USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The history of Newark, New Jersey : being a narrative of its rise and progress, from the settlement in May, 1666, by emigrants from Connecticut to the present time, including a sketch of the press of Newark, from 1791 to 1878 > Part 33
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field, then in Essex County, having previously been secreted at Millville. It is certain that about the close of the last century Halsey was the proprictor of the Newark Gazette and New Jersey Advertiser, and carried on in connection with it a printing office, book-store and bindery. The whole concern he disposed of about the year 1800, to John Wallis, who was in his employ as an apprentice, and who was a native of the city of New York, having been born there in Partition street (now Fulton street), during the ycar 1780. Young Wallis purchased with the property the balance of his time as an apprentice, giving for the whole his father's notes. He appears to have succeeded so well that he was able not only to pay off the notes, but to accumu- late sufficient means to enable him to retire from the business and begin the study of law, the profession of his choice. This he did about the year 1807 or 1808. Wallis was a Federalist of the strictest school, Essex County being at the time intensely anti-Federalist. The bulk of the circulation of the Gazette, while Wallis conducted it, was in Bergen County, which then included the present Hudson County. Indeed Wallis had ten Bergen subscribers to every one in Essex. In his time politics ran at so high a pitch that persons of opposite political sentiments would have no association with each other, and would hardly speak with each other unless necessity compelled them to do so. Montagues and Capulets changed from fictions to realities in the persons of the followers respectively of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Wallis married his first wife in Newark. By her he had two children, both of whom, likewise his wife, died during his connection with the Gazette. Upon selling out his establishment in Newark, Wallis went to New York and, as a student and clerk, entered the office of Cadwallader D. Colden, then one of the most distinguished members of the New York Bar. About the year 1810 Wallis was admitted to practice in the courts of New York, and rosc to a respectable eminence in his profession. In 1811 he married his second wife, by whom he had children who survived him. One of these is now a leading member of the New York Bar. Counsellor Wallis continued to practice until 1841, when he retired to a farm which he had purchased in the ancient Township of Acquackanonck, in Passaic County. There he died in 1854. Among the contributors to the Gazette during Wallis's ownership of it was the late Chief Justice Joseph C. Hornblower, son of Josiah, who, like Wallis, was an enthusiastic Federalist in politics. Wallis and the future Chief Justice were hard hitters, as is made manifest by the fact that when Wallis sold out he had on his hand six or eight libel suits, which had been instituted against him by poli- ticians who had been cut to the quick by his lashes in the Gazette. These suits Wallis congrat- ulated himself upon getting rid of in a manner safe and inexpensive to himself, by his removal to New York. The Gazette is thought to have ceased publication soon after Wallis left Newark.
The second paper published in Newark, and the only one which for over ninety years has continuously appeared week in and week out, is the Centinel of Freedom. The first number was issued on October 5th, 1796, the publishers during the first year being Daniel Dodge & Co., Daniel Dodge being the printer and Aaron Pennington the editor. The Centinel (original orthography) was published " near the Court House "-the old First Church edifice. On October 4th, 1797, the paper appeared under the auspices of Aaron Pennington and Daniel Dodge, publishers. It was now issued in a somewhat enlarged form, with a new typographical dress and a new heading, the latter elaborately gotten up in German text with many flourishes and emhellished with a most warlike design-a knight in full armor, in an attitude of defence, the champion of " the Rights of Man," as the motto set forth. In the initial number of the second year the conductors of the paper felicitated themselves on the " gaiety of its attire " and its enlarged columns as likely to be "more alluring " and afford better facilities for the enter- tainment and information of its readers. On the Ist of October, '99, the health of Aaron Pennington failing and Mr. Dodge retiring, the paper passed under the control of Jabez Park- hurst and Samuel Pennington, a brother of one of the former proprietors. Parkhurst sold out his interest on the Ist of January, 1800, to Stephen Gould, and in December of the same year the office was removed to the " sign of Franklin's head," one door south of the jail, or, as it was afterwards stated, two doors south of the Court House. Parkhurst held for several years the office of County Clerk, and afterwards removed to New York and became one of the most successful dentists in that city. After Parkhurst's retirement, the Centinel was conducted by
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Samuel Pennington and Stephen Gould until May, 1803, when Gould retired. The following November Pennington retired also, and the Centinel passed into the hands of William Tuttle, who had been an apprentice to Pennington, and John Pike. Pike retired the next year, and in August, 1804, the paper was published by William Tuttle & Co. The paper continued under the control of Tuttle & Co. until it was sold to the proprietors of the Newark Daily Advertiser. It was while under the control of William Tuttle and his brothers John and Uzal that the modern mode of spelling the word Sentinel superseded the old orthography in the title ; for which the publishers apologized by throwing the censure for the innovation on the artisan who engraved the new heading.
The Centinel was intensely Republican in the sense that the partisans of Jefferson used that title. It was the sworn foe of the Gazette under Wallis and his predecessors in control of that paper. Through the types of the Centinel the Federalist views of Wallis and Hornblower were vigorously combatted by Pennmgton, Referring to this subject, a surviving member of the Pennington family wrote recently :
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"The readers of the Newark Gazette and Centinel, as published at the close of the last and the beginning of the present century, will find good ground for the belief that there has been some improvement since then in the manner of conducting political controversy. The animosities of party strife did not always expend themselves in mere newspaper squibs ; but personal brawls and even street fights were not of infrequent occurrence. In one instance, an editor enfeebled by pulmonary disease was assailed by a robust antagonist and only rescued from violence by a more vigorous brother, who seized the threatening lash and laid it effectually about the shoulders of the assailant. Another hostile rencontre is described as having taken place about this time, near the town pump at the junction of Broad and Market streets, that resulted in more than a war of words between two prominent gentlemen of the rival factions, one of whom afterwards became an eminent criminal lawyer and the other a Judge of our higher Courts. Both have heartily laughed over it since, and in the second generation of their descendants, unlike the feud of the Montagnes and Capulets, it has been condoned by a happy matrimonial alliance."
After the demise of the Gazette the Centinel had no real rival until the Summer of 1820, when the New Jersey Eagle was started. In the meantime one or two publications were started here, but they aspired to be purveyors of literature rather than of news. The Rural Magazine was issued for the first time on Saturday, February 7th, 1798. It was a weekly concern, "intended to combine the utility of a monthly magazine with the advantages of a weekly gazette," and was to be devoted to "judicious selections of essays on Religion, Morality, Agriculture and miscellaneous subjects in prose and verse." It was published weekly by John H. Williams "for the proprietors," the price being "12 shillings per annum." The Rural Magazine lived only one year. It told its own sad story in the last issue, February 9th, 1799, when it said " a very slender patronage afforded it but a scanty subsistence." It was too heavily laden with literary riches to suit the mental appetites of the townsfolk of its period. Nevertheless, another literary weekly, The Modern Spectator, was published in 1808, by E. B. Gould, "opposite the Episcopal Church." It came also to an untimely end. The Newark Messenger, edited by William Ward, was started on Friday, October 10th, 1817. It was a weekly published by Peter Couderer, "opposite the Upper Common." It declared itself " open to all parties but influ- enced by none." Despite its liberality, the Messenger lived only about one year.
On Friday, July 28th, 1820, the New Jersey Eagle was issued for the first time, the publisher being Edward M. Murden, and the editor Joseph T. Murden. Before the Eagle had completed its first year of existence it changed hands, the publisher of the thirty-sixth number being J. Johnson, and the editor W. B. Kinney. On January 19th, 1821, there was yet another change ; Gorham A. Hull appeared as printer, Kinney being still editor. Hull and Kinney continued in charge of the Eagle until June 21, 1822. James E. Gore next appears as Kinney's partner, but only to give place on March 28th, 1823, to Daniel A. Cameron. In May, 1825, Kinney transferred his interest to Moses Lyon. The issue of May 20th of that year contained Mr. Kinney's valedictory and an introduction of Mr. Lyon, his successor, whom he referred to as "a gentleman of discernment, taste and information, who brings to its execution (the
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editorial function) talents and acquirements entirely adequate." The gentleman thus introduced conducted the Eagle four and a half years. On July 4th, 1828, T. B. Crowell, who had been the editor of " a respectable journal in New York State for twenty years," succeeded Lyon. Crowell became sole editor and proprietor of the Eagle during August, 1829. It so far prospered under his control that he was encouraged to issue it semi-weekly in 1835, the first semi-weekly edition being on Friday, February 13th, of 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 Crowell promised his readers "nothing more than plain common sense-never having inherited splendid talents, or enjoyed the advan- tage of a liberal education." He came of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather 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 Camp 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 editors 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 fcarless, 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. C. 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 Crowell's direction was vigorous enough in the discussion of politics, but considered the collection of news a secondary matter entirely. On this point it was dull, lethargic 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, February 14th, 1837-Newark had by this time become a city, recollect-the following full (!) and graphic ( !! ) 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 Hanser, from Rahway, was committed to prison in this city on Sunday last [three days before the Eagle went to press!] 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 belief. [Hauser 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 horrible for belief;" but that was too much enterprise for the Eagle of 1837.
About the middle of June, 1847, the Eagle became a daily paper-The Newark Morning Eagle. 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 Crowell retired and the younger one united with Mr. Carli, his brother-in-law, the editorial management 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 years Bishop obtained entire control and ownership of the Eagle, improving and brightening it up greatly. In his issue of June 21st, 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 nis to say that in our efforts to promote the success of the paper, we have had very little assistance from those who were under obliga- tions 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 reflection 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.
Bishop's principal press political antagonist at this time was the Newark Daily Mercury,
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started about the year 1848 by William H. Winans, a well known printer of Newark, now City Treasurer. About this period Winans had with him on the Mercury William E. Robinson, a 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 politeness, as may be inferred from such choice extracts from the Eagle as these, published during June, 1850:
Even the most offensive of all quadrupeds is excusable for throwing in your face the only argument which nature has given it for protection or defence .- Mercury of yesterday.
We are sorry the Mercury has got into such bad odor, for it renders its position toward the Eagle shockingly offensive, and in more senses than one! Wouldn't a little Cologne be acceptable to you, neighbor ?
THE MERCURY AT FEVER HEAT !- We don't refer to the temperature of the air, but to the Newark Daily Mercury, whose editor has worked himself up to fever heat in a lame endeavor to extricate himself from "peculiar" difficulties. His passion has got the better of his judgment, and he flourishes his shillelah with but little grace and less vigor.
We gave him, on Monday, perfectly wholesome, if not palatable advice, in return for which he threatens to " salivate" us and our whole party. Now, mercury is not a bad medicine, if administered by skillful hands; but having an utter horror of quackery, in any form, we most respectfully decline being placed under his treatment.
The Eagle continued to improve under Bishop. On the morning of Tuesday, June 14th, 1853, he took " peculiar pride and pleasure " in presenting to the readers "the Newark Daily Eagle in an enlarged, improved, and otherwise 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." Subsequently Bishop became 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 journalism. Before the Eagle had quite died, a staunch Democratic paper called the Jacksonian was established in Newark by John C. Thornton. Thornton was a Northern man by birth, but had spent many years at the South, and had there accumulated con- siderable means. He was ambitious of political honors, and while connected with the facksonian was chosen to the Legislature. The Jacksonian was changed from a Weekly to a Daily, and James W. Schoch united with Thornton in its publication. By the Spring of 1857 the Jacksonian ran its course and died.
Out of the ruins of the two papers named-all of which had passed into the hands of Senator William Wright-sprang the Newark Evening Journal, the first number of which was issued on Monday, November 2d, 1857, the first year of President Buchanan's term. The editorial man- agement of the Journal was placed in the hands of Edward N. Fuller, a New Hampshire jour- nalist of the strongest Democratic proclivities. For more than a decade the Journal had a hard battle for existence. It was constantly cramped financially. Once or twice it came to the brink of the fate of its forerunners-the Eagle and facksonian-and once was forced to suspend tempo- rarily ; but hard work and zeal revived it, and in the latter part of 1867 the business management and part ownership passed into the hands of Judge William B. Guild. From that time forward, the fournal-the title of which was now changed to the Newark Daily Journal-rose steadily in power, influence and prosperity. In the latter part of 1871 Mr. Fuller retired from the paper, and Judge Guild became sole proprietor-" the Journal Printing and Publishing Company," organized with the foundation of the fournal, having dissolved. In the editorial department Fuller was succeeded by Joseph Atkinson, who first became connected with the fournal in the Spring of 1868, and still continues his connection with it.
During the war the fournal made itself obnoxious to many members of the political party whose banner it upheld by its bold and fearless, if not always wise and prudent, attacks on Mr. Lincoln's Administration. The paper opposed coercive measures towards the South, and refused to hoist the national flag, until angry demonstrations were made towards the establishment. Then, by advice of peace-making friends, it did so, with the following explanatory flourish :
1
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OUR FLAG IS THERE!
At the request of our neighbors, and by advice of several of our good Democratic, anti-war and anti-mob friends, but without the slightest threat or attempted intimidation from any quarter, we to-day threw out from the JOURNAL office the flag of our country-the emblem of the fraternal Union, formed by the immortal Washington, and his compatriots, and rendered sacred by our Revolutionary battles fought against a foreign foe. Upon that flag we have placed the mottoes-" Free Speech "-" Free Press,"-the symbols of a free people. By that flag and those mottoes we shall stand to the last-ever mindful of the patriotic reminiscences of our whole country, and praying for its reconstruction upon the old Republican basis, as will it be, when reason shall take the place of sectional passion, and the spirit of a peaceful and patriotic fraternity is restored to the people. So mote it be.
The spirit which led the Journal to oppose the war moved it to oppose the drafts. This latter course ended in the editor's arrest on a charge of inciting insurrection. Mr. Fuller was arrested on Friday, July 22, 1864, taken before a United States Commissioner and held in $7,000 bail. On Wednesday, February 15th, 1865, the case came up before Judge Field in the United States Circuit Court at Trenton, when Fuller retracted his former plea and pleaded guilty, and the matter was disposed of by the imposition of a trifling fine. Fuller insisted that he " never designed to favor mob-law or incite to insurrection," and in whatever he had written or published had "never been moved by seditious intentions." The following month Fuller withdrew from the Fournal because of " a difference of opinion with the Board of Directors" of the concern. He complained that he had been charged in Democratic quarters with having "carried the Demo- cratic banner too high-even.at the masthead." The evening of the afternoon of Fuller's retirement (April 14th, 1865), Lincoln was assassinated. Next day the fournal appeared in deep mourning over the dreadful event, whereas the Advertiser (owing to a mechanical obstacle) appeared without any such mark of grief. For six months after Fuller's retirement the Journal was edited by one or two Democrats with facile pens. On September 19th Colonel Morris R. Hamilton, one of the best known among New Jersey Democratic journalists, took command. A year or so afterwards, however, Mr. Fuller regained his old place and held it until 1871, as already described. It is due to Edward N. Fuller to say that there was nothing mercenary in his character. He was almost execrated, it is true, by many politically opposed to him, and even some of his own party friends considered him rash and impolitic; but it was never even intimated that his course was swayable by unworthy influences. As he claimed himself, he "identified himself with no faction, sought no political honors, and aimed to maintain as much independence as was practicable and consistent with the prescribed line of policy." For many years prior to his death the late Col. James W. Wall was a regular contributor to the columns of the Journal. Wall wielded a most powerful pen, one quite as facile and pointed and polished as it was powerful. Subsequently the Journal's columns borrowed attractions from the graceful pens of George R. Graham, the founder of the once famous Graham's Magazine, and J. K. Hoyt, now of the Advertiser.
On Thursday, March Ist, 1832, the first number of the Newark Daily Advertiser was issued. It was published by George Bush & Co., "2 doors east of the Market, in Market street," at $5 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 politics. It was an ardent champion of the Whig party, and in 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 announced 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 circulated to their injury, that it (the paper) was merely got up for temporary purposes during the late Presidential election, will no longer operate to their dis- advantage." In the first number of the second volume Mr. Armstrong withdrew. In his vale- dictory he said his connection with the paper was " originally intended to continue only for a few
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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 pro- prietor of the "Daily;" but the title of Geo. S. Bush & Co. was retained as publishers, Bush being the manager 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 management. The style of the firm was J. B. Pinneo & Co .- 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.
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