The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-02-14

His Connection With the Formation
ofWcst Virginia - The Times that
Tried Mems SoulS-liis Later Act
tiles.
Hon. a. W. Campbell. the subject of
this sketch. was the son of the late DR..
y. W. Campbell. of Bethany, Brooke
county. West Virginia, and was born in
jefferson county. Ohio, April !, 1893. He
removed to Bethany in his boyhood
days and was educated at the well
known college there, graduating in 1852.
when nineteen years of age. He after
wards studied law. attended lectures at
Hamilton College Law School. New
York. and graduated from that lns,itu-
ton in 1855. He removed TO Wheeling
In the spring of 1856 as an attnche Of
the Daily Inteiigencer. then owned by
the Beatty Company. and in the fall of
that year bought out the paper in part
nership with John +. McDermot ana be-
came its editor. At once the paper
took ground In favor OF liberal political
principles and soon nllicd itself with
the then young but rapidly .growips Re-
publican party. These We're not. the
days OF free speech on the slavery Dues
ton on the soil OF Virginia. The inilu-
ence OF the eastern part OF the state was
predominant here in the west albeit so
many of the western counties had so
few slaves. and to be n Republican was
but little better than being an out and
out Abolitionist. and to be an .tboIitIon-
list was hut little better socially and
politically than to be tainted with
crime. All classes OF society felt the
despotic influence of slavery over their
status. II made preachers tinid In the
pulpit. merchants and tradesmen timid
In their business. and politicians timid
and timc-serving In their uttcru noes
To be in accord with Richmond. with
the pro- slavery press there, with the
growing demands Of the south in gen
cral for more slave Territory, was the
correct thing in politics and social Ire.
and ambitious lawyers, editors and
public men bowed their heads and knees
at this shrine.
Wheeling and Ohio county had then
not more than 100 slaves. This Is the
number given by the census of 1850
And yet the governing tone in politics
and In society WAS bHt mn echo OF Rich
: mond and old Nirginin. In the year IN
which the Intelligence began its career
as the advocate OF the right OF all mcn
TO express and vote their political senti-
ments. the circuit judge of the Wheel
ing district charged n grand jury Din
effect that Republicans were suspicious
persons and obnoxious to the laws aud
Institutions OF Virginia. Horace Gree
ley the editor OF the New York Tribune,
was deferred from delivering Il con-
sentative lecture in Wheeling on the
issues of the day. because simply OF In
cidcntal references in his address to the
slavery question. A Baptist minister OF
culture and high character left the city
under the ban of this proscrptive opIn-
ton, bec4tt'st he taught c0!ored children
10 read In his Sunday school. The cir
cult court OF Harrison county issued a
mcnacinG edict against the reading OF
the New York Tribune. and the club
agent OF that paper He'd the state to es-
cape indictment and Imprisonment
Partisan postmasters, subservIcnt to
the Richmond deSpotism, withheld such
papers rs the New York Christian Ad-
'rocatc from their subscribers and were
not rebuked by their superiors Mt Wash
ington. A valuable statistical book
written by native North caroliniln.
which discussed the economic phase OF
slavery. had to be read by stealth In
Wheeling. and news dealers were afraid
to keep 1t on their shelves. Republican
meetings were broken tip By mobs and
their professions stoned In the streets
They had no adequate police protection
Casslus NJ. Clay, OF Kentucky, was
threatened with personal violence for
coming to deliver n lecture In Wheeling
that he had delivered IN the heart Of his
own state, and the directors OF the hall
IN which he was to speak dcllberated
whether tt would be safe to open their
doors TO this eminent citizen.
These were the days ana these the
auspices under which Mr. Campbell be-
gan his career us the editor OF the only
Republican daily paper I'm all the then
vast area OF Virginia. \ stout heart
might we'll have quailcd over the pros
pect. Almost from the start the Intcli-
geneer was the constant target OF tho
pro-Slavery press OF the state. Tho
Richmond press rcpronchcd Wheeling
because Ruch publication was permit.
ted TO cXiHt In her midst. and between
these rcproachoS and the ObIurghtlOnH
OF influential persons and papers at