Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-17
Times-HeroId Sale to Post
Announced; Merger Set Today

| Lean, also owner Of the Cincin-
natl Enquirer. another morning
sheet. the Post was acquired in
June. 1888. by Eugene Meyer,
internationally known financier.
when the failing fortunes of the
Mclean family forced an auction
sale.
Had Little in Common.
The Post and Times-Herald
have seldom had anything in
common on their editorial pages,
and in recent years. at least.
they have not hesitated to take
pot shots at each others
policies.
The old Times was started on
a $1.700 shoestring by q group
of jobless printers who had been
put out of work by the intro
duction of the Mergenthaler
linotype machine. The Times
virtually went broke on its first
issue, according to the sponsors.
and within a year the four
| page publication was purchased
by C. c. Conn, who had made
a fortune in the sale of musical
instruments.
PrOspered Under Conn.
| In August, 1895, Mr.. Conn in
augurated an afternoon edition.
and was prospecting. but he ap-
pears to have lost interest. and in
1897, he sold both papers to
Stilson Hutchins. who previously
had founded the Washington
Post.
Mr.. Hutchins was a strong
supporter of William Jennings
Bryan, but after losing 100000
in a 1900 Richmond newspaper
venture to promote the Demo-
cratic presidential aspirations Of
the NebraSkan. his journalistic
ardor cooled and on November
Is. 1901. the property was sold
to Frank A. Munsey. of newspa-
per fame. for 100000 nice
profit. according to the chron-
icleS of the day.
| Mr.. MunSey seemingly had his
money troubles. and discontinued
the morning edition in 1902,
Sold to Brisbane.
In July. 1917. Arthur Bris-
bane, chief editorial writer for
William Randolph Hearst. took
over the Times. but under an ar
rangement that permitted Hearst
to acquire the sheet If the Bris-
bane finances began to suffer.
In 1918. the Times became a
Hearst addition.
In the meantime. the Wash
ington Herald had gotten its
start under a corporation headed
by Scott Bone. a widely-known
newSman, and the seven-column
publication marked its entrance
into the Washington field by
vigorously championing all local
interests.
The Herald had good financing
at the outset. but found the go
ing rough, and changes in con-
troll came often during it's first
10 years.
Early Hoover Backer.
In 1919. it was taken over by
the Intercontinental Develop
ment Corp. Of New York. with
Herbert Hoover as a director. AT
that time, there already was talk
'sof the World War food admin
istrator for the presidency, and
the paper was published as a
political organ in behalf of Mr..
Hoover. who was less than a dec
ade away from the White House.
Finally. on November 10. an
advertisement appeared. stating
that the Washington Herald
would print a larger. better
newspaper under Hearst owner
ship"
For q while. both the Times
and Herald remained under sep
arate operation. then in 1922
the Sunday editions were merged
under the Times-Herald mast
head.
Moved to New Building.
Both newspapers were moved
to the new Hearst Building at
1917 H street NV. later on. and
then in 1899 daily editions were
merged under the direction of
Mrs. Eleanor Medill Patterson,
member of the Chicago and New
York Medill- McC ormick-P atter-
son newspaper dynasty. who had
leased them in 1887 for several
years.
The deal gave her a 24-hour
operation.
Mrs. Patterson died July "a,
1948. and as the outgrowth Of a
family disagreement with her
daughter and sole direct heir,
Mrs. Felicia Gizycka, left the
paper to seven department heads.
The legatees operated the