Assault in the Topeka State Journal, 1900 & 1920

This exhibit explores the stories about the crime of assault published in the Topeka State Journal in June 1900 and June 1920.

The Topeka State Journal was a daily and weekly newspaper, publishing every day except Sunday and a weekly edition every Thursday.   The daily editions was eight pages in length in 1920 while the weekly editions were 12 or 16 pages. By 1920, the daily edition had expanded to ten pages. At the same time, the paper expanded from seven columns to eight columns, and added larger headlines, and photographs, as well as the etchings found in 1900, with the advertisments becoming larger, with more images.

Crime stories appeared on the front page (with a mix of international, national, regional and local news, politics, and sports), as well as  throughout the paper. The stories about assault in June 1900 and 1920 appeared on pages 1-8, with 15 of 25 appearing on pages 4, 5 and 6.

The stories about assault were generally short in length, an average of 142 words. The longest, 403 words, was a report from New York City of a case involving a celebrity, boxer John L. Sullivan. The shortest, 31 words, was a report of the lynching of an African American man for the attempted assault of a white woman.