The Pascagoula Democrat Star

A friend, who at one time enjoyed the intimate acquaintance of William Ross Wallace, the author of that very popular song "The Sword of Bunker Hill," writes that Mr. Wallace once told him that he was paid just $5 for that piece of composition. He said, further, that Mr. Wallace encountered upon the platform of the Cooper Institute, at a later day, Lowell Mason, who wrote the music for this song, and had the curiosity to ask Mr. Mason what he was paid for his share in the production. The latter answered that he received $10 also. Thus author and composer were placed on terms of strict equality. The piece netted many thousands of dollars to its publishers.