and half-owner with Turner, one of several distinguished men con nected with Pendleton journalism—Lewis Berkeley Cox, native of the District of Columbia, graduate of Washington and Lee, then of Columbia Law School at Washington, who handled the paper well despite his lack of journalistic training and experience.
Arriving in Pendleton in 1880, he entered the practice of law but soon purchased the East Oregonian, retaining ownership until February of 1882. One of his first improvements was to discard the ready-print and give his readers an all-home-printed paper. Cox, of course, was a much bigger gun in law than in journalism, in which he remained only a short time.
He ran a newsy, readable paper. News, though, was still form less to a considerable extent. Not much, apparently, was done to copy after it reached the office by way of preparing it for the reader, and the editors didn't worry much about the time element.
In the issue of Saturday, October 9, 1880, while the paper was still a weekly, there appeared, under the head of Local and Other Intelligence, a notice to the readers that there had been a terrible fire in Heppner, full particulars of which would appear next week.
The "terrible fire" was described the next week. It had occurred on the 7th, two days before the paper's mailing-date. Heppner was to about seventy miles distant. The correspondent was allowed tell his story like this:
Nothing comes to hand more punctually than the E. O., and not speaking my sentiments alone, we know it is honestly conducted.
Last Wednesday night, the 7th inst., the dwelling of William McKennon was destroyed by fire from the explosion of a kerosene lamp. Mrs. McKennon was absent at the moment of the explosion, having gone up to attend lodge and had not yet returned. The explosion took place about 10 o'clock. Mrs. McKennon and her three children narrowly escaped perishing in the flames by getting out through the window . . .
Mr. McKennon's house was insured in the Connecticut Insurance Co. for $500; the loss was about $1,000. The company will be watched in this place to see if they come to time.
Another news story which could have been made less poisonous by a little editing appeared on the 9th. Under the headline Murder Will Out the reporter in the course of the story proceeded to convict a suspect before any judge or jury could do anything in the matter, saying, in part:
We think there is no doubt but that this man is guilty of the charge and moreover sufficient has come to light to
