The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-03-22
THE LATE II. M. YERG Err.
One Way 10 Make History.

= A gentleman Of Natchez has perpetrate
: a hoax on the astute Courier-J Journal, or h
d has drawn on his Imagination for ':his
;, torioal "reminiscences. and palmed it off OF
+ the gullible CD. for facts. We subjoin
= few extracts from this singular mixture o
: grain of truth with peck of romance
q Read this
NATeHEZ, Miss, Feb. 7.
The jackson Mississippian is the name OF nev
, evening daily just launched on the of journal
ism at the State Capital.-lMiss, paper.
The above, from the columns OF local nowspa
per, brings vividly to mind the old Mississppian
conducted during and for brief season after the
J war, at the Capital of Mississippi by Edward NJ
Yerger. If ever mighty difficulties were met ant
overcome, they were so in The management of this
paper. During those days of the blockade, print.
ing material, was hard to come at but the Mssis.
sippan, in its dingy little yellow sheet, rode out
the storm of war; and failed not in an issue so long
as the building in which it printed remained
undestroyed. Nor did the remarkable individuali-
ty of its editor fail to stamp itself upon every
line of every issue. The red hands OF the
armies of the North had fallen heavily, more
than once, upon the devoted city of jackson, all
the printing offices had been burned, material scat
tered to the four winds; railroads destroyed, and
the whole South, outside of few of the larger
cities, could not provide means for furnishing even
second class newspaper establishment.
Nevertheless, Yerger, though beaten and appa-
rcntly ruined was by no means vanquished.
Gathering together his forces and his resources, he
n1lNl adn hale ,foIoS
Of type here another there's an old and battered
handpress somewhere else until by dint of such
scrapnss together, he considered himself once more
prepared to enter the field of Confederate Journal
ism. The worst Of his labor, however, was by no
means accomplished.
All railroad approaches to Jackson were cut off,
and many miles of steep team hauling, over steep
hills and miry swamps, lay between the point where
his 'material'' discharged from the cars and
its destination at Jackson. With undiminished
vgor and determination, all obstacles were at last
overcome and in an almost incredibly short time
the absurd-looking, but brave and welcome little
Mississippan again showed its sad-coored face on
the streets of the Capital. War stayed not its
course, nor did the coming of of peace close its
career,
The writer calls the above a ''reminis.
cence." Perhaps he meant to say it was
fancy sketch. The facts are: Yerger was not
the editor of the Mississippan during the
war, or of any other paper. The material
of the Mississippinn was not destroyed by
the Federal army, and, the paper never
made its appearance in ''dingy little yell
low sheet, ard all the pretty writing of
the Natchez man about the heroism of its
management in finding type here and an
old hand press there, etc., is pure fic,
ton. Previous to the first occupation
of Jackson by the Federal troops the |
Mississippian material had been remov.
ed to Selma, Ala, and the Mississippian |
building was not destroyed at this first oc-
cupation, though the invaders were care
full to chalk upon its walls this pleasant
explanation: "This building is spared be-
cause it can't be burnt without destroying
others whose destruction is not desired"
The then editor of the Mississippian had a
in West jackson which was used
during the first occupation as headquar-
tors for Gen. Tuttle. Upon the evacuation
of the Federal troops this establishment
was fired in two places, but there were two
faithful colored people left in charge of the
premises, Toney Barnes and his wife, who
appealed to Gen. Tuttle to spare the house,
md he gave orders for the fire to be put
out.
The Mississippian was published daily
md weekly in Selma, Ala, for two years,
md achieved much the largest circulation
Of any other paper in that section of the
On the second occupation
If Jackson the Mississipplan building and
great many other houses were burnt up
oy the Federal troops.
During tho last year of the war the pro-
'rietors of the Mississippian, for few s
weeks, issued in jackson, "Mississippian !
Extra" in the building now occupied by ,
Mrs. Bulkley, but the main paper still re-
NAMED at Selma. D.,
When Wilson dashed through Selma in
he early Spiing of 1865 he found that the
material of the Mississippian had again ,
lodged the torch of the foe and was safely 4.
N its way back to its old home. The pro-
ection of the Mississippian material dur 7
ng these exciting episodes is due solely to
he care and foresight of one of its pro-
,retors, Mr.. A. N. Kimball, who watched 7
t as he did the apple of his eye. The
presses and types of the Mississippian had :.
lardly reached jackson after their two :
ears absence, before the whole South was y
,lunged into tears over the farewell address
# General Lee to his army. \
Now begins the journalistic career of E. t
4. Yerger. He had never written an edi- v
oral or a report for any paper, nor did he a
ave any connection of any kind with any {,
aper, until the war was over. When the I
federal battalion under General Austerhos L
anne out to occupy jackson after the sur b
ender of Lee and Johnston, Col. E. NJ, 7
-erger, a few days afterwards, became the v
ditor of the jackson News A State al
Convention was called and he was elected h
'rinter for the Convention over the Mis- d
ssippian and the Clarion. Shortly after ST
-hich he bought out the Mississippian, and CT
IN for a while 'The Mississippian and OF
Iews." In few weeks the ''News' was W
ropped and he sailed under the colors of m
io Mississippian alone. When the first ca
legislature met after the war he was a can al
idate for State Printer, but was defeated 10