page_title: George Wilkes
section_title: Early writings
hierarchical_section_title: George Wilkes / Early writings
context_page_description: George Wilkes was an American journalist and newspaper editor. A native of New York, Wilkes became a journalist and after losing a libel case was imprisoned in New York City's jail; his imprisonment led him to write a pamphlet on the jail's conditions in 1844. The next year, Wilkes and a friend started publishing National Police Gazette, a newspaper dealing with crime reporting and other sensationalistic topics. In 1856 Wilkes bought a sporting newspaper called Spirit of the Times, which he had previously worked for. After selling the Gazette, Wilkes continued to publish and edit the Spirit until his death in 1885. Wilkes also wrote a couple of books on non-sporting topics as well as introducing pari-mutuel betting into the United States.
context_section_description: In 1845 Wilkes joined forces with Camp and began the National Police Gazette. The Gazette quickly became popular and within a few weeks of its founding had a circulation of 15,000. Collier's called the Gazette a most interesting record of "horrid murders, outrageous robberies, bold forgeries, astounding burglaries, hideous rapes, vulgar seductions, and recent exploits of pickpockets and hotel thieves." Because of Wilkes' and Camp's efforts to combat crime in New York through the Gazette, the offices of the newspaper were the subject of attacks by mobs stirred up by criminals.
  Wilkes wrote a History of Oregon, Geographical and Political in 1845, which was inaccurate. Notwithstanding this, an extract from the work was published as Project for a National Railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, also in 1845. It was popular and was in its fourth edition by 1847. In 1848 and 1849, Wilkes wrote a novel, loosely based on the life and murder of Helen Jewett, a New York prostitute. The novel was first serialized in the National Police Gazette before being published as a stand-alone work in 1849, titled The Lives of Helen Jewett and Richard P. Robinson. The novel was only based on Jewett's life and death, with much embellishment. It combined the facts of the case with elements from contemporary novels of murder mysteries and seduction in the growing cities of the time. Wilkes did have access to some of Jewett's letters, which had been held by the district attorney's office since Jewett's murder in 1836 and the subsequent trial. Wilkes, who obtained the letters in 1848, also acquired the hatchet which had murdered Jewett. The letters were eventually published in the Police Gazette and even were displayed, along with the murder weapon, in the newspaper's office window.
  Around 1849 Wilkes went to California, either with or shortly after his friend David Colbreth Broderick. Wilkes was a political advisor of Broderick's, but they quarreled over water issues in 1853 and Wilkes left California. Wilkes then traveled to Europe, turning the experience into another book, this one entitled Europe in a Hurry. Returning to California after Europe, he reunited with Broderick in late 1853 but another quarrel in 1854 over Wilkes' appointment to a judicial post led to Wilkes' leaving California permanently. The two men reconciled in 1859 during a visit by Broderick to New York shortly before Broderick's death. Wilkes was the recipient of Broderick's estate, and Wilkes wrote a long eulogy to his friend that appeared in the Spirit in October 1859.
  In 1866, Wilkes and Camp sold the Gazette to George W. Matsell, who had previously been Chief of Police for New York City.
caption: Cover of an 1847 issue of the National Police Gazette, while it was published by Wilkes
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