THE CITY'S PRESS
Foremost among the boosters of Los Angeles were the city's dailies, four of
them on the eve of the real estate frenzy late in 1886. Both the politically
independent evening Express and the Democratic morning Herald were well
established when the Times entered the field as a Republican paper in 1881.
Shortly after the morning Tribune appeared in 1886 it, like the Times a
Republican sheet, claimed to be Southern California's largest daily. Along the
way other dailies such as the Telegraph, Cole's 1882 encore in the newspaper
business which lasted only 26 days, failed after brief attempts to compete with
their larger rivals.
The Times, distributing its soon-to-be-famous mid-winter edition across the
country early each year, took the lead in publicizing the Southland, but the
other dailies engaged in similar boosterism. Whether it was with special
editions or pamphlets designed to attract Easterners to Los Angeles, all four
dailies promoted interest in the region.
As part of their effort to lure immigrants westward the papers frequently
printed feature articles designed to show the attractiveness of certain
occupations for which the region was particularly noted, believing that the
columns would be reprinted in the East. The money to be made in agriculture
was one such topic, but in early 1889 "Hayseed" felt moved to comment with
tongue in cheek on another business that had so far been overlooked.
{Times, Mar. 24, 1889, p. 3}
Hoist Withur Own Petard.
Los Angeles, March 21.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
For lo, these many days, have all our metropolitan journals
waxed warm and eloquent in the very laudable effort to induce
the grangers and landowners to raise unlimited quantities of
poultry and eggs, potatoes, cabbage, and all sorts of "garden
sass," and have given "facts and figgers" to demonstrate the
necessity therefor, and the correctness of their
postulations.
Admitted that we ought to have in Los Angeles county at
least 50,000 more Cincinnatuses engaged in these noble,
honorable and lucrative occupations. I wish to call
attention to one more too much neglected resource which you
must certainly admit has been a most powerful, and perhaps
the chief factor in building up our property, and inducing
immigration, namely journalism.
The great and crying need of our community today is the
publication of at least 500 more able, robust and virile
newspapers, and see how a few simple figures will demonstrate
that necessity even to the dullest comprehension--a
Chinaman's for instance. There is not a journal in the city
that will not claim that it has been the means directly of
inducing the immigration and settlement of at least 1000
heads of families in our midst, and this claim no one can
dispute. Each one of these settlers has brought here on an
average not less than $2500, total for each journal
$2,500,000. Multiply this by 500 (the number of newspapers
we ought to have) and we have a grand total of
$1,250,000,000.
Beside the vast addition to the wealth of the community,
it is well known that any journal is a mine of wealth to the
proprietor. It is not long since one of our papers,
according to its own statement, owing to the immense demand
and the impossibility of procuring a supply of white paper,
had to reduce it from an eight to a four page journal, and
you, Mr. Times, must blushingly admit there are "millions in
it," otherwise a suit or two every week for $50,000 damages
would not be brought against you.
Then it is well known we import vast quantities of
literature from foreign parts--San Francisco, Chicago, New
York, Boston, etc., which is a constant and heavy drain upon
our resources, and the money for which ought to be kept at
home. By all means, give us more newspapers.
HAYSEED.
Los Angeles was awash with newspapermen and former newspapermen in the
1880s. They came from the old school, having learned the trade, like Otis, on
the job. When Cornell University announced that it would establish a school of
journalism, "Reporter" sneered at the idea, doubting that such a school could
possibly teach a neophyte what he really needed to know to become a practical
newspaperman.
{Times, Aug. 17, 1888, p. 3}
A School of Journalism.
Los Angeles, Aug. 14.--[To the Editor of The Times.] I
note the fact that Cornell University is inaugurating a
school of journalism. This innovation may be a success, but
I doubt it. Will it teach the school to meekly listen to the
gentle (?) reproof of the city editor, as he calls their
attention to the fact that they have been gloriously
"scooped," and learn them to formulate a valid excuse
therefor? Will they learn to bear in silence the painful
operation of that "blue pencil" as it vivisects and mutilates
their "best lines?" Will they learn to submissively accept a
midnight detail, in a driving storm, to the scene of a fire
or crime two miles away and no streetcars running? Will
there be a polytechnic department attached, wherein the
budding journalists will be taught to hang to a transom by
their eyebrows while they report the proceedings of a
political caucus? Will they "work in" the usual number of
"dull thuds," "killed dead," "widow woman," etc.? When they
write, "I kissed her sub rosa," or, "I kissed her under the
silent stars," and it is printed, "I kissed her snub nosa,"
or, "I kicked her under the cellar stairs," or, "A heart
bowed down with grief and care" appears in the morning, "A
heart boiled down with grease and care," will they pass
mirthfully over the matter, or will they secure a low-browed,
thick-set club and lay for the proof-reader and the "slug"
that set up that take? After a cold, muddy, midnight trip of
two or three dozen blocks to a fire, and they write a glowing
column of how "the devouring midnight flames leaped high in
air," etc., it appears "Pat Sheeney's grocery was destroyed
by fire last night; loss, $800; insured," will they resign?
Will they be taught how to "work in" a "free line ad" for
the cigars? Will they learn to cut a clean collar, shirt
bosom and a pair of cuffs out of cardboard? Will they be
taught to sit down on the curbstone and calmly write up an
account of a fire in a six-story tenement while the
occupants, crazed with terror and pain, are leaping from the
windows or falling back into the flames? Will they be taught
to perch on the end of a tie by the side of a railroad wreck
and serenely sketch the dying agonies of the passengers,
count the dead and wounded and give an estimate of the loss
to the company?
There are many other points to be learned which cannot
well be taught in a "school of journalism." Practical work
in a printing office is far ahead of any college journalistic
curriculum.
REPORTER.
Even established journalists such as Otis, experienced by "practical work
in a printing office," sometimes found themselves victimized by "authors" who
submitted material as original when in fact it had been written by others and
printed previously. With thousands of newcomers descending upon Los Angeles in
the 'eighties, it was not surprising that one of them spotted a case of
plagiarism in the Times.
{Times, Aug. 10, 1883, p. 4}
A Gross Plagiarism.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: I am not surprised
that even editors should sometimes become the victims of
imposition. I am aware that their manifold duties will not
allow them to be always infallible in the exercise of care in
the insertion or exclusion of articles. Nevertheless, when
there is a clear and unequivocal case of imposition and
plagiarism, it should be exposed. The issue of the Times of
Wednesday morning contained an article, purporting to have
been written for the paper, headed "How a Chinaman Rides a
Bronco," over the signature of "S.B.L." That article, word
for word, was published in the Laramie Boomerang nearly two
years ago, and was written by Bill Nye. The temerity and
unbounded assurance of "S. B. L." would seem to deserve a
brass monument as big as the Normal school building, but to
the undersigned a plagiarist appears to merit nothing more
nor less than the notoriety which his soul generally yearns
for. I do hope Bill Nye will not see Wednesday's Times, for
I apprehend that even his patient spirit would rebel against
such wholesale appropriation of his ambitious efforts.
LITERATI.
Los Angeles, Aug. 9, 1883.
[We acknowledge to having been victimized by this cheeky
literary plagiarist, whose last initial should be omitted in
order the more accurately to describe him.--Ed. Times.]
"Above the fold," newspaper terminology for that portion of the front page
visible in the newsrack, is important to an editor because the stories and
headlines selected for that part of the page influence the sale of papers. To
a reporter, a byline "above the fold" is an occasion for celebration. But to a
Times subscriber in 1887 the fold itself became the subject of a letter to the
editor.
{Times, Oct. 24, 1887, p. 8}
She Kicks at the Fold.
The Times is in receipt of the following distressful
plaint:
The Times, Los Angeles--My Beloved: What are the blank
spaces left in your paper for if not to indicate where it
should be folded? If life is too short for you to fold your
paper in the middle, have you reliable proof that it be any
longer for me? Darling, if tender words won't reform you the
subjoined fact may. Thus far I have strenuously struggled
against the use of the "big, big D" in my frantic struggles
to get the paper into a readable position, but there is a
limit to human as well as worm endurance, and I feel assured
that in some unguarded moment that mild but forcible
expression, which cannot be applied to the Mississippi River,
will fall like a sweet benediction upon The Times. If you
have no regard for your own soul please have a little for
mine, and thereby obtain for yourself that promised covering
for your multitude, etc. Yours everlastingly,
AN OLD AND FOND SUB.
She appears to have got hold of the only sheet folded
crooked since Clark was hung. The mailing department has
been warned.
A frequent contributor to the letters column, Unitarian minister Eli Fay
offered his view of the importance of the press, coupling with it an
explanation for having signed a petition mildly critical of the city's
newspapers.
{Times, April 5, 1888, p. 3}
Swallowing Camels.
Los Angeles, April 4.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
Your publication of the names of the ministers who petitioned
the newspapers of the city to print on Saturday morning
instead of Sunday morning the notices of our Sunday religious
services, makes it necessary that I should offer a word of
explanation. When the petition was presented to me for my
signature, I hesitated. I did not believe at all in the
thing asked for. I had and still have no "pious horror" of a
Sunday paper properly conducted, and for myself I should
greatly prefer to have my services announced on Sunday
morning rather than on Saturday morning. This is a fast
age--fast in a good as well as a bad sense; and it is not
derogatory to men and women who are borne onward by the
mighty, and, in many respects, the regenerating spirit of our
day, that they should forget by Sunday morning something that
they said or saw or did on Saturday morning; and, therefore,
it seems to me to be eminently proper that our pulpit
services should be widely advertised on the morning of the
day on which they are to be held. Why not? Is it wicked to
ring in our homes on Sunday morning the bell that calls us to
breakfast, or the one in the church tower that invites us to
the worship of God? Is it wrong on Sunday to prepare our
food, to ride to church in the horse-cars, to consider our
bodily necessities, our human conditions, our intellectual
appetites, our aesthetic cravings or what may have transpired
in this wonderful world in the preceding twenty-four hours?
With all my heart I believe in the religious uses of Sunday;
but who does not know that to overdo is to underdo. I wonder
if the ministers, who drew up the petition above-named,
stipulate with their publishers that on Sunday mornings no
papers shall be left at their doors. I wonder if they
scrupulously decline to read their Monday morning papers
because they were set up and printed on Sunday night. I
wonder if true religion is at all promoted by "straining at
gnats and swallowing camels." I wonder if sanctimoniousness
and cant ever commended religion to any intelligent mind. I
do not believe in excursions, or picnics, or hilarity, or
general dissipation on Sunday, and quite as little do I
believe in long faces, in sanctimonious airs, in tormenting
the flesh, in mortifying the spirit in a frigid solemnity, a
piety that banishes from the home and heart all light and
warmth, all natural joy and love of truth.
Any yet I signed the petition above-named, but I did it
as many subscribe to the religious creeds, viz., with large
mental reservation. I did not wish to be regarded as "gladly
singular." Wonderful, delightful and radically and rapidly
progressive as is our great human world, there is yet much
that merits criticism and even rebuke; and still the cynic,
the grumbler, the pharisee, is everywhere voted a bore. I
yielded reluctantly and against my better judgment. I know
that some preparation of mind and heart for a religious
service is a primary condition of appreciating it, but as all
people are neither saints nor philosophers, nor able, even,
to pass unharmed an unemployed hour, it is a very serious
question whether a good Sunday paper is not a blessing
instead of a curse, whether tithing mint, anise and cummin,
helps on the kingdom of God.
ELI FAY.
THE RIVAL PRESS
Throughout its first decade the Times faced formidable opposition from the
other dailies. Unlike modern journalistic policy, which disdains vitriolic
attacks on the competition, late 19th century Los Angeles newspapers derided
their competitors in news columns and editorials. Nor was this simply good
natured joshing. Rival journalists were mentioned by name and characterized in
terms that led to libel suits. William Spalding, acting Express editor who
would work for nearly all of the dailies over the years, and Herald editor
Joseph Lynch engaged in a gun fight on the street outside the Herald's office
in 1879 following a scathing denunciation of Spalding in a Lynch editorial.
Neither was as good with a pistol as with a pen and no one was hit. Although
arrested, Spalding was acquitted when testimony indicated that Lynch drew
first.
Otis never took part in a shootout but as editor of the Times he could hold
his own in any exchange of slurs with fellow editors. Most notable was his
bitter rivalry with former partner Henry H. Boyce, then at the Tribune. That
led to a libel suit against the Times in 1887 forcing Otis to relinquish his
position for several months while legal action ensued. The Times resolved this
dispute by printing a retraction, reportedly in an edition with a press run of
one. On other occasions the paper was forced to pay damages to plaintiffs
angered by Otis' attacks. The suits were so frequent that "Hayseed," above,
cited them as an indication that newspapers must surely be profitable.
1) THE EXPRESS
Not all the abuse heaped on rival papers took place in the editorial column
of the Times. Otis used "Letters From The People" to antagonize and scorn his
rivals, and over the years letters attacking the Express, Herald and Tribune
constituted one of the most frequent topics offered by contributors. The
evening Express, perhaps because of its political non-alignment or because as
an evening daily it was not in direct competition with the Times, fared better
than the other two but drew its share of criticism. Otis called it the
"Evening Depress."
Jerry Illich ran one of the more popular restaurants in the city, one
which catered especially to journalists and politicians. Vicente Bernard's
letter, which elicited an editorial postscript, is an indication of the rapid
response frequently found in the letters column. His reply ran on the morning
of June 10, responding to a well-written Illich letter printed in the Express
the night before.
{Times, June 10, 1885, p. 4}
Jerry Illich's Letter.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: I read in the Evening
Express of June 9, 1885, "An Indignant Protest" from a man
who calls himself Jerry Illich and a Catholic. I reply:
First--That man is not a Catholic, for the reason that
he belongs to secret societies, which is not a secret.
Second--He could not have written that letter, because
he don't know how to write or read. Yours truly,
VINCENTE BERNARD.
[Jerry's able epistle to the Expressians bears ear-marks
of having been written in the Express office, or laboriously
edited by the editorial gopher who is constitutionally and
chronically "hard up" for a little cheap capital against the
Times.]
{Times, Sept. 24, 1885. p. 2}
Chunks of Science.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: The meteorological
"sharp" of an evening paper in Los Angeles informed its
readers yesterday that the hot weather was caused by the
burning of the brush on the Cucamonga mountains, etc. Only
think, the thermometer raised 25 {degrees - Ed.} over an area
of a couple of hundred miles square, or more, by the burning
of some brush at Cucamonga mountain. Has not science lost a
jewel by not having this weather-sharp in the Signal Services
Department?
N.
2) THE HERALD
Despite the fact that Los Angeles had long been a Democratic stronghold,
the city's only Democratic daily in the 1880s was the Herald. For nearly
twenty years the paper was run by Joseph D. Lynch, whose political ambitions
and strong Democratic feelings frequently caused Lynch and Otis to cross
swords. Otis mockingly referred to the rival paper as "the Hurled." Times
readers reflected the anti-Herald attitude held by their editor.
"Paterfamilias," who wrote before Otis became editor, contrasted Lynch's
prurient treatment of female conditions with his apparent lack of interest in
Republican President James Garfield's lingering death. The Herald had reported
that county resident Mrs. Francisco Cruz, after a pregnancy of three months,
had suffered a miscarriage involving six female embryos.
"Plaindealer" noted the unusual eulogy Lynch pronounced upon the death of
ex-President U. S. Grant, another Republican, in 1885. "Protectionist," too,
commented on the partisan nature of the Herald's news, while "Saxon" and Jaspar
Menn poked fun at the paper's staff. Connecticut's William T. Barnum,
referred to by "Protectionist," chaired the Democratic National Committee in
the mid-1880s.
{Times, Jan. 1, 1882, p. 3}
The Herald Criticised.
Los Angeles, Dec. 31.
Editor Times: I desire, on behalf of my sons, who now
are at an age at which "the youthful fancy fondly turns to
thoughts of" the sexual relations, and finds fascination in
stealthy glances at the literature of reproduction, to render
hearty thanks to the Herald for the minute and interesting
details of the particulars of the prolific Mrs. Cruze, who
appears to be as inexhaustible as the widow's "cruse"
mentioned in the Scriptures.
Mock modesty might suggest that such unfig-leaved
disclosures of processes not commonly discussed at the family
circle should be relegated to the columns of medical
journals; and a prurient imagination might declare that the
sensitiveness that could see nothing in all the long accounts
of the illness of the late President except what would shock
and disgust, would object to such publicity to all the
details of the throes of maternity and its reguela; but a
sensible person must admit that the prominent position
occupied by Mrs. Cruze, and the consequent feverish anxiety
of a sympathizing public to have the full particulars of her
pains, not only require but demand a fullness of detail in
describing all the symptoms and incidents of her case, that
would not be justified in the comparatively unimportant
office of the President.
PATERFAMILIAS.
{Times, Aug. 15, 1885, p. 4}
Where Does the Laugh Come In?
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON A PERFORMANCE
OF "UNMITIGATED GALL."
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: For some time I have
been fully persuaded that you did not quite understand your
editorial brother of the Herald. You have seemed to regard
him as only a common man, strangely called to the use of the
quill. But you are greatly mistaken. All the signs show
that you are "off the scent." In connection with the Herald,
brilliant conversations and "flamboyant" exhibitions are so
frequent as to mark its ruling spirit as a man of decided
originality. For example: Irrespective of the establishment
of Methodism, to attempt anything like a portraiture of the
character and career of John Wesley; or, without regard to
the issues forced upon the Colonies by the British government
even to try to give a faithful account of Washington's career
and final success as a general, or, not so much as naming the
great anti-slavery movement of this country, to pretend to
delineate the character of Garrison, would impress most
people as a unique illustration of assinine ignorance and
stupidity, or a deliberate attempt to belittle the cause
which alone brought him before the public and gave him all of
his notoriety. But this would only demonstrate the
obtuseness of people in general. Your brother editor has
recently pronounced on Grant a eulogy, in which there is not
the slightest characterization of the rebellion, which alone
brought him to the front, and developed the wonderful power
he possessed, and solely by the suppression of which he
earned the gratitude and admiration of his country, and
achieved his peerless position in history;--a eulogy that
would not disturb in the least the morbid sensibilities of
his friend Jefferson Davis. Now, sir, you must admit that
only a genius could do that. Anybody could render Hamlet
with Hamlet in: but only a master mind could render Hamlet
with Hamlet out.
But this is not all. This modern Daniel sees numerous
reasons why Confederate soldiers who attended the services
held to commemorate the character and military career of
General Grant should have worn the insignia of the rebellion
in which they were so engaged, their herculean attempt to
destroy the country, but which Grant utterly thwarted. That
is, had Benedict Arnold attended Washington's funeral it
would have been entirely proper for him to display there the
booty received for attempting to destroy his country, and in
the British uniform to have paraded with those who stood by
Washington to the last and thus secured freedom for the
country! God pity us for our ignorance! Had Judas lived to
repent sincerely, and had he afterwards been allowed to
associate with the other disciples, it had never occurred to
us that it would have been entirely proper for him to chink
in their hearing the thirty pieces of silver. But it is well
to have some questions settled, and let us be thankful for
the genius that can settle them.
PLAINDEALER.
{Times, Oct. 10, 1884, p. 2}
Encourage Home Industry and Home Liars.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: Reading the "special
dispatches" to the Herald (which, by the way, are identical
with those furnished by the Democratic National Committee to
a hundred other Democratic organs throughout the country,
without cost to the publishers, doubtless) there occurred to
me, as being somewhat apropos, a "little story." A certain
would-be correspondent wrote to a Boston newspaper asking if
he should furnish details of the last sea serpent that had
been recently observed in that vicinity. The editor replied:
"No, thank you, we keep a regular liar of our own." The
policy of the Herald in publishing these stereotyped fictions
every day as news is really censurable. Being a Republican,
I am a firm believer in the policy of "home protection," and
I think that a paper which pretends to have for its object
the building up of Southern California should offer more
encouragement to native talent. There are numberless gifted
beings in the Democratic party, right here in Los Angeles,
who can lie with as great fluency and vim as Chairman Barnum
and his secretaries, although possibly they lack the polish
of experience, which can only be gained in a position upon
the Democratic National Committee; yet they possess undoubted
genius and should not be discouraged by wholesale importation
of ready-made materials. The latent resources of our city
and county will never be developed by such narrow-minded
policy. Now let the Editor of the Herald, if he feels that
he himself is not capable of filling the position, call in to
his assistance one or more of the numerous "Colonels" or
"Majahs, by Jove, sah" that adorn the rank and file of this
party of "Reform" and at once establish a bureau for the
manufacture of fictions, so that he can inform Chairman
Barnum that it is no longer necessary for him to supply the
Herald with campaign literature, as he now keeps a liar of
his own! Thus will the honor of Los Angeles be vindicated
and native talent not "blush unseen," or inodorous (?)
PROTECTIONIST.
Los Angeles, Oct. 22d.
{Times, Oct. 31, 1883, p. 3}
What is "Newling?"
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: It is an acknowledged
fact that American journalism has given many expressive and
useful words to the English language. The Herald is apt to
be editorially as correct in its style as it is indefensible
in its politics. But by what wonderful inspiration did the
editor of the Herald find the word "newling?" The connection
in which it is used, in reference to the extraordinary growth
of towns in the southern part of Los Angeles county, is as
follows: "These spontaneous and newling settlements."
Without any criticism as to the possibility of a
settlement being spontaneous, the ordinary man, not being a
philologist, would like to know what in the world is
"newling." "Mewling" is a term which is accepted as applied
to cats and very young babies, but as for "newling," no
examination of Johnson, Worcester or Webster, no search
through Crabbe's Synonyms or Roget's Thesaurus, throws any
light upon the word. Can anyone say what a "newling"
settlement is?
SAXON.
{Times, Oct. 12, 1888. p. 6}
A Scene at the Show.
Los Angeles, Oct. 10.--[To the Editor of The Times.] I
squandered a quarter on Sells Bros.' sideshow, today, for
two-bits was all I could scrape together, let alone the
dollar that is charged for the big show, but while in the
sideshow I witnessed something that was worth treble the
price of admittance. I will try and give you an account of
it, for it is too good to keep:
I had "taken in" all the other freaks and was standing
close to the Circassian freak when she held out her hand to a
gentleman, who had just stepped up, and said:
"Good-day, wont you buy one of my pictures?"
"No, thank you, I am a married man," he replied.
"What's the difference? She don't need to see it.
Here, I will give you a picture, for I like your looks; but
wait till I write my name on it." After writing on the back
of it she held it toward him. The poor fool took the picture
and was turning away smiling, when the freak said:
"Hold on, my friend, you have not paid me for the
picture yet."
"But you presented it to me free gratis."
"Oh, you can have it for 25 cents; that isn't much."
He dished up two-bits, with a I-wish-the-ground-would-
swallow-me-up look, at the same time jamming the photo into
his pocket. The little scene created quite a laugh from the
crowd that had gathered, as the man strode out of the tent.
"Who was that poor sucker," I asked a bystander, and the
reply was:
"Why, don't you know him? He is one of the
high-muck-a-mucks of the Herald office."
JASPAR MENN.
Moral--Don't "monkey" with the"buzz-saw."
3) THE TRIBUNE
Otis and his readers directed their most biting criticism at the Tribune.
When that paper's first issue appeared on Oct. 4, 1886, Otis welcomed it with a
sarcastic editorial in which he ridiculed all the leading members of its staff:
editor Edward Records, business manager Henry T. Payne {who was a recognized
photographer} and former Times executive and co-owner Henry H. Boyce, the man
behind the enterprise. On Sept. 3, 1887, the Tribune ran a particularly
personal criticism of Otis and his editorial attack on Lt. Gov. Robert
Waterman, referring to Otis as the "Mugwump-in-Chief" of the Times. The
following day the Times ran a multi-column attack on Francis Eastman, who had
replaced Records as Tribune editor, reciting his activities as a member of the
infamous whiskey ring a decade earlier. In the same issue, the Times ran this
letter, which bears a similarity to the writing style of Otis himself.
{Times, Sept. 4, 1887, p. 4}
As to Editing Things.
Los Angeles, Sept. 3.--[To the Editor of The Times.] I
have noticed that the Tribune gang--to wit, Pop-eyed Payne,
Crooked-whisky Eastman and Busybody Boyce--have made much
feeble fuss, at different periods in the past, about The
Times, its editors, editing et cetera; to all of which you
appear to have been generally and brutally indifferent.
Well, let me say that the Tribune gang have not had such
almighty big success in the editing business themselves that
they can afford to lift up very high or blow very loud the
horn of their rejoicing.
Take, for instance, Payne. He edited a photograph
gallery once, I believe, and subsequently applied for the job
of editing the city finances, but the people, "by a large
majority," would not have him; they refused to put the public
funds into his hands.
Then there is Eastman. He, it seems, was engaged for a
period of eighteen months or so in the business of editing
crooked whisky, until finally Uncle Sam, the great managing
editor, himself stepped in and discharged Mr. Eastman,
closing up his peculiar "editorial" shop and referring his
case to the United State Grand Jury for the Northern District
of Illinois. The outcome of the examination into Mr.
Eastman's style of editing crooked whisky was described in
your paper some weeks ago. [And will be found set out more
at length in other columns of this issue.--Ed.]
Then there is Mr. Boyce. He, too, is a great editor.
They say he was once engaged in the business of editing
school boards (not books) and Legislatures. Later on he
tried his hand at editing political conventions, city,
county, district and State. I have never heard that he
succeeded preeminently in any of these efforts.
Subsequently, I am told, he wanted to try his 'prentice hand
on The Times, but soon landed outside the sanctum. Still
later he tried to be managing editor of a bank, but the
prudent stockholders, in the most brutal and unfeeling
manner, objected, and the financial sanctum now knows him no
more forever. And now this great editor is, I believe,
engaged in the bussiness of editing real estate and that
truly remarkable and highly virtuous sheet, the Los Angeles
Tribune. At least the latter frequently bears the ear-marks
of Mr. Boyce's great editorial fist, if I may be permitted to
mix up metaphors in the dizzy style of that other great
editor, Crooked-whisky Eastman.
There be various kinds of editing, Mr. Editor, and I
just wanted to call your attention to some of them.
Yours professionally,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE BOOM.
The Tribune, mockingly called The Trombone by Otis, claimed on its
editorial page that it had the "Largest Circulation in Southern California."
"Priest" offered this insight in the Times.
{Times, Aug. 30, 1888, p. 6}
The Trombone.
"THE LARGEST CIRCULATION"
AND THE MOST ENORMOUS ADVERTISING PATRONAGE.
Los Angeles, Aug. 29.--[To the Editor of The Times.] I
notice the Tribune frequently refers to its extensive
advertising patronage, etc. In its small advertisements is
the following:
A. Kohler, notary public and conveyancer, No.
45 Temple Block.
Mr. Kohler (God rest his soul) has been in the grave
many months, so his card can neither serve or harm him.
Respectfully,
PRIEST.
As the Otis-Boyce feud deepened in 1888 the Times pretended to have found
mail intended for the Tribune letters column. On several occasions that year
readers were entertained by "Tromboniana," referring to Otis' pet name for the
Tribune. That Otis used letters to the editor, even bogus ones to a rival
paper, as a vehicle in his war on the Tribune is indicative of the importance
he attached to the legitimate letters that he regularly published. Readers
will soon note that the bogus letters repeat phrases frequently used by the
Tribune in its description of the Times, and that they attack, as the Tribune
did, editorial positions that the Times held, such as criticism of the excesses
of the real estate boom and denunciation of the Prohibition party and its
candidate, John P. St. John. The "Prominent Banker" is a reference to I. W.
Hellman, who purportedly financed Otis' effort to buy out Boyce in 1886. For
the murder of Dr. Harlan, see the chapter on women.
{Times, Feb. 26, 1888, p. 2}
TROMBONIANA.
INTERCEPTED FROM "THE TRIBUNE'S LETTER-BAG."
Public Opinion on The Times--What is Thought of Us by
Bankers, Barbers, Hod-carriers, Prohibitionists, Saloon-
keepers and Others--We Don't Care.
While coming up New High street yesterday, a Times
reporter picked up a bundle of letters, addressed to the
Tribune. As they are intended for publication, The Times
prints them herewith, thus achieving the double object of
getting in a glorious scoop on its detested contemporary and
at the same time showing the utter contempt for the opinion
of the measly public.
As long as The Times can keep on hand its Presto press
and its "prominent banker" it will sit in its stone castle
and hurl defiance at opinion, both public and private.
Here are the letters. Their omission from the
Trombone's "Tribune's Letter Bag" column this morning will
cause that sheet to look very lean.
Coarse and Brutal.
[To the Editor of The Tribune.]
Boomville, Feb. 25, 1888.
The coarse and brutal Times has played itself out
entirely in this city. Not a single copy is now taken here.
Its malicious and infamous attempt to destroy the glorious
future prospects of this Future Commercial Center has done
the business. Think of its having called Boomville a town!
Why, Mr. Editor, we have here a magnificent $50,000 hotel of
nine rooms (nearly completed) five cottages (in course of
erection) half a mile of cement sidewalk (now being laid) and
a neat, cosy real estate office. If this does not constitute
a city, in Southern California, then I should like to know
what does.
All hail to the enterprising and impartial Tribune, for
its truthful and generous article on "The magnificent
possibilities of Boomville as a Natural Gas Center."
J. A. W. BONE.
P. S. Please continue to send your free copy. As soon
as the owners of the tract can get a man to take the hotel we
will have him subscribe for your noble paper.
Will Go to the Wall.
[To the Editor of The Tribune.]
Los Angeles, Feb. 25, 1888.
I write this to tell you my sentiments in regard to that
depraved and filthy sheet, The Times, of this city. Its
constant covert sneers at the holy cause of Prohibition (even
going so far as to suggest that men who have devoted their
lives to the Cause should start Coffee Palaces) and its ill
concealed ridicule of our Noble Apostle, St. John, have
entirely alienated from it the Prohibition element. The
Tribune is now our paper. It is a clear, moral, family
paper, with a noble record, of which its subscribers may well
be proud. The venal Times will go to the wall. While we
believe in cold water (taken internally) we do not wish to
have it constantly thrown over us by that worthless sheet.
A. PUMP.
P. S. I read your paper in the Society Rooms. Your noble
generosity in furnishing the Tribune free is fully
appreciated by the Brothers who are deeply grateful to you.
May Heaven bless you!
From a Prominent Banker.
[To the Editor of The Tribune.]
You will doubtless be surprised to hear from me, and
wonder who I am. I am the Prominent Banker to whom you have
several times referred. As you are aware, I hold a mortgage
on everything in the Times building, from Otis's dress-coat
to the next week's wages of the assistant pressmen. Now, Mr.
Editor, patience has ceased to be a virtue, and you may
announce officially in The Tribune (which is my favorite
paper) that I intend to foreclose on the whole outfit p. d.
q. These continued coarse and brutal attacks on capital and
corporations have thoroughly disgusted me. I believe that
Otis is an Anarchist in disguise.
PROMINENT BANKER.
S. S. After I foreclose I may arrange to rent you the
outfit. Do you think you could run two papers?
P. P. S. Please let your bill for subscription run
another month or two. Collections have been very hard to
make of late.
(Times, April 24, 1888, p. 6}
TROMBONE TUNES.
MORE LETTERS LOST BY IT AND FOUND BY "THE TIMES."
Another package of letters addressed to the Trombone was
picked up yesterday by a Times carrier on Spring street, near
the Toast Foundry. With a combination of magnanimity and
journalistic pride we at once heap coals of fire on the head
of our envious contemporary and register a glorious scoop at
the same time. We print 'em!
He Has Killed the Boom.
[To the Editor of The Tribune.]
The Tribune is the people's paper. I candidly believe
that Los Angeles would yet be an adobe village were it not
for The Tribune. It is true you were not here when we began
to boom, but we knew you would come. We knew Providence
would answer our earnest prayer for a pure Republican paper.
Otherwise we would not have boomed.
Your strictures on the Times and its pestiferous editor
are too mild. I know that your Purity bridles your tongue;
but in such extreme cases, Mr. Editor, a little judicious
malediction is permissible. Even the Pope anathematizes one
who is utterly beyond hope, like Otis. He has ruined Los
Angeles. He has driven away our visitors. Did he not day by
day call attention to our muddy streets? Had he not done so,
our visitors would not have noticed them and would still be
here. But reading so much about them in the Times, with its
exasperatingly large circulation, they were naturally led to
look, and of course found them with little difficulty.
Otis killed the boom and he should be killed!
JUSTICIA.
P. S. You can send my free copy to my brother in Mauch
Chunk, Pa.
From a Printer.
[To the Editor of The Tribune.]
For seven years I was employed as a compositor on the
Police Gazette, where I gave complete satisfaction, and from
the proprietors of which journal I have the best references.
I came to this city on account of my health, and--not knowing
the character of the sheet--accepted work on the Times. I
had not been there three hours, however, before I found that
the character of the matter which I was called upon to set up
was such as to cause the burning blush of shame to rise to my
face, and remembering the promise I had made to my aged
mother in Kalamazoo, to touch nothing which defileth, I at
once demanded my pay, which was brutally refused, whereupon I
left and refused to return, although Otis offered me a high
salary to edit the so-called religious department of his
sheet.
In exposing the utter vileness of the Times you are
working in the cause of humanity. Is there no society here
for the suppression of vice? My daily prayer is: God bless
The Tribune!
TYPO.
P. S.--Please send my free copy after tomorrow to the
Y.M.C.A. building.
Is He a Murderer?
[To the Editor of The Tribune.]
I came to this coast last fall, and have taken great
interest in the criminal business of your city. After close
and dilligent examination, I have arrived at a conclusion
which more than bears out all you have said regarding the
criminal character of Otis. My discovery is no less than
this: Otis killed Dr. Harlan!
If you will closely examine the course of the Times
during the trial, you will find ample proof of this
statement.
BOY DETECTIVE.
Los Angeles, April 23, 1888.
P. S.--If you continue to send free copy, I will furnish
you a cryptogram from the Times, showing Otis's confession of
guilt.
The war with the Times went badly for Boyce and his Tribune. Historians
credit Otis' victory to the work of his future son-in-law Harry Chandler, who
not only controlled the distribution of the Times but the Herald and Express as
well. One of Chandler's enemies later claimed that Chandler also controlled
the Tribune's circulation. Chandler reportedly sabotaged the Tribune by
enticing the paper's delivery boys to play hooky and by encouraging subscribers
to switch from the Tribune to the Times. If Times subscribers became
disenchanted, Chandler encouraged them to switch to the Herald rather than to
the Tribune. Eventually Boyce was forced to cut the size of his paper, leading
to this letter from "Wellwisher."
{Times, Feb. 15, 1889, p. 5}
We Can't Afford It.
Los Angeles, Feb. 14.--[To the Editor of The Times.] I
notice that your 'temporary, the Tribune, claims to have
gained 30 subscribers a day by reducing its size one-half. I
am interested in the success of The Times, and would suggest
that you show equal enterprise by adopting a similar course.
The result would no doubt be equally gratifying.
WELLWISHER.
P. S.--Does it cost much more to run a four-page paper
than an eight-page one?
In January, 1891, as Boyce faced financial ruin, the sheriff sold the
remnants of his paper. The buyer? Harry Chandler!