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 11
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Wine and porter, in bottles, in the Southern parts of houses, assumed a solid form, and the salt water in the docks and adjacent mill-ponds was frozen. It was in this winter that the orange trees, along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida were killed.
From the richly freighted columns of the same journal, which, figuratively speaking, was the main support of the commonwealth in its brightest day, we take the following
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incident, which was an exhibition of popular feeling, that took place in Charleston, August 21, 1835 :
Summary punishment was, that day, inflicted upon an individual named RICHARD WOOD, who for a number of years, had been carrying on at his shop in Queen Street, near East Bay, the business of a barber, and purchaser of stolen goods from negroes, under the assumed name of W. R. CARROLL.
On the day mentioned, a number of citizens, prominent among whom was JOHN LYDE WILSON, assembled at an early hour. Three or four of the number congregated, were deputed to enter WOOD's shop and bring him forth. This was executed with the utmost promptness and deci- sion, and without the least disturbance, although it had been given out that certain death would be the doom of the first who made the attempt. WOOD was immediately marched down to Price's Wharf, (now Accommodation Wharf,) tied to a post, and there received about twenty lashes upon his bare back ; a tub of tar was then emptied upon his head, in such a manner as to cause it to extend over his whole body, and the miscreant individual was decorated with a covering of loose cotton, the principal material in which he had carried on his illicit traffic, with much advantage to his purse. After this operation had been quietly per- formed, he was escorted by a large number of persons through the market, and the most public streets of the City, in order that others, guilty of the like practice, should take warning by his fate. He was then lodged in jail, to prevent his being exposed to further personal injury.
This spoiler of the public, had been, for a length of time, carrying on his dishonest traffic in defiance of the commu- nity, and it became the fixed determination of the inhabitants of Charleston no longer to submit, quietly, to such a system of spoliation and robbery.
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It is said that WOOD, alias CARROLL, from his barber shop, exported about sixty bales of cotton annually. Sev- eral trunks were taken therefrom, which contained silver spoons, fine linen, ladies' apparel complete, bed drapery, etc. From this digression we will return to the successor of Mr. PINCKNEY.
JOHN A. STUART, into whose hands the Mercury was resigned by Mr. PINCKNEY, at the time already named, was a graduate of the South Carolina College. . He brought to the sanctum of the Mercury, not only a well informed mind, but exquisite taste in literature ; was as playful as he was reflective; was capable of satire, as well as analy- sis ; with rapid transition " from grave to gay, from lively to severe." He scarcely suffered a single day's paper to go forth to his readers, without a display of sound judg- ment, flavored with keen and racy wit.
During the period in which Mr. STUART edited the Mer- cury, and towards the close of his editorial career, JOHN MILTON CLAPP was connected with the paper as associate editor, and for some months, owing to the impaired condi- tion of Mr. STUART's health, it was under his sole conduct and management. Mr. STUART died at Beaufort, in this State, the place of his nativity, on the 3d May, 1853, in the 53d year of his age.
JOHN MILTON CLAPP, was from Pittsfield, Ohio, at which place he was born, in 1810. He was called by STUART in 1837, from Beaufort, South Carolina, where he then was, to the assistant editor's chair of the Mercury.
Mr. CLAPP was a writer of classical taste and culture ; was capable of the most felicitous periods, and, like STU- ART, endowed with a keen appreciation of the humorous, displaying that quality, not only in private, but occasion- ally, also, to the public. Mr. CLAPP graduated at " Yale" when in his 21st year. He was one of the ablest of editors,
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and showed it in all the high conditions and exactions of edi- torial duties and emergencies. Had we the space, we could amply illustrate by examples, the truth and justice of the distinction which has been awarded to him. At one time he editorially conducted the Southern Quarterly Review, which became the repository of articles of interest to persons of widely different tastes and pursuits, and in the pages of that publication, the historian, the antiquary, the genealo- gist, the bibliographer and belles-letters scholar could al- ways find something worthy of his attention.
A sad accident did much to shorten his days. About 2 o'clock, on the afternoon of the 22d September, 1852, he stepped on a balcony on the second floor of the Mercury office-then located where the First National Bank now is-when a portion of it gave way, precipitating him a dis- tance of some eighteen or twenty feet, on a brick pavement, breaking his right leg, and otherwise injuring him. Mr. CLAPP died in this City, December 16, 1857. His remains now rest in the burial ground of the Charleston Typo- graphical Society, at Magnolia.
The chair occupied by Mr. STUART for about fifteen years, was left to be filled by Colonel JOHN E. CAREW, who, on the 1st February, 1847, became editor and sole proprietor of that famous journal. This position Colonel CAREW sustained individually, with marked characteristic ability, adorning and illustrating that journal by profound erudition, classical lore, and the chastened elegance of his pen.
THOMAS A. HAYDEN was, about this time, the foreman and business manager of the Mercury. He was a native of Florida, and a printer by trade. In all the relations of life, his conduct was such as to command the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and secured to him many warm friends. Mr. HAYDEN died at Rutherfordton, North
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Carolina, November 21, 1851. He was succeeded by ADAM C. CAVIS. CHARLES P. L. WESTENDORFF had charge of the commercial department of the Mercury, for many years.
Not long prior to 1849, Mr. JOHN HEART-who was at the head of The Spectator and Young Hickory, the organs of the CALHOUN Democracy, in Washington, and which in 1842 killed off Mr. VAN BUREN-was called from that City, and appointed to a position on the Mercury ; subse- quently became one of the editors, and on 1st September, 1849, was recognized as a joint proprietor. The firm was, at that time, announced as CAREW & HEART. Colonel CAREW retired from the Mercury on the 26th January, 1852, taking leave of his patrons, gracefully, feelingly, and modestly-that trait so delicately described by ADDISON, " which sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of." It was after the retirement of Colonel CA- REW, that JOHN HEART and WILLIAM R. TABER, jr., un- der the firm of HEART & TABER, became the proprietors of the Mercury.
JOHN HEART, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1806. He had active practical habits, and also a large experience of the workings of the press. Members of the craft will recollect that he was once President of the Charleston Typographical Society.
WILLIAM R. TABER, jr., was born in this City on the 18th April, 1828. He was a graceful, accomplished, ver- satile, and genial writer, and a good essayist. After four years of editorship-short years to one so young and prom- ising, a sudden and melancholy event occurred on the 29th September, 1856, by which our City press lost, in the death of Mr. TABER, a distinguished member of its fraternity ; the community a fine scholar, and society an amiable and finished gentleman. ?
While in the zenith of his editorial career, he responded
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to a call to the field of honor, in defence of a series of arti- cles which received editorial sanction. The result of the call was fatal to Mr. TABER. He fell at the third fire, " mortally wounded in the upper part of the head," on the Washington Race Course, the place selected for the meeting, at half-past 4 o'clock, on the afternoon of the day and year above mentioned, while vindicating the princi- ples of the Mercury's motto, taken from OVID's Golden Age, to wit: " Vindice nullo sponte sua sine lege fides rectum- que colentur." In the City journals of the 2d October, 1856, there can be found the correspondence relating to the cause which had so fatal a termination.
Col. R. BARNWELL RHETT, jr., became the purchaser of the interest of his kinsman, Mr. TABER, March 2, 1857.
On the 1st July, 1858, Mr. HEART sold his interest to Colonel RHETT, and returned to Washington City. While there he was made Superintendent of the Printing Bureau, and was a successful manager of that large and intricate concern. Mr. HEART subsequently-at the breaking out of the war-resigned his position, and returned to the South. Some years after, he removed to Memphis and established a newspaper, called The Commercial. That paper became a popular organ in Tennessee. Col. RHETT has since become known as sole proprietor of the Mercury.
But once within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, were the sportive citizens of Charleston favored with such a treat as was enjoyed by them on the 17th December, 1851. From the Mercury, we learn that early on the morning of that day, the thermometer indicated a degree of cold which had not been experienced in this latitude for at least sixteen years preceding At early morn the cloudy canopy of heaven began dispensing a shower of snow, which continued throughout the day, and up to a late hour at night. Though the weather had not been such as to
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freeze the earth, the streets, were, nevertheless, heavily coated with snow, and an opportunity was given several spirited individuals, among whom we recollect to have seen, Messrs. E. H. JACKSON, the brothers BUTTERFIELD, HUB- BARD, MOSES LEVY and others, glide through our streets with two improvised sleighs. The spectacle was quite creditable, and the novelty of sleigh-riding was for once witnessed in the streets of Charleston.
R. BARNWELL RHETT, jr., the last proprietor of the Mer- cury, proved himself a vigorous writer. As editor, he maintained the cause of State Rights and the South, with the same tenacity which had, for thirty years, marked the course of that journal. The cause which that editor so earnestly advocated, had an able and ardent advocate in his coadjutor-EDMUND RHETT, his younger brother. The columns of the Mercury will attest the boldness and vigor of the trenchant pen of this writer, and it was in support of the principles of that journal that he pre-eminently dis- tinguished himself. " Almost before he was entitled to the toga virilis," writes a friend, " he took high rank among the thinkers of the period, and placed himself, side by side, with the strong men who were to fight the great battle, the result of which was to decide the future destiny of thirty millions of the human race."
In the summer of 1860, WM. A. COURTENAY was invited to take charge of the business department of the Mercury, and entered upon the duties on the 1st October, following. In the ensuing three months, he made a thorough and ad- vantageous change in the business details of the office, and introduced into the establishment, one of HOE & Co's dou- ble cylinder presses, upon which the paper was printed up to the time its material was removed to Columbia. At the close of the following year he withdrew from the Mercury, and entered the army of the Confederate States. Captain
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COURTENAY brought to the management of the Mercury, a well cultivated and active business mind, which still maintains, in other vocations, all its energies, with increas- ed usefulness.
Yet another name is linked with the chain which con- nects the editorship of that paper. It is that of one of Caro- lina's poets-HENRY TIMROD. As editor, whether writing from the sanctum of The South Carolinian, published in Columbia, by the graceful and discursive writer, F. G. DE FONTAINE, the sedulous printer, JULIEN A. SELBY (the pre- sent proprietor of the Columbia Phoenix, whose comprehen- sion of all the multifarious details which are met within his sisyphean task is well known) and himself, in the fourth year of the war, or from the " Local's" chair of the Mer- cury, his style was uniformly elegant. Is not his " Vision of Poesy" entitled to this distinction ?
The name of TIMROD will descend to posterity, unex- celled by any Southern Poet, as suggestive of chasteness, gentleness, and purity of style ; always graceful, imagina- tive and tender.
With pride and pleasure does the author mention, that he was one of Mr. TIMROD's earliest and most intimate acquaintances, and that the Poet, from his youth to man- hood, and up to the period of his death, regarded him as a friend in whom he could, and did confide the innermost workings of one of the most sensitive of hearts. The career of this genius-genius gushing with tender and holy emotions, was too soon closed. He died in Columbia, on the 8th October, 1867. He went to his rest
"Like a bright exhalation in the Evening, And no man saw him more."
These were the men who stood prominently before the public, as the master minds of that renowned political jour-
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nal-that brilliant advocate of the pure government of the fathers, in defence of which it showed a vigor and genius which made it peerless in its day. It is a subject of regret, even with the many of those who differed, toto colo, from the political doctrines of the Mercury, that it should, at last, have been forced to succumb with the thousands of fallen fortunes of our City. It was the ruthless torch of Major-General SHERMAN's legions which forced the sus- pension of the Mercury, in February, 1865. Its material being in Columbia, at the time that band of vandals visited it, fell a prey to the devouring torch applied to the beauti- ful capital of the State; an act which the genius of histo- ry should blush while blotting her pages with its record, and which will ever remain a stain upon the military escutcheon of its destroyer.
Colonel RHETT resumed the publication of the Mercury, November 19, 1866. During the last two years of its ex- istence, ending in November of 1868, its associate editors were F. W. DAWSON, ROSWELL T. LOGAN, R. M. FULLER, and Doctor H. BAER. The general abilities of the Mer- cury, irrespective of its politics, always made it a popular favorite.
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CHAPTER XVI.
THE SOUTHERN STANDARD-ITS PROPRIETORS AND EDI- TORS-ITS RESISTANCE TO SEPARATE STATE ACTION- TRIUMPHANT IN ITS PRINCIPLES-END OF THE STAND- ARD-HOSTILE ENCOUNTER OF HATCH AND CUNNINGHAM.
THE Southern Standard was another morning paper. It had daily, tri-weekly and weekly editions, and was the successor of The Sun; in fact, was first published with the material which was purchased from the proprietors of that paper. It was founded by Messrs. B. C. PRESSLEY, KER BOYCE and M. C. MORDECAI. " Perseverance keeps honor bright," was its motto. The Standard came into existence, on the 1st July, 1851, under the editorship of B. C. PRESSLEY, assisted by W. C. RICHARDS, who was, for about five years, the editor of a periodical called The Southern Literary Messenger, and Dr. T. C. SKRINE, for- merly editor of The Sun. A. G. MAGRATH and S. Y. TUPPER frequently wrote for this paper. The place of publication was then in the rear of the " Exchange."
The proprietors of The Southern Standard were induced, by the perils and necessities of the times, to establish in Charleston, an organ opposed to the agitating question of secession of South Carolina. The Resistance or Co-opera- tion Party of the State was not divided as to her right to secede ; but many were convinced that such a movement at that time, would be fatal to the cause of resistance. It must have been with the greatest reluctance that the pro-
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prietors took the step during that political condition of the State, to widen that division, or do that which would make it thus apparent to the enemies of the principles which actuated the proprietors of the Standard. It was not free for the paper, it seemed, to choose in the matter. The issue came in such a form as made silence and self- respect wholly inconsistent with each other. It was as- serted, in the face of the fact, that the State was pledged to secession, and that the supposed minority was bound to submit. And if, as it were, to make their position more odious, arguments were daily promulgated, and very gen- erally, from the press throughout the State, based upon the further groundless assumption, that the issue, then pending, was separate secession or submission. The Stand- ard did not choose to be bound by pledges which, as it al- leged, the State never made, nor to accept an issue which it regarded as unfair and deceptive, and, therefore, the publication of the paper was put forth in defence of the principles of themselves and their party, which were that the State was bound by the action of her General Assembly up to 1850, to await the action of the other Southern States.
The Standard was successful, in the fall of 1851, in bringing about a test vote by the people, as to whether South Carolina should alone sever her connection with the Union, or whether the Southern States should act conjoint- ly. The result of this vote was against separate secession, and the State Convention, which had been previously elected, adopted a compromise course.
In October, 1852, five more prominent gentlemen became associated with the founders of the Standard, and a stock company was formed-the first instance with the Charles- ton press, subsequent to 1828. The stock company of the Standard was composed of Messrs. KER BOYCE, M. C.
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MORDECAI, B. C. PRESSLEY, L. W. SPRATT, E. H. BRIT- TON, W. D. PORTER, JAMES TUPPER, and JACOB COHEN. The combined wealth of the individual shareholders, was estimated at six millions of dollars.
Mr. B. C. PRESSLEY, withdrew from the editorial chair, June 14, 1853. His mantle fell, gracefully, on L. W. SPRATT. For about eight months the paper was published by SPRATT, BRITTON & Co. Those facile editors-B. C. PRESSLEY, L. W. SPRATT, J. L. HATCH, and the very practical and energetic E. H. BRITTON, gave to that paper- the title of which was changed in October, 1853, to The Charleston Standard-their untiring devotion, and as news- paper editors, did much in limiting the range of errors.
Mr. BRITTON began his apprenticeship to the business in the office of The City Gazette, and finished his time in the office of the Mercury. He left Charleston and went to Columbia, in this State, in 1840, and there, in 1847, re- vived The Southern Chronicle. He removed to Winns- boro' in 1848, and published The Fairfield Herald and Register. He returned to Charleston in 1853, as associate proprietor and editor of the Standard. He returned to Columbia and bought out The Columbia Times. Mr. BRITTON has since settled finally in Charlotte, North Car- olina, where he established The Charlotte Bulletin, which he is still conducting.
Mr. S. R. CROCKER, who edited the paper after Mr. HATCH, in consort with J. D. BUDDS, its business manager and collector, struggled persistently, though unsuccessful- ly, to sustain it. The Standard was not published after June 25, 1858. Messrs. PRESSLEY and SPRATT had before that period, confined themselves, exclusively, to the prac- tice of the law, which has since given them their deserved celebrity. Mr. CROCKER returned to his home in New England. He is now the publisher of The Literary World,
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a monthly journal of Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. BUDDS became devoted to the interests of the Mercury, down to the period of the forced discontinuance of that journal.
WILLIAM D. CLANCY, was, for a brief period, near the close of 1857, assistant editor of the Standard. His con- nection with that paper, was not sufficiently long, however, to experience the reality that although cares, responsibili- ties and fatigues had to be encountered, the position of editor had, nevertheless, its rose-hued pleasures.
Mr. HATCH, of whom mention has already been made, was from New-Gloucester, in the State of Maine. He was a young man of much energy and talent ; one of the swiftest of stenographers, and reported in full, for the Standard, the memorable Æriel murder case, which took place in February, 1856. He also reported and published, in pam- phlet form, "Rights of Corporators and Reporters," being a lengthy report of the case of " R. W. GIBBES, editor of the Columbia South Carolinian, vs. E. J. ARTHUR, Mayor of Columbia, S. C., and JOHN BURDELL, Chief of Police," which was tried in the Court of Common Pleas, for Rich- land District, March term, 1857. It was an issue made by Dr. GIBBES, with the City Council of Columbia, as to the right of a citizen to attend their public meetings, and report their proceedings, if he saw fit.
A poignant attack in the Standard of 23d July, 1856- the work of Mr. HATCH's pen, editor pro tem, in the ab- sence of Mr. SPRATT-severely animadverted upon the political expressions of Colonel JOHN CUNNINGHAM, then editor of The Evening News. Mr. HATCH, though by birth a New Englander, had become strongly Southern in his political sentiment, and conceived that the editor of The Evening News had spoken uncivilly of the course taken by the Southern delegation then in Washington, "insinuating," Mr. HATCH said, " that our delegation in
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Congress have done nothing, and can do nothing that will contribute to or consist with the welfare of the State, that-in its mildest form of expression-they have exhibit- ed a want of statesmanship. Moreover, that the members of this same delegation have been influenced in their pub- lic conduct by a consideration of the spoils." This was during the BROOKS and SUMNER embroglio. The caustic leader in the Standard, met with a taunting response from the News. This led to a correspondence between the two editors, which terminated in a hostile meeting. The en- counter, which took place in close proximity to the Wash- ington Race Course, was bloodless, and after an exchange of shots, an amicable adjustment of the difficulty was effected.
Mr. HATCH fell a victim to the epidemic of 1858-the yellow fever-dying on the 25th September, of that year, in the 26th year of his age. The skillful medical treat- ment and personal attention of Doctor PETER PORCHER, at whose home Mr. HATCH was staying, could not prevent the death of one, who, had he lived, could not but have been prominent as a journalist. That gallant corps, the Washington Light Infantry, of which he was a member, took charge of the body of their comrade, and deposited it in their sepulchre at "Magnolia." They were, subse- quently, removed to a neighboring spot, in the same " city of the dead."
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CHAPTER XVII.
MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY PUBLICATIONS OMITTED -WEEK- LY PAPERS-THE CATHOLIC MISCELLANY UNDER BISHOP ENGLAND, AND OTHERS, 1822-POPE PIOUS 7TH AND BISH- OP 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 SOUTH- ERN CHRISTIAN SENTINEL-REVEREND THOMAS MAGRU- DER AND W. C. DANA-THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN, REVEREND N. BAIRD, AND ITS OTHER EDITORS-THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST, AND ITS EDITORS.
WE have purposely avoided speaking of the few Quar- terly, and of the several Monthly and Weekly publica- tions-six of the latter will be excepted-which from time to time were issued, and to which the struggle of 1812, was instrumental in giving life and vigor. They were too ephemeral, to have a place in this history. If we omit three, it is likewise the case with the Periodical Press of Charleston, which, in its purport, is not the less effective. Of this more elementary branch, we no not propose to speak.
The six hebdomadals, however, were solid, and outlived opposition. They were The United States Catholic Mis- cellany, The Wesleyan Journal, The Southern Christian Sentinel, The Charleston Observer, The Southern Presbyte- rian, and The Southern Baptist.
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The Miscellany came into existence under the control and editorship of the Right Reverend Doctor JOHN ENG- LAND, first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, on the 5th June, 1822. For some cause not now known, the Miscellany was discontinued, but was re- sumed after an interval of one year, on the 7th January, 1824.
A writer in the Courier, who signed himself " A Metho- dist," thus alluded to Bishop ENGLAND's discourse, in fa- vor of the Greek's, delivered Sunday, 25th January, 1824 : " The picture which Bishop ENGLAND drew of Grecian misery, was calculated to move the coldest enemy of liber- ty and religion."
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