photo courtesy of Hayner Public Library

“Every newspaper sees its defeats and its victories, and the wise newspaperman has learned not to gloat over his fallen adversary, for the fallen may rise to wreak vengeance, either with coals of fire or vindictive measures.”

From the 75th anniversary issue of the Alton Telegraph, 1911.

The Alton Telegraph was founded in 1836 in Alton, Illinois. Another newspaper, the Alton Observer, was founded by Elijah P. Lovejoy around that time. As a publisher and presbyterian minister, Lovejoy was a fervent abolitionist. While championing freedom of the press and his anti-slavery views, he was murdered by a pro-slavery mob on Nov. 7, 1837, and his printing press was thrown into the Mississippi River.

The event has been characterized as “a martyr for freedom of the press,” and “the first battle of the civil war.”

Lovejoy’s memory and his ideals were kept alive by the Telegraph. A portion of Lovejoy’s printing press was found and pulled from the river in 1915. It was later returned to the Telegraph where it was displayed in the newspaper’s lobby until 2018. It now resides at the Hayner Public Library in Alton.

Beverly Press and Park Labrea News publisher Karen Villalpando began her journalism career as Karen Hauck at the Alton Telegraph at the age of 21 in 1983.

*sources: “Coals of Fire, the Alton Telegraph Libel Case,” 1988;

The Alton Telegraph; Hayner Public Library