Edwin F. De Nyse
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Edward Forrest De Nyse[1] (c. 1841 – May 12, 1896), known colloquially as Ned De Nyse,[2] was an American newspaper reporter, newspaper editor, poet, playwright, librettist, and theatrical producer.
De Nyse was born in Brooklyn approximately in 1841 to Denyse H. De Nyse and his wife Maria. He was from the "well-known New Utrecht family."[3] He attended public school in New York City.[1]
In the newspaper industry
De Nyse's articles appeared as early as 1857, when the New York Dispatch published his fictional story "Paul Genot, The Miser."[4]
In the early part of his career he was on the staff of the Evening Telegram and The New York Times .[2]
Much of his career was spent with the New York Herald. In addition to being a reporter, he was employed "in a confidential capacity" by its founder, James Gordon Bennett, Sr.[5]
He was a war correspondence for the New York Herald during the American Civil War.[6] One of 200 Civil War correspondents for the New York Herald, De Nyse was accused of writing and publishing dispatches that aided the Confederate States Army. Under a military commission led by George H. Sharpe, colonel of the 120th New York Infantry, he was convicted and sentenced to six months' hard labor after which he would be banished from the Civil War front. But in his sentencing, Commander Joseph Hooker said "...it cannot be tolerated that newspapers correspondents should abuse the privilege of remaining with this army by the publication of intelligence certain to be of use to the enemy...Trusting that a milder punishment than that awarded by the Commission will be sufficient to serve as a warning to others of that class, the commanding General adopts the recommendation of the Commission and commutes the sentence to expulsion from the lines of this army."[7]
Prior to this event, De Nyse's byline did not appear in his dispatches. By August 1863, his byline regularly appeared in dispatches beginning with the column "Interesting from Virginia." Accompanying the brigade led by Robert Sanford Foster, De Nyse wrote a series of dispatches detailing the war from the vantage point of being with the Union Army in Southern territory.[8]
His serial story "Billy the Boxer" was announced in the Police Gazette of May 10, 1884.[9]
He wrote poems that appeared on page 1 of the New York York Clipper and Theatrical Journal. Among his last poems might have been "The Veil of Tears" from 1885.[10]
Theatre activity
Writing in 1899, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote that he was a "well known playwright of a generation ago"[3] and had done favors for the Kiralfy family of impresarios.[5]
De Nyse was the agent of Adelaide Neilson for her American tour beginning in 1872.[5]
In 1877, the "Theatrical Notes" column of the National Republican (Washington, D.C.) reported on a prospect of a production of Anthony and Cleopatra at Niblo's Garden with Lulu Prior, with De Nyse "in the business department" (i.e. producer).[11]
Personal
De Nyse married actress Lulu Prior (stage name of Ann Louise Prior and daughter of the actress Mrs. J.J. Prior) on March 29, 1874.[12]
