Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/250

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.



his speech without first securing special permission to do so. The reporter, fortunately, was Richard Smith, who later became associated with The Commercial Gazette of Cincinnati. Being a good newspaper man, he hung around until the speech was over, and then obtained an excellent resume* of the address from a friend who knew the politics of the State and who remembered the salient points of the speech. Until the politician learned that he must speak to a larger audience than that around the stump, the reporter was regarded as an impertinent intruder.

JOURNALISM IN THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS

When Texas, being dissatisfied with Mexican rule, revolted in 1835, its most important newspaper became The Telegraph and Texas Register which first appeared at San Felice, October 10, 1835, published by Gail Borden, Joseph Baker, and Thomas H. Borden. It was not only one of the foremost papers devoted to the revolutionary cause, but also practically the official organ of the Provincial Government : it continued to be published at Austin until March 24, 1836, when General Santa Anna sent forward an advance guard which forced the staff to take the press apart, break up the forms, pack the type, etc., and to flee to Harrisburgh, where another attempt was made to print an- other edition of The Telegraph. As a matter of fact, one issue was put into type and six sheets had been actually taken off the press when another advance guard from Santa Anna entered the place, seized the press, pied the type, and held the printers as prisoners. Later, the troops from Santa Anna threw the press and type into the Buffalo Bayou, from which they were later taken, cleaned, and used in Houston to print The Morning Star, which first appeared on April 8, 1839, and boasted of being the first daily paper in the Republic of Texas.

After the battle of San Jacinto, Gail Borden went to Cincin- nati, where he bought another printing outfit which he used in resuming publication of The Telegraph on October 2, 1836, at Columbia on the Brazos, then the temporary seat of the Government. On April 11, 1837, The Telegraph was moved to Houston, at that time the seat of the Government, where Dr. Francis Moore became its editor. On June 20, 1837, Gail Borden