the prestigious [[Boston Lyceum Bureau]], whose clients included [[Mark Twain]] and [[Susan B. Anthony]], to give lectures on the prospects for democracy in Europe, and on his years in the Lincoln White House.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=140}}

By the time [[Ulysses S. Grant|President Grant]] ran for reelection in 1872, Grant's administration had been rocked by scandal, and some disaffected members of his party formed the [[Liberal Republican Party (United States)|Liberal Republicans]], naming Greeley as their candidate for president,{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=143}} a nomination soon joined in by the Democrats. Hay was unenthusiastic about the editor-turned-candidate, and in his editorials mostly took aim at Grant, who, despite the scandals, remained untarred, and who won a landslide victory [[1872 United States presidential election|in the election]]. Greeley died only weeks later, a broken man. Hay's stance endangered his hitherto sterling credentials in the Republican Party.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=153–57}}

By 1873, Hay was wooing Clara Stone, daughter of Cleveland multimillionaire railroad and banking mogul [[Amasa Stone]]. Their marriage in 1874 made the salary attached to office a small consideration for the rest of his life. Amasa Stone needed someone to watch over his investments, and wanted Hay to move to Cleveland to fill the post.{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|pp=67–68}} Although the Hays initially lived in John's New York apartment and later in a townhouse there, they moved in June 1875 to Stone's ornate home on Cleveland's [[Euclid Avenue (Cleveland)|Euclid Avenue]], "Millionaire's Row", and a mansion was quickly under construction for the Hays next-door.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=163–66}} The Hays had four children, [[Helen Hay Whitney]], [[Adelbert Stone Hay]], Alice Evelyn Hay Wadsworth Boyd (who married [[James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr.]]), and [[Clarence Leonard Hay]].{{sfn|Gale|p=22}} Their father proved successful as a money manager, though he devoted much of his time to literary and political activities,{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|p=205}} writing to Adee that "I do nothing but read and yawn".{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=167}}

On December 29, 1876, a [[Ashtabula River railroad disaster|bridge over Ohio's Ashtabula River collapsed]]. The bridge had been built from metal cast at one of Stone's mills, and was carrying a train owned and operated by Stone's [[Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway|Lake Shore and Michigan Railway]]. Ninety-two people died; it was the worst rail disaster in American history up to that point. Blame fell heavily on Stone, who departed for Europe to recuperate and left Hay in charge of his businesses.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=171–73}} The summer of 1877 was marked by labor disputes; [[Great Railroad Strike of 1877|a strike]] over wage cuts on the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] soon spread to the Lake Shore, much to Hay's outrage. He blamed foreign agitators for the dispute, and vented his anger over the strike in his only novel, ''[[The Bread-Winners]]'' (1883).{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=173–74}}