James W. Slaght (1858-1937) was born and died in Brooklyn, New York. He married Josephine Slaght (b. De Sutton) in New York, New York, in 1888. He practiced law briefly before working as a newspaper reporter for 35 years, first at the New York Herald, then as a staffer on Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. His reporting included the Spanish-American War in Cuba, political campaigns of Theodore Roosevelt, a study of the John D. Rockefeller family. He was renowned for his investigative journalism, including a 1906 article written with fellow New York World reporter Lithchild about Mary Baker Eddy, following a visit to Pleasant View.

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