On January 14, 1912, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a long, detailed feature on José Méndez, “El Diamante Negro” (“Black Diamond”), by the obviously pseudonymous “Jim Nasium” (real name: Edgar Forrest Wolfe) who had evidently done his research. It’s a very important source and, being published in 1912, is out of copyright, so I thought I’d make it generally available. This is how it concludes:
“It is one of the pathetic instances of life to see this Cuban negro, possessing all the characteristics of a gentleman, and an ability that would make him one of the great figures in a great pastime—qualities that would bring him world-wide fame and popularity and wealth—barred from reaping the full benefits of these qualifications through the misfortune of birth. Jose Mendez will always have to be content just to be Cuba’s ‘black Mathewson’.”
The version I’m posting is the Washington Post’s reprint of the story from a week later, as the layout makes it a little easier to handle. As you can see, the Post had an artist do his own version of Jim Nasium’s portrait of Méndez.
You should be able to click on it for the full-size, readable story.
And here is the original art that accompanied the Inquirer story:
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