Assault in the Perth Amboy Evening News, 1903 & 1923

The Perth Amboy Evening News was a self described politically independent newspaper which published daily issues, this was to the exception of Sundays. The paper itself was originally known as the Perth Amboy Republican, the paper transitioned into the Perth Amboy Evening News in early 1903. The transition was prefaced by Daniel P. Olmstead and James Clevenger’s purchase of the paper. The two sought to produce a newspaper free of political bias and gossip, rather the paper was meant to emphasize stories which directly impacted the local people of Perth Amboy. This sentiment rings true as the vast majority of the selected assault cases within this project took place within New Jersey. As staunch supporters of “good government” the highlighted coverage of municipal development, such as the development of roads, buildings, sewer systems, and playgrounds. Furthermore, the paper often sang the praises of Woodrow Wilson (New Jersey Governor from 1911 - 1913) and were ardent supporters. The paper heavily opposed machine government, the concept of hierarchical government with a single party leader and pushed for anti-corruption centered policies.

The paper itself is informational in nature, often favoring facts over glamor. The headlines rarely consist of any sensational language, rather the headlines simply act as a brief summary of the article. There are however exceptions to this rule, such as the story titled “Bold Attack at Florida Grove” published in 1903 on November 5th. Despite this exception, most stories lack any sort of salacious language in the titles. Furthermore, the vast majority of stories the paper deems worthy of their readers pertain, at least in part, to local happenings in and around New Jersey. In fact, out of the forty assault cases studied for this project, 85% of them took place within the state of New Jersey, and all but one within the United States. Furthermore, in regards to the actual makeup of each story, the stories tend to read closer to a factual retelling of events rather than a salacious story of assault. Finally, there was no shortage of assault cases within the paper. In fact, there seems to be almost a surplus of cases, however this will be discussed at a later point in this project.