Charles and Michael de Young, violent publishers

The newspaper business was dangerous in the 1870s (https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/how-i-edited-an-agricultural-paper) and even more so in San Francisco.
Take, for instance, Charles de Young. As a teenager he borrowed $20 from a print shop owner. He used the $20 to rent space in the print shop, buy a desk and some type, and start a newspaper. His older brother, Gustavus, added an adult's name to the masthead^{1Gustavus died of Bright's disease in 1906, having done nothing else of note except get involved in an altercation with the Sun editor, Ben Napthaly, that led to Napthaly being arrested (Charles de Young's close working relationship with the Chief of SF Police, I. W. Lees, probably had nothing to do with this). Interestingly, while both Charles and Michael came to shoot at Napthaly in jail, Gustavus did not.}, and his younger brother, Michael, contributed labor. The Dramatic Chronicle was a four-page "Daily Record of Affairs Local, Critical and Theatrical" and was distributed for free. This contributed significantly to its success in theater-crazy San Francisco - by the end of the first month Dramatic had a circulation of two thousand. This success brought in advertisers and De Youngs soon expanded their scope to publish news and articles by the local cadre of young writers. These included Bierce, Twain, Harte, Miller, and others - most so young and unproven that they wrote for desk space. De Youngs' reputation as newspapermen was made when they were the first to publish news of Lincoln's assassination^{2Michael happened to be at the telegraph office when the news came in, and raced through the streets to put out Chronicle's first extra.}.
By 1868 the Daily Dramatic Chronicle emerged from its theater-newspaper chrysalis to become the Daily Morning Chronicle, essentially the SF Chronicle we know today. It was, as the de Youngs put it, a "bold, bright, fearless and truly independent newspaper, independent in all things, neutral in nothing." Michael concentrated on the business side while Charles was responsible for the contents. He gave Chronicle a particularly violent and personal attack style that seemed intended to offend.
One of the people he offended was Judge Lake. Lake was pretty typical for San Francisco judiciary of his time, in that he "deemed it prudent" to always carry a half-cocked pistol^{3Another Judge, McKinstry, beat Charles de Young with a cane. Charles escaped, which hopefully taught Judge McKinstry to carry weapons like the rest of the judiciary.}. They met at high noon on the main street of the town, because the West was still Wild^{4OK, it was "at the busiest time of the day" on California St}. The general agreement is that they shot at each other and neither was hit. At the trial the witnesses said that de Young was unarmed, and Lake said that his gun went off accidentally because he fell when de Young pulled his leg. In either case, Charles was quite happy with the outcome.
Five years later the Chronicle accused a mayoral candidate, Rev. Isaac Kalloch, founder of the Ottawa University, of having an affair^{5Rev. Kalloch left Boston and Kansas due to similar accusations, but we do not know whether they were true in this case. It didn't really matter - what mattered is that the Chronicle backed someone else for mayor. This speaks to de Youngs' credit, as Rev. Kalloch was a Know-Nothing (MAGA of the nineteenth century) running as candidate from Kearny's Workingmen's Party of California - that's a long way of saying "violently anti-Chinese". The Chronicle was Republican, i. e. "far less violently anti-Chinese".} and suggested that Rev. Kalloch's father may have done the same. Charles called Kalloch an "unclean leper" and a "sorrel stallion", which probably sounded much worse in the 1870s. Kalloch called de Youngs "hyenas of society" and accused their mother ^{6From the pulpit} of running a brothel and working in it. The San Francisco Sun took up the slander, causing a shootout between Charles de Young and the Sun's editor. A messenger boy was wounded and Charles paid his family $100^{7Charles was an oddly bad shot. Perhaps that's why he barely raised his gun when John Duane pulled his ears and beat him against the curbstone in 1876.}.
Charles, naturally, was very upset at this insult to his mother, so he decided on a drive-by shooting. He took a carriage and a police escort^{8A police escort makes one's drive-by shooting experience seamless and convenient.} and went to Kalloch's church. There he sent a messenger in to call Kalloch to the church entrance, and shot him three times, hitting breast and thigh. The police protected Charles from an angry mob of church-goers and whisked him away to the jail, where he and Michael spent the next nine days for their safety. When it became obvious that Kalloch would survive Charles left the jail and departed for Mexico. The public sympathies went to Kalloch and he was elected mayor in Sept. 1879.
Meanwhile, a jury deliberated for eight months and somehow couldn't find it in themselves to indict Charles. He returned in early 1880 and announced an intention to investigate and publish Kalloch's past. Isaac Milton Kalloch, the reverend's son, entered the Chronicle offices and shot a number of bullets at Charles, killing him^{9Isaac Kalloch refused to explain his motivations, so to this day no one knows what could possibly have made him so upset.}. Charles is said to have been buried with a pillow embroidered with the phrase "He died for his mother." The jury found Isaac Kalloch not guilty by reason of self defense. The prosecution witness who claimed to have seen Kalloch fire five bullets from a five-shooter gun was jailed for perjury.
Michael H. de Young continued running the Chronicle alone until 1925, passing it to his son in law^{10The Chronicle continued to be family-run until 1992.}. He followed a much softer editorial policy. As the result he was only shot at once. That was when the Chronicle printed an article suggesting that the Spreckels family may have engaged in dishonest business practices^{11If they have, no one ever proved anything, and in any case I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly honest ways to get a monopoly over sugar production in Hawaii. They had other reasons to disagree - both Michael de Young and Adolph's brother, John Spreckels wished to run for California Senate. Moreover, the Spreckels built a skyscraper for their newspaper, the Call, taller than the one de Youngs had for the Chronicle.}. Adolph Spreckels, eldest son of the sugar baron Claus Spreckels, entered Michael's office and shot him twice in the back. Michael survived, and Adolph was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. He was, however, attacked in other ways. In 1871 one William T. Higgins, of the Republican County Committee, tried to beat Michael with a cane.
Michael's greatest contribution to San Francisco was building the de Young museum that is now ironically united with the Legion of Honor museum built by Adolph's wife, Alma Spreckels^{12Although the de Young and the Legion of Honor got the same director in 1931, they were not legally united into the same entity, https://www.famsf.org/, until 1972, three years after Alma Spreckels' death. You should visit both.}.

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/786265/the-murder-of-the-san-francisco-chronicle-founder-charles-de-young-explained/
^{1Gustavus died of Bright's disease in 1906, having done nothing else of note except get involved in an altercation with the Sun editor, Ben Napthaly, that led to Napthaly being arrested (Charles de Young's close working relationship with the Chief of SF Police, I. W. Lees, probably had nothing to do with this). Interestingly, while both Charles and Michael came to shoot at Napthaly in jail, Gustavus did not.}Gustavus died of Bright's disease in 1906, having done nothing else of note except get involved in an altercation with the Sun editor, Ben Napthaly, that led to Napthaly being arrested (Charles de Young's close working relationship with the Chief of SF Police, I. W. Lees, probably had nothing to do with this). Interestingly, while both Charles and Michael came to shoot at Napthaly in jail, Gustavus did not.
^{2Michael happened to be at the telegraph office when the news came in, and raced through the streets to put out Chronicle's first extra.}Michael happened to be at the telegraph office when the news came in, and raced through the streets to put out Chronicle's first extra.
^{3Another Judge, McKinstry, beat Charles de Young with a cane. Charles escaped, which hopefully taught Judge McKinstry to carry weapons like the rest of the judiciary.}Another Judge, McKinstry, beat Charles de Young with a cane. Charles escaped, which hopefully taught Judge McKinstry to carry weapons like the rest of the judiciary.
^{4OK, it was "at the busiest time of the day" on California St} OK, it was "at the busiest time of the day" on California St
^{5Rev. Kalloch left Boston and Kansas due to similar accusations, but we do not know whether they were true in this case. It didn't really matter - what mattered is that the Chronicle backed someone else for mayor. This speaks to de Youngs' credit, as Rev. Kalloch was a Know-Nothing (MAGA of the nineteenth century) running as candidate from Kearny's Workingmen's Party of California - that's a long way of saying "violently anti-Chinese". The Chronicle was Republican, i. e. "far less violently anti-Chinese".} Rev. Kalloch left Boston and Kansas due to similar accusations, but we do not know whether they were true in this case. It didn't really matter - what mattered is that the Chronicle backed someone else for mayor.
This speaks to de Youngs' credit, as Rev. Kalloch was a Know-Nothing (MAGA of the nineteenth century) running as candidate from Kearny's Workingmen's Party of California - that's a long way of saying "violently anti-Chinese". The Chronicle was Republican, i. e. "far less violently anti-Chinese".
^{6From the pulpit} From the pulpit
^{7Charles was an oddly bad shot. Perhaps that's why he barely raised his gun when John Duane pulled his ears and beat him against the curbstone in 1876.}Charles was an oddly bad shot. Perhaps that's why he barely raised his gun when John Duane pulled his ears and beat him against the curbstone in 1876.
^{8A police escort makes one's drive-by shooting experience seamless and convenient.}A police escort makes one's drive-by shooting experience seamless and convenient.
^{9Isaac Kalloch refused to explain his motivations, so to this day no one knows what could possibly have made him so upset.}Isaac Kalloch refused to explain his motivations, so to this day no one knows what could possibly have made him so upset.
^{10The Chronicle continued to be family-run until 1992.} The Chronicle continued to be family-run until 1992.
^{11If they have, no one ever proved anything, and in any case I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly honest ways to get a monopoly over sugar production in Hawaii. They had other reasons to disagree - both Michael de Young and Adolph's brother, John Spreckels wished to run for California Senate. Moreover, the Spreckels built a skyscraper for their newspaper, the Call, taller than the one de Youngs had for the Chronicle.} If they have, no one ever proved anything, and in any case I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly honest ways to get a monopoly over sugar production in Hawaii. They had other reasons to disagree - both Michael de Young and Adolph's brother, John Spreckels wished to run for California Senate. Moreover, the Spreckels built a skyscraper for their newspaper, the Call, taller than the one de Youngs had for the Chronicle.
^{12Although the de Young and the Legion of Honor got the same director in 1931, they were not legally united into the same entity, https://www.famsf.org/, until 1972, three years after Alma Spreckels' death. You should visit both.}Although the de Young and the Legion of Honor got the same director in 1931, they were not legally united into the same entity, https://www.famsf.org/, until 1972, three years after Alma Spreckels' death. You should visit both.