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 2
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+ Eleazer Phillips, jr., died in July, 1732. His father, who was a book- seller, advertised nearly two years after, in the Gazette for a settlement of all debts due himself or the estate of his son, for news, printing, &c. Spe- cial mention is made of subscriptions due Eleazer Phillips, jr., for six months of the South Carolina Weekly Journal, a paper which is not named in any of the early records of the press, and of which no other trace can be found. If such a paper did exist, it must either have preceded the Gazette, or been contemporary with it. The Gazette has been commonly regarded as not only the first in time, but for many years, the only newspa- per issued in the Town or Province.
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proven by the subjoined quotation from Council Journal, No. 5, page 86, in the State House, at Columbia :
May 21st, 1730. The following was sent to the Lower House :
" We take this opportunity to acquaint you that His " Excellency has informed us that His Majesty, out of his " great goodness to this Province, will be pleased to print " our laws at his own charge, and send over as many " copies as may be necessary. Therefore, recommend this "matter to you, that a copy may be provided of such laws "as are necessary to be printed, that they may be sent " to Great Britain as soon as possible."
It is established that one press was put to work in the Colony as early as 1731, and this fact is authenticated by the publication of several pamphlets, the title pages of which are marked of that date; and a further corrobora- tion is found in references contained in The South Carolina Gazette, of the year following ; and further, from mention made in the Council Journals now in the State House at Columbia, in manuscript.
The foreign advices in the first number of the Gazette, tell that " the Charter appointing Trustees for establishing " the Colony of Georgia, in America, is passed 'the Broad "Seal,' and that the Right Honorable the Lord PERCIVAL, " being by the Charter appointed President the 14th in- "stant, he took the oath for the faithful discharge of his " Trust, before the Right Honorable the Lord Chief Jus- " tice, Baron of the Exchequer."
The edition of January 20th, 1732, states : "Saturday " night came to an anchor off our bar, a ship with about "120 people for settling the new Colony of Georgia, in " which was JAMES OGLETHORPE, Esquire, who came ashore " that night, and was extremely well received by His Ex- "cellency, our Governor; the next morning he went on
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" board, and the ship sailed for Port Royal ; and we hear " there are two more ships with people (which will make " the number 500,) expected daily."
The settling of Georgia was begun in this way : JAMES OGLETHORPE, at the age of 30, being then a member of Parliament, obtained the appointment of a legisla- tive commission to inquire into "the state of debtor-pris- oners in England." The report of that commission, in the year 1729, set forth so much suffering and oppression, that OGLETHORPE's proposition to found a Colony in Amer- ica, was adopted by the British Parliament. With this Colony, OGLETHORPE designed to establish a settlement, which should also be an "asylum for the persecuted Pro- testants of France, Germany and Switzerland, and even, through them, of converting the Indian tribes to Chris- tianity." The Royal Charter, incorporating the Colony for twenty-one years, was obtained in 1732. OGLETHORPE, besides being a philanthropist, was a warrior, and served with distinction under Prince EUGENE, in his campaign against the Turks.
An account of the progress of this first Colony, is given in the issue of the 17th March, 1733.
The domestic information in the Gazette is, "one day " last week, one RICHARD BIRMINGHAM, belonging to his " Majesty's ship Shoreham, was drowned in Wappoo Creek, " over against Colonel LUCAS' plantation, by endeavoring " to get the grappling up."
Another piece of domestic information, as stated in the Gazette of the 27th January, 1733, was to this end : " On " Saturday last, a negro fellow belonging to Mr. ISAAC " MAZYCK, Sr., pull'd a young lad off his horse on the " Broad Path, and rode away with the horse and bags " thereon; in which there were clothes of value. He was " taken on Sunday; on Monday brought to Town, tried
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"and condemned; on the next day, about noon, he was "hanged."
The office of the Gazette was removed at the end of March, 1732, to the residence of Mr. HUGH EVANS, tailor, in Church Street, within a few doors of the Secretary's office,* and the paper appeared on the morning of the 1st April.
From the above, it is apparent that full half a century had elapsed after the settlement of " Charlestown " before the first public journal was established. South Carolina was the fifth Colony in which a newspaper was published.
It may be here properly mentioned, that the pioneer of the American Press was the News-Letter,t which was printed in Pudding Lane, Boston, Massachusetts, by JOHN CAMPBELL. Its first issue was from "Monday, April 17, to Monday, April 24, 1704." It was printed on paper nine inches in length and six inches in width-pica type. The
oldest of the American weekly papers now extant, is the Newport Mercury, established by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, A. D. 1758. That, at the head of daily newspapers, in point of age, is the North American and United States Gazette, of Philadelphia. It is the direct successor of the Pennsylvania Packet and the General Advertiser, first issued October 28, 1771.
To recur. The advertisements in the early papers of
* The Secretary's office was then located on the east side of Church Street, between the streets now known as Elliott and Tradd. John Hamerton was the Secretary; he was also " Receiver General to his Majesty."
ยก The edition of the News-Letter, published for the week, from May 22 to May 29, 1710, contains but one advertisement, viz .: "Advertisement-Two negro women, one aged about 25, and the other about 30 years old, to be sold by Mr. Wm. Clark, Junior, merchant, to be seen at his house, Common Street, Boston." It is interesting to learn, at this time, that the first and only newspaper printed in New England, one hundred and sixty years ago, contained a solitary advertisement, and that was-offering two human beings for sale.
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South Carolina were limited, and were devoted more par- ticularly to the settlement of estates, official notices and estrays, etc., than to any regular commercial publicity. In these early papers will be seen strong indications of the lively interest and participation taken in the slave trade, for the supply of Charleston, which was afterwards continued on the part of our little sister State, Rhode Island. A considerable portion of the shipping reported in 1732, as engaged in the Charleston trade, is credited to Rhode Island.
The value of the investments in commerce and busi- ness generally, with its increased trade, induced a corres- pondence, in the year 1733, on the question of insurance. The resident merchants of "Charlestown " desired to be underwritten from the offices of London and Bristol, the most frequented ports of the "Mother Country ;" but the request was declined, on the ground that no charter then existing permitted such risks. The city was thus left to its own resources, and in four years after, the residents organized a mutual voluntary insurance association. Some other attempts seem to have been made in 1732 to organ- ize these associations, but without any definite result. The largest capitals were invested in ways that could be protected, and it was property in the city that desired guarantees.
Other lines of inquiry and incidental research are sup- plied by the gazettes, as to the subjects, courses and modes of trade, occupations, manners, habits, etc., of the growing and struggling city, which was for years threatened by the sea itself, and by enemies from the sea, on one side, and on the other by savages and European foes.
THOMAS WHITMARSH continued to be the printer of The South Carolina Gazette until his course was arrested by death, which was from yellow or strangers' fever, in
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the summer of 1733. The paper was continued in his name, and in the last number, to which the name of WHITMARSH is affixed, is that from September 1 to Sep- tember 8, 1733. This appeal is made in the edition dated August 4 to August 11, 1733, with the view of closing up the affairs of the first publisher-
" Gentlemen : It is but a little to each of you, tho' it " will be a considerable sum to me; and lying in many " hands wide from each other, (according to the Nature of " our Business,) it is highly inconvenient, and scarce practi- " cable for me to call upon every one; I shall, therefore, " think myself particularly obliged, and take it very kind " of those who are mindful to send or bring it in without " further notice."
Nothing beyond this is known of the publisher, WHIT- MARSH.
LEWIS TIMOTHY, the successor of WHITMARSH, was a French refugee ; he went to Holland, and from thence to " Charlestown," early in 1733. In February of the same year he became the proprietor and editor of the Gazette, and published it in Union Street, now known as State Street. Up to April 6th, 1734, he signed his name as LOUIS TIMOTHEE; from that period he anglicized it to LEWIS TIMOTHY. His demise, the result of an " unhappy accident," took place in December, 1738.
In the issue of the Gazette of 21st June, 1735, the first wood-cut appeared-that of a horse; it bore but little resemblance to the object which it pretended to represent. The proprietor of the paper used it in an advertisement, inserted by FRAN. LE BRASSEUR, who made known the fact that "a bay mare had been taken astray on his plan- " tation, near Goose Creek."
The same paper, in its number of the 22nd January, 1737, mentions that " We have had so cold weather here,
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" that in one night between Tuesday and Wednesday the " water in the creeks and ponds in and about the Town, " was frozen near three inches thick."
Having given data for cold weather, which can scarcely be surpassed in Charleston, in point of severity, we have concluded to quote from two authorities, in relation to the intensity of the heat known here.
It is not unfrequently the case, that after having laid aside the newspaper which has announced the "Hottest Day," the reader is very apt to encounter in the daily in- tercourse with his fellow-citizens, some one of that class of croakers, who having no moderation in their minds, give evidence of the same deficiency in their conversation. With them a moderate degree of language is seldom or never given utterance to ; but on the other hand, the super- lative degree is ever predominant. After the perusal of the following extracts, the quid nunc will be convinced that he has not as yet experienced the "Hottest Day" ever known.
The Rev'd. Mr. HEWETT records a very remarkable season of hot and dry weather. He says : "During the " summer of 1728, the weather in Carolina was observed " to be uncommonly hot, by which the face of the earth " was entirely parched ; the pools of standing water dried " up, and the beasts of the field reduced to the greatest " distress."
Dr. CHALMERS speaks of the year 1752 as "excessively " hot and dry in Charlestown; many cattle perished for " want of water; the plants were shrunk and withered, "and the distress of man and beast was indescribable. " When the mercury rose to the 97 and 98 degrees of the " thermometer in the shade, the atmosphere seemed in a " glow. At bed time it was not possible to lie long still ; " some of the inhabitants were compelled to lay about on
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" the pavements. This circumstance is corroborated by " the venerable JOSIAH SMITH, who informed me that so "intense was the heat, that along the Bay he observed " many families who had their beds made in their bal- " conies."
" Bodies that died putrified in five hours, and a candle " that was blown out at this season, and set in a chimney " at 10 o'clock at night, the wick continued to burn clearly " until next morning, and was likely to do so for many " hours longer."
The following description of the first, and perhaps the most serious fire which befell " Charlestown," is extracted from The South Carolina Gazette, of the 20th November, 1740 :
On Tuesday, the 18th instant, a " Fire broke out in this " Town, at 2 o'clock, on the afternoon, which consumed the " houses from Broad Street and Church Street, down to " Granville Bastion, (which was the most valuable part of " the Town, on account of the buildings and trade), not- " withstanding the utmost care and diligence of the inhab- " itants of all ranks, who were very active in their endea- " vors to extinguish it. The fire likewise consumed all the " houses on the West side of Church Street from Broad " Street, opposite to Col. BREWTONS,* which was saved with " the greatest diligence, by blowing up several houses, " which put a stop to the fire about 8 o'clock, at night. " The wind blowing pretty fresh at North West, carried " the flakes of fire so far, and by that means set houses on " fire at such a distance, that it was not possible to prevent " the spreading of it. On this unfortunate occurrence the
* Fraser in his " Reminiscences of Charlestown," published in 1854, de- signated Col. Brewton's as the " old brick house on the West side of Church Street, two doors South of the corner of Tradd Street." The Provincial As- sembly had been, formerly, accommodated there by Col. Miles Brewton, whose residence it was at that time.
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" assistance given by the Commanders of His Majesty's " ships was very considerable, in pulling down and blow- " ing up houses, and particularly by extinguishing the fire " in Granville's Bastion,* where part of the platform was " consumed, and some of the gun carriages. The militia " was ordered under arms, and proper guards placed in " several parts of the Town, to prevent the embezzling of " any of the sufferers' goods,} which were saved from the " flames. There was a detachment from each of His Ma- "jesty's ships Phoenix, Tartar and Spence on shore ; and a "party of twenty troopers patrolled all night up to the " Quarter House, and around the Town."
The next edition of this paper, which appeared the week following, from November 27th to December 4th, 1740, was almost entirely taken up with notices of removals and arti- cles lost the night of the fire, one of the latter description is here appended :
" WILLIAM WRIGHT, gold and silver-smith, is removed " to John's Island, and continues to carry on his business, " where gentlemen can be supplied with all sorts of work as " usual ; his case will shortly be furnished with sundries, "and kept by Mr. ELEAZER PHILLIPS, post master, on " Madam TROTT's Wharff. The said WRIGHT, lost at the " fire, out of his pocket, a long piece of gold, near a foot in " length, and the breadth of a gold button. Whoever " shall find the same, and bring it to ELEAZER PHILLIPS,
* Granville Bastion was where the last building on the East side of East Bay now is.
+ The copy of a letter written just after the fire by Robert Pringle, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which his descendant, Judge W. Alston Pringle has kindly permitted the author to see, states that " the loss in mer- chandize of all description was computed at two hundred thousand pounds sterling. Two-thirds of the Town," this letter adds, " was destroyed in four hours of time ; besides a great number of stores, there were consumed 300 dwelling houses, and had the fire occurred at night, at the same hour it did in the day, a great number of lives might have been lost, and most of the shipping might have likewise been destroyed."
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" shall have three pounds reward, paid by said WRIGHT or " PHILLIPS."
This announcement from the post master, also appeared : " This is to give notice that the post office is now kept at " the house where Mr. PRIOLEAU's scales are, on Madam " TROTT's Wharff, by ELEAZER PHILLIPS."
The account of the fire of 1740, is by no means uninter- esting. It cannot either be regarded as foreign to the sub- ject matter, as it is from newspapers, the medium of news and correspondence, that the information has been gathered. It has occurred to the author, that continuing to men- tion, in their appropriate places, the principal fires which have happened in Charleston, will prove interesting and instructive. He is the more readily induced to this belief from the fact that, neglected as our State history has been, that of our City-which was for a length of time her capital, and chief resort, and is still her commercial me- tropolis-has received even less attention.
ELIZABETH, the widow of LEWIS TIMOTHY, carried on the Gazette. In the issue of the paper which followed the death of her husband, she makes this appeal to the pa- trons and the public, over her signature : "I take this " opportunity of informing the publick, that I shall con- "tinue the paper as usual ; and hope, by the assistance " of my friends, to make it as entertaining and correct as " may reasonably be expected. Wherefore, I flatter myself , " that all those persons, who by subscription, or otherwise, " assisted my late husband in the prosecution of the said " undertaking, will be kindly pleased to continue their fa- " vors and good offices to his poor afflicted widow, and six " small children, and another hourly expected,"
She was succeeded, in 1757, by her son, PETER TIMO- THY, and his name, as publisher, appeared under the title of his paper. It was the first instance known in newspa-
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per publication. Previously, the publisher's name was always placed at the bottom of the fourth page.
In connection with his younger brother, CHARLES, PETER continued to publish the paper " on the Bay, opposite the upper market ;" (now Vendue Range) afterwards, at the corner of King and Tradd Streets, under the firm of TIM- OTHY & Bro., which lasted until the fall of " Charlestown," in May, 1780. Under their proprietorship, the paper was called the Gazette of the State of South Carolina. PETER TIMOTHY was taken prisoner by the British, after the fall of " Charlestown."
In The South Carolina Gazette of the 30th March, 1746, there appeared the appended presentment of the Grand Ju- ry of the Province, made at " a Court of General Sessions of " the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, Assign and General Goal "Delivery." It began and was " holden at Charlestown, the " 18th day of March, Anno Domini 1746, before the Hon- " orable THOMAS DALE, WILLIAM BULL, jr., and JOHN " LINING, Esquires, Assistant Judges of our Lord the " King, as a grievance, did present Printer TIMOTHY, prin- " ter of the paper called the South Carolina Gazette, for " having printed and published, in the aforesaid Gazette, " No. 666, a letter signed R. A., and in No. 669, another " letter signed S. T., containing matter of falsehood, and " also libellous, and a great scandal and reflection upon His " Excellency (JAMES GLEN,) the Governor of this Pro- " vince, and tends to bring his authority into contempt ; "and, therefore, we request the Honorable Court to give " proper directions for punishing the author, printer and " publisher of the said two letters ; which we apprehend to " be destructive to the liberty of the press, a privilege we. "enjoy, and which has been so justly contended for, by our " ancestors, and we hope will be preserved to our latest "posterity." The presentment of this Jury, over which
-
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GABRIEL MANIGAULT, Esquire, was Foreman, is worthy of the space here accorded to it.
The article in No. 666, signed " R. A.," and referred to by this presentment as a grievance, was a protest by the writer, to the pious proposal of Governor GLEN to pre- vent, as much as possible, the profanation of the Lord's Day, by stopping the sale of " merchandize, meats, fish and herbage."
" T. S.," the author of the other article in No. 669, pre- sented by the jury, objected to, and disputed the right of His Excellency's placing sentinels at the Town gates every Sunday, to prevent the violation of the Sabbath, and pro- hibit idle persons from going " a pleasuring" on that day.
CHAPTER III.
THE GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL-CHARLES AND MARY CROUCH-" THE EXCHANGE AND CUSTOM HOUSE," 1767- PETER AND JOHN HORLBECK, BUILDERS-SECOND DISAS- TROUS FIRE, 1778-SOUTH CAROLINA AND AMERICAN GENERAL GAZETTE-ROYAL GAZETTE, 1781-82-JOHN MILLER PUBLISHES SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE AND GEN- ERAL 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.
IN December, 1765, The South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal was published in Bedon's Alley, by CHARLES CROUCH, a sound whig. He published it until 1772 ; then it was continued by his widow, MARY CROUCH, until 1775.
CHARLES CROUCH, the publisher of The South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, was an apprentice to PETER TIMOTHY. He died, 1772, leaving two sons, W. H. and ABRAHAM CROUCH. CHARLES CROUCH, the publisher, was the paternal grandfather of Mr. CHARLES W. CROUCH, an old resident of this City. The title of the paper was chang- ed, subsequently, to South Carolina and American General Gazette, and published by ROBERT WELLS, at the " Old Printing House." ROBERT WELLS was a staunch royalist. ROBERT WELLS & SON were, afterwards, publishers of this paper, at No. 71 Tradd Street. Its motto was from HOR-
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ACE, " Nullius adictus jurare in verba magistri." This firm, "Printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty," published the Royal Gazette, from March 3d, 1781, to the close of 1782. Both father and son became, at a succeed- ing time, publishers of the Nassau (New Providence) Gazette.
CROUCH'S Country Journal, in its number of the 29th October, 1767, says : " At a full meeting of the Board of " Commissioners for building the new ' Exchange and Cus- " tom House,'* the proposals of Messrs. PETER and JOHN " HORLBECK, were preferred ; and at the same time agreed " with for finishing the same, by beginning of the year ." 1770, for forty thousand nine hundred and sixty-six " pounds (currency equal to 5,848 sterling, or about $26,- "000), and the new Watch-house, already began, by the " Ist of August next, by Messrs. NAILER & BROWN, for " 5,500 currency ; also the stone bridge, at the North end " of the Bay, for $3,300 currency."
From CROUCH'S Country Journal, of January, 1778, is taken this account of the second disastrous fire in " Charles- town :"
" On Thursday, 15th instant, a little after 4 o'clock in " the morning, a fire was discovered in the bake-house of "one MOORE, at the North end of Union Street. The " alarm being immediately given, a number of people, with " engines, etc., assembled, but the wind blowing fresh at
* James R. Pringle, then Collector of the Port, by appointment of Presi- dent Monroe, in 1819, in compliance with the wishes of the merchants of Charleston, effected an arrangement with the Government, on the 9th No- vember, 1833, by which the appropriate and serviceable cupola was, in the winter of 1835, added to the Exchange building. Mr. Charles Fraser, the artist, designed this cupola. J. H. Seyle and Albert Elfe were the builders.
The Exchange and Custom House was vacated on the 2d of June, 1843, for necessary repairs, and the fixtures removed to Faber's building, corner of East Bay and Fraser's Wharf. The repairs were completed, and the building re-occupied 21st September, 1843.
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"N.E., drove the flames with an impetuosity that could not " be checked. The fire was so rapid in its progress, that " before twelve o'clock, it had entirely destroyed all Union " Street, the South side of Queen Street from Mrs. DoY- " LEY's house to the Bay, greatest part of Chalmer's Alley, " all the Bay, excepting fifteen houses from Queen Street " to Granville's Bastion ; the North side of Broad Street " from Mr. THOMAS SMITH's house to the Bay; the South " side of the same from Mr. SAWAGEN's to Mr. GUERARD'S ; " all Gadsden's Alley, Elliott Street, excepting two houses ; " Bedon's Alley; the East side of Church Street from " Broad Street to Stoll's Alley, excepting five tenements, " and the whole of Tradd Street to the Eastward of Church " Street. The crackling of the flames, the dreadful columns " of smoke, bearing with them myriad of fiery flakes, " which fell in all parts of the Town, lying in the direction " of the wind; the roar of explosions; the crash of falling " houses ; the shrieks of the unhappy sufferers ; the horror "painted in every countenance; the confusion apparent "everywhere, and detecting the infamous wretches (and "they were not a few), who availed themselves of the op- " portunity to pilfer, altogether formed one of the most " dismal scenes of woe and distress that can possibly be " conceived. Much praise is due to the officers and soldiers " quartered in Town, who afforded every assistance in their "power to the inhabitants, and it was chiefly owing to " their extraordinary exertions, that the houses at the "South end of the Bay were preserved. The fire did not " proceed any further after twelve o'clock on the 15th, but "it is not yet entirely extinguished. The number of " dwelling houses destroyed, exclusive of stores and out- " houses is upwards of 250. The quantity of merchandize " and furniture is very considerable. The whole loss by " the most moderate computation exceeds three millions of
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