The Newspaper War of 1878
Before the digital age, Seattle's editors fought their battles in court and print, trading accusations of corruption and forgery.
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.
Several of our exchanges have commented upon the suit commenced against the editor of this paper for libel. A Portland paper represents it as: 'Thomas W. Prosch, editor of the Seattle Tribune, suit against Beriah Brown, editor of the DISPATCH, for libel in the sum of $5,000.' The facts are that the alleged libel was published in January and consists of deductions drawn from the mismanagement of the post office in this city. These charges culminated in a petition for his removal, which was being numerously signed when a compromise was proposed, by which Prosch resigned. We signed a recommendation for the change, which was endorsed by Prosch, which we regarded as a settlement of the controversy.
While these matters were pending, Prosch published in his paper one of the most malicious libels upon us ever uttered, charging us with felony in forging the name of Chief Justice Lewis. Upon the testimony of the Judge and the members of the bar, the Grand Jury found a true bill against Thomas W. Prosch for malicious libel. The indictment was dismissed by the Court solely because the statutes provided no penalty for the crime. Because the law provided no punishment for this cowardly crime, we were forced to seek the remedy of a suit for personal damages. It was only after this was commenced that Prosch discovered he had any cause of action against us for libel—a matter trumped up by a sharp attorney solely to create a diversion.
“The project was permitted to linger, and still lingers, only because a portion of our property holders, controlled by a greed that devours its own substance, hoped to share in the profit without contributing.”
Long before modern 'fake news' accusations, Seattle’s early press was a battlefield of personal vendettas. The rivalry between Beriah Brown’s 'Dispatch' and Thomas Prosch’s 'Tribune' mirrors today’s polarized media climate, where legal threats and character assassination were standard tools of political combat.
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