The Press: City Editor

Of 1,768 city editors in the U.S., few are as well conditioned to subdue tigers barehanded as the 15 who work for Hearst. Of that little band, none has reigned longer or more despotically than the Los Angeles Examiner's asp-tongued James H. (for Hugh) Richardson. In a 20-year running feud with slow-moving staffers and half the officialdom of Los Angeles, one-eyed Jimmy Richardson (he lost his right eye in a slingshot accident at the age of seven) has driven a long parade of newsmen to pressagentry. the bottle—or to fame. He also bullied and blarneyed his way to more newsbeats than...