The Collapse of a Partisan Press
The editor of 'The Dispatch' announces the closure of the publication after a series of financial betrayals and political infighting.
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 publication of the Dispatch is suspended until further notice. A year ago, I exchanged my interest in the Intelligencer for a farm and was out of employment. Seven personal friends purchased the printing material and leased it to me. I was negotiating with a practical printer to take a partnership, but the final letter stating terms was intercepted by W. H. White, who carried it off to Olympia and retained it for over a month. Mr. White also pledged himself to protect the office and see that the notes for the purchase were paid, but he has done worse than nothing. Because of his interference and broken pledges, my contract for purchase expired and the owners have reclaimed the material. That the only Democratic newspaper in the county is suppressed in the midst of the canvass is due solely to the bad faith of Mr. White.
“After knowing Mr. White for nearly ten years, it was an act of criminal folly to trust to his word in anything.”
This account captures the precarious nature of 19th-century newspaper ownership, where 'independent' papers were often held together by personal loans and political favors. The grievance here over intercepted mail and broken political promises highlights the fragile, high-stakes nature of media influence in early Seattle.
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