The Curious Case of Charles Bostwick

Charles Victor Bostwick was born on November 18, 1850, down in Webster Township, just northwest of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

His father, Victor Bostwick (1804-1862), was a doctor, and a native of New York.

Charles grew up near Ann Arbor, but it appears that he later relocated to Plymouth, where he made his living as a barber.

He was married to Josephine Miller (1853-1940) in 1871, and the couple would go on to have four children together.

The family moved to St. Charles, at some point, before relocating once more to Chesaning.

Chesaning has a new barber shop, it is located at the Chesaning House, and Charles Bostwich is the man.

The Chesaning Argus, November 21, 1877.

An advertisement soon appeared in the pages of The Chesaning Argus announcing the arrival of this new business venture.

There’s nothing very interesting or noteworthy about this story, so far.

However, just a few weeks after Charles Bostwick came to Chesaning, the following notice appeared.

Charles Bostwick has again gathered together his effects, and moved to other quarters. This time he locates at Ithica, in Gratiot County. We wish you success Charles.

The Chesaning Argus, December 5, 1877

Charles Bostwick had given every appearance of getting ready to settle into his new business, and make a go of things here in Chesaning.

So what made him change his mind and leave the area once and for all?

Does it have anything to do with the letter that he had published in the previous week’s issue of the Argus?

A CARD. - I take this method of thanking the citizens of St. Charles for their kind patronage during my stay among them. And also to inform them that I did not leave St. Charles on account of criticisms concerning myself appearing in the Bay City Growler. I happen to know who is correspondent of that sheet, and I think as little of him as I do of the paper.

C.V. BOSTWICK

The Chesaning Argus, November 28, 1877.

What criticisms was he referring to here, and were they of a personal or professional nature?

Charles insists that they had nothing to do with his decision to leave St. Charles, but was this true, or was it a case of “the lady doth protest too much?”

Did these “criticisms” also contribute to his decision to leave Chesaning?

Since there are no surviving copies of the Bay City Growler, there is no way to know what controversy there may have been pertaining to Mr. Bostwick.

He seems to have lived an uneventful life after leaving for Ithaca, with no hint of scandal that I can find. He eventually moved to Detroit, and then to Georgia, where he spent the remainder of his life.

So there is nothing more to tell…

But it does raise a question.

What exactly was the Bay City Growler?

The Bay City Growler owed its relatively brief existence almost entirely to a single man, publisher D. R. Currey.

Daniel Robert Currey (1838-1921) was born in the province of New Brunswick, but at the age of eighteen months his family crossed into the United States and settled in the border town of Youngstown, New York, just north of Niagara Falls.

The family left Youngstown for Ontario when Daniel was twelve years old, and at the age of eighteen he began working as a news agent on the Great Western railroad, running from Niagara Falls to Detroit.

Daniel came to Michigan in 1859, and began working in a harness shop in the village of Almont. He later moved to Rochester, where he married a local girl named Mary Jones (1843-1921), and after three years there he moved to Bay City.

He opened what is said to have been the first harness shop in Bay City, which he ran for two years before he sold the business and moved down to Pontiac, where he was engaged in the wholesale grocery and liquor trade.

But a few years later, he returned once more to Bay City, where he would eventually embark on an entirely new career as a journalist.

In 1869 he began publishing a weekly journal he dubbed the Saginaw Valley Growler.

The paper quickly gained widespread notoriety as a sensationalist tabloid, as it appears that Currey was more than willing to publish information that most other journals would have refused due to its sensitive, and often scandalous, nature.

Exactly what kind of material was being disseminated in the pages of the Growler is difficult to determine, as none of Currey’s contemporaries were willing to publicize his reporting.

The following passage is the only direct quote from the Growler I have been able to locate, although it seems to be typical of the kind of material one could find printed there, at least according to the paper’s reputation.

The question that agitates the public mind is: Who is that editor from Alpena that was so sweet on the young dressmaker and who registered in initials at the Campbell House the latter part of last week? Wonder when that libel suit comes off!

The Bay City Growler, November 20, 1875.

If this is the kind of “dirty laundry” that was being aired out in public, then it’s easy to see why mainstream opinion quickly turned against the paper.

Some of the older pioneers recall, with something of a shudder, Dan. R. Curry's Weekly Growler, whose chief mission in life was to make some people's lives miserable with sensational matter...

History of Bay County, Michigan, Augusts H. Gansser, pg. 323.

One major problem was the Growler‘s apparent need to rely on anonymous local sources, some of whom were no doubt motivated by a desire to settle old scores and spread lies about their neighbors.

A Fraud.

MR. EDITOR: - Allow me to state through the columns of your paper, that the items in the Bay City Growler of the 14th, over the signature of Con C. Quence, and purporting to come from Alpena, are by no means the productions from the pen of the subscriber, and that, in my opinion, if they came from Alpena at all, they were written by some unprincipled "kuss" who was ashamed to father productions.

CON C. QUENCE

Alpena Weekly Argus, April 25, 1877.

Nonetheless, the poor reputation enjoyed by the Growler was probably due as much to its willingness to print the truth, as its willingness to print a lie.

The paper certainly had its share of supporters, even amongst the established press.

That is right, Curry, set Growler on us, as we like to quarrel with some one who has hot spunk enough to speak what he thinks, and not prowl around like a sneak, asserting in private what he dare not publish to the public.

Alpena Weekly Argus, October 24, 1871.

The Saginaw Valley Growler enjoyed considerable early success, but it’s popularity eventually began to fade (or its notoriety began to increase) to such a level that it finally ceased publication in 1873.

This wouldn’t be the end of the Growler, however, as Currey managed to revive the paper again in 1875, this time using the name Bay City Growler.

The paper’s mission does not appear to have changed, and neither did its reputation, and while it’s safe to assume that Currey was the defendant in any number of libel cases, at least a few aggrieved individuals decided to settle matters in a more direct and personal fashion.

Capt. Riley Burlington, of the propeller Elmira, made an assault upon the editor of a dirty little sheet, called the Bay City Growler, Thursday, for writing and publishing a scurrilous article about him in that paper. No one seriously hurt.

The Hillsdale Standard, August 1, 1876.

It appears that not even threats to his personal safety were enough to dissuade D. R. Currey from pursuing his chosen mission in life.

But opposition to the Growler continued to increase, and eventually local governments began to intervene and put a stop to its distribution.

The Common Council of East Saginaw is now fighting the Growler and Rose's Nose, and has instructed the Marshall to arrest all venders of either paper.

Northern Tribune, November 24, 1877.

These efforts even received notice in the pages of The Chesaning Argus.

"The case against the young man who was arrested for circulating the Growler will be dismissed to day by the attorney." The agent paid the costs and promised to give up selling the sheet and as all that is wanted is to stop the paper circulating here, the prosecuting attorney promised to dismiss the case. This leniency need not tempt any person to take up the business with an idea that he can make money out of the sheet, then promise to quit selling and get off on paying costs. Future offenders will be punished.

The above from the Jackson Patriot shows that such sheets have nearly run their face.

The Chesaning Argus, November 28, 1877.

Currey reacted exactly as one would expect, and did not back down.

The Bay City Growler keeps a firm of lawyers to prosecute those who prosecute him.

Northern Tribune, December 1, 1877.

I wasn’t able to find any information which details the final downfall the Bay City Growler, but it appears that government efforts to suppress these journals were ultimately successful.

...and just to prove that certain elements in any community will support the sensational, the Growler growled from 1869 to 1873; and from 1875 to 1880, when its stock of invectives and vituperation gave out, and the exasperating growls were heard no more.

History of Bay County, Michigan, Augusts H. Gansser, pg. 323.

Currey remained a resident of Bay City, but switched careers from tabloid journalism to the more respectable trade of insurance salesman, and later became a special traveling agent in Michigan for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company.

There was at least one more attempt to revive the Bay City Growler, in 1889, although Currey was not involved with the endeavor in any way.

The mayor of Bay City, Hamilton Wright, managed to have the paper shut down almost immediately, but this does at least provide us with an amusing coda to the whole affair.

Dan Currey came down from the north yesterday morning and remained here until this noon. One of the incidents connected with his stay happened at the hotel. A newsboy approached him and cried: “Bay City Growler!”

Dan looked at the boy a moment, but made no motion toward bringing forth the requisite amount of money.

“Bay City Growler!” yelled the boy again, accompanying the remark with, “Don’t you know it?”

Dan turned upon his heel and entered the hotel.

The Bay City Times, January 19, 1889.

The Chesaning Argonaut

The Curious Case of Charles Bostwick

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