As I just arrived home after a wonderful trip to New York, I can see that it is just in time as someone needs to reign in the rampant insanity that has been running amok on this thread. Unfortunately, It'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon as I've much to do before then.
There are several small points that I would like to clarify for evryone. First, Tom Paul quoted Bob Labbance when he wrote, "He (Travis) lined up regional correspondents to cover events in as many locales as he could, and to protect them from the scrutiny of the amateur versus professional hawkers, gave them all a pseudonym. It was "Lochinvar" covering the Western region. "Bunker Hill" handled New England. "Hazard" held court around Philadelphia. "Buckeye" reported from Ohio. Both "The Judge" and "The Colonel" issues reports from the South. "Far and Sure" was in Eastern Pennsylvania; "William Pitt" was in the Western part.. "Argonaut" detailed the Pacific news, and "A Sufferer", "The Duffer," "The Philospher," and "Westward Ho!" all submitted to the magazine from time to time. The identities of some of the correspondents and columnists remain a mystery yet today, prompting some to speculate that whenever it suited his fancy, Travis took on another name and let the doctrine fly."
Tom, you seem to have taken this to me that these names were just used whenever the whim struck Travis and that they aren't SPECIFIC individuals. That is incorrect. First note that Bob didn't state that these identities remain a mystery, he said that "SOME of the correspondents and columnists..." SOME meaning that the pen names were specific to certain people, not all of whom can be identified.
He also didn't state that Travis used numerous names, but rather that "SOME" speculated this.
An example of a name and who it is is "Duffer." This is B.C. Tillinghast, Tilly's dad. We know this because in 1918 when he died, Tilly wrote an article about his passing in which he stated that "Duffer" was his father, that he had written almost every poem published in the "Hazard" columns and that his father had been the person behind the scenes gathering the local information for Tilly who spent a GREAT DEAL of time traveling around the country during the years that he was writing the American Golfer "Hazard" articles! Though not specifically stated, B.C. "Duffer" Tillinghast most likely gathered information about golf in the entire region for several of the writers. That is probably why there are similarities in information reported. It is this similarity in information that has been mistakenly, in my opinion, interpreted as similarity in style. One brief example of this is:
"Last year I met Mr. Macdonald at Garden City and he was quite enthusiastic regarding the great possibilities at Haverford. In his opinion, it will eventually be one of the very best inland courses in America." - A.W Tillinghast, Philadelphia Record, May, 1912
"Two years ago, Mr. Chas. B. Macdonald, who has been of great assistance in an advisory way, told me that Merion would have one of the best inland courses he had ever seen..." - "Far and Sure", January 1913
Really now, isn't this just two different reporters being given the same quote by C.B. at right about the same time? Isn't that EXACTLY what happens today? How many times has Tom Doak been asked for a quote about Sebonac? Do you really think that he doesn't have pat answers that he gives to one and all? That the same answer is then written by two or more reporters certainly doesn't suggest either plaigerism or that the same person has written for numerous publications. It is simply that they were given the same answer...
Now Mike also mentions the reporting of Tilly's song parodies at the GAP dinner. he asks, "Now, does anyone out there really believe that if the author wasn't Mr. Tillinghast that he would produce this level of detail of someone else's song parodies?!?..." The answer is YES!
"Would any other reporter have done this??" Again, the answer is YES!
"No, this was clearly Tillinghast, and clearly amused with his own creativity, and wanting to share his little ditties with the larger golfing world..." Sorry Mike, but your reasoning is based upon faulty understanding of both the event and who was there, for there was another correspondent of the American Golfer who was there and who would not only have copied Tilly's "ditty'd" wor for word, but would have had them BEFOREHAND, with the possible exception of the last one, because that one was written about the man Tilly loved most in the world, Dufferoo himself, B.C. Tillinghast!
The problem with this thread is that too many jumps of faith have been made rather than doing the real legwork to connect properly.
It seemed to pass evryone by what I mentioned about the ship that Mike concluded was the one mentioned. The Aurania does fit the description in the "far and Sure" article almost exactly. The engine problems, the emergency sailing, the arriving in port a week late, etc... Only it happened in 1883! On it's MAIDEN VOYAGE!
Once again I ask, can anyone check the manifest's from that voyage to see if anyone in the world of golf was on it? If no one was, then the voyage that "Far and Sure" described MUST have occurred on another ship, and Tilly wasn't on that one...
The biggest problem that I can see in this discussion is that the facts of the various articles are minimized over the search for the exact person who wrote them. Really, what is important is the information they contain, whether about Merion, Pine Valley or other courses. THAT is what should be concentrated on.
Finally, as I guess I must keep writing a bit, Tom Macwood, would you please offer us a name as I am asking as a personal favor for all. As far as your belief that "Far and Sure" MUST have been in Western Pennsylvania during those two months, I think you need to carefully define the time period as the articles might have required some lead time or minimal; and yes, Tilly WAS in Western Pennsylvania a number of times working on golf courses in 1913...