The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-14

some time in the spring of 1877. In
the meantime Bachelor, who had fur
nished what little money had been
put into the affair and had strained
his credit to the breaking point in
keeping it going, realized that he was
up against Il proposition which largely
outsized him and began to ride for
a fall. The purchase money of the
Sentinel had been paid by a note OF
$4,000. The holder of the note had
a plan on foot to secure this same At
lantic and North Carolina Railroad,
which has of late occupied so much
OF the center of the stage. This plan
the Sentinel proceeded to attack with
what 10. Turner called "ferugineous
tenacity and pomperious usurpious-
ness" This brought matters to q
focus. The holder of the note was
by nature as great a tyrant as Tiberi-
Gus, Bachelor, although young man.
then had already developed that great
firmnesS which his detractOrS some
times refer to as hist obstinacy."
The conference between these two
promised TO be stormy. Then every
bodys friend. DR.. c.. w. Blacknall. ap-
peared. Under his soothing spell both
sides became more reasonable. An
arrangement was finally reached by
which Bachelor was relieved from the
debt for the purchase of the Sentinel
and was made agent for the sale of
the paper He made the sale to Hale
d saunders. who had in November.
1876, started the Observer Then
Bachelor went to work to paw the
debt incurred for running the paper.
and this job kept him busy until 1881.
so you Will see that in tracing the
pedigree of The News and Observer
you trace back to the beginning of
the Sentinel. The strength of the pedi-
iS- rI,,,
OF recent happenings by the fact that
the first editorial written by Bachelor
was a gross contempt of court in
which he characterized a certain de-
cision is accountable for on no hypo-
thesis other than that it was bought
ana paid for and by the further fact
that his finish came in q row over the
Mullet road.
Thus ended the Sentinel. In the
meantime the News had not been re-
miss in burning up the money of it's
hackers. Mr.. UZzell died soon after
the foundation of the paper. Stone
soon realized that the fight was hope
less and went to AShevilIe where he
established the Citizen and ran it with
great success until his death. a few
years afterWard. A stock company
was then formed for its publication.
During this administration it was
edited by Maj. Jno. w. Durham, by
Gen. Johnston Jones, and | think, r.
M. Furman. In this adminiStra ton,
also Joseph p. Caldwell. who had made
great and deserved reputation as a
newspaper man. made his first essay
in daily journalism as city editor. The
paper was then leased by the company
to Geo. C. Jordan. Jordan had bust
ness capacity and enterprise enough
to have handled almost any problem.
but the task was too great even for
hi 10 Il &
finally Succumbed.
To keen dates right ! must now go
back to the Observer. This paper
founded by Hale q Saunders in 1876.
started under better auspices than any
of its predecessors. Mr.. Hale had
been trained by his father on the old
Fayetteville Observer and knew the
printing business from the ground up.
Col. Saunders was. l firmly believe, the
greatest man North Carolina has ever
produced. l worked with him from
the time | was a boy of Is until | be-
came a man of AZ, with scarcely an
interval. There are others who were
deeper in his counsels in large political
aHalfS. They can speak of the great
ness Of his intellect. the certainty and
clearness of his judgment. But GER
talnly no man now living was closer to
him in his daily life and none more
than / felt the great loving heart
which animated and ~ermeated his
actions. l have seen him when suf-
fering torture rouse himself to give
counsel and help to others. 1 have
seen him dying by inches with never a,
murmur of dependency, never Il ges-
ture of impatience. And finally. his
| life-work ended. / saw rest come upon
him. But even these were not the
| greatest of the things I have seen in
| him. His love of honor and truth
q T. of n iC iy1c To 1inIy
to forgive aught but falsehood or
treachery. Yet have seen him. when
smarting under the sense of betrayal.
he cOolly weighed all the circum-
stances and-forgave. I speak in all
reverence when / say that I can find
no parallel save when the Manhood
bowed his head on Calvary in the
prayer: Father. forgive them. They
know not what they do"
With such a man at the editorial
helm the paper was launched. 1t ran
with this organization until the fall of
1878. Then Col. Saunders sold his in
terest to Mr.. Hale. Mr.. Hale ran the
paper until the summer of 1879 when
it was sold and Capt. Ashe became
proprietor and editor. with F. A. Olds
as city editor The contrast was
startling but delightful.
The News, meanwhile, had. like the
Sentinel, been hobbling along between
a ba,k and a breakdown. In 1880
it had lost all the money all it's back
erS could raise, and in the spring of
that year it was purchased by a COM
PAW composed of Jno. Calling and T.
NJ Holt and consolidated with Hale's
Weekly, a paper started by Mr. Hale
after the sale of the Observer. Under
these auspices the new News made its
first appearance on goth May 1880,
with Mr.. Hale as editor: w. =.
Bachelor, city editor, and Edwards &
Broughton as business managers.
These were my Halcyon days of news
paper work. Heretofore my news
paper experience had been putting up
money and seeing it consumed. Now
L was drawing a good salary and hav-
ing it paid regularly. The first city
editor of the Observer was e. G.. Wood
son, already referred to. On his death
Peter M. Wilson took the job. His
work is still referred to by newspaper
men as the standard of excellence in
that line and it deserved it. Soon after
the paper was started Col. l.. l.. Polk
Joined the team as travelling editor, and
he was a wonder at that work. Every
thing looked rosy. But-Mr. Hale's !
health broke down. Col. Polk became
tired of travelling and Calling and |
Holt tired of putting up money. The
News was then sold TO Captain Ashe |