The Newspaper Editor and the Political Bruiser
A brutal street assault in Olympia reveals the volatile intersection of frontier politics and an independent press.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One of the most brutal and inexcusable exhibitions of ruffianism which we have ever been called upon to chronicle was an assault made upon Charles Prosch, the editor of the Tribune, by Gen. McKenny, late Superintendent of Indian Affairs, at Olympia on Saturday evening last. The account of this affair, as related to us by one from a responsible source, is that Mr. Prosch was accompanying his wife and two other ladies on a shopping tour. While the ladies were engaged in the store of Mr. Ouimette, McKenny came to the door and called Prosch out. His victim, unsuspicious of any hostile intent, came to the walk; McKenny without warning dealt him an assassin blow with a heavy cudgel which felled him to the ground, and continued to beat and stamp upon him until pulled off by Mrs. Prosch and the other ladies of the party. Such an assault, in such a presence, would shame the veriest ruffian out of the penitentiary, and justify any citizen against whom he harbored a grudge to shoot him down like a vicious dog, as a necessary precaution against assassination. McKenny is a vigorous man, in the prime of life, and Prosch is guarded until past his prime, and no match for him on equal terms. In condemning this assault, we are very far from including the personal responsibility of editors for publications inflicting private character; nor do we deny that they are often guilty of such abuses of their position towards private citizens as would justify a resort to club law as the only means of redress. But this was not a case of that kind. The offense for which Prosch was assaulted was of a public character; they were reflections of popular sentiment in regard to the official acts of a public officer. The affairs of the office held by McKenny had been investigated by two or three separate commissions, each ending with the same result, proving such irregularities which demanded his removal; and yet by a ring constituted of federal officers at home, and by favoritism at headquarters, he was permitted to retain the position long after his official character had been impeached, and was finally directed out to avoid further public scandal to the administration. It was to suppress the publication of these public facts, and to intimidate others, that he resorted to the ruffian's device against public criticism.
“When public thieves are forced to resort to assassination to avoid the exposure of their crimes, their case is desperate indeed.”
In 1872, the tension between the 'independent press' and local political power played out with physical violence on the street. Today, while the cudgels have been replaced by digital harassment and legal threats, the core struggle—a publisher attempting to hold corrupt officials accountable while facing retaliation—remains an enduring feature of the Washington political landscape.
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