Meanwhile the Jamaica Railroad had obtained permission to occupy Atlantic Street, and other projects matured. The population of the city had, in 1835, reached 24,310, showing a gain of 9013 in fifteen years. Trotter was reëlected Mayor, and was succeeded by Jeremiah Johnson, a man whose contemporaries revered him, and whose name occupies, and must always occupy, a high place in the annals of the city. General Johnson was reëlected, and was succeeded by Cyrus P. Smith, who was elected by vote of the people, and who also was reëlected. The fluster in the real-estate market was paralleled by the financial excitement, which resulted in the suspension of specie payments by the three banks of the city. The year of General Johnson's reëlection was one of general business depression, but the community rallied quickly from the blow inflicted by disordered markets. In 1841 the Democrats of the county received representation in a new newspaper, the "Brooklyn Eagle and Kings County Democrat." The movement for the establishment of the "Eagle" was led by Henry C. Murphy, with whom Richard Adams Locke was associated in the editorship. The first number appeared in October, and the Democrats were not loth to give the lusty young journal full credit for the success of the campaign, in which its voice gave no uncertain sound. Directing the helm of the "Eagle" enterprise was the clear-sighted, practical genius of Isaac Van Anden, who soon came into complete control of the paper, and remained sole proprietor until the year 1872. The "Eagle" had its days of adversity; but it had a field, and it had vitality, and its growth was sure and steady. Following Murphy in its early editorship were William B. Marsh, Walt Whitman,[24] S. G. Arnold (under whose editorial leadership the name of the paper was abbreviated to "Brooklyn Daily Eagle"), and Henry McCloskey. In 1861 McCloskey was succeeded by Thomas Kinsella, who gave force and distinction to the editorial page of the flourishing paper. Kinsella died in 1884, after having made himself a power in the community. He was succeeded by his first lieutenant on the "Eagle" staff, that graceful writer and orator, Andrew McLean, who afterward took the editorship of the Brooklyn "Citizen." That the "Eagle" was destined to be lucky with its editors, received further indication in the appearance of St. Clair McKelway at the post of command. Mr. McKelway's brilliant gifts as a speaker and as a writer have given to him peculiar prominence in the social, artistic, and political life of the city and the State.