1870 · Washington, D.C.
by [Mix, James B.
Washington, D.C., 1870. 69pp. Publisher's printed wrappers. A few tiny edge tears, light soiling. Very good. A rather scarce pamphlet excoriating the journalistic practices of Charles A. Dana, the controversial long-time editor of the NEW YORK SUN, and his reporters. Mix wrote for the rival NEW YORK TRIBUNE, and in this screed calls to the carpet Dana and the SUN for bribing editors for favorable editorials, a commonplace occurrence during the reign of Governor Hoffman and Boss Tweed. There was apparently some truth to the accusations, as Dana partially confirmed in a Jan. 6, 1871 signed editorial. Dana admitted to the bribe, but also fired back at Mix and Horace Greeley:
"James B. Mix, blackmailer, A.M. Soteldo, Jr., self-acknowledged scoundrel; [and] Horace Greeley, philanthropist...are responsible for an anonymous pamphlet of sixty-nine pages, the product of a malicious but feeble disposition to injure the SUN. Mr. Greeley is a Universalist, and believes that nobody will ever go to Hell, or he could not have been tempted to stand godfather to the anonymous libel of two scoundrels and one thief."
Relations between New York newspapers did not improve in the ensuing decades. MIDLAND NOTES 36:85. SABIN 49766 (Inventory #: WRCAM52365)
"James B. Mix, blackmailer, A.M. Soteldo, Jr., self-acknowledged scoundrel; [and] Horace Greeley, philanthropist...are responsible for an anonymous pamphlet of sixty-nine pages, the product of a malicious but feeble disposition to injure the SUN. Mr. Greeley is a Universalist, and believes that nobody will ever go to Hell, or he could not have been tempted to stand godfather to the anonymous libel of two scoundrels and one thief."
Relations between New York newspapers did not improve in the ensuing decades. MIDLAND NOTES 36:85. SABIN 49766 (Inventory #: WRCAM52365)