Almost Tragic Ending of a Newspaper Quarrel-1875

JUNKIN, CAMPBELL, MOHR, HUGHES, CLARK, WELLS, BEEK

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 10/22/2017 at 19:11:20

Creston Gazette (Creston, Iowa)
Wednesday, October 13, 1875
Page: 2

Shooting of Ed. Campbell by W. W. Junkin, of the Fairfield Ledger
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Almost Tragic Ending of a Newspaper Quarrel

We take the following account of the shooting of Ed. CAMPBELL by W. W. JUNKIN, from a Fairfield special to the Burlington Hawk-Eye, of Sunday:
Fairfield, Iowa, October 9, 1875 – W. W. JUNKIN, editor of the Ledger, shot Ed. CAMPBELL, Jr., Chairman of the Opposition State Central Committee on the street here about one o’clock this afternoon. The affray grew out of a bitter newspaper war between the parties.

Two years ago when CAMPBELL was defeated for the Legislature, a most intense and deplorable personal fight was carried on between him and JUNKIN in the papers and by circulars. In the Ledger of this week an allusion was made to CAMPBELL, and in the Democrat of this morning he replied in this communication:

Fairfield, Iowa, October, 7, 1875
M. M. Bleakmore: - The Ledger has an article in praise of its candidate for Sheriff, charges that you have attempted to blackmail him.
JUNKIN this wantonly switches off, and to get a chance to blackguarding me, prints the following:
“Ed CAMPBELL went to the organ, and with the insolence of a slave-driver of the olden times against a poor slave compelled the editor to suppress his vile abuse, and the cringing, fawning, cowardly sycophant servilely did his master’s bidding. The column of abuse dwindled to a few lines of dark insinuation; it is distasteful in us to allude to the organ, but its relation to the Democratic Party, including Dr. Clark, leaves us no option.
“And why should honorable Ed. CAMPBELL, Jr., assume such lordly airs and dictate to his craven tools the course they shall pursue.”

This miserable wretch, JUNKIN, some time ago, published his own wife as a strumpet, and her children as bastards. He afterwards published a wholesale charge of want of virtue against a company of young lady school teachers stopping in your town; again coarsely alluding to the secrets of his wife’s bed chamber.

These filthy practices of JUNKIN absolves all from taking much notice of him. I, therefore, content myself by saying that in the article quoted above, JUNKIN LIES.

I know nothing at all of the matter referring to by the low brute. I never spoke to you about the man Hughes, and certainly I ask you to suppress no article about him or anyone else.

William W. JUNKIN knows he is a very sublime liar; he knows I so branded him in a public hotel among his friends. I now repeat the brand.

It remains to be seen how many of the decent men and saints of Fairfield will endorse the wretched bawl, wife insulter and cowardly liar.
ED CAMPBELL, JR.

Soon after noon today CAMPBELL was standing with some friends in front of Geo. A. Wells Bank, on the east side of the park. JUNKIN came along, returning from dinner, with a market basket on his arm. As he passed CAMPBELL he took a revolver from his basket and turning around said to him; “you dirty scoundrel, defend yourself,” and with that he fired at him, and cocked the revolver to fire a second time, when he was arrested by Sherriff Beek,

The shot struck CAMPBELL on the left hip just at the lower end of the pocket slip and glanced outwardly from the hip bone. He refused to be taken away for a time, but Dr. Mohr was called and probed the wound, failing to find the ball which is probably lodged among the muscles in the vicinity of the wound. A very small variation of the ball would have caused certain death. CAMPBELL was able to move around with a cane, and about a half an hour later was standing near the same place where JUNKIN came along again and asked if he wanted anymore. He brandished the revolver in his face but did not fire

Soon after the first encounter Charlie JUNKIN, son of W. W. JUNKIN, got a revolver and endeavored to shoot CAMPBELL, but was prevented by the bystanders.

CAMPBELL has gone to his home, six miles east of town, and JUNKIN has waived examination and given bond to wait the action of the grand jury. JUNKIN wished to be understood that the provocation for the shooting was the allusion of his family that he denounces as a baseless lie. That CAMPBELL abuse of himself would have passed unnoticed, but he was determined not to permit the insult to his wife and children to be unavenged. A. D. P.