The Bitter Newspaper Feud of 1876
A public, vitriolic war of words between two Seattle editors reveals the cutthroat nature of early Pacific Northwest journalism.
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.
The Prosch family made the occasion of our dissolution of partnership with Austin A. Bell the subject for the invention and publication of a malicious lie, without the least foundation in fact. An editor of a newspaper with a single gentlemanly instinct rarely gets so low as to meddle with the private business affairs of others, but when that is done solely for the purpose of malicious misrepresentation, it shows a degree of moral depravity. This malicious coward represents Mr. Bell as an 'unsophisticated young man,' who became an easy victim to the cupidity and dishonesty of Beriah Brown, who 'took him in' in a way he will never forget and which he will probably be long years in getting over. A more malicious falsehood was never uttered. Mr. Bell entered our employment as an apprentice nearly five years ago, and has ever been treated with the care and kindness of a member of the family. As a partner for the past year, he had entire control of the business, receiving and disbursing every dollar of money, kept the books, and the settlement of the partnership business was made upon his own statement. We never knew a young printer to step into a better position on easier terms. We still carry on business in the same office, and we will trust Austin with anyone to take care of his own interests and attend strictly to his own business.
“An editor of a newspaper with a single gentlemanly instinct rarely gets so low down as to meddle with the private business affairs of others.”
This 1876 editorial scrap captures the era's hyper-competitive and intensely personal style of journalism, where political rivals were routinely accused of moral failure. Today, the vitriol of social media echo chambers mirrors the 'gutter press' tactics used by editors like Beriah Brown, where public reputation is treated as a battlefield.
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