Here’s what Wikipedia says about politician and newspaper editor Whitelaw Reid.

He was the longtime editor of the New York Tribune and close friend of Horace Greeley. He was a leader of the Liberal Republican movement in 1872. A Republican, he had an illustrious career as a diplomat, serving as United States Ambassador to France from 1889 to 1892, and again as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s from 1905 to 1912.

In 1892, he was the Republican vice presidential nominee replacing Levi P. Morton on a ticket headed by incumbent President Benjamin Harrison. The Harrison-Reid ticket received the electoral votes of sixteen states (145 EV) finishing second among the three tickets that captured electoral votes. Reid was given a spot on the Peace Commission following the Spanish-American War. Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York of Westchester County is located on his former estate.

This is the man who Horace Greeley claimed stole his newspaper, according to Wikipedia.

Not long after the election, Greeley’s wife died. He descended into madness and died before the electoral votes could be cast. In his final illness, allegedly Greeley spotted Reid and cried out, “You son of a bitch, you stole my newspaper.”

Greeley’s Wikipedia entry says Reid gained control of the New York Tribune, but doesn’t say how.

This crushing defeat was not Greeley’s only misfortune in 1872. Greeley was among several high-profile investors who were defrauded by Philip Arnold in a famous diamond and gemstone hoax. Meanwhile, as Greeley had been pursuing his political career, Whitelaw Reid, owner of the New York Herald, had gained control of the Tribune.

That’s about as far as I got tonight.