The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-29
OLD NEWSPAP ERS
Their Value as Means of Sc
curing Historical Data
Is Discussed by william Nelson
in a Paper.
THE ANNUAL MEETING
Of the American Historical So
ciety at Washington
Brings Out Information Regard
ing Revolutionary Period.
THE ANNUAL MEETING

Washington, Dec. "a vast mass
of frst-hand historical information
about Revolutionary times especially,
was pointed out by william Nelson. of
Paterson, secretary of the New Jersey
Historical society in his paper on
1.-The American Newspapers of the
Eighteenth Century as Sources of
History at the annual meeting of the
American Historical society. Mr.. Nell
son quoted the famous historian,
George Bancroft, as having exclaimed
to him: 'tBut you cannot write his
tory from the newspapers" 1t was
his own opinion, Mr.. Nelson said
that the historian who ignores that
field will miss a great and invaluable
mass of material
1.-THE colonial press was hampered,"
Mr.. Nelson said fsby what was prac-
tically an official censure. Neverthe-
less the newspapers of the time wildly
mirror to us the popular life of their
day. We can trace in their pages,
| too, the gradual evolution of the press
toward a broader freedom as their
news items expand from the merest
mention of ship news runaway SER
wants and foreign events to chronicle
| the movements of the governors, the
| doings of the legislatures and finally
| aspire even to criticisms Cat first in
| the cautious guise of communications)
| upon the ruling powers
Papers 100 Years Ago.
Mr.. Nelson went on to describe the
| papers of the early part of the
| eighteenth century beginning with the
| Boston News Letter" of 1904. The
| growth of these publications into
| life was dwelt upon with a consider
| able degree Of detail and Mr.. Nelson
| drew an interesting picture of the
! developing industries and methods of
l faF n TOO TOW 80
1 paper advertisements news articles
! and communications. Coming down
! to the Revolutionary period, the
| speakers point of view was strikingly
| set forth in the following:
What a. vivid picture of everyday
! life during "the times that tried men s
| souls is presented by the newspa pers
: of the day. The official reports of
| events, carefully written and revised
| at leisure, have pruned out of them
| the little human touches that appeal
| to the heart. But your newspaper
account of a skirInish, a battle or a
| raid. has dash and a touch of local
color that stirs the blood of the
reader. Here you Shall find accounts
of the same evenfo published in royal
| ist and in patriotic newspapers, pre-
scented in such Opposite language that
| it is difficult to realize that they are
| descriptions OF the same occurrence.
| Was it from a desire to be impartial,
| that the same papers would often
| o
was it merely a desire to get copy
with the least expense of time and la
| Dor? A newspaper published in New
| York would frequently publish a
story, crediting it as from a rebel
newspaper" and a journal of the
! opposite side would frequently pub
fish an excerpt from "a late Tory
paper" The reader could take his
choice which story to believe. and
! thus was cultivated a species of
| higher criticism. - whereby all the
probabilities were carefully taken into
| account and there was sifted out an
| approximately accurate narrative of
| the events narrated by the newSpa perS
| of opposite faiths. or perhaps 1 should
rather say profession, as it is doubtful
/ if some of these newspaper publishers
had any faith-if they were not mere
| journalists" whose sole function was
regarded as that of a purveyor of
news to the public. You will
| recollect that Hugh Game attempted
at the beginning of the revolution to
| serve both sides in publishing a Tory
! edition of his paper in New York.
| which lauded the king and his army
| and ALL of his servants and fittinglY
berated the patriot cause; while at
| East Newark he issued for some
! weeks a patriot edition of his Gazette,
| which heaped scorn and contumely on
/ the British cause.
Soul Stirring Episode.
! lone of the most soul-stirring cpl
sodes of the outbreak of the revoIu-
! ton was the carrying of the news of
the battle of Lexington by relays of
/ swift messengers from Boston to Sa-
vanpah, the account of the battle be-
ing receipted for by the successive
meSSen gers. 1t was like the bearing
of the fiery cross through the High
lands of Scotland, with its summons to
arms. Even yet it stirs the blood to
read the story in the newspapers,
| from week to week and to trace the
| nrORTRSS
| to arms, as it swept from north to
south, through the country.
THE official reports are generally
silent, too, regarding the raids made
! by parties from the opposing armies
into exposed territory. or the daring
! expeditions of attacking parties on
! outlying posts. The brutal savagery
which characterized the British march
| through New Jersey in the fall OF
1776 is nowhere detailed in the Of
| fetal reports, but in the newspapers
! of the times you shall find it set forth
in all it's bare and hideous cruelty.
HIRE. too, is chronicled, as you
| cannot find it elsewhere, the intense
I bitterness between the patriots and
the Tories, the latter frequently act
ing as spies upon their neighbors, and
1 leading parties of British soldiers to
attack them treacherously by night
with cruel slaughter. What wonder
confiscation and expulsion, insisting
/ upon driving out these recreant citi-
zens, with their whole famiIies?"
Mr.. Nelson went on to show how
| the newspaper material seems to jus
tify the exercise of the sternest meas
ures of retaliation particularly in New
Jersey upon the Royalist sympathizers
! while at the same time it shows that
in many cases the victims of these re-
J prisals were people greatly respected
i in their neighborhoods.
Revolutionary Spies.
| "A chapter of rare interest he
said, might be written on the spies of
the revolution. We know that great
many were employed on both sides.