The Sunday Mercury (1839–1896) (sometimes referred to as the New York Sunday Mercury) was a weekly Sunday newspaper published in New York City that grew to become the highest-circulation weekly newspaper (at least by its own claims) in the United States at its peak. It was known for publishing and popularizing the work of many notable 19th-century writers, including Charles Farrar Browne and Robert Henry Newell, and was the first Eastern paper to publish Mark Twain.Caron, James E. Mark Twain: unsanctified newspaper reporter, p.166 (2008)() It was also the first newspaper to provide regular coverage of baseball, and was popular for the extensive war correspondence from soldiers it published during the Civil War.
History
Early years Before 1825 no American newspapers published editions on Sunday, out of respect to the Sabbath, religious day of rest. Over time, however, this created a niche for new weekly newspapers published on Sunday to flourish. The Mercury originated as the Sunday Morning Visiter, and was first published on May 12, 1839. By 1840, it changed its name to the Sunday Mercury.Hudson, Frederic. Journalism in the United States, from 1690–1872, pp. 339–40 (1873) It initially gained some notice for its theatrical coverage and so-called "machine poetry" (a 19th century euphemism for slavishly following the "rules" of poetry without any inspiration).Lee, Alfred McClung. The Daily Newspaper In America, p.392 (1937) By the fall of 1842 the paper had a circulation of 3,000, ranking it third among New York's growing Sunday papers, trailing the New York Heralds Sunday edition and The Atlas. By the summer of 1844, the Herald took note of the growth of the Sunday papers, calling them "partly literary, partly gossiping, partly silly, partly smart, partly stupid, partly namby-pamby."
Elbridge Gerry Paige (1813–1859) and Samuel Nichols (1809?–1854) were the two key editors of the Mercury in its early years,Library of universal knowledge, Volume XI, p.175 (1881) and Augustus Krauth joined them as a one-third owner in 1842.(22 January 1842) Our Weekly Gossip, Brother Jonathan, p.101
Paige had success with his Short Patent Sermons published in the paper (from its outset) under the pseudonym "Dow Junior" (a reference to famous eccentric preacher Lorenzo Dow who died in 1834),Paige, Elbridge Gerry. Short Patent Sermons by 'Dow Jr.' (1845) which literary magazines such as The Knickerbocker lauded for their odd and original wit.Lorenzo Dow's Successor, The Knickerbocker (November 1840, pp.449–51)Bryant, John. Melville and repose: the rhetoric of humor in the American Renaissance, p.127 (1993)() Paige left the paper in 1849 and went to California, where he continued to publish Dow Jr. sermons in The Golden Era,Gossip with readers and correspondents, The Knickerbocker (February 1860, pp.234–35) but ultimately was unsuccessful there and is said to have died in extreme poverty in 1859.
Nichols was born in Hampstead, England around 1809 and after coming to New York City was eventually installed as the editor of the New Times, an organ of the "Conservatives" political party.(20 September 1854) An Editor Killed – Death of Mr. Samuel Nicholls, The New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2010 After that venture failed, he joined the Sunday Mercury and grew it with Paige. His work focused on the theater. Nichols stayed with the paper until his death in September 1854, when he was run over after unsuccessfully trying to board a Third Avenue Railway car.
Krauth, the other one-third owner of the paper, died in November 1857.(7 November 1857). Unknown title, Sunday Mercury
Growth, baseball, and war
In 1850, William Cauldwell (1824–1907)(3 December 1907) Ex-Senator William Cauldwell, New York Tribune, retrieved November 2, 2010(3 December 1907) Ex-Senator Cauldwell Dead Former Owner of The Mercury and The Successful American, The New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2010 purchased Paige's one-third ownership stakeScharf, J. Thomas. History of Westchester County, New York (1886) in the paper for $1,200.Styple, William B. Writing & Fighting the Civil War: Soldier Correspondence to the New York Sunday Mercury, pp. 9–11 (2000) () Cauldwell had gotten into the newspaper field by doing typesetting work, and worked at the New York Sunday Atlas from 1841 to 1849.Cauldwell, William (26 January 1901) Walt Whitman as a Young Man, The New York Times, retrieved November 8, 2010 (letter to editor from Cauldwell which notes he met Walt Whitman while doing typesetting at the Atlas) Cauldwell expanded the paper and increased its coverage of literature, city news, and sports. Sylvester Southworth and Horace P. Whitney (1834 – August 24, 1884)Mortuary Record, 1884 in Star Almanac, p. 95 (1885) soon joined as additional editors, and the paper began to prosper.
Cauldwell and the Mercury are credited as being the first newspaper to regularly cover the sport of baseball as news, starting in 1853 with a report on a game between the Knickerbockers and the Gothams. (For some time, this 1853 report was thought to be first game ever reported on by the press, but later 20th century scholarship has located an 1845 report in the Herald.)Zoss, Joel & Bowman, John. Diamonds in the Rough: The Untold History of Baseball, p. 59 (2004)() (discussing different claims to who was "first" to cover baseball, noting that 1853 Mercury reports had been thought to be first in past baseball scholarship)Mack, Connie (26 April 1950). Lauds Press' Help To Sport, The Miami News, retrieved November 1, 2010Martinez, Jose (25 October 2000). Went to bat for baseball: Newspaperman behind game accounts, Daily News (New York), retrieved November 1, 2010.(13 October 1957) End of an era, The New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2010(1 July 1905) Henry Chadwick: The Father of Baseball, The Spokesman-Review, retrieved November 1, 2010 (citing Henry Chadwick as reporting that the Mercury was the first paper covering baseball, with Cauldwell regularly reporting on games played in New York City) The paper was the first to use the phrase "national pastime" to describe the new sport in America in December 1856.Tygiel, Jules. Past Time: Baseball as History, p. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2000)(Paperback, 2001, ) In 1858, Cauldwell hired rising star Henrick Chadwick, later dubbed the "father of baseball", to cover the sport for the paper.Spink, Alfred Henry. The national game, p. 356 (1911)
By early 1861, the Mercurys circulation was 145,000, but the advent of the American Civil War cut off about 90,000 of them located in the seceded southern and more isolated western United States. Cauldwell hit upon an idea for expanding their war coverage with little expense. In April 1861, the paper made an announcement inviting soldiers to send in their reports about the war, and over 3,000 were published during the course of the war as a weekly feature. The soldiers would receive a free copy of the paper for their contributions. In 2000, Civil War historian William B. Styple compiled 500 of the soldiers' letters in a book, Writing and Fighting the Civil War: Soldier Correspondence to the New York Sunday Mercury.
In 1873, Rowell's American Newspaper Directory stated that with a circulation of 45,000, "the circulation of the Sunday Mercury exceeds that of any other Sunday or daily newspaper in America without exception, and more than triples the combined issues of all the other Sunday journals published in New York."Rowell's American Newspaper Directory, p. 153 (1873)
Southworth retired from the paper before the end of the war, and Whitney departed around 1876 due to poor health, leaving Cauldwell solely in charge. In addition to running the paper Cauldwell also held political office, serving in the New York State Senate from 1868 to 1879, and also serving as The Bronx county supervisor.Reilly, Brendan (18 March 2009). Noyac house nominated to historic registers, Southampton Press, retrieved November 8, 2010 (noting Cauldwell's political positions; article focuses on proposal to place his summer home in Noyack, New York built in 1892 on the national and New York registers of historical places)
Ill-fated expansion and collapse
By the early 1890s, competition with the New York daily papers had increased. The paper responded by introducing a one cent daily newspaper dubbed the Daily Mercury, billed as a Democratic paper, in January 1893.Rogers, Jason. Newspaper building, p.78-80 (1918)(16 January 1893). A New Metropolitan Daily (short), Free Press (Easton, Pennsylvania), retrieved November 5, 2010(17 January 1893). New Notes of the Metropolis, Chicago Tribune, retrieved November 5, 2010King, Moses. Kings handbook of New York City, p.626 (1893)(noting 1893 founding and one cent price) The new venture was quickly losing money, however. Cauldwell apparently began to borrow funds from the estate of millionaire Jason Rogers, of which he was a co-trustee with his son-in-law Thomas Rogers, to try to keep the paper afloat.(12 May 1898) A Heavy Fine: Thomas Rogers Goes To Jail in Default, The Evening Times (Washington, D.C.), retrieved November 2, 2010 Some sources reported that it was Jason Rogers' and Cauldwell's mutual grandson (also named Jason Rogers) who convinced Cauldwell to expand the paper in the first place. The younger Rogers, for his part, later blamed the failure of the paper on a decision by the "boss" to launch the daily edition as a morning paper, upsetting carefully laid plans and a large number of advance subscriptions for a paper based on afternoon publication. (Rogers later went on to transform the Commercial Advertiser into The New York Globe, and helped found the Audit Bureau of Circulations in North America.(27 April 1932) Jason Rogers Dead; Former Publisher, The New York Times, retrieved November 8, 2010)
In May 1893, Richard Croker, a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall political machine, jumped into the newspaper field and created The Daily America devoted to politics to trumpet Tammany's views (though it also covered sports; Croker was a big horse racing enthusiast).(14 May 1893) Devoted to Sports and Politics, The New York Times, retrieved November 2, 2010 The other Democratic papers in the city balked at the new competition, however, and Croker turned over the paper to the Mercury by the end of the year.(28 November 1893) Personal and political, Lewiston Evening Journal, retrieved November 2, 2010 In January 1894, The New York Times reported that the two papers had "consolidated" (and that some of "the gentlemen" involved in the America would retain an interest) and would henceforth be published as The Daily America on weekdays with the Sunday Mercury below in small type, and reversed on Sundays.(11 January 1894) Two Newspapers Consolidated, The New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2010
In August 1894, Cauldwell, now almost 70, gave up editorial control with his grandson Jason Rogers stepping in as publisher, and James F. Graham taking on the editorial duties.(1 August 1894) The Mercury Under A New Manager, The New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2010 The paper also dropped the Daily America title, although it remained a Democratic paper.
The paper continued to lose money (reportedly about $2000 a week),Douglas, George H. The Golden Age of the newspaper, p.120 (Greenwood 1999) () and in March 1895 Cauldwell sold out to William Noble in a somewhat unusual exchange, where he received a hotel called the Hotel Empire (a project which Noble had bought out of foreclosure in 1893 and completed) in exchange for the paper.(20 March 1895) "In the Real Estate Field ... Exchange of the Hotel Empire", The New York Times, retrieved November 4, 2010(10 November 1897) Accused by Sisters-In-Law, The Evening Times (Washington, D.C.), retrieved November 2, 2010