A Newspaper Feud in Tacoma
Tacoma Tidende editor Dick Blaauw filed an affidavit denying the Ledger's claim he was bought by McGraw's campaign.
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.
Tacoma, Oct. 13.—For some time, Dick Blaauw, editor and proprietor of the Tacoma Tidende, has been endeavoring to answer slanderous statements made by the Tacoma Ledger regarding his newspaper, which he claims is the only Republican paper in the city. Mr. Blaauw has been accused of being bought out in the interest of gubernatorial candidate John H. McGraw. To clear his name, Mr. Blaauw has filed a formal affidavit denying that he or his company received any funds from the Republican candidate or the King County committee.
“The said Mr. Blaauw made a statement that he has not received, neither has the Tacoma Tidende Publishing Company, any money or funds in any shape or form.”
Media consolidation and accusations of political bias or influence in the press were as much a part of the Washington territory's early political landscape as they remain in the digital age. This feud illustrates the intense partisan loyalty expected of late 19th-century publishers.
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