Ramsey County History – Spring 1966: “Colorful and Handy With the Pistols: St. Paul’s Territorial Editors”

Colorful and Handy With the Pistols: St. Paul’s Territorial Editors
Author: Berneta Hilbert

Early newspapering in St. Paul was competitive and rancorous. D.A. Robertson of the Minnesota Democrat wrote that James Goodhue of the Pioneer was “a moral lunatic … [whose] transparent wickedness would excite only the pity and compassion of the community.” Though still a comparative village, the city in 1855 had five dailies, and they battled each other in print and out, for readers, advertisers, and contracts. Conflicts sometimes even became violent, as when Goodhue and a favorite target, Judge David Cooper, wounded each other in a knife and pistol brawl. Along the way, these early editors wrote some memorable prose and left an invaluable record of St. Paul’s pioneer era.
PDF of Hilbert article