USA > South Carolina > Charleston County > Charleston > The newspaper press of Charleston, S.C.; a chronological and biographical history, embracing a period of one hundred and forty years > Part 1
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Gc 975.702 C38k 1718395
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
L
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 02301 1304
THE
NEWSPAPER PRESS
OF
CHARLESTON, S. C. G
A CHRONOLOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY, EMBRACING A PERIOD OF ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS.
BY WILLIAM L. KING.
De dictis factisque memoratu dignis. GC 975. 702 C.38k
CHARLESTON, S. C .:
EDWARD PERRY, (BOOK PRESS) 149 MEETING STREET.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1872, BY WILLIAM L. KING, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
1718395
ARCHIBALD EDWARD MILLER.
To you, sir, the only surviving typographer of the past century, now living in this City, I inscribe this work. As you are aware, it is the only history of the rise and progress of the newspaper press of Charleston, S. C. I desire to prefix your name to this brochure, for two rea- sons. First, as an acknowledgment of the kindness you have ever evinced towards the craft. Secondly, because through the course of your long life, you have been that exemplar of rectitude to whom they of the stick and rule, will point in the future, as they have in the past, with pride and honor.
Very truly, yours,
WILLIAM L. KING.
Charleston, S. C., 1872.
PREFACE.
The attention of the reader is invited to the following pages, indited without pretentious or special claim to lit- erary merit. The author's object was solely to prevent local, historical facts from passing into oblivion, or becom- ing apocryphal.
To those, therefore, who love to look back upon the past, through a long vista of nearly a century and a half, a ver- itable record of events, together with such mutations in their order of succession as go to form a faithful chrono- logical history of the newspaper press of Charleston, will, perhaps, command that consideration, which otherwise, could only be claimed through richness of diction, or ele- gance of style.
The author is among those who believe in the sentiment so felicitously expressed by D'ISRAELI : "To preserve the past, is half of immortality."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE.
The art of printing ... Claims of inventors ... Its beneficent influences ...
.
The author of this brochure a printer ... The word " News" figurative- ly interpreted ... Newspapers ... Their origin in England ... Advertising and editing in early times ... Social organization of the press recom- mended ... Want of a proper history of our City press ... This the first written ... Eleazer Phillips the first printer in the Colony ... Difficulties attending this compilation
1
CHAPTER II.
The first newspaper in the Colony ... Whitmarsh its publisher ... Quaint extracts therefrom ... "Charlestown" half a century without a news- paper ... Errors of previous historians corrected ... Death of Whit- marsh ... Louis Timothee, his successor ... Death of Lewis Timothy ... First wood-cut ... Extremes of cold and warm weather in " Charles- town" ... First disastrous fire, 1740 ... Lewis Timothy succeeded by his widow, as publisher ... Peter Timothy, her son, continues the Ga- zette ... Change in its style ... Presentment of Grand Jury, 1746 ... The Gazette and Governor Glen.
CHAPTER III.
The Gazette and Country Journal ... Charles and Mary Crouch ... " The Exchange and Custom House," 1767 ... Peter and John Horlbeck, builders ... Second disastrous fire, 1778 ... South Carolina and American General Gazette ... Royal Gazette, 1781-'82 .... John Miller publishes
7
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
South Carolina Gazetie and General Advertiser ... Appointed printer to the State, by our delegation in Congress ... Conclusion of the war of independence ... Miller publishes official account ... Thomas Hall, Post Master ... The primitive mail carriers ... Record of Post Masters ..
21
CHAPTER IV.
Charleston Incorporated ... Thirteen Wards created ... First Wardens ... Representatives of the Parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael ... First Intendant ... Elections endorsed by the press ... The bells of St. Mi- chael's Church ... The first Circulating Library, 1783 ... John Miller ... His Weekly Messenger ... Death of John Miller ... Columbian Herald or Patriotic Courier of North America ... Other papers and their edi- tors ... Third and Fourth disastrous fires, 1796 and 1800.
29
CHAPTER V.
Crime in 1786 ... The murder of Nicholas John Wightman ... Males and Females implicated ... Their condemnation and execution ... Capri- cious marriage announcement ... Two travelling Algerines ... Ramsay's History of South Carolina obnoxious to the British Government ... South Carolina State Gazette and Timothy and Mason's Daily Ad- vertiser
CHAPTER VI.
David R. Williams, E. S. Thomas and other editors ... The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser ... The Daily Evening Post ... The fifth disastrous fire, October, 1810 ... Earthquakes ... Skinner and Whilden ... Crime ram- pant ... Mr. and Mrs. Fisher ... Their arrest and execution ... The sixth disastrous fire, February, 1835 ... The Gazette and its editors, from 1822 to 1832 ... William Gilmore Simms ... The seventh disastrous fire, June, 1835 ... Absorption of the Gazette by the Courier.
CHAPTER VII.
The State Rights and Free Trade Evening Post ... John A. Stuart ... J. C. Norris ... B. R. Gitsinger ... The Post changes hands ... It dies ... The
43
55
ix
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Palmetto Battery ... James Wright Simmons ... The Times and Politi- cal and Commercial Evening Gazette, 1806-'8 ... Thomas Campbell Cox ... William P. Young ... Thomas Sheppard ... The Franklin Head sign, 1814 ... The Times change's proprietors ... Skrine & Duke ... T. G. Skrine last proprietor, 1824 ... The Investigator ... John Mackey ... Turnbull's attack on Mackey ... A tory mob attacks the office of the
Investigator ... John Lyde Wilson, editor, author and Governor. .. 69
CHAPTER VIII.
The Southern Patriot and Commercial Advertiser ... Isaac Harby ... Rob- ert Howard ... Jacob N. Cardozo ... Martin E. Munro ... The Charleston Evening News ... John Cunningham and his coadjutors ... The Sun ... Edward Sill ... H. L. Darr ... A. E. Miller ... John C. Hoff ... The Rose- Bud ... Mrs. Caroline Gilman ... The Rambler ... Dr. John B. Irving ........ 77
CHAPTER IX.
The only Journal of the past and present ... First issued as Charleston Courier, January 10, 1803 ... Loring Andrews, A. S. Willington, S. C. Carpenter, its founders ... Contents epitomized ... Ground-mole plot ... B. B. Smith, F. Dalcho, P. T. Marchant, 1807 ... John Palm. 89
CHAPTER X.
The Courier to 1809 ... Edmund Morford ... The embargo ... The burning of Placide's Theatre, Richmond ... The Courier's East Bay location ... Isidore Gandouin ... The Commercial Treaty ... Mr. Willington as boarding officer ... Incidents ... Joseph Prevost and his successors ... Elford's Observatory.
101
CHAPTER XI.
Title of the Courier changed, 1821 ... William Crafts as editor ... James Gordon Bennett, 1823 ... The Courier power and steam presses ... Its thriftiness ... A. S. Willington, Richard Yeadon, William S. King, pro- prietors ... Celestial phenomenon ... A perplexing incident.
109
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
PAGE.
Fire of April 27, 1838 ... Loss of life attending it ... History of " Old Seces- sion" ... Charleston's unparalleled fire, December, 1861 ... The Courier forced to change its place of publication ... W. B. Carlisle, U. S. Bird and A. O. Andrews ... Whittemore and Johnson take possession of the Courier under official orders ... Wm. L. Daggett ... The Courier reverts to its proprietors
117
CHAPTER XIII.
The Courier and its principal editors ... A. S. Willington, R. Yeadon, W. S. King, and others ... Nullification, a civil excitement, 1831-'32 ... The Courier and politics ... New York and Charleston line of steamers ... Mexican war ... Pony express ... Electro-Magnetic Telegraph .. .... ..... 127
CHAPTER XIV.
Death of Wm. S. King, 1852 ... Alexander Carroll succeeds as editor ... William Laidler ... James H. Murrell ... Henry M. Cushman ... James L. Hatch ... William B. Carlisle ... Thomas Y. Simons ... Death of William Rogers, 1870.
139
CHAPTER XV.
The Charleston Mercury ... Edmund Morford its founder, January, 1822 ... Henry L. Pinckney ... Extreme cold weather ... An exhibition of popular feeling ... John A. Stuart ... J. M. Clapp ... John E. Carew ... John Heart, 1837-'49 ... William R. Taber, Jr ... R. B. Rhett, Jr .... Ilenry Tim- rod ... End of the Mercury
147
CHAPTER XVI.
The Southern Standard ... Its proprietors and editors ... Its resistance to separate State action ... Triumphant in its principles ... End of the Standard ... Hostile encounter of Hatch and Cunningham.
159
xi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
PAGE.
Monthly and quarterly publications omitted ... Weekly papers ... The Catholic Miscellany under Bishop England, and others, 1822 ... Pope Pious 7th and Bishop England ... Death of the latter, 1842 ... End of the Miscellany, 1861 ... The Wesleyan Journal, and its editors ... The Charleston Observer ... Benjamin Gildersleeve, and others, 1826 ... The Observer, its removal to Richmond and its failure ... The Southern Christian Sentinel ... Reverends Thomas Magruder and W. C. Dana ... The Southern Presbyterian, Reverend N. Baird, and its other edi- tors ... The Southern Baptist and its editors
CHAPTER XVIII.
165
The contemporaneous press of 1871 ... The Charleston Daily News, and its corps editorial ... The South Carolina Leader, T. Hurley and others ... The Suedlicher Correspondent ... The Referee ... The South- ern Celt ... The Sunday Times ... The Working Christian ..... 179
CHAPTER XIX.
Remarks by the author
187
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
" Hail Printing, Hail! thou thrice illustrious Art ! Which clear'd the Head, and which reform'd the Heart, Bless'd with new Light, a superstitious age, And purg'd the Relics of barbarick Rage; From thee celestial Streams of Learning flow, And to thy Pow'r we pure Religion owe."
[REV'D. DR. BIRCH. ]
CHAPTER I.
THE ART OF PRINTING-CLAIMS OF INVENTORS-ITS BE- NEFICENT INFLUENCES-THE AUTHOR OF THIS BROCHURE A PRINTER-THE WORD "NEWS" FIGURATIVELY INTER- PRETED-NEWSPAPERS-THEIR ORIGIN IN ENGLAND- ADVERTISING AND EDITING IN EARLY TIMES-SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE PRESS RECOMMENDED-WANT OF A PROPER HISTORY OF OUR CITY PRESS-THIS THE FIRST WRITTEN-ELEAZER PHILLIPS THE FIRST PRINTER IN THE COLONY-DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THIS COMPILA- TION.
FAMOUS among the inventive arts stands Printing. Its first appearance, between the years 1422 and 1436, was a new era in civilization. It casts around mankind, on every side, beneficent influences. Revelation and science are taught by it to wear the garb, and speak the language of unperverted judgment.
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THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
It does not clearly appear to whom we are indebted for this all-controlling art. The city of Mentz, situated on the Rhine, just below its confluence with the Main, and the rich and populous city of Haërlem, the one in Germany, and the other on the river Sparen, in Holland, have long contended for the priority of its invention. Though the popular voice is in favor of Mentz, yet HADRIANUS JU- NIUS names Haërlem as the birth-place of this noble art.
The claim of individual invention seems, after sifting the most authentic data, to be equally balanced between JOHN GUTTENBURG, a knight and citizen, and JOHANN FAUST, both of the former city, and LAURENTIUS VILLA, sometimes called LAWRENCE JANSZOON KOSTER, once an alderman of the latter place.
The result of this invention is most happy. The very power which it conveys is attended with peculiar pleas- ure, such as few other arts in equal measure impart. The compositor at his case can complacently consider him- self the disseminator of intelligence to legions, and main- tains a secret, yet personal influence, over a boundless sphere. He feels also, that he is serving the cause of mankind, and his labor becomes his pleasure.
In the autumn of 1843, the author, at the instance of his father, WM. S. KING, entered as an apprentice in the office of The Charleston Courier, a journal then, as now, owned by Messrs. A. S. WILLINGTON & Co. The business management and assistant editorship of this daily was, for many years, committed to his father, and the apprentice- ship was during its continuance under his supervision.
To many of the craft in this city, this information is un- necessary, yet it is mentioned to show that however distrust- ful the author may feel of his ability to do justice to the work now undertaken, he has at least the merit of possess- ing, to some extent, the experience which may be regarded
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OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
as indispensable to its proper and practical exposition. In- deed, he would have preferred one riper in years, who had been at the case longer than himself, to have undertaken a subject which has been so long neglected. He assumes the task without any apprehensions of its labor, and feels that he will be stimulated in its performance by the con- viction that it is a pleasurable duty.
Many persons read newspapers without considering the importance of the word "News," or even interpreting, figuratively, the import which is attached to the word. In the first place, news come from all quarters of the globe, and so the constituent letters of the word itself demon- strates, viz: N.E.W.S .- North, East, West and South. No language furnishing a word more expressive. Again, when further considered, these cardinal letters recommend to us the practice of the four following virtues : Nobleness in our thoughts, Equity in our dealings, Wisdom in our conduct, Sobriety in our lives.
The newspaper of to-day is, in every respect, far in ad- vance of what it was a half century ago. More especially does it differ in point of management. This medium has an unlimited agency in modern society, for circulating in- formation respecting the whole range of human concerns, from the affairs of nations, and the researches of science, to the minutest interests of individuals. In its editorial and general conduct there is perceptible, also, an increased fear- lessness. Things which in the time of Junius* would have
* These celebrated letters of "Junius" were prepared for " The Public Ad- vertiser," published in London. The Advertiser was published for forty years, by Henry Sampson Woodfall, who died in London 12th September, 1805, aged 67 years. From a paper published in the year 1788, is taken the following curious political anecdote of Garrick and Junius:
" At the close of Junius's political warfare, Mr. Garrick received a note in his dressing-room from the present Mr. Henry Sampson Woodfall, inform- ing him that the Public Advertiser of that day contained the last letter that would be published by that very celebrated writer. Convinced that the
4
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
set London agog, and thoughts not less eloquent than were written in those sixty-nine letters, now pass almost daily without especial notice. So, too, with the mechanical op- erations of the newspaper. They have reached a perfec- tion calculated to astonish those who may examine its his- tory.
In England, the value of newspapers was first appreci- ated in the solid and frugal policy of Lord CECIL WILLIAM BURLEIGH, who, for nearly forty years, was the most suc- cessful Minister of Queen ELIZABETH. For, when his country, during the reign of that Queen, was threatened by Spain with invasion, he availed himself of their use and through them informed the people of the enemy's move- ments. The designs of his adversaries were thus frequently overthrown.
But the importance of these printed sheets, then only occasionally issued, was not thoroughly understood, until the beginning of the wars which occurred between CHARLES the First and his Parliament, consequent upon the main-
tidings of such an event would be highly acceptable at Buckingham-House, Mr. Garrick instantly wrote to Mr. Ramus, then royal factotum, as follows :
My dear Ramus, Junius writes no more !
Your's, ever truly, D. G."
" Mr. Ramus, as may be supposed, lost not a moment's time in conveying this agreeable intelligence to the Sovereign's ear, and that with the utmost privacy : notwithstanding which, Mr. Garrick, to his unspeakable astonish- ment, received the following letter the next day, in the identical hand- writing of Junius : for which extraordinary circumstance he was unable to account to the day of his death.
COPY.
MONDAY.
Sir,
" Your prudential habits might have prevented you from becoming the unnecessary intelligencer of my designs. I stood not in need of your offices to proclaim my intentions. Probably the measure was suggested by some personal vanity : in that case you shall not long remain ungratified : for, having done with the baneful politics of Princes, I have now full leisure to descend to the mimic Monarchs of the stage.
JUNIUS."
5
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
tenance of rights which encroached on royal prerogatives. Then began that competition among newspaper writers, which has since been carried to a most remarkable extent. The rapid and wide publicity given to whatever was printed, soon suggested to individuals a way, not only to. make their talents apparent, but to have their wishes fashioned into and expressed by advertisements
The editor of a journal formerly, was its printer and publisher ; something more, he was a sort of sponsor for the accuracy of its advertising customers. The sleep of the editor of the present day, did he undertake to vouch for all of the advertisements which appear in the columns of his paper, would not be a repose on a bed of roses.
The first consideration to be looked to, in advancing the newspaper business, is the necessity among proprietors and editors of a close social organization. This combination is the primary secret of success, and was so regarded by the proprietors and editors of our daily papers, who stood in former years as a host within themselves. This social ex- istence appears to have expired with its projectors, and its principles seem to have been entombed with them when they were gathered to their fathers.
"The treasures of antiquity laid up
In old historic rolls, I opened,"
and in opening them, find it refreshing to recall the char- acteristics of those able editorial workers who constituted the old Charleston press. Of these, but few now survive.
Neither in the ." Reminiscences of South Carolina," by E. S. THOMAS, who but casually refers to the newspaper press, nor in the valuable works of RAMSAY, FRASER or DALCHO, (the latter in early life an editor,) can there be found any record of the Press of Charleston. That octo- genarian editor, JACOB N. CARDOZO, in his "Reminiscen-
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THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
ces," gives but a brief resumé of the Press of Charleston. In this particular the historians of our craft here seemed at least to have been remiss.
ISAIAH THOMAS, LL. D., of Massachusetts, one of the most eminent of American printers, in his "History of Printing in America," has paid great attention to the sub- ject of newspapers in general. To ELEAZER PHILLIPS, he gives the credit of having been, as early as 1730, the " first printer to his Majesty," but does not say that he published the first newspaper in the Colony. THOMAS does not even refer to, nor does he seem to have possessed that information in regard to the advent of the press, which the author has gathered from the records of that exceedingly valuable in- stitution-the Charleston Library Society,* the shelves of which are peculiarly rich in collections of costly, rare, and old books. Among those noted for their antiquity, are " MARTIAEL's Epigrams," published in Venice, in 1491; " The second folio edition of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S Com- edies, Histories and Tragedies." This editiont was printed in London in 1632, by THOS. COTE, for ROBERT ALLOT, and " sold at the figure of the Blacke Beare, in St. Paul's Church Yard."
* Shecut, page 40 : "Seventeen gentlemen obtained in the year 1754, an act of incorporation, by which they were known and distinguished as the ' Charleston Library Society.' "
+ At a sale in New York city, a few years ago, a copy of the first edition of this work was "knocked down" for the sum of $127. Both of the works mentioned as being in the Library, are in a remarkably complete state of preservation.
1
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER IN THE COLONY-WHITMARSH ITS PUBLISHER-QUAINT EXTRACTS THEREFROM-"CHARLES- TOWN" HALF A CENTURY WITHOUT A NEWSPAPER-ER- RORS OF PREVIOUS HISTORIANS CORRECTED-DEATH OF WHITMARSH-LOUIS TIMOTHEE, HIS SUCCESSOR-DEATH OF LEWIS TIMOTHY-FIRST WOOD-CUT-EXTREMES OF COLD AND WARM WEATHER IN "CHARLESTOWN"-FIRST DISASTROUS FIRE, 1740-LEWIS TIMOTHY SUCCEEDED BY HIS WIDOW, AS PUBLISHER-PETER TIMOTHY, HER SON, CONTINUES THE GAZETTE-CHANGE IN ITS STYLE-PRE- SENTMENT OF GRAND JURY, 1746-THE GAZETTE AND GOVERNOR GLEN.
FROM information, carefully gathered, it appears that the first newspaper published in " Charlestown," after its permanent settlement* on this side of the Ashley, which was in 1680, was "The South Carolina Gazette, which con- tains the freshest advices, Foreign and Domestick." The leader had as a caption this motto, taken from the lines of HORACE :
" Omne tulit punctum; qui miscuit utile dulci, Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo."
At the conclusion of the leader or introductory article,
* In the exact date of the abandonment of the settlement known as "Old Town," which was " by a formal command of the proprietors," there is a discrepancy ; authorities, however, predominate in favor of 1680. In all probability, the transfer from "Old Town" to "Oyster Point," was made early in that year.
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THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
which was signed "Philo-Carolinensis," there were the following verses, dedicated " To all whom it may concern to know me :"
"I'm not High-Church, nor Low-Church, nor Tory nor Whig, No flatt'ring young Coxcomb, nor formal old Prig. Not eternally talking, nor silently quaint,
No profligate sinner, no pragmatical Saint.
I'm not vain of my judgment, nor pinn'd on a Sleeve,
Nor implicitly any Thing can I believe. To sift Truth from all Rubbish, I do what I can, And, God knows, if I err-I'm a fallible man.
I can laugh at a Jest, if not crack'd out of Time,
And excuse a mistake, tho' not flatter a Crime. Any Faults of my Friends I would scorn to expose, And detest private scandal, tho' cast on my Foes. I put none to the Blush, on whatever pretence, For immodesty shocks both good Breeding and Sense. No Man's Person I hate, though his Conduct I blame, I can sensure a Vice, without stabbing a name. To amend-not reproach-is the Bent of my Mind, A Reproof is half lost, when ill nature is join'd. Where Merit appears, tho' in Rags, I respect it, And plead Virtue's Cause, should the whole World reject it. Cool Reason I bow to, wheresoever 'tis found,
And rejoice when sound Learning with favour is crown'd. To no Party a Slave, in no Squabbles I join, Nor damn the Opinion that differs from mine. Evil Tongues I condemn, no mob Treasons I sing, I dote on my Country, and am Liege to my King. Tho' length of Days I desire, yet with my last Breath, I'm in hopes to betray no mean Dreadings of Death. And as to the Path after Death to be Trod, I rely on the Will of a merciful God."
THOMAS WHITMARSH arrived in "Charlestown" early in 1731, and was the publisher of the Gazette. WHIT- MARSH took this step with much fear and trembling, and with much foreboding of failure. This feeling was express- ed by repeated appeals, and editorial notices. The Gazette was eleven and a half inches in length, seven in width, containing eight columns, two to & page. It was put in circulation on " Saturday, January 8, 1731-2," and issued weekly from the " sign of the table-clock, on the Bay,
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OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
where advertisements are taken in."* The Gazette was sup- plied at £3 a year. Town subscribers were requested to send for their papers every Saturday, by 3 o'clock ; papers for the country subscribers were kept at the office.
GEORGE WEBB and ELEAZER PHILLIPS, jr., } two other printers, arrived in "Charlestown" about the time THOS. WHITMARSH came, induced hither by encouragement held out by the Governor in Council, and by the Assembly of the Province. The first movement to establish printing in what was then the Colony, was by Council, in December, 1722. In January, 1724, and in May, 1731, movements were again made to have a printer settle in the Colony. That no printing was done in the Colony prior to 1731 is
* Thomas and Ramsay assert that "Newspapers were first published in South Carolina, in or about 1730, by Lewis Timothy." Shecut, chapter iii, page 41-2-"The first newspaper printed in the Colony, was one at Charles- town, sometime in the year 1730. The venerable Josiah Smith, who has preserved files of the first and second numbers of newspapers printed in Charlestown, has, within the past year (1819), presented them to the Charles- ton Library Society." These files are now in the Library, and they are the oldest Colonial newspapers in that repository; they bear Josiah Smith's autograph. . The first edition is dated January 8, 1731-2. Professor Wm. J. Rivers, of the South Carolina College, brought to our attention in a publica- tion of his, in the September number of Russell's Magazine for 1858, a few facts about the introduction of printing into South Carolina. He gathered them from the manuscript records in the State House, at Columbia. In that paper, Professor Rivers questions the statement of the above histo- rians. He says : "If this was the case, why did the Legislature make or renew their appropriation on 21st May, 1731, for the encouragement of a printer to settle here ?" "If printing," he adds, "was introduced in 1730, the Legislature seem not to have been aware of it."
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