The Post, meanwhile, was in a ferment of sudden growth
and activity. The pioneers took a lively interest in
everything that smacked in the least of politics. The
place thus swarmed with visitors; not a few came out of
sheer curiosity; others were drawn thence by the ever
present pull of some private end of this or that
politics. complexion which sought to be served. All
through the spring and summer and autumn of 1820,
scarcely a week passed but The Gazette noted with
unfeigned pleasure the establishment of some new
business enterprise. The sheriff reported in June the
collection of licenses "in the sum of $15 each of twelve
persons or firms engaged in the retail of merchandise."
An event of much good feeling and hilarity was witnessed
in the opening of the "Arkansas Hotel"; the proprietors
announced, by advertisement in The Gazette, that, as a
house of public entertainment, the new hotel should be
kept in the West." Visitors would find "the bar
plentifully supplied with the choicest of liquors."
Before 1820 was yet far spent the first steamboat, "to
the joy and exultation of our citizens," remarked The
Gazette, "has made its advent within our midst." The
"Comet," for that was its name, arrived only eight days
out of New Orleans. The outer world seemed now suddenly
brought nearer every man's door.
What with news of the doings of the legislature; with
the fuss and stir of politics, because of what the
legislature did or did not; what with the comings and
goings of travelers; with what seemed really an amazing
growth of trade, which made for competition among the
merchants at teh Post - the editor of The Gazette had
begun to feel his feet now firm on the road to undoubted
success. The number of his patrons was swollen, while
the legislature sat, man fold. His columns were filled
with all manner of advertisements. Politicians vied with
each other for space in The Gazette in which to parade
and ventilate their views of statescraft before the
public eye. Altogether, there was no end of grist for
the busy printer's mill.
Accordingly, on the fourth of March, 1820, Woodruff took
to himself a partner in his business in the person of
Robert Briggs. "Under the firm name of Woodruff and
Briggs," said the editorial giving notice of the
co-partnership, we have no hesitation in declaring that
our principles are those of Republicanism; and the
objects we shall steadily keep in view are the diffusion
of correct political information - the support of
Republicanism, of the Constitution, and of the
constituted authorities of the Nation - - the
advancement of the interests of agriculture of
manufacturers, of arts and sciences in general, and the
improvement of morals." . . . . "We shall sedulously
endeavor to exclude from our columns all matter that may
tend in any way to excite local jealousy, or in the
least degree to wound private character; but should
anything be so construed, it must be attributed to an
error of the head and not of the heart." A higher,
finer, platform of principles than this no public
journal conceivably ever had. Manifestly, Woodruff, for
assuredly the handwriting was his, had been taught "to
hitch his wagon to a star." Under his management, The
Gazette, perhaps more nearly than most newspapers, lived
up to the ideal of virtue thus shouted from the
housetop.
The going, however was not always easy. A man's mettle
is not more swiftly or effectually tried. Those who read
in The Gazette of March 4 the editor's pledge, which
ran, " we shall steadily keep in view the improvement of
morals," were very soon afforded an example of how, as
is sometimes said, a man's actions are wont to speak
louder than his words. To flatter a great hero on his
many virtues; to raise one's voice in the general outcry
against such ever present evils as Indian depredations;
to beg of Congress and the President the removal of this
tribe and that to reservations well out of bounds meet
for the new Territory; to support the legislature in
memorials which urged upon Congress the woeful want of
roads - these things and more The Gazette did time and
again both in and out of season. Thus far the pioneers
with one accord acclaimed the efforts of the public
spirited editor. It was, however, altogether another
matter, in the teeth of nearly every man of position and
of parts, which fitted him of leadership, firmly to set
one's face against a guilty custom, then and thence many
a livelong year condoned both by the laws and the courts
of the Territory.
As the writer of this account has written before now in
an essay entitled, "Bloody Politics Building a
Statehouse": "In proceedings interspersed by flashes of
fiery passion - - passions the more easily kindled from
a too bountiful flow of hot liquors - the legislature
managed to pass laws and memorials enough in February to
satisfy themselves of their wisdom." The wonder is not
that one duel was fought, but rather that only one pair
of hot heads laid by an affair of honor for settlement
at leisure out of doors. The Gazette of March 25th,
touching the one such so-called honorable encounter,
printed first only this colorless account: "A duel was
fought on the 10th inst. in the vicinity of this
village; General William O. Allen, a member of the House
of Representatives from Arkansas county and Adjutant
General of Militia of the Territory since January last,
and Robert C. Oden, Esq., were the principals. On
exchanging a single shot apiece the two gentlemen
received each a severe wound, which has since proven
fatal to General Allen."
The circumstances which attended Oden's trial and
acquittal were notorious as a travesty and mockery of
the idea of punishment as the remedy for crime.
Altogether, the results rather tended to enhance Oden's
reputation - to add, as it were, stature to his figure
as a gentleman of quality.
Again, when news that the incident was closed reached
the editor, in concluding a brief review of what
occurred at the trial, he put the following significant
inquiry: "Could not a law be passed making even a second
in a duel a competent witness, releasing his own guilt,
when called upon by the prosecuting attorney to
testify?" It seemed to him a deplorable state of affairs
that, as he pointed out, "Our statutes inflict no other
punishment but fine and disqualification for office for
the giving or accepting of a challenge, even though
death ensues in consequence."
That had been written on June 24th. Not many days later
an account of the affair, as it had appeared not long
since in the National Intelligencer, was reprinted in
full in the columns of The Gazette. A more disparaging
picture of conditions than that which was drawn it would
indeed be hard to imagine. The editor reminded his
readers that such advertising blackened the reputation
of the Territory in the eyes of sober men in all the
Union. Thereafter, at intervals infrequent, quite as
often as opportunity gave point to his argument, the
public heard more of the editor remonstrance. Finally,
in 1823, the legislature passed an act which, in effect,
proposed to do those things which Woodruff, more than
three years ago, had put forward tactfully as a remedy.
And what did Robert Crittenden do - Governor Miller at
the moment being out of the Territory - but veto the
measure, because, as he publicly affirmed, in the
unsettled country, such as Arkansas, a man of proven
character must need be at liberty to protect his own
honor.
With such men as Crittenden, and, for the matter of
that, with nearly all of those who set the fashion of
the time, openly espousing and defending the virtues of
the duel, it was, in 1820, a far cry in Arkansas to that
same time when man conspicuous in affairs, both
politically and socially, would no longer venture thus
boldly and openly to set the laws both of God and man at
defiance. But the persistence of the duel was not for
any want of courage on the part of the founder of The
Gazette to speak out his mind unequivocally against it
as an evil.
"The long agony is over"; so wrote the editor of The
Gazette with a broad exclamation in October, 1820, when
at length the question of whither in the Territory
should go the seat of government finally had been
answered. The matter, as the reader will remember, The
Gazette had given out in February as one among a dozen
weighty issues which awaited a decision. Accordingly,
the special session of February, while it was still yet
young, had had a bill laid upon the table which covered
that subject. As presently the bill passed the House of
Representatives, the members were unanimously agreed
upon a place called Cadron. In that form it went then
over to the Council, where, as tradition intimates, and
history corroborates, after days of wrangling debate
and, on the part of certain members of the Council,
whispering in a corner with outsiders, the bill was
amended to read Little Rock in the room of Cadron. The
matter stood in this case, with the two houses divided
the one against the other, and, seemingly, each of them
bent upon having its own way, when the session of
February drew to a close.
The cause is not left altogether dark. William Russell,
who possessed large claims and holdings in lands in the
Territory, with certain other persons, had formed
themselves into what they were please to call "a company
of landed proprietors"; they had put their heads
together with designs on the seat of government as a
means of speculations. With that end in view, by ook or
by crook, the speculators had contrived to thwart the
purpose of the House to take the seat of government to
Cadron. And not that they were to have a breathing spell
of some several months, the legislature being out of the
way for a season, they set themselves the task of making
assurance doubly sure of their plans of speculation,
nothing doubting that, with no stones left unturned
against another day when the issue would again come to
trial, they should be able to compass their schemes.
While awaiting the reassembling of the legislature,
which was due to fall in October next, the public was at
no time allowed to forget "the Little Rock" for any
great length as the one place above all others the most
fit upon which to locate the seat of government. A
searching campaign of agitation canvassed incessantly
the monopoly of natural advantages which Little Rock was
said to possess. The editor of The Gazette, though he
himself, perhaps, took no active part in the campaign of
agitation, nevertheless allowed the busy agitators the
free use of his columns for advertising Little Rock's
advantages. One flattering account, which was published
by The Gazette, ran as follows; "For natural beauty and
advantages the land lying adjacent to the Little Rock is
nowhere west of the eastern mountain surpassed. The
situation is for this quarter of the country unusually
located, possessing a very fine surface, gradually
ascending toward the river for a space of two miles; has
a rocky bound shore with excellent harbor, the latter
being a semi-circular cove quite free from currents; a
heavy growth of pine and cypress timer, ample and
suitable for the building of a town, cumbers the ground;
several springs of good water issue perpetually from the
hills - a blessing which, west of the Mississippi river,
is seldom met with. And, lastly, it is the place, the
only place where a great highway from Missouri to Red
river can cross the Arkansas." In conclusion, the writer
served notice on the members of the legislature that the
people already had "pitched upon this as the place of
their choice for the abode of the government of the
future commonwealth."
Certain members of the company of proprietors were
doubtless frequently in evidence on the scene of their
proposed speculations. In March, Little Rock was made a
post office; one Amos Wheeler, a resident of the
neighborhood, who claimed original proprietary rights to
a certain lot of land, was appointed postmaster. At
whose solicitations these things were done there can
hardly be a doubt. As summer approached the plan of a
town, laying off hastily into streets and upon a scale
of ambition, it seems, greatly in excess of any need of
such during many years yet to come, was intended to make
a popular impression. Nor was the wish altogether
disappointed. The noise of what was afoot - how the
proprietors were proceeding as if already everything
with respect to the government had been agreed upon -
presently started the processes of permanent settlement
and growth.
The legislature met a second time at the Post on the
second day of October. Since the special session of last
February, Congress, by an act of April 21, had left off
in February. The choice of a seat of government clearly
took precedence of all things else. The Council, shortly
and without much noise, voted again in favor of Little
Rock. The House also for a space, still stood out for
Cadron. Meanwhile, the stir of politics, both in and out
of doors, kept everyone alert.
Nothing missed the penetrating eye of William Russell;
so also was Amos Wheeler there. As the business of
another and a later day revealed, Robert Crittenden, and
one or more members of the House of Representatives, had
come into possession, doubtless since February, of
claims to sundry lots of land at Little Rock. But,
despite the weight of Crittenden's popularity in the
scale, the House. Thereupon, by Amos Wheeler's agency,
"for himself and others," an offer was received which
effected a conclusion of the matter. The proprietors
agreed to give an ample plot of ground and, at their own
expense, to build a house upon it "suitable for
reception of the General Assembly," and that, too,
before another session should be holden. Thus, with the
proprietors giving bond "in the sum of $20,000.00" as a
pledge of good faith, the issue was composed.
From that time onward, for the most part, enterprise
fell off at the Post, withered by degrees, and died out
eventually altogether. That The Gazette would be removed
to Little Rock, everyone of course understood. The
legislature already had elected Woodruff "printer to the
Territory" at its session in October. On May 12, 1821,
the co-partnership of Woodruff and Briggs was dissolved;
whence Woodruff now became, as before, the sole owner.
The last issue printed at the Post was of the date of
November 21, 1821, but two years and a day from the date
of the paper's first issue. The next number, printed at
Little Rock, appeared on December 29, the last day of
1821 but two.
(Note: It seems a pity to abridge a history which has in
it so much of possible gripping interest as this. But
the necessities of the case are such that the writer is
compelled, from this point forward, merely to indicate
the trend of the story by touching it up only here and
there in a few high place, -D.T.H.)
The population of Arkansas in 1820 was only a few more
than 14,000; of the roads- rather of the absence of
roads- The Gazette said that there was then not "an
avenue through her which deserved the name of such"; the
Quapaws, the Cherokees, and the Choctaw Indians occupied
extensive and valuable portions of the soil; there were
no schools, not so much as one, it seems; the western
boundary was yet undetermined; in the southwest the
boundary between what was then Mexico and Arkansas was
in dispute.
In 1826, a road, the old military road, was begun at
Memphis; by the end of 1828 it had been opened through
to Little Rock and on to what is now Fort Smith, and
beyond. In 1829 another road was begun at the southern
boundary of Missouri in the northeast corner of
Arkansas; by 1832 it had been extended through Little
Rock, Washington, in Hempstead county, and on to Red
river in the southwestern corner of the Territory. In
1828 the western boundary, by treaty with the Cherokees,
was definitely established; before 1836 the boundary
question in the southwest had been settled also.
All these things, in particular the opening of roads,
stimulated the flow of population into the Territory.
For example, there were, in 1825, still only about
20,000 inhabitants; the end of 1830 saw all but 50,000;
by 1840 there were within a few hundreds of 100,000.
In 1831 Governor Pope set on foot plans to build a
college or seminary of learning; Pope is due the credit
for building the old state house, begun in 1833; he also
greatly improved the roads.
The part which The Gazette played in affairs during
those years, from 1821 to 1836, was often most
important, and, as a rule, tended toward the up building
of the community. If this particular, the failure no
doubt was attributable, as he said of himself, "to an
error of the head and not of the heart." On its own
account, The Gazette had made its place secure in the
general esteem. Woodruff had begun publication at Little
Rock on December 29, 1821, with fewer than 300
subscribers; in 1829 he still had only about 500; but by
1836 the circulation had risen almost, if not
altogether, to 2,000. Woodruff wrote, in 1838, that "for
subscriptions, advertising, printing, etc., more than
$30,000.00, in sums less than $100, is now due me."
In 1835-36, without waiting leave of Congress to be
expressly given in the usual form of an enabling act,
the people of the Territory entered heartily into the
matter of framing a state constitution. Among other
things urged why haste should be made, the fact that, at
the moment. Michigan was applying for admittance to the
Union as a free state added great zest to the popular
enthusiasm. The practice of admitting states in pairs -
a free state and a slave state at one and the same time,
in order to maintain the balance of power between North
and South in the United States Senate - gave color for
the belief that, unless the claims of Arkansas were
speedily pressed to fulfillment, Michigan might by hook
or crook force the issue of its admittance to a
settlement while Arkansas was left out in the cold
perhaps many the year to come. A constitutional
convention met at Little Rock in January, 1836, its work
was done within a few weeks; the question of
representation in the state legislature - a basis for
the representation of property in slaves - proved the
principal issue of dispute - divided the convention into
nearly equal halves upon sectional lines.
From 1837 to 1840 Arkansas enjoyed a brief period of
over-speculation, on a scale of madness almost
unsurpassed anywhere; the new state plunged headlong and
heedless into the business of banking financed upon the
credit of the state; the crash came in 1840-41; the next
ten years were years of hard times and depression.
The Gazette had begun as early as 1831 to train public
opinion for the event of statehood; it sped the plan to
frame a constitution, once the movement gained headway,
with all its own growing weight of influence; owing to
the foresight of its editor, though there were at the
time no less than three other newspapers at Little Rock,
was published and preserved the best account of the
proceedings of the constitutional convention of 1836.
Along with the rest of the community, The Gazette lost
its head completely in the mad career of wild
speculation; it hastened, however, in the next breath to
repent of its folly and to join forces with those who
strove vainly to stave off the ill consequences. It
encouraged the movement of volunteering, popular in many
quarters of the state, to go over and help Texas in its
fight for independence. With that independence won. The
Gazette became in season an advocate of the annexation
of Texas; so also, in the Mexican War, 1847-49, due in
part no doubt to The Gazette's vigorous call to arms,
Arkansas' quota of volunteers was raised many times
over.
In the meantime, between 1836 and 1850. The Gazette had
been at times hard pressed to keep its own head above
the wave of financial depression. On May 17, 1836, for
the first time since the brief co-partnership of a
single year with Briggs at Arkansas Post, Woodruff
associated with him-self a co-partner in the person of
Thomas J. Pew; the latter became editor, Woodruff having
been appointed in 1836 the First State Treasurer. In
1838, Woodruff's term of office being run out, he became
again, May 16, 1838, "editor and sole proprietor." On
December 12, 1838, Woodruff sold The Gazette to Edward
Cole; Cold sold it, October 7, 1840, to George H.
Burnette, on December 22, 1841, Burnette having died
leaving the paper still in debt to Woodruff, the latter
took it over "temporarily"; Benjamin J. Borden bought it
of Woodruff on January 4, 1843, and continued its
publication until 1850.
The decade from 1850 to 1860 opened in Arkansas with a
new spirit of enterprise abroad. The atmosphere had
cleared of the smoke and gloom occasioned by the
wreckage of the adventure of banking with capital
borrowed on the credit of the state. The tide of
oncoming population rose again; the number of slaves
multiplied amazingly; great estates grew larger;
hundreds of "one-horse" farmers, who heretofore had
owned no slaves and added to their acres from a still
inexhaustible area of virgin soil; the "turnpikes and
railroads" which, in the flush times of 1838, The
Gazette had seen but a little way ahead, began in a
measure to come true; projecting railroads fairly became
a mania, with surveys laying out this way and that.
From 1852 to 1856 politics was enlivened by the entry of
a new political party in the field; the Whigs, of whom
there had been not a few in the state principally among
the wealthy plantation owners, went into what was known
as the American or Know Nothing party; the new party put
out a full ticket for local and state offices at
elections from 1852 until past the general election of
1856.
The Gazette was an active participant in all the
economic and political activities of the period. Its
attitude in the canvass of E. N. Conway for governor in
1852, who had pledged himself the task of liquidating
the debts incurred by the state in behalf of the old
State Bank and Real Estate Bank, subjected the editor to
bitter criticism; in spite however of its opposition to
Conway with regard to the bank The Gazette remained true
to the Democratic party; It was always staunchly
pro-slavery, supporting Breckenridge, the candidate of
the ultra-southern wing of the Democratic party, for
president in 1860.
On February 8, 1850, The Gazette again became the
property of its founder, Wm. E. Woodruff, who bought it
of Benjamin J. Borden. Woodruff, in the meantime had
established, in 1846, The Arkansas Democrat, the first
issue of which appeared on May 21. So that, when, in
1850, he bought the Gazette of Borden, the two papers
were united, appearing under the name of The Arkansas
State Gazette and Democrat after February 8, 1850, by
which name it was known until 1860. From October 10,
1851, until May 13, 1853, A. M. Woodruff was editor and
joint owner with his father, Wm. E. Woodruff. C. C.
Danley bought The Gazette and Democrat on May 18, 1853;
Danley bought back Bourland's interest, April 5, 1856,
and continued sold proprietor until early in 1862.
Thenceforth, apparently - after 1852 - the elder
Woodruff's connection with The Gazette was at an end.
The Gazette approved ardently of secession from the day
of President Lincoln's call for volunteers to put down
the rebellion; the policies of President Jefferson Davis
in the conduct of the war were, as a rule, supported by
The Gazette with great enthusiasm. In all the varying
winds of reconstruction, The Gazette consistently
opposed the reign of the Carpetbaggers. Its vote aided,
no doubt, materially the efforts of the Southern
Democrats to regain control of the state, an event fully
effected by the election of Augustus H. Garland in 1874.
It is again in the files of The Gazette that one finds
the best account of the proceedings of the
constitutional convention of 1874 - when was framed the
present constitution of Arkansas. The convention, it
seems, printed no official proceedings.
In 1862, seemingly, in April or May of that year, W. F.
Holtzman became actively associated with C.C. Danley as
part owner of The Gazette. When on September 10, 1863.
Little Rock fell into Federal hands The Gazette
suspended publication. Its next issue appeared in the
first week of April 1865, under the editorship of W.F.
Holtzman. During the time of The Gazette's suspension,
the Federal authorities took over its press and printed
various sheets of their own. The Daily Gazette was begun
before the end of 1865. Wm. E. Woodruff, Jr., bought out
Holtzman, July 7, 1866; W. D. Blocher acquired a part
interest in it, January 28, 1873, until November 11,
1876.
The period of real reconstruction and development began
now in earnest' the railroads were vastly extended; the
coming of immigration was greatly stimulate; methods of
agriculture were improved; manufacturing industries
gained a foot hold; public education brought the
processes of enlightenment within easy reach of all the
people, etc., etc.
In all the wonderful achievements of this period, and
down to the present moment, The Gazette has been and is
the most widely read newspaper printed in the state. As
such its voice has carried incalculable weight. That its
policy has been consistently conservative, without being
reactionary, there can be no room justly to doubt.
Wm. E. Woodruff, Jr., sold The Gazette on November 11,
1876, to W. D. Blocher and John D Adams; from A. H.
Sevier was its proprietor, when Dean Adams became
proprietor, with R. H. Johnson and T. C. Peek, editors;
in 1883 D. A. Brower became president with George R.
Brown, vice-president, J. S. Whiting, secretary and
treasurer; in January, 1888, H. G. Allis was president,
E. L. Irving, vice-president, S. B. Smith, secretary and
treasurer; in 1889 George W. Caruth was president,
Robert A. Little, vice-president, Jacob Frolich,
secretary and treasurer. On June 4, 1890, W. W.
Kavanaugh became secretary and treasurer; on December
11, 1895, W. B. Worthen became president; May 11, 1896,
J. N. Smithee was elected president; November 14, 1896,
Fred. W. Allsopp was elected secretary and business
manager; On December 11, 1898, W. B. Worthen was elected
president. On June 2, 1902, the present ownership of The
Gazette began. The Gazette Publishing Company was
reorganized, with the election of the following
officers: J. N. Heiskell, president; C. W. Heiskell,
vice-president; and Fred. W. Allsopp, secretary and
business manager. J. N. Heiskell became editor-in-chief,
and Fred Heiskell, managing editor.
History of the
Arkansas Gazette -
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