Curious Placement of the News in the Marin County Journal
by Robert L. Harrison
On March 23, 1861 the Marin County Journal published its first edition. The publisher, Ai Barney, declared his weekly paper would be “devoted to foreign and domestic news, literature, agriculture and the interests of Marin County.” The newspaper was published by Barney with his son Jerome A. Barney. The younger Barney was the Editor and Publisher until S. F. Barstow took over management of the paper 1872.
Barstow led the newspaper for the next 20 years. In 1888 he dropped “County” from the masthead and renamed it The Marin Journal. Some 60 years later, after a merger with the San Rafael Independent, the newspaper became today’s Marin Independent Journal.
In just the sixth edition of the Marin County Journal published on April 27, 1861 there appeared a surprising arrangement of the news. The commencement of the Civil War, perhaps the most momentous event in 19th century American history, was reported in the newspaper’s third column on page two. Featured in the same column just below the account of the War was an article explaining the problem of too many dogs in San Rafael.
The news of the War reached the West Coast by Pony Express. The Express riders left from Fort Kearney Nebraska, the westerly limit of the telegraph, and delivered the news to the first available telegraph station west of the Rockies at Fort Churchill in Nevada. Reports of the April 13th attack on Fort Sumpter were wired to San Francisco on April 24th and printed in the weekly Marin County Journal in its standard Saturday edition on April 27th.
The following is a summary of how the news of the commencement of a Civil War appeared on page two of the Marin County Journal on April 27, 1861:
INTELLIGENCE BY PONY.
Fort Sumpter Evacuated.
Civil War Inaugurated.
Extra Session of Congress.
etc. etc. etc.
The Pony Express arrived at Fort Churchill yesterday afternoon, and the following was immediately telegraphed to the Morning Call:
St. Louis, April 13th. — At Charleston hostilities had commenced….The fire continued all day unremittingly, and all night uninterruptedly….Sumpter was soon supposed to be on fire….
St. Louis, April 14. — Fort Sumpter surrendered unconditionally yesterday!….The Confederate flag is flying over Sumpter….Lincoln has issued a proclamation, convening both Houses of Congress on the 4th of July!….There is an immense rising in the free States in favor of the General Government!….
St. Louis, April 15th — ….The walls of Fort Sumpter were much battered….Great excitement in Charleston. The wharves are lined with people. The United States ships in the offing were too late to get over the bar. Tide ebbing….”
The Journal’s account of the War included several additional pieces on the attack at Fort Sumpter. It filled about two-thirds of the third column on page two. In most of the remaining space of the same column, and just below the report of the War, the Journal related the following:
SOME DOGS.-Our little town is overrun and surfeited with dogs; dogs aristocratic and mangy ‘curs of low degree,’ black; white, brown, yaller dogs, and, in short, all variations, classes and conditions of dogs. We can scarcely ascend a flight of stairs in the night, or enter a store or hotel in a hurry, without stumbling over a pile of sausage in the rough. A few mornings since, we counted sixteen dogs within pistol shot of the door to our sanctum. Twice within the past week, while in the peaceable pursuit of our avocations, have our editorial legs barely escaped the teeth of these canine nuisances. We believe no dog unmuzzled, has any rights that a white man is bound to respect, therefore let them beware.
It is interesting to compare the Journal’s coverage of the commencement of the Civil War with the same story as reported in San Francisco’s Daily Alta California. The Alta’s April 25th edition placed the story on the front page following the editor’s description of local reaction to the news:
THE FORT SUMPTER NEWS-HOW IT WAS RECEIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO-INTENSE EXCITEMENT-When it was rumored, yesterday afternoon, that the Alta had received dispatches detailing the commencement of civil war, the city was thrown into a tremendous state of excitement. Our office was at once besieged, especially by gentlemen having relatives in and around Charleston, anxious to know the particulars; while people of all political stripes stood around the doors, awaiting the publication of the Extra Alta. As the news flashed over the wires, it was turned into print as fast as our entire typographical force could accomplish it, and by half-past four o’clock, the streets, which were now filled with people, resounded with the cries of the news boys, who rushed about in troops, and disposed of their papers as fast as eager hands could change the money….
Clearly the Daily Alta California regarded the news with a high sense of urgency. It is not clear how the Marin County Journal in 1861 determined priorities for the placement of news items. Did the editor not regard the news of the Civil War exceptional? The Journal’s news judgement must simply remain a matter of curiosity.
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
