St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-16
ST. ANTHONY DAWNs.
The First Papers in and About the
Famous Falls.

FdukOuS ais.
While st. Paul was earliest in the
newspaper field, st. Anthony, now Min
neapolis East, was pretty prompt in
the same line. Minneapolis proper was
scarcely then in existence, at all events
1t had not reached newspaper proper
tions. am greatly indebted to Judge
Isaac Atwater for the data relative to
the first paper ever established at the
Falls. 1t was in the spring of 1851 that
Edmund Tyler. tailor, an ardent
Wing, possessed of the local enthusiasm
which has made Minneapolis the city it
is today, conceived the idea that st.
Anthony should have newspaper.
There were only 300 or 800 inhabitants
i'll the town. He knew nothing of news.
paper business, and had limited means,
but ne was full of journalism, and st.
Paul had papers. and st. Anthony must
have papers also. The consequence
was he went to Chicago. bought press
and material for the paper without
having secured any one TO edit 1t or
building in which to locate it. Judge
AtWater says: Zone morning in May.
1851, while iloeing potatoes in the gar
den before breakfast, Tyler came to me
and said the press had arrived, a room
had been secured. and demanded that |
must edit the paper" The judge very
positively declined to accept the munif-
icent position so ardeutly offered him,
but later Tyler called upon BIN with
a committee of influential citizens. and
as a result the ST Anthony Express was
born on the 31st of May, 1851. with Ty-
ler'S name at the masthead, aud
with Judge Atwater as editor
and chief. though not named in
the paper. In fact, it was the
entering wedge whereby Judge At
water sustained the paper, ultimately
becoming actual proprietor. and losing
something over 5000 in the patriotic
effort to continue the paper. While
Judge Atwater's name appeared only
small portion of the time in the paper,
he was in reality connected with it un-
til he went on the supreme bench in '5S,
and it is Interesting to note the changes
which occurred as developed by the
files of the paper. But for Judge At
waters own testimony in the matter,
the public could not determine by the
files that he was connected with the
paper for so long period
As q truthful historian | ought to
mention the tradition that Judge At
water'st accomplished wife very mate
rally aided in editing the paper and
added much to its ability.
The motto of the paper was "Princi-
pies, Not Men," and it started out with
the names of E. T.ler, proprietor; FL.
Woodbury., publisher.
On the I'd of August, however, when
the paper was two months old. Mr..
Tyler, who had been so enthusiastic in
enlisting the services of Judge Atwa.
ter, dropped out, and the prOprietors
were Woodbury. and Hollister. On the
18th OF October. the same year. the pro-
prietorShip was again changed to IL.
and j. p. Woodbury., but the motto still
stood principles, Not Men," This
proprietorship seemed to have been
very permanent. for it was not until
May IS, 1852 that | could find
another change. and then the name of
George d. Bowman was placed at the
masthead. In 1854 Isaac Atwater'S name
oPPCalCu AOL eitO hAo9 liuAC 40 ZIG plO-
prietor of the paper. and still the motto
stood: principles, Not Men, As
noted these numerous changes with
such great rapiditv. thought it was
lucky that it was principles, Not Men,"
for if the positions of the motto had
been reversed they would have run out
of principles: but the crop of men was
evidently destined to hold out. Judge
himself, in my call upon him
has this to say on the subject of the
THE motto of the Express was
Principles, Not Men, A good motto in
the abstract, but the people soon saw
that principles could not be sustained
without 'meu' back of them"
d. S. B. Johnston, now of st. Paul.
Joined Judge Atwater in 1856 III con-
Quoting the paper, and when the judge
went on the bench in 1858 he took it
alone. The motto was then changed to
Liberty and Union, Now and Forever,
One and Inseparable."
/ suppose that both principles and
men had gotten worn out by the ime
Johnston began lone hand on the Ex-
press. and it was time to begin anew.
As near as l have been able to de-
termne, | traced the Express into OBJ
livon IN 1850, and, consequently. neither
one of the notices was sufficiently po-
tent to save it,and principles. "men."
liberty" "union" and all the trim-
nings went down before the inexora-
Die demand of the printers for
1t least potatoes to keep the soul from