His influence extended to the world of fashion, and he is credited with making the clean-shaven look popular among men at the turn of the 20th century.

In 1882, after an unhappy year at Swarthmore College, Davis transferred to Lehigh University, where his uncle, H. Wilson Harding, was a professor.

He added to his reputation by reporting on other noteworthy events such as the first electrocution of a criminal (the execution of William Kemmler in 1890).

His story made headlines, but as a result, the Navy prohibited reporters from being aboard any American naval vessel for the rest of the war.

Davis was a good friend of Theodore Roosevelt, and he helped create the legend surrounding the Rough Riders, of which he was made an honorary member.

have even gone so far to accuse Davis of involvement in William Randolph Hearst's alleged plot to have started the war between Spain and the United States in order to boost newspaper sales; however, Davis refused to work for Hearst after a dispute over fictionalizing one of his articles.

Despite his alleged association with yellow journalism, his writings of life and travel in Central America, Venezuela, the Caribbean, Rhodesia and South Africa during the Second Boer War were widely published.

[9] His friend and fellow author John Fox, Jr. was surprised by his sudden death, writing, "He was so intensely alive that I cannot think of him as dead—and I do not.