Ada Patterson (5 July 1867 – 26 June 1939) was an American print

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. ''Subscription needed''.

Early life

Patterson was born in

Mount Joy, Pennsylvania Mount Joy is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,346 at the 2020 census, and an estimated 8,323 in 2021. Name and origin The name is often shortened to "Mt Joy", as in Mencken (1963).Mencken (1963) p. ...

, and received her education at Franklin Academy in

Franklin, Nebraska Franklin is a city in Franklin County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,000 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Franklin County. History Franklin was founded in the 1870s. It was named for Benjamin Franklin. Former Nebras ...

Career

Patterson wrote for the ''St. Louis Republican'', where she was dubbed "the

Nellie Bly Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaki ...

of the West"., page 13 She also wrote for the ''Salt Lake Herald'', the ''

San Francisco Call ''The San Francisco Call'' was a newspaper that served San Francisco, California. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called ''The San Francisco Call & Post'', the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin ...

'', and the ''

New York American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

''. For several years, Patterson also wrote a column in ''Theatre Magazine'', which she signed as "The Lady with the

Lorgnette A lorgnette () is a pair of spectacles with a handle, used to hold them in place, rather than fitting over the ears or nose. The word ''lorgnette'' is derived from the French ''lorgner'', to take a sidelong look at, and Middle French, from ''lor ...

". Patterson covered a number of notable murder trials, including those of Anne Madison Bradley (charged with the murder of Utah Senator

Arthur Brown Arthur Brown may refer to: Entertainment * Arthur William Brown (1881–1966), Canadian commercial artist * H. Arthur Brown (1906–1992), American orchestral conductor * Arthur Brown (musician) (born 1942), English rock singer * Arthur Brown, ak ...

) and

Charles Becker Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...

. Patterson covered the trial of

Harry Kendall Thaw Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr.. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, the younger Thaw is most notable for murdering the renowned architect Sta ...

along with three other women (

Winifred Black Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils (October 14, 1863, Chilton, Wisconsin – May 25, 1936, San Francisco, California) was an American reporter and columnist, under the pen name Annie Laurie, a reference to her mother's favorite lullaby. She also wrote u ...

Dorothy Dix Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (November 18, 1861 – December 16, 1951), widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix, was an American journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today's popular advice columnists, Dix was America's highest paid ...

Nixola Greeley-Smith Nixola Greeley-Smith (April 5, 1880 - March 9, 1919) was an American suffragist and a journalist at New York's ''The Evening World''. She was known for her interviews and coverage of the home front during World War One. In 1913 it was said that he ...

) and together, they were given the dismissive nickname of the "sob sisters." The phrase became a term of derision for other female journalists, who were believed to be overly emotional or compassionate., page 65 Patterson wrote a biography of

Maude Adams Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 1905 Broadway production ...

''By the Stage Door'' and co-wrote a

Broadway play Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

, ''Love's Lightning'', with Robert Edeson.

Bibliography

*''By the Stage Door''. New York, The Grafton press, 1902.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Ada 19th-century American women journalists 1867 births 1939 deaths People from Mount Joy, Pennsylvania Journalists from Pennsylvania 19th-century American journalists 19th-century American women writers