Mazie E. Clemens
Mazie E. Clemens from a 1920 publication.
Mazie E. Clemens from a 1920 publication.
Born1890s
DiedMarch 4, 1952
New York
NationalityAmerican
Occupationjournalist
Known forWorld War I correspondent, worked for National Catholic War Council

Mazie E. Clemens (born 1890s, died March 4, 1952) was an American journalist who served as Special Representative of the National Catholic War Council during World War I. Walter Winchell counted her among the "Daredevil Angels of the Press" in his 1950 list of outstanding women journalists.

Early life

Mazie E. Clemens was the daughter of Richard Clemens and Ellen Clemens of New York.[1][2] She was sometimes described as a relative of Mark Twain's.[3]

Mazie E. Clemens demonstrating her "peasant girl" costume, from a 1919 publication.
Mazie E. Clemens demonstrating her "peasant girl" costume, from a 1919 publication.

Career

Clemens worked as a librarian and reporter at the New York World newspaper before World War I, and a war correspondent for the Philadelphia Public Ledger.[4] She was Special Representative of the National Catholic War Council, working in Europe, during and after World War I. She interviewed Catholic leaders including Marechal Foch, Cardinal Amette, and Elisabeth of Bavaria, for the organization's published bulletin.[5][6][7] In late 1919 she disguised herself as an Italian peasant to carry supplies into Fiume, across a blockade.[8][9] "I wore a blue cotton dress and a gray woolen shawl furnished by the family of an Italian naval officer with connections in New York City," she explained afterwards; "Within a few yards of the city I found myself a woman alone. The entire town, especially around the railroad station, seemed to be one mass of soldiers, but I managed to elude them."[10]

After the war, she covered scandals[11] and murder investigations,[12][13] and testified in criminal trials.[14] Walter Winchell counted her among the "Daredevil Angels of the Press" in his 1950 list of outstanding women journalists.[15]

In later years, she worked as a Deputy Commissioner of Corrections for the State of New York, overseeing the prison commissary at Welfare Island.[16] She was also an auditor for the state's Bureau of Internal Revenue.[17] She was also "official biographer" of Patrick Joseph Hayes, an American cardinal and Archbishop of New York.[18]

Personal life

Mazie E. Clemens married stockbroker Louis Walter Caldwell in 1930.[1][19] She was widowed when Caldwell died in 1937;[20] she died in 1952, in her fifties, in New York.[17][21] Her will left a donation to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund, an oil painting to the American Irish Historical Society, and money for the care of her dogs, Brian Boru and Skippy, saying "I would rather they could live their lives out if possible and not be destroyed."[22] There is a folder of correspondence from Mazie Clemens in the National Catholic War Council papers, at the Catholic University of America.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 "Miss Mazie Clemens Wed". The New York Times. October 10, 1930. p. 18 – via ProQuest.
  2. ↑ "Obituary". The New York Times. May 29, 1921. p. 17 – via ProQuest.
  3. ↑ Ladies of High Achievement" The Green Book Magazine (May 1920): 12.
  4. ↑ "Newspaper Woman Stricken with Appendicitis". Fourth Estate: 19. January 10, 1920.
  5. ↑ C. D. U. (January 1, 1920). "Marechal Foch -- Is He a Catholic?". The Fortnightly Review. 27: 9.
  6. ↑ Clemens, Mazie E. (October 1919). "Interview with the Queen of Belgium". National Catholic War Council Bulletin. 1: 15–16.
  7. ↑ Clemens, Mazie E. (January 1920). "An Interview with Cardinal Amette". The National Catholic War Council Bulletin. 1: 20–21.
  8. ↑ "Miss Mazie E. Clemens". The New York Times. December 21, 1919. p. 2. Retrieved 2019-05-08 – via Library of Congress.
  9. ↑ "First American to Enter Fiume Port". Palladium-Item. November 15, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Clemens, Mazie (October 19, 1919). "Woman Braves Fiume Peril". Star Tribune. p. 58. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Clemens, Mazie (May 14, 1931). "Millionaire, Shot by Wife, Engaged to Showgirl, 19". Daily News. p. 476. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Kunstler, William Moses (1964). The Hall-Mills Murder Case: The Minister and the Choir Singer. Rutgers University Press. pp. 240–241. ISBN 9780813509129.
  13. ↑ Clemens, Mazie (March 6, 1929). "Edel Calls No Witnesses in Murder Trial". Press and Sun-Bulletin. p. 5. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Woman Reporter Called". Daily News. November 17, 1926. p. 46. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Winchell, Walter (December 24, 1950). "Daredevil Angels of the Press". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 11. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Mazie Clemens Runs $300,000 Grocery Store". The Des Moines Register. April 10, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 "Mazie Clemens". Daily News. March 5, 1952. p. 78. Retrieved May 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Clemens, Mazie E. (September 10, 1938). "The Cardinal of Charities". Daily News. p. 222. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Mazie Clemens Marries Broker". Daily News. October 10, 1930. p. 192. Retrieved May 8, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Louis Walter Caldwell". The New York Times. August 7, 1937. p. 15 – via ProQuest.
  21. ↑ "Mazie Clemens Dies; Was Noted Reporter". The New York Times. March 5, 1952. p. 29 – via ProQuest.
  22. ↑ "$1,500 to Cancer Fund". The New York Times. July 16, 1952. p. 27 – via ProQuest.
  23. ↑ "National Catholic War Council Finding Aid - University Archives". archives.lib.cua.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
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