Charles de Young (1845-1880)
Founder of "The San Francisco Chronicle"
He was born in Louisiana, and moved with his family to San Francisco in 1854. He took an apprenticeship at a publishers and in 1865, he and his brother Harry began publishing the Dramatic Chronicle which focused on theater gossip. After four years (1869), the revenue earned allowed the brothers to start the San Francisco Chronicle which by the following year boasted the largest circulation west of the Mississippi with staff writers such as Mark Twain and Bret Harte. Their knack for infuriating the elite of San Francisco with scandal-mongering editorials made Charles - the Editor-in-Chief - a marked man. He received death threats almost daily, was beaten with a cane on one occasion and pistol-whipped on another. But, far from being intimidated, Charles "was proud of the notoriety he obtained, and proud of the personal danger, as a legitimate element of that notoriety." In 1874, one particular lampoon saw Judge Delos Lake challenge Charles to a duel on California Street at the busiest time of day. The two men each exchanged a pair of shots, but all four bullets missed their targets.
In 1879, the Chronicle turned its attention on mayor-elect - and Baptist pastor - Isaac Smith Kalloch. Favoring his opponent, they accused him of having an affair and in response Kalloch accused Charles' mother of running a brothel. Furious, Charles waited for Kalloch outside of his church and shot him twice, and he was lucky to escape the angry mob who nearly succeeded in lynching him. Kalloch was also lucky to have survived the attack and with the sympathy of the voters behind him, he was elected the new Mayor of San Francisco (1879-81). Out on bail, Charles spent five months in Mexico waiting for things to die down, and then resumed his attacks on Kalloch with a scurrilous pamphlet.
In 1880, Kalloch's son, Isaac Milton Kalloch, entered the Chronicle building and shot Charles dead. The killer was acquitted, with one of the jurors admitting, "I would have done the same thing myself," and onlookers jeered as the funeral procession made its way to the cemetery. Nonetheless, the paper he founded was then worth $250,000, and when his brother Harry took control, he continued to rile the city's elite with no less mercy.
In 1879, the Chronicle turned its attention on mayor-elect - and Baptist pastor - Isaac Smith Kalloch. Favoring his opponent, they accused him of having an affair and in response Kalloch accused Charles' mother of running a brothel. Furious, Charles waited for Kalloch outside of his church and shot him twice, and he was lucky to escape the angry mob who nearly succeeded in lynching him. Kalloch was also lucky to have survived the attack and with the sympathy of the voters behind him, he was elected the new Mayor of San Francisco (1879-81). Out on bail, Charles spent five months in Mexico waiting for things to die down, and then resumed his attacks on Kalloch with a scurrilous pamphlet.
In 1880, Kalloch's son, Isaac Milton Kalloch, entered the Chronicle building and shot Charles dead. The killer was acquitted, with one of the jurors admitting, "I would have done the same thing myself," and onlookers jeered as the funeral procession made its way to the cemetery. Nonetheless, the paper he founded was then worth $250,000, and when his brother Harry took control, he continued to rile the city's elite with no less mercy.
