Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/96

Rh true sense of the word, and will make an efficient and popular officer. W. S. Caldwell was elected recorder, and L. B. Hastings, R. Thompson, S. Morris, and G. A. Barnes, councilmen. A correspondent writes that "if the editor of the Oregonian had ventured to run for mayor he would have been beaten more than two to one," and that his Representative stock has fallen seriously since the result was declared.

All this comment was taking up the room that might have been devoted to some information as to whether the losing candidates were "beaten more than two to one." Not even their names are printed. A few figures on the vote might have proved interesting in a newspaper close enough to the scene to have such decided opinions about the politics involved in the mayoralty race.

The Statesman, contrary to the practice of the Spectator and some of the other papers, early began using its first page for big local news, crowding out thus some of the usual run of miscellaneous jokes, poems, fictional stories, and other non-news features. The story of an important murder trial, published in the second issue, was started on page 1. It was written in the usual extreme chronological style, running several columns, delaying the report of the outcome until almost the end of the account.

The article carried the line "Reported for the Oregon Statesman," giving the impression that the work was done by a non-member of the staff. Here's the start of the long story:

"Tuesday, the 25th of March, being the day appointed by the Hon. William Strong for holding a special term of said court (69) the jurors, witnesses, etc., were in attendance, but owing to the high stage of water, and bad roads, the Judge did not arrive, and the court stood adjourned unti the following day.

March 26th. The Judge succeeded in getting in-court was called, and Amory Holbrook, Esq., (70) was appointed by the Court to act as prosecuting attorney for the term."

And so on. It took more than a column to get the trial actually started. The account is heavily interspersed with the writer's personal opinions people attended the execution country, even on papers much larger:

An item regarding the execution of Kendall, the slayer in the story just discussed, ends with the sentence "A large concourse of

Here is a typical example of the Statesman's newswriting style of 1852, which was not so far from what was being done all over the

DROWNED.—We regret to learn that last Wednesday, while engaged in rafting lumber in the Tualatin river, about