From Perth Amboy to Jersey City and Beyond

Our most recent post offered a brief history of the Jersey City News, a daily newspaper which was published from early 1889 until late 1906. We are pleased to announce the first three years of this newspaper are currently available on Chronicling America. The earliest complete issue is from February 28, 1889 and contains a gossipy front page article titled “Battenberg’s Actress.” It concerned the marriage announcement of Bulgaria’s Prince Alexander of Battenberg to “a being who actually made her living on the operatic stage.” (The prospective bride, not named in the article, was Austrian opera singer Johanna Loisinger.) The sub-headline – “Aunt-in-law Victoria Is Enraged at the Princeling’s Nuptials” – neatly summarizes the royals’ reaction to the news.

Not many years ago he (Alexander) really occupied some prominence in public affairs and his marriage then would have been of real consequence to contemporary Europe. Since his exit from Bulgaria he has led a life of royal pauperdom and it is safe to say that so far as regards character the descent is on the side of the lady. But this is not the way it is looked at here (London) and, although some revolutionary Englishmen are delighted at the affair, the court and those who hold their opinions after its pattern are horrified at the mesalliance.

Other stories from that day include a house fire on Union Street (The firemen of the town were quick in response, and in a twinkling all the fire apparatus in the town were present), problems with locks in the city prison (Justice Weed committed Thomas Rose, of 367½ Henderson street, to the city prison yesterday for assaulting his wife, and when the justice sent for him later in the day, it was found impossible to unlock the cell door), and horses worth backing at Friday’s races in Clifton (First Race-Lighthouse, Harrodsburg).

Additionally, the final 21 months of the Perth Amboy Evening News digitized for this project are now on the site. Issues from this newspaper, which comprised the bulk of the first phase of the New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project, are available from March 30, 1903 through December 22, 1922.

The National Digital Newspaper Program is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is a collaboration among Rutgers University Libraries, the New Jersey State Archives, and the New Jersey State Library.