As the Civil War went on, the paper continually lost prestige, and when the venerable editor—broken-hearted in the lost cause—died in 1872, the Banner of Liberty became homeless. It was bought by the Benedict brothers, Thomas E. and Gilbert H., and was removed to Ellenville. The writer's recollection is that it was later transferred to Brooklyn, L. I., where it ceased to exist. On this point, however, he may err; however, it did not long survive its talented founder.
Gilbert J. Beebe also, in 1848, started another paper—the Middletown Mercury. This paper was less virulent than his Banner of Liberty, and being devoted to local news, attained a considerable circulation. In 1860 Mr. Beebe sold the Mercury to James H. Norton, who had been conducting the Tri-States Union at Port Jervis. Mr. Norton associated with him in this purchase a young printer and ready writer, Isaac F. Guiwits. The two were thoroughly practical men, and soon made their personality and their good taste vividly apparent in their work. The Mercury was enlarged, new type and machinery were installed, and it was not many months before the paper began to grow in circulation and in power. It got better and neater with each issue; its managers seemed to vie with each other in this work. Within five years the Middletown Mercury became famous for being the handsomest newspaper in the United States. For those days, it was a model of beauty. What is more, it became a leading newspaper; its local news was gotten up the best, much attention being paid to this feature—practically an innovation in journalism, strange as this statement may appear to newspaper men and readers to-day. Mr. Norton was a democrat of the pro-slavery type, and his editorial utterances during the war were often vitriolic, notwithstanding which the paper flourished, many paid-up republican subscribers contributing to its success, admiring its journalistic features while cursing its politics. In 1867 Isaac V. Montanye purchased an interest in the paper, and in 1868 became sole proprietor. In 1869 S. M. Boyd became its owner. In 1873 the Middletown Mail was merged in the Mercury, when Dr. Joseph D. Friend and George H. Thompson became its editors and owners. Dr. Friend retired in 1874. In 1878 the Weekly Argus consolidated with the Mercury, which became the Mercury and Argus. In 1876 Cornelius Macardell and George H. Thompson became proprietors, with Mr. Thompson as editor, who continued thus until his death in May, 1904. The Mercury and Argus plant remains in the Macardell family, known as the Argus and Mercury Publishing Company, with Cornelius Macardell, president; A. B. Macardell, vice-president and secretary; A. E. Nickinson, treasurer and general manager; A. B. Macardell, editor; Henry P. Powers and Horace A. MacGowan, city editors.
In 1849 Thomas George began in Newburgh the publication of the Newburgh Excelsior. E. M. Ruttenber purchased this paper in May, 1851, and merged it with his Telegraph.
In January, 1850, appeared the first newspaper in Port Jervis, the Port Jervis Express. This journalistic venture deserves especial notice from the fact that it was started by a colored man. P. H. Miller—the first publication of such distinction in Orange County, and possibly in the State. The Express was well printed, and ably edited. But it died in October the same year.
The Middletown Advertiser was started in Middletown in 1850 by G. J. Beebe. It was a monthly advertising sheet, and lived two years.
In November, 1850, Colonel Samuel Fowler—a leading citizen—started the Tri-States Union in Port Jervis. It was a democratic paper, with John I. Mumford as editor. Lucius F. Barnes, a rising young lawyer of Milford, Pa., purchased the paper and edited it until August 10, 1854, when he sold it to James H. Norton. The latter sold the paper in 1861, to G. W. Allen, of Honesdale, Pa., and Wallace W. Farnum, a deaf mute, of Port Jervis. The latter was a practical printer, and remained in the office many years. It was under Allen and Farnum that the politics of the paper changed from democratic to republican. In 1862 Allen's interest in the paper was purchased by Daniel Holbrook, a recent graduate of Harvard College and fresh from the position of principal of the school at the House of Refuge, Randall's Island, N. Y. Mr. Holbrook made it a lively republican paper, ably maintaining the Union cause during the Civil War then waging. September 27, 1869, Mr. Holbrook sold the paper to Foster & Mitchell, of Chambersburg, Pa. In 1871 the paper was purchased by Charles St. John, Jr., William T. Doty, and Alfred E. Spooner. In 1872 Mr. Spooner's interest was purchased by Erwin G. Fowler. All through this year the Union was one of the foremost supporters of the liberal republican movement that led to the nomination at Cincinnati of the lamented Horace Greeley for President. Soon after Greeley's nomination the Union's proprietors issued The Wood-Chopper, a campaign paper which was full of fire and enthusiasm, but died with the ambitions of its martyred presidential candidate. In January, 1873, Mr. Doty retired from the firm to take charge of the Gazette. Mr. Fowler retired from the paper later in the same year. In April, 1877, Fred R. Salmon, Mr. St. John's brother-in-law, young and fresh from a commercial school, entered the office as bookkeeper. He displayed aptitude and business qualities from the start—points Mr. St. John quickly recognized—and in 1884 he was made a member of the firm, which became St. John & Salmon, and thus remained until 1894, when the same members became the Tri-States Printing Co. In May, 1895, the firm was incorporated as the Tri-States Publishing Co., which it remains, though on October 1, 1907, Mr. Salmon purchased Mr. St. John's interest and became sole owner.
In 1878 the Tri-States Union was changed from a weekly to semi-weekly issue, but within a year or two was changed back to the weekly issue, which it continues. In 1871 it was changed from a folio to a quarto, which it remains.
In January, 1873, Mr. St. John started the Port Jervis Daily Union. It was issued as a morning paper for a year or two, since which time it has been an afternoon paper. It has been edited successively by Ed. H. Mott, E. A. Brown, Henry A. Van Fredenberg, E. G. Fowler, Fred R. Salmon, Charles O. Young, James Bennet, Charles A. Starr, Merritt C. Speidel, and at present by W. T. Doty.
On November 26, 1851, John W. Hasbrouck issued at Middletown the first number of the weekly Whig Press. In March, 1868, Mr. Hasbrouck sold the plant to Moses D. Stivers. In 1870 Albert Kessinger bought a half interest in the paper, and the firm was Stivers & Kessinger until August, 1872, when the junior member died. In October, 1872, Mr. Stivers sold the plant to F. Stanhope Hill, who sold an interest to John W. Slauson, and the firm became Hill & Slauson. Mr. Hill sold his interest to Mr. Stivers July 1, 1873, and the firm became Stivers & Slauson. In 1880 Mr. Stivers sold his interest to Mr. Slauson, and Charles J. Boyd entered the firm under the firm name of Slauson & Boyd. This continued until February, 1906, when the whole plant was sold to the Middletown Times Publishing Co., and the familiar old Press lost its identity in the Times-Press. It seemed lamentable to see this staunch old paper die. It was the pet of that venerable and conscientious laborer in the literary field, John W. Hasbrouck, and his estimable wife, Dr. Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck. Both labored for years, literally side by side, in the editorial room and in the work-shop of the establishment, and they had built up a fine property. Under its successive changes, in the hands of Messrs. Stivers, Slauson and Boyd the Press had become one of the best country newspapers in the State. Its plant was very valuable, with the most improved machinery, and the whole establishment was shrewdly managed, the paper ably edited, and nothing but the menace of a distinguished rival could ever have induced Messrs. Slauson and Boyd to consent to the disposal of so valuable a plant.
The temperance agitation evidently struck Port Jervis heavily early in the fifties, for in June, 1852, J. L. Barlow and John Dow began the publication of the Mirror of Temperance. This lived about eighteen months.