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1 of 2 sample passages Even though the Tennessean was not as prolific with York publicity as the Banner, the former was both more revealing and more imaginative. The first personal contact a Tennessean reporter had with York resulted in a page 1 article June 2. Noteworthy about the item is that the writer attempted in several instances to reproduce York's accent by substituting "Ah" for "I." "Ah believed and the hand of God was with me," York was quoted. The story is of interest also because Grace Williams is described and quoted at length on the hero and their relationship. The reporter said Miss Williams fulfilled "what popular romance expects of a great hero's love." As quoted, she told the reporter that her parents had always been against her marrying York because they didn't think his conversion would "amount to anything." She reportedly told York that if he wanted to "go with" her, he would have to go to church. She had faith in him to do what he said he would, but because of her parents' objections she would not give him her answer concerning marriage before he left for the war. It is more apparent in this than in other accounts that York's fight in the Argonne was construed or perhaps accepted unconsciously as being a direct result of his conversion A June 8 page 1 story contains, as well as significant information, such sentimental passages as "He tenderly clasped his arms about the slim waist of his heart's second conqueror the Creator was his first." The item details the governor's announcement that there would be no picture-taking at the wedding ceremony.
The reporter adds that, as a result of the governor's ban on picture-taking, the representative of a New York newspaper, the Herald, took back the offer of $10,000 for the rights to a serial story of York's life. ...................... page 73 ............................... |
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2 of 2 sample passages Although not as impressive or politically powerful as Governor Roberts and not as important to the press, Pastor R.C. Pile was an avid promoter of Sergeant York. His motives for trying to influence York's worldly affairs are not known, but it is a fact that he was York's friend and adviser before the man became famous as well as after. His association with York put Pile in the public eye as soon as the Pattullo article appeared. The pastor then made newspapers in both Tennessee and New York with his telegraphed warning to the newly arrived hero about the evils of city life. Apparently it was Pile who kept the Nashville papers informed of newsworthy events scheduled in Pall Mall for Sergeant York. As early as May 19 the Banner printed a page 1 story on plans that Pile had announced for the hero's reception in Pall Mall. Pastor Pile was inseparable from one of the most important elements of York's story his religion. The public wanted to know how Pile, as head of a self-proclaimed pacifist church, reacted to the fact that his elder had killed more that 20 Germans in one battle. Pastor Pile's widely printed reply was that, although he had personally opposed York's going to war, the sergeant would not be put out of the church for having performed well in battle (3). According to a June 2, page 9 story in the Knoxville Sentinel, Pile wrote a friend in Knoxville that he and York might come there to "lecture." At that time Sergeant York was in a quandary over which, if any, of the money offers to accept. Pile was dead set, according to published reports, against anything related to the theatre. The Knoxville Sentinel quoted him on page 1 of its June 4 issue as saying that York would be turned out of the church if he accepted theatrical offers. The only newspaper that printed anything unflattering about Pile was the Knoxville Journal and Tribune in the previously cited stories by Charles R. Forbes, whose suspicion of and dislike for Pile are obvious to the reader.
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