| A
newspaper
called Niles’ National Register was the U.S.A. Today for much of
the first half of the 19th century.
In this pre-telegraph era, news traveled
by letter or via other newspapers no more rapidly than the fastest horse or ship.
Much of the Texas news reported in the Register came from newspapers in
Houston, Galveston
or New Orleans when the latest issues arrived by ship at Baltimore, where the
national newspaper was published. Because of that, the dates listed below should
be taken as substantially after the fact. Even so, yesterday’s news makes for
interesting reading. Spelling, capitalization and other style points are 19th
century.
Here’s
a sampling of news items from Texas during its time as an independent republic:
“An encounter took place on the 25th ult. at Quintana,
between Wm. H. Butler and E.S. Kirby, in which the latter was killed with a bowie
knife.–Butler surrendered himself to the civil authorities.” (July 13, 1839)
“The rumored arrival of four thousand Mexican troops in the vicinity of
Matamoras produced some excitement among the people of Texas, who were preparing
to meet them and give a good account of them.” (July 27, 1839)
“The Houston
Intelligencer states that the yellow fever has made its appearance at Galveston,
and that a number of the most distinguished citizens of the place have fallen
victim to its ravages.” (Nov. 9, 1839)
“A dinner was given to president
Lamar
on his arrival in Austin, the new seat
of government. His reception there is spoken of as quite flattering.” (Nov. 23,
1839)
“Of Austin, the new capital
of Texas, the Houston Telegraph thus speaks: The population of Austin
is now eight hundred and fifty souls. Five months since there were scarcely eight
citizens upon the site of this new city.” (March 7, 1840)
“A Spanish dollar
bearing date of 1793 was recently picked up on the gulf shore – supposed to be
some of Lafitte’s surplus revenue.”
(April 4, 1840)
“The anniversary dinner of the battle
of San Jacinto, went off with great eclat. General Sam
Houston, commodore Moore and a number of navy and army officers were present.”
(April 4, 1840)
“The Lipan Indians were committing depredations upon travellers
and defenceless persons on the Colorado, in the neighborhood of Bastrop.”
(April 4, 1840)
“The Cumanches are willing to obtain peace on nearly any
terms. They have promised that their chiefs should come in to Bexar,
bring with them all their prisoners, by the 15th of March.” (April 4, 1840)
“Col. O’Brien has returned from a trip high up the Trinity river. He found no
difficulty in navigating [number not legible] miles. The land is represented as
very fertile and well timbered.” (June 13, 1840)
“A million dollars of
the promissory notes of the government have been funded previous to the 1st inst.
drawing ten per cent interest.” (Aug. 8, 1840)
“Crowds of emigrants were
arriving in Texas from Louisiana. Great sickness prevailed at Matagorda.”
(Aug. 8, 1840)
And that’s the way it was, when yesterday’s news was slowly
on its way to becoming today’s history.
©
Mike Cox
- October 3, 2013 column
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