 The owner of the "Tribune", Whitelaw Reid, was that year's Republican vice-presidential candidate, and this likely increased the sensitivity of the paper's management to the issue.Although Townley wrote a piece for the "Asbury Park Daily Press" in his brother's defense, the "Tribune" quickly apologized to its readers, calling Stephen Crane's piece "a bit of random correspondence, passed inadvertently by the copy editor".Hamlin Garland and biographer John Barry attested that Crane told them he had been dismissed by the "Tribune", although Willis Fletcher Johnson later denied this.