Richard Linthicum

Richard Linthicum (1859–1934) was an American journalist and author whose books often grew out of major public events. Contemporary editions of his work identify him as being on the editorial staff of the Chicago Chronicle, and library records credit him with a mix of reportage, compilations, and popular history.

His best-known surviving title is Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror (1906), a contemporary account of the San Francisco earthquake and fire written with Samuel Fallows and Trumbull White. Catalog and library records also connect him with War Between Japan and Russia (1904), and earlier books such as A Book of Rocky Mountain Tales (1892) and Best Recitations; Readings, Declamations and Plays (1902), showing the range of his work from fiction to reference and current affairs.

Much about his personal life is not easy to confirm from widely available sources, but his bibliography suggests a practical, energetic writer who specialized in making big stories accessible to general readers. Today, he is remembered mainly through digitized editions of his books in public-domain and library collections.