HomeMy WebLinkAboutBrazos Eagle NewspaperIn 1870, Dr. Rensselaer R. Gilbert founded the Brazos Eagle. Gilbert, a
New York native who had been born in about 1821, was well qualified to
run the paper. Before moving to Bryan, he had owned and edited the
Crockett Journal, and still earlier, in the spring of 1865, he had
founded the Texas Weekly Record in Houston. During the Civil War he
served as a war correspondent for the Houston Telegraph, writing under
the well known pseudonym, "High Private." Gilbert's war columns were
collected in a book titled High Private's Confederate Letters. Gilbert
operated the Brazos Eagle in conjunction with Lon Moore. This paper did
not have any connection with the Bryan Eagle, which began publication in
1889.
Dr. R.R. Gilbert has sold the Crockett Journal to Messrs. Burnett &
Dwyer, who will hereafter conduct the paper in the interests of the
Republican Party. Dr. Gilbert will settle in Bryan, where he has been
offered a more lucrative position than running the Journal. Dallas
Weekly Herald, 16 April 1870, page 2
Brazos Eagle — A handsome tri- weekly paper bearing this title has
just been started at Bryan, Texas, by R.R. Gilbert, Esq. It will be
independent in politics, giving all parties a piece of its mind as
occasion may serve, and will especially endeavor to be first -rate in the
news and commercial line. The editor has had much experience, and this
number of the Eagle bears evident marks of his well -known ability and
enterprise. Galveston Tri- Weekly News, 15 June 1870, page 2
We acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of the following new exchanges
...The Brazos Tri Weekly Eagle, Bryan, Texas, edited by the
irrepressible and almost ubiquitous R.R. Gilbert ("High Private')
late of the Crockett Journal, etc., etc. The salutatory sets forth that
the Eagle will have higher and nobler objects in view than ""dabbling
in politics." R.R. being a very racy writer can no doubt make a racy
paper without such dabbling. (Austin) Tri Weekly State Gazette, 22 June
1870, page 1.
We have received the first number of the " "Tri- Weekly Brazos Eagle,"
published at Bryan, Texas, by R.R. Gilbert (High Private). The editor
says the Eagle will not be a political or religious paper, but will be a
news and commercial sheet adapted to the local wants of the community.
The Doctor can, and no doubt will, make an excellent paper. Dallas
Weekly Herald, 2 July 1870, page 2
Our old friend Gilbert, now of the Brazos Eagle, published at Bryan,
can't get rid of his old habit of playing upon words. See how he
threatens the Times' editors: "If the Houston Times don't want to
be Clawed -on and then Shott, it had better not call our sheet the
" "Brazos Signal," many times. Strange that men can't tell the
difference between a signal and an eagle." The same paper says: The
census takers get two cents for every name taken, two cents for every
farm, fifteen cents for every productive establishment of industry, two
cents for every deceased person, and two per cent of the whole amount
enumerated for social statistics, and ten cents per mile for travel.
Who is to be the census taker for Brazos County? Galveston Tri- Weekly
News, 8 July 1870, page 2
The Bryan Eagle, " "High Private's" paper, has a complimentary
article on the administration of Gov. Davis. One by one the respectable
journals of the State are falling into line. We hope the Eagle will
persevere in well doing. Houston Daily Union, 31 August 1870, page 2
The Eagle says there has been no time since the 1st of January when
there were not at least forty buildings, large and small, in course of
construction there. The place, it informs us, has about eighty stores,
big and little, and merchants are continually loading wagons with goods
for the interior. Five counties trade to Bryan, and two others do
considerable business there. Galveston Daily News, 1 September 1870,
page 2.
Two columns of that handsome paper, the Brazos Eagle, at Bryan, are now
devoted to Masonic matters, under the editorship of George I. Goodwin,
M.E.H.P. of W.T. Austin Chapter No. 87, and the Hon. Wm. P. Taylor,
P.G.M. of Crockett. Galveston Tri - Weekly News, 7 September 1870, page
3
The Bryan Eagle speaks of the Houston Anti - Radical meeting as
recommending the formation of a party "without principles" and
decidedly objects. So does any other honest man who has any convictions
or principles at all. Let this country have the honest principles of
the only two parties in it discussed before them, and then let them
decide. Houston Daily Union, 8 September 1870, page 3
The Bryan Eagle thinks the State police will be of great service to
Texas if its execution is confided to the hands of discreet and good
men. That is precisely our view of the case. And Col. Davidson does
not intend to have any other sort of men. Houston Daily Union, 8
September 1870, page 2
The proprietor of the Brazos Eagle, Bryan, writes us that they want to
secure the services of a good job printer immediately. Permanent
employment and good wages are guaranteed to a reliable man. Houston
Daily Times, 12 September 1870, page 2
Bryan ... The local editor of the Eagle evidently has no fondness for
the society of drunken men ... A station for ladies at the railroad
depot is called for by the Eagle. ""Second the motion." Houston
Daily Union, 26 October 1870, page 2
Disappointed applicants for the public printing have of late been
calling " "High Private's"" ""Brazos Eagle" a "buzzard." H.P.
retaliates by calling them "screech owls." We second that motion.
Houston Daily Union, 7 December 1870, page 2
The Eagle says Brazos County increased in population faster than any
other county — at the rate of 242 per cent — The county having a
population of 9,208, and Bryan of 3,500. Bryan came near being burned
up, or down, the other day, and the Eagle pitches into the Council and
demands the necessary precautions. Houston Daily Union, 20 December
1870, page 2
The Brazos Eagle, published at Bryan, is without doubt one of the best
advertising mediums in the interior. It is the official organ of the
28th Judicial District, and circulates throughout Brazos, Burleson and
Milam counties; consequently it reaches many whose trade is worth
soliciting. Our merchants and manufacturers should bear this fact in
mind. Houston Daily Union, 31 December 1870, page 2
The Bryan Eagle objects to the position taken by the Union, that our
school fund ought to be invested in seven per cent railroad bonds
instead of four and a half per cent United States bonds ... (article
continues) ... Houston Daily Union, 16 January 1871, page 2
The Bryan Eagle and the Calvert Tribune have got to quarrelling about
the Prairie and Timber Railroad. Stop friends, or we shall be compelled
to talk plainly to both of you. Houston Daily Union, 19 January 1871,
page 2
The Washington (D.C.) Chronicle informs us that H.A. Moore, one of the
proprietors of the Brazos Eagle, has been appointed postmaster for
Bryan, Texas. Those who are in a position to know, say that this is a
good appointment, and one that will give general satisfaction to the
people of Brazos County. (Austin) Daily State Journal, 1 February 1871,
page 2.
The Brazos Eagle contains the proceedings of the Brazos County court,
from which we clip as follows: A report was received from C.F. Moore,
District Clerk, stating that he had negotiated the sale of county bonds
to the amount of $3,000, at eighty cents on the dollar, C.F. Moore being
the purchaser. That is about the coolest piece of acquiring within our
recollection. Galveston Daily News, 17 March 1871, page 2.
Mr. H.A. Moore, of the Bryan Eagle, gave us a call yesterday. His
paper is an excellent journal, and soundly Republican. It is edited
with taste and ability. Houston Daily Union, 17 March 1871, page 3
How does Gilbert, of the Brazos Eagle, feel now on the subject of
publication education, since that Superintendentship has vanished into
thin air? — Calvert Tribune.
Like any other scalawag, Gilbert can change the color of his benzine
tainted hide like the chameleon; and if he thinks playing Radical
boot -lick will yet pay, he is black; on the contrary, if he has remained
sober long enough at any one time since the " "vanishment into thin air
of the Superintenship" to discover that the Democracy are going to put
down the legalized Radical Ku -Klux murderers and thieves, he is white.
— Democratic exchange.
We know nothing about Gilbert of the Eagle, but we call attention to
the above for the purpose of showing the spirit that animates our
democratic exchanges, and the classic manner in which it is displayed.
" "Benzine tainted hide" is very good and the merit of originality.
San Antonio Daily Express, 27 May 1871, page 2
The Brazos Eagle says crops are suffering for rain. (Austin)
Democratic Statesman, 5 August 1871, page 1
The Brazos Eagle understands that Col. Spencer Ford and Mr. Harvey
Mitchell have been appointed by Gov. Davis as two of the judges of
election. If the report be true, the Eagle says Gov. Davis can recall
his police, as there will be no need for them in Brazos County.
Galveston Daily News, 8 September 1871, page 4.
The Brazos Eagle says two State police men were arrested there and
lodged in jail. It appears that they arrested a man for carrying deadly
weapon. He pleaded ignorance of the law, and offered them $10 to let
him go. They did so, when he made complaint before a justice of the
peace the next morning and had them arrested for robbery. After an
examination, they were committed to jail in default of $250 bail.
Galveston Tri Weekly News, 15 September 1871, page 2.
R.R. Gilbert, " "High Private," is now the sole proprietor of the
Brazos Eagle, and will henceforth publish it as a Democratic paper.
Galveston Tri- Weekly News, 27 September 1871, page 1
Dr. R.R. Gilbert, of the Brazos Eagle, published at Bryan, called on us
yesterday and stated that he was going North and West in the interest of
his paper. We trust the Doctor will be as successful as he deserves,
and wish him a pleasant journey. Galveston Daily News, 29 December
1871, page 2
The Brazos Eagle apparently ceased publication about January 1872. In
February 1872, William K. Homan, of the Marlin Telegram, purchased the
Eagle's printing equipment and took it to Marlin.
The Brazos Pilot gives some of the newspaper history of that small city
in connection with some notes on its own seventeenth anniversary, more
than the average attained by Texas papers. One of the incidents refers
to a well known journalist now employed by the Galveston News: Dr. R.R.
Gilbert, known everywhere as "High Private," commenced the
publication of the Brazos Eagle and soon sold an interest to the well
and kindly remembered Lon Moore. Moore and Gilbert soon differed about
the political policy of the paper, and a novel feature of the last few
months of its existence was the fact that Gilbert run his half of the
sheet as a roaring democratic organ while Moore conducted his part with
equal zeal in the republican cause. Dallas Morning News, 4 January
1894, page 4