His day commenced about noon and lasted till three in the morning.

"Well, Terry, what's the news at the morgue today ?" I would inquire as we settled ourselves at the table.

And Terry would rattle off the details of the latest murder mystery with a cheerfully matter-of-fact air that would have been disgusting had it not been so funny.
It was at this time that I learned his history prior to the days of the Post-Dispatch.

He was entirely frank about himself, and if one half of his stories were true, he has achieved some amazing adventures.

I strongly suspected at times that the reporting instinct got ahead of the facts, and that he embroidered incidents as he went along.
His father, Terry Senior, had been an Irish politician of considerable ability and some prominence on the East River side of the city.