George Wilkes

Wilkes was born in 1817 in the state of New York in the United States. It is not sure who his parents were, although they may have been George Wilkes, a cabinet maker, and Helen. Little is known of his upbringing before he became a law clerk for Enoch E. Camp. Wilkes left the legal profession for journalism, first working for a series of short-lived newspapers in New York City, the Flash, the Whip, and the Subterranean.[1] He wrote and edited the Sunday Flash under a pseudonym, "Startle".[2][lower-alpha 1] Among other topics, the Sunday Flash rated New York's brothels and published descriptions and reviews of them.[3] He lost a libel case and was sentenced to a term in the city jail, the Tombs.[1] After serving a month in jail,[4] Wilkes wrote a pamphlet entitled The Mysteries of the Tombs: A Journal of Thirty Days Imprisonment in the N. Y. City Prison, which came out in 1844 and was based on his experiences in jail.[1] Wilkes returned to the study of law after his stint in jail, and even called himself an attorney for a short time.[4]

Cover of an 1847 issue of the National Police Gazette, while it was published by Wilkes

In 1845 Wilkes joined Camp and began the National Police Gazette. It quickly became popular and within a few weeks had a circulation of 15,000.[5] Collier's called the Gazette a record of "horrid murders, outrageous robberies, bold forgeries, astounding burglaries, hideous rapes, vulgar seductions, and recent exploits of pickpockets and hotel thieves."[6] Because of Wilkes' and Camp's efforts to combat crime in New York through the Gazette, the offices of the newspaper were the subject of attacks by mobs stirred up by criminals.[1][5]

Wilkes wrote a History of Oregon, Geographical and Political in 1845, which was inaccurate. Notwithstanding, an extract was published as Project for a National Railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, also in 1845. It was popular and was in its fourth edition by 1847.[1] In 1848 and 1849, Wilkes wrote a novel, loosely based on the life and murder of Helen Jewett, a New York prostitute. The novel was first serialized in the Gazette before being published as a stand-alone work in 1849,[3] titled The Lives of Helen Jewett and Richard P. Robinson.[7][lower-alpha 2] Although based on Jewett's life and death, there was much embellishment.[3] It combined the facts of the case with elements from contemporary murder mysteries and seduction novels set in the growing cities of the time.[4] Wilkes did have access to some of Jewett's letters, which had been held by the district attorney's office since Jewett's murder in 1836 and the subsequent trial. Wilkes, who obtained the letters in 1848, also acquired the hatchet which had murdered Jewett. The letters were eventually published in the Gazette and even were displayed, along with the murder weapon, in the newspaper's office window.[9][lower-alpha 3]

Around 1849 Wilkes went to California, either with or shortly after his friend David Colbreth Broderick.[lower-alpha 4] Wilkes was a political advisor of Broderick's, but they quarreled over water issues in 1853 and Wilkes left California.[12] Wilkes then traveled to Europe, turning the experience into another book, this one entitled Europe in a Hurry.[1] Returning to California after Europe, he reunited with Broderick in late 1853 but another quarrel in 1854 over Wilkes' appointment to a judicial post led to Wilkes' leaving California permanently. The two men reconciled in 1859 during a visit by Broderick to New York shortly before Broderick's death.[12] Wilkes was the recipient of Broderick's estate,[1] and Wilkes wrote a long eulogy to his friend that appeared in the Spirit in October 1859.[12]

In 1866, Wilkes and Camp sold the Gazette to George W. Matsell, who had previously been Chief of Police for New York City.[5][lower-alpha 5]

When Wilkes returned New York City, he began to work for William T. Porter's newspaper Spirit of the Times. Porter sold the paper in 1856 to Wilkes, who retained Porter on the newspaper's staff until Porter's death in 1858. Wilkes, however, renamed the paper to Porter's Spirit of the Times, a title it retained until 1859.[1] In September 1859, Abraham C. Dayton, who had previously worked for the Spirit, left the paper and because he had purchased a share of the paper at one point from Porter, began publishing a paper he called Porter's Spirit of the Times. Dayton got a court order preventing Wilkes from using Porter's name, so Wilkes changed the name of his paper to Wilkes' Spirit of the Times, while Dayton continued to publish Porter's Spirit of the Times. Dayton was only able to publish until August 1861, however,[14] as Wilkes drove the other paper out of business.[15] Wilkes owned the surviving paper until his death in 1885.[1]

Under Wilkes' ownership, the Spirit, which previously had covered mainly sporting events, expanded its coverage to include political matters. When the American Civil War began in 1861, Wilkes covered the battles also. He was present at the First Battle of Bull Run which he then narrated for the Spirit. He continued as a correspondent throughout the war, but during the war contracted the kidney disease which he later died.[1]

Wilkes also used literary feuds with other newspapers, both in and out of the sporting press, to help his subscription rates.[16] After the Civil War, Wilkes' Spirit was one of the three leading newspapers in New York City. Two, including the Spirit, of the three were mainly devoted to horse racing – the other being The Turf, Field and Farm by Sanders D. Bruce.[17]

Wilkes was active in Republican Party political affairs and ran for the United States Congress against James Brooks,[1] losing the race in 1870, with Brooks receiving 12,845 votes and Wilkes 7149 votes.[18] Wilkes, along with John Chamberlain and Marcus Cicero Stanley, introduced pari-mutuel betting in the United States. Wilkes also was active in promoting boxing, acting as the promoter for some prizefights.[1] Wilkes also became involved in an effort to colonize Baja California, becoming trustee of a colonizing company in 1867.[19] In 1877 he published his last work, Shakespeare from an American Point of View, which reflected his lifelong interest in William Shakespeare. This work was revised twice, with the third edition appearing in 1882.[1]

Married twice,[1] Wilkes had two adopted children, George and Alicia. He also had a sister, Catherine, and a brother, Henry.[20] He died on September 23, 1885 in New York City,[1] and was buried on September 26, 1885.[21] It is claimed that Tsar Alexander II of Russia in 1870 inducted him into the Order of St Stanislas for Wilkes' promotion of a railroad route from Russia through India to China. The writer of his Dictionary of American Biography entry described him as a "master of a vigorous style that exactly suited his hard truculent disposition".[1] Patricia Cohen, author of a history of Helen Jewett's life and murder, described Wilkes' as having an "articulate wit and a talent for sarcastic social criticism".[22]