William d'Alton Mann

 

He was born in Sandusky, Ohio on September 27, 1839.^[1]

During the Civil War, Mann enlisted in the 1st Michigan Cavalry and was elected as a captain on August 22, 1861. He later became the lieutenant colonel of the 5th Michigan Cavalry on August 14, 1862. Then, in the late summer of 1862, he raised and organized the 7th Michigan Cavalry and was promoted to its colonel on February 9, 1863. He fought at Gettysburg under George Armstrong Custer. Following the war, he was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.^[2]

After the war, he lived in Mobile, Alabama, where he pioneered developments in the manufacture of cotton seed oil. He ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat and received a majority of votes, but never took his seat because the "Federal authorities denied him a certificate".^[1] In 1871, he moved to New York City where he developed Mann's Boudoir Car, a railroad sleeping car. He went to Europe and spent many years promoting the car, which was sold to the Pullman Company.^[1]

In his later years, he became the publisher of the Mobile Register as well as several popular magazines in the New York City area, including The Smart Set, and Town Topics.^[3] The credibility of the latter was undermined by Mann's tacit admission in civil court to allowing robber barons to purchase immunity from unwanted coverage in the paper.^[4] "In 1906 The New York Times noted that Mann had received what he described as loans from a number of millionaires, including $25,000 from William K. Vanderbilt."^[5]

In 1864, he married, as his second wife, Mary E. Marks (1841–1899), a daughter of Samuel Abram Headly Marks and Anne (née Holroyd) Marks. He was the father of Emma Mann, who married Harold R. Vynne, a son of Charles Vynne of Carlisle, England, in 1896.^[6]

His New York residence was 302 West 72nd Street in Manhattan.^[5] Mann died at his country home, 156 Madison Avenue, Morristown, New Jersey on May 17, 1920, from complications from influenza. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx.^[1] His estate was divided amongst family and friends,^[7][8] but led to a number of lawsuits.^[9]

He has been given credit for the invention of the "blind item".^[2]

The Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury began a portrait of Mann in the middle of October 1902. When finished, Town Topics commented favorably on the portrait of its proprietor in its November 27, 1902 edition, writing: "... Mr. Ury's friends will be pleased to note that his work has broadened a great deal in recent months. His portrait of Colonel Mann, particularly, is rendered with considerable freedom and vigor, and in this respect is the best work that the artist has produced. The portrait is fair in color, a good likeness — although the mouth is perhaps unnecessarily severe — and the downy quality of the white hair and beard is especially well painted..." The portrait was exhibited at the Noe Art Galleries, on Fifth Avenue, between January 5 and 19, 1903.^[2]

• Blind item

• Logan, Andy (1965). The Man Who Robbed the Robber Barons: The Story of Colonel William d'Alton Mann: War Hero, Profiteer, Inventor, and Blackmailer Extraordinary. W. W. Norton. LCC PN4874 M477 L6.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William d'Alton Mann.

• "Gossiper Silenced". Time Magazine. Jan 25, 1932. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved Aug 8, 2008.
• White, Jr., John H. (1985). The American Railroad Passenger Car. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 227. ISBN 9780801827433.
• Gregg, Richard T. (Aug 1997). "The Man Who Robbed the Robber Barons and founded Wagons-Lits". Scripophily. International Bond & Share Society. Archived from the original on June 10, 2002.