History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/John S. Murphy
JOHN S. MURPHY was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and acquired his education in the public schools and the printing office. While young he came with his parents to Iowa, locating at Anamosa. He became an apprentice in the office of the Dubuque Herald in 1859, and after acquiring a knowledge of the art of printing, secured a position with the Globe-Democrat establishment at St. Louis, doing editorial work for several years, but finally returning to Dubuque. In 1879 he became editor of the Dubuque Daily Telegraph. He developed fine editorial ability, making the Telegraph one of the most prominent advocates of "free silver" in the Mississippi valley. Mr. Murphy became an acknowledged leader of the Bryan wing of the Democratic party in the middle west and was one of the ablest supporters of the Nebraska orator for President in 1896. “He was an evangelist of labor, gauging every movement by what he believed to be for labor's weal or detriment.” In October, 1901, the Dubuque Herald, one of the oldest and ablest Democratic journals in Iowa, was consolidated with the Telegraph under the editorial management of Mr. Murphy. His industry was unsurpassed and he died at his desk in the midst of his labors on the 10th of February, 1902.