Reference
Edwin Erie Sparks, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1908), 81.
JAMES B. SHERIDAN
The art of phonography was early developed in Philadelphia
where was located a prominent school. Among
its early disciples was Mr. Sheridan, who became a prominent
reporter on Forney's Philadelphia Press. Forney
espoused the cause of Douglas in his breach with Buchanan
and when the senator entered upon his great canvass for
re-election, Forney sent Sheridan to Illinois to follow the
campaign. It was not the original intention to have him
remain throughout the autumn, but the value of his services
as a reporter was so evident that he was employed
to take the debates for the Democratic Chicago Times, in
connection with Mr. Binmore. He continued to write
descriptive articles for the Press, many of the quotations
from that paper printed in this volume being no doubt
contributed by him.
At the close of the campaign, Sheridan went to New York, enlisted as a northern Democrat in the Civil War, attained the rank of colonel, and later became the official reporter of the New York Supreme Court. In 1875, he was elected justice of the Marine Court of New York City. He died about 1905.