DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Jasper News-Boy. Now, some newspapers come into this world with a silver spoon and a printing contract already lined up. The Jasper News-Boy was not one of those.
It came into this world on the back of a New Orleans newsboy who figured Texas needed to hear what he had to say. That newsboy was Captain Edward Irwin Kellie, born in 1845. He came to Texas in 1859, and before long he was working in a printshop down in Galveston, learning the trade from the ground up.
Then the Civil War came calling, and Kellie answered it. After all that fighting was done, he made his way to Jasper, and here's where the story gets interesting — he didn't arrive empty-handed. He set up shop with the old hand press of two papers that had come before him: the East Texas Clarion and the East Texian.
Pre-war equipment. The kind of machinery that had already seen its share of history before Kellie ever touched it. His staff associates were Wallace Blake and T.
H. Good, and together they started putting out the News-Boy beginning in July of 1865. Now, you want to know what kind of paper it was?
The marker tells you in two words: blunt and homespun. And if you wanted any more proof of that, consider their editorial slogan — they printed it right there for all of Jasper County to read: "We bend our knee to none but God." That is not a newspaper hedging its bets. That is a newspaper that knows exactly where it stands.
Kellie sold his interest in 1880 and moved on. But here's the thing about what he built — the editors and publishers who came after him kept the faith. Kept the original policies, kept the commitment to service to Jasper, kept that paper running continuously from July 1865 right on through.
Kellie himself lived until 1928. The News-Boy he founded just kept going. Some things planted in Texas soil, friend, they don't come up easy — but once they're rooted, you'd better believe they hold.
What the marker says
(Published continuously since July 1865) Founded by Capt. Edward Irwin Kellie (1845-1928), a New Orleans newsboy who came to Texas 1859, and worked in a printshop in Galveston. After fighting in the Civil War, he set up shop here with old hand press of pre-war "East Texas Clarion" and "East Texian." Staff associates were Wallace Blake and T. H. Good. Style was blunt, homespun. "We bend our knee to none but God" was the editorial slogan. Kellie sold his interest in 1880, but the "News-Boy" editors and publishers since his time have maintained the original policies of service to Jasper. (1966)