History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 61

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 61
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 61

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the year given. The Newark Daily Advertiser had meanwhile been started, and that fact, doubtless, spurred Crowell to issue his Eagle twice a week instead of once. In his first semi-weekly issue U'ro- well promised his readers " nothing more than plain common sense, never having inherited splendid talents or enjoyed the advantage of a liberale duca- tion." Ile came of Revolutionary stock, his grand- father and uncles having been held as prisoners by the British in the old Sugar-House prison, on Liberty Street, New York, about the time Hedden and t'amp were there. He was a Democrat of the Jacksonian school, and was complimented by his contemporaries for " his indefatigable efforts in the Democratic cause and his tried consistency." " But few editor- in this State," said the New Brunswick Times at the time of the semi-weekly's first issue, referring to Crowell " have had greater difficulties to encounter, nor is there one who has maintained a more honorable position. Honest and fearless, he has been foremost in exposing political corruption and vindicating the right, when others, more timid, faltered and quailed." Crowell's amiability was such as to commend him to his political antagonists. Accordingly, the New Brunswick Fredonian generously said : " Mr. Crowell is of opposite political views to ourselves, yet we regard him as a gentleman of elevated moral sentiments, who desires to wield the editorial influence in favor of all our great social interests. We therefore wish him success in the extension of his enterprise." The Eagle under ('rowell's direction was vigorous enough in the discussion of politics, but considered the col- lection of news a secondary matter entirely. On this point it was dull, lethargie and sleepy to a degree amazing to the modern idea of journalism. Not even " a good lively murder " could rouse it from its deep somnolence. For example, we read in the issue of Tuesday, Feb. 14, 1837,-Newark had by this time become a city, recollect,-the following full (?) and graphie ( ?? ) report of a tragedy which occurred within the (then) limits of the county of Essex. We quote,-

" MURDER .- We understand that a man by The name of James Hauser, from Rahway, was committed to prison in this city on Sunday lust [three days before the Eagle went to preve !] on a charge of having murdered his wife on Saturday night. The report that he drove a large iron spike into her head is too horrible for Inlief." [Hanser was afterwards convicted of manslaughter. ]

A visit to the jail by an Eagle representative would have enabled the paper to publish the probable facts in the case and so enable the reader to determine the truth or falsity of the iron spike report " too hor- rible for belief ; " but that was too much enterprise for the Eagle of 1837.

The Newark Morning Eagle .- About the mid- dle of June, 1847, the New Jersey Eagle became a daily paper. Some time before this Mr. Crowell had associated with him his son, and upon the change from a semi-weekly to a daily the elder

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Crowell retired, and the younger one united with Mr. Carli, his brother-in-law, the editorial manage- ment of the paper being in the hands of Charles K. Bishop, an amiable, scholarly native of south Carolina; in politics a most ardent Democrat. After a few year- Bishop obtained entire control and ownership of the Eagle, improving and brightening it up greatly. In hi- issue of June 21, 1850, Bishop said, --

"We have labored long and, we believe, faithfully. The circulation of the Eagle has steadily increased, both in the city and throughout the State, and it is now on a firm foundation ; but it becomes us to say that in our efforts to promote the success of the paper we have had very little assistance from those who were under obligations to aid us, at least with their pens. Almost single-handed and alone we have toiled day after day to maintain In our midst Democratic principles, buoyed up by the reflec- tion that in so doing we were discharging a sacred duty. In this course we shall steadily persevere, without fear, favor or affection. All we ask of the Democrats of Essex is to be true to themselves."

The Newark Daily Eagle .- The Eagle contin- ued to improve under Bishop. On the morning of Tuesday, June 14, 1853, he took "peculiar pride and pleasure in presenting to the readers the Newark Daily Eagle in an enlarged, improved and other- wise attractive form." It was now, so it said, "the largest daily paper in New Jersey," appeared in a new and handsome dress, and announced its circula- tion as "very large and constantly increasing, not spasmodically, but gradually and healthfully." Sub- sequently Bishop hecame an ardent advocate of the Native American or Know-Nothing party, which for a brief period carried everything by storm. This ruined the Eagle, and Bishop retired from Newark journali-m.

Newark Daily Mercury was started about the year 1848 by William H. Winans, a well-known printer of Newark. About this period Winans asso- ciated with him on the Mercury William E. Robin- son, native of Ireland, who had previously won fame as "Richelieu" of the New York Tribune. Bishop and Robinson handled each other without much regard for the amenities of journalism or of common polite- ne-s. The Mercury was published a number of years before the breaking out of the war. It was a vigorous Republican paper, and made itself felt in the community and outside, especially while under the editorship of Mr. Il. N. Congar, a political writer of great pungency, who exercised for many years a powerful influence in shaping the public polity of New Jersey, and who afterwards rose to distinction in political and official life,-he became Secretary of State of New Jersey. It ccased publication after 1862.

The Jacksonian .- Before the Eagle had quite died, a staunch Democratic paper called the Jack- sonian was established in Newark by John C. Thorn- ton. Thornton was a Northern man by birth, but had spent many years at the South, and had there accu- mulated considerable means. Ile was ambitious of political honors, and while connected with the Jack- sonian was chosen to the Legislature. The Jack- sonian was changed from a weekly to a daily, and | beginning of 1832.

James W. Schoch united with Thornton in its publi- cation. By the spring of 1857 the Jacksonian ran its course and died.

Newark Evening Courier was established in New- ark in 1866 by F. E. Patterson. It was an advanced Republican paper, and after eleven years' existence the publication of the paper was discontinued.

Newark Intelligencer .- Established somewhere about 1825 by Rev. William Hagadorn, a Universalist preacher, who appears to have been somewhat of a newspaper Ishmaelite. His hand was against the Sen- tinel and the Eagle, and their hands were against the Intelligencer. Hagadorn's especial antipathy, however, was a campaign sheet published during the Summer of 1828, called the Anti-Jacksonian. Ha- gadorn was an ardent supporter of Jackson and Cal- houn. According to his Intelligencer, the Anti-Jack- sonian was "a paper perfectly irresponsible, printed in two offices, and neither office accountable for its con- tents,-a paper got up avowedly, as its title proves, for the purpose of swelling the tide of defamation and slander against the bravest of our citizens, and the truest of our patriot -; a paper which, having no sponsors to be ashamed of its profligate contents, un- blushingly persists in reiterating assertions which bear upon their very outside the mark of falsehood, and which have been proved false by the direct testi- mony of Thomas Jefferson." In its issue of Aug. 27, 1828, the Intelligencer contained a mock adver- tisement in the form of "Proposals for publishing ist Newark, N. J., a weakly Paper to be called the Antif Jacksonian or Anti-Patriot." The Anti, the Intelz ligencer went on to say, would be "devoted exclusive- ly to the publication and republication of all the refuted slanders against Jackson and his wife, which have hitherto graced the columns of the Eagle and Sentinel, because the publishers well know the efficacy of a lie well told and strongly persisted in. In short, the Anti shall coutain the quintessence of Binns, Hammond, Armstrong and Arnold. . . .

"To sum up all, the Anti-Jacksonian will engage to prove to the full satisfaction of every man who will take care to read nothing else that Gen. Jackson can neither read nor write, that he was born in Ireland, of Hottentot parents, and that, since his residence in this country, he has done little else than fight cocks, race horses, and cut off' men's ears as orna- ments for Peale's Museum." Hagadorn soon ex- hausted himself and the Intelligencer, and retired to New York.

Newark Monitor .- In the early part of the year 1829 a fierce anti-Masonic paper was started in New- ark, called the Newark Monitor. It had for a motto the following: " It must be obvious that the whole machinery of the Masonic Institution is adapted for political intrigue." The Monitor was published weekly by S. L. B. Baldwin. It is believed to have stopped publication about the end of the year 1831 or

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THE PRESS OF ESSEX COUNTY.

Newark Daily Advertiser .- On Thursday, March 1, 1×32, the first number of the Newark Daily Adverti- ser was issued. It was published by George Bush & Co., " 2 doors cast of the Market in Market street," at five dollar- per annum, the editor being Amzi Armstrong, a young lawyer of ability. He was ably assisted by the late John P. Jackson. It was the first daily newspaper published in New Jersey, and to this day is familiarly known as the Daily. The Advertiser, when it started, was a rather bright quarto sheet, almost wholly given to the discussion of party poli- ties. It was an ardent champion of the Whig party, and its first issue proclaimed itself for Henry Clay and John Sargeant, the Whig candidates in 1832 for President and Vice-President. Upon the completion of the first volume, the conductors of the paper an- nonneed themselves satisfied that a daily paper could and would be maintained in Newark. They confessed that the enterprise was not profitable thus far, but expressed confidence that it would be in time. They trusted " that the impression which had been circu- lated to their injury, that it (the paper) was merely got up for temporary purposes during the late Presi- dential election, will no longer operate to their disad- vantage." In the first number of the second volume Mr. Armstrong withdrew. In his valedietory he said his connection with the paper was "originally in- tended to continue only for a few weeks." He gently upbraided " the literary and scientific citizens of the town " for not assisting him by contributions to the columns of the paper, and hoped they would pursue a different course towards his successor, Mr. William B. Kinney, who then became both editor and proprie- tor of the Daily ; but the title of George S. Bush & Co. was retained as publishers, Bush being the mana- ger of the mechanical department of the paper. In 1833, Mr. James B. Pinneo entered into partnership with Mr. Kinney, and took charge of its business man- agement. The style of the firm was J. B. Pinneo & ('o., Mr. Kinney manifesting always an aversion to having his name spread out in connection with the proprietorship. Mr. Pinneo subsequently retired, and became a partner in the firm of Rankin, Duryee & Co., the extensive hat manufacturers. Still later he became president of the National Newark Banking Company. Mr. M. S. Harrison succeeded Mr. Pinneo on the Advertiser. Upon his death Mr. Kinney became the sole proprietor, and under his control the paper rose steadily in value, power, excellence and influence.

Under his conduct the Advertiser steadily contin- ued to prosper. Among those whose pens enriched the columns of the Advertiser during Kinney's editor- ship were the late Rev. James W. Alexander, who, under the non de plume of " Charles Quill," wrote a series of very interesting papers on "American Me- chanics and American Workingmen," and Mr. Samuel K. Gardner-" Decius." Joseph P. Bradley, now an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United

States, may be said to have begun active life as the Trenton correspondent of the Advertiser. From the Advertiser office there have also graduated men who have become quite distinguished as clergymen, jurists, financiers and railroad managers. The paper had its own opinions of public men and their acts, and did not hesitate to express them, as witness the following from its issne of Jan. 3, 1839, con- veying suggestions that might still be profitably con- sidered by executive officers and others :

"The New York Legislature was duly organized on M wolny. Governor Swar, following in that respect in the finalstage of his predecessor, in- fieted An almost interminable message upon them at the nennt time, the comment extending to the nuconscionable length of six or seren large newspaper columna, close print. Justly, indeed, have our American writers been charged with the hemous sin of prolixity, usually .be- ginning,' as they do, 'necount of the general deluge, and ending with one of their own.' Governor Seward might have gone on writing for a fort- night, and still have found something more to say about the pubhe and private interests of his State. And we venture to my that he might have discharged his whole duty in a communication of two commits. If this vice is to go on without releke from year to year, the American people will mann have no other alternative but to overlok public dicu- ments altogether, or give up every other species of trading. It is a mostastrous folly, and in must instances great presumption, to Int."

In 1851, on June 19th, after occupying the editorial tripod of the Advertiser during a period of eighteen years, William B. Kinney entered on a season of well-earned rest, having been appointed United States minister to Sardinia, by President Zachary Taylor. The paper is now most successfully conducted hy Thomas T. Kinney, son of William B., who has had the sagacity to secure eminent editorial assistance. After the death of the Whig party the Advertiser espoused the Republican cause. For three decades it ' has been properly regarded as one of the most ardent advocates of the Republican party as opposed to the Democracy. In local and State affairs it has long spoken with the voice of one having authority,- almost with the effect of a lawgiver,-and it, is not without influence in the consideration of national questions,

Of the late editor-in-chief, Dr. Hunt, the New York Tribune of April 28, 1884, said,-

" Dr. Sanford B. Hunt, the editor of The Newark Advertiser, die ges- terdny afternoon at hila home in Irvington, after an illness of three months. He was born in Ithaca, N. Y, on Christmas, 1-25. He studied in the medical college in Willoughby, Ohio, and after practicing medicine in Hunt's Hollow and Mendon, he removed to Buffalo in 1855, and became Professor of Anatomy in the Buffalo Medical College, editing The Medic il College. Before this he has contributed articles to The Knickerbocker Magazine. About IN he was made anciate editor of The Buffalo Com- mercial Advertiser, and later he succeeded Ivory Chamberlain as the elitor. Ile was afterward editor of The Buffalo Erpress. In Istid) ha was elected superintendent of public schools in Buffalo, As soon as the war broke ont Dr. Hunt went to the front as a surgeon. After service at Fortress Monne be entered the One Hundred and Ninth New York Vol- unterrs. He organized t'amp Convalescent, near Alexandria, and after wervlee there did duty In the West, lindt on Heintzelman's staff and then at Fort Smith, Ark., where he was surgeon-in-charge. On the avacuation uf Fort Smith he was complimented for gallantry in removing his wounded muler refl fire. Later be was surgeon-in-chief and medical director at New Orleans and medical director of the Army of tha Southwest In the march from Seling, Aln., to San Antonlo. With the rank of brevet lieu- tenant-colonel he was mustered out of the service in Texas.

" Dr. Hunt wrote the history of the Sanitary Commission in IS65, and

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

contributed to several newspapers and ningazines. In May, 1866, he accepted the editorship of The Newark Advertiser He was a Republican from the time that the party was organized, and from an earlier time was an Abolitionist. He drew the first Civil Rights plank in the Repub lican platform of New Jersey, and the platformns of many local and State conventions. He was a frequent comtributor to periodicals. He was a member of the New Jersey Centennial Commission und of the Prison Labor Commission."

WILLIAM B. KINNEY was born at Speedwell, Mor- ris Co., N. J., September 4, 1799, his ance-tors being among the carlier settlers of the State. His father was a son of Sir Thomas Kinney, an English baronet, who was knighted on account of his seien- tific attainments, especially in mineralogy, and who visited America before the Revolution for the purpose of examining the mineral resources of New Jersey. Finding in Morris County, which then included Sus- sex, a wide field for operations, he made it his home, and was subsequently appointed by the crown, high sheriff, an office which he held till the Revolution sey- ered the relations between the colonies and the mother country, when he renounced his allegiance to the crown. Mr. Kinney's mother was Hannah Bur- net, a daughter of Dr. William Burnet, who de- scended from Bishop Burnet, an eminent divine, and author of " Ilistory of the Reformation," "History of his own Times," " Life of Fir Matthew Hale," and other works. The father of Dr. Burnet was William Bur- net, the second colonial trovernor and chancellor of New Jersey, as well as of New York, and subse- quently of Massachusetts, and the doctor himself, after whom Mr. Kinney was named, was not only a distinguished physician of Newark, but a prominent man in the history of New Jersey, as may be seen by referring to a notice of him elsewhere given in this volume.

Mr. Kinney's ancestors on both sides were, then, patriots of the Revolution, and his father, Abraham Kinney, was an officer in the war of 1812. He had but one brother, Thomas T. Kinney, Sr., a lawyer and legislator of 1817, elsewhere mentioned in this work. Young William B., while yet a boy, had done some service as a bearer of dispatches during the war of 1812, and being destined by his father for the army, was achinitted as a cadet at West Point. But his father soon after died, and his mother, a woman of unusual force of character, believing that the talents which he possessed as an orator and a writer would be more advantageous to him in some other career, withdrew him from West Point, and placed him under the care of Mr. Whelply, author of "The Triangle," and father of thelate ( Chief Justice Whelply. Subsequently he became a pupil of Rev. John Ford, D.D., an eminent classical teacher and the founder of the old Bloomfield Academy, a collegiate institute. Among his school-fellows in this institution were the late Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox and the late Rev. Dr. Philip C. Ilay. He afterwards entered upon the study of law in his brother's office, and continued his studies with Mr. Hornblower (his cousin by mar- riage), who was afterwards chief justice of the State.

Mr. Kinney's tastes were, however, more in the direction of literature and metaphysics, and as a writer and speaker he showed more than ordinary powers. It thus happened that in the latter part of 1820 he became editor of the New Jersey Eagle, a weekly paper in Newark, N. J., a position which he held until 1825, when he went to New York in order to pursue his favorite studies. Here he took an active part in the establishment of the Mercantile Library, of which he acted as librarian, and became the friend and adviser of the Harper Brothers, who had recently begun the publishing business in that city, and who relied very much upon his taste and judgment in the selection of books for publication. At this time, also, he became deeply interested in the theological disenssions of the day, and applied him- self, in faet, so closely to study that his health be- came greatly impaired. Desirons of a change of atmosphere, and inclined, perhaps, to resume his okl employment as an editor, he returned to Newark, and in 1833 was induced to take the management of the Daily Advertiser of that city, then the only daily paper in the State, which he united with the Senti- nel of Freedom, a long-established weekly paper. To this journal Mr. Kinney gave a literary tone so high that it was said of him that his criticisms had more influence on the opinions of literary men than those of any other journalist of the time.

In 1836 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by the College of New Jersey, a Princeton, and in 1840 he was elected a trustee o that institution. During the same year he was elected a Presidential delegate to the convention which nominated General Harrison, but he declined to attend. In 1844 he was again chosen a delegate- at-large, with the late Chancellor Green, to the Balti- more Whig Convention, and here the earnestness of his persuasive eloquence was largely instrumental in securing the nomination of his friend, the late Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, as a candidate for Vice- President with Mr. Clay. In 1843 he was nominated for Congress by the Whig Convention of the Fifth District of New Jersey. It was done very much against his wish, but he was finally persuaded to accept it as a political duty. The Democrats coa- lesced with the Independents, selecting the late Hon. William Wright as their candidate, and after a very bitter contest the latter was elected.

In 1851, Mr. Kinney was appointed as United States minister to Sardinia, and on the eve of his de- parture was complimented by a farewell banquet in which leading men of all political parties joined. Chief Justice Hornblower presided, and among the speakers were Rev. Dr. S. I. P'rime, of New York, and many others distinguished in church and State. The next day he was escorted to the steamship by a large concourse of friends from Newark, and the final part- ing was full of manifestations of affection and regret on both sides.

Thos Y Nunney.

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THE PRESS OF ESSEX COUNTY.

His reception at Turin, the capital of Sardinia, was warm, and he soon became a favorite in the court circle which was just then engaged in settling the details of a constitutional government. Count t'a- vour and other master-minds of that kingdom, were in constant consultation with Mr. Kinney with refer- ence to the practical working of our republican sys- tem, and his influence was strongly apparent in the establishment of the liberal institutions of Italy. lle also rendered signal services to the government of Great Britain in consultation with their ambassador, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and for some important dip- lomatie business intrusted to him received a hand- some official acknowledgment in a special dispatch from Lord Palmerston.

Through Mr. Kinney's instrumentality while in Turin, the Waldlenses received great encouragement and sustaining aid. The most important, perhaps, of Mr. Kinney's services to his country was in con- nection with Kossuth, the Hungarian exile then at Constantinople. The government of the United States had offered to transport him to America in a national ship, detached from the Mediterranean squadron at Spezzia, which was in the Sardinian dominions and subject to Mr. Kinney's supervision. He was thus enabled to give prompt instructions to the com- mander and information to his own government of the objects of the distinguished fugitive. Mr. Web- ster, at that time Secretary of State, being fore- warned by Mr. Kinney's correspondence, thwarted Kossuth's philanthropie, but impracticable, efforts to enlist the United States in a foreign complication.

Upon the expiration of his term of office, the Sar- dinian ministry offered to unite ju a request to the United States government to allow him to remain in Turin, but he preferred to remove to Florence, where he could join the society of the Brownings, the Trollopes, Hiram Powers, and other American artists, who were his warm personal friends. During his residence in the latter city he became interested in the romantic history of the Medici family, and the new information concerning them which his position enabled him to acquire induced him to begin a his- torical work on the subject which promised to be of great importance, but which he never completed.

Mr. Kinney, with his family, returned to his home near the close of the late Rebellion, and thereafter led a retired life, the latter part of which was a pro- tracted season of suffering. He died October 21, 1880, professing a sincere trust in the Christian faith and surrounded by his loving wife and children. lle was twice married. His first wife was Mary Chand- ler, of Elizabeth, N. J., who died in 1841, and to whose only son, Thomas T. Kinney, the proprietor- ship of the Daily Advertiser was transferred some years before his death. He left a widow, who was the only surviving sister of the Hon. William E. Dodge, of New York, and two daughters, both of whom are married, one to Mr. William I. Kip, son of Bishop

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 61

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840