The Sussex Independent and political corruption

The First Amendment to the Constitution states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, orprohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

A free and independent press is crucial to assure a well-informed population in a democracy. Freedom of the Press is one of the cornerstones of our country and society.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

Over the last two and a half centuries, our county has had the good fortune of being informed by one daily and about a dozen weekly newspapers. It began with the Farmer’s Journal and Newton Advertiser in 1796. These two weekly newspapers were issued for only a few years before being forced to stop for economic reasons. It was not until 1813 that a new weekly paper was established – The Sussex Register.

In 1829, Col. Grant Fitch established the New Jersey Herald as a weekly newspaper.

The Sussex Independent was printed in Sussex Borough, formerly known as Deckertown. This newspaper was launched on May 4, 1870 by Stephen H. Sayer, then of Montgomery, Orange County, where he published Sayer’s Dollar Weekly.

The paper was printed in the second story of a building that also housed the blacksmith shop of Irwin Smith. This building was across the street from one of the hotels in town. Roughly a year later, Stephen Sayer took on a partner when William H. Noble, from Waverly, N.Y., brought his family and his parents to Deckertown. The name of the new partnership was Sayer & Noble.

Shortly after the creation of this partnership, the community underwent a major economic and building boom following the arrival of the Midland Railroad.

Noble proved to be an excellent job printer, as he was extremely familiar with a wide variety of typefaces and sizes, and the specialized layouts that could be readily incorporated into a newspaper. Shortly after forming the partnership, the men acquired a large quantity of materials and machinery. They also installed the first steam-driven printing press in Sussex County.

In 1873, the business was put under considerable economic pressure when a major financial panic brought many businesses to their knees. The partners managed to struggle through the many months that this lasted. It was no easy task to keep the newspaper operating in a small community like Deckertown.

Sayer & Noble rebranded the company as The Independent Printing Company and issued stock in the firm. Many local merchants and residents in both Deckertown and Wantage Township purchased the stock that was being offered. Despite this infusion of money, business was still slow.

Jacob L. Swayze, who was the president of the Merchants National Bank in Newton, acquired a controlling interest in the Sussex Independent, and proceeded to install Henry A. Van Fredenburg, who was the editor of the New York Farmer, as the new editor of the Independent.

On Oct. 1 of that year, Swayze sold the newspaper to Whitfield Gibbs of Newark and John J. Stanton of Newton. Both of these men had been associated with the Sussex Register. Van Fredenburg remained with the newspaper into the spring of the next year.

The new management team, experienced in reporting on politics and related subjects, jumped right into drumming up business for the newspaper. They quickly drew attention with their attack against the existing Democratic Party ring that effectively controlled the political landscape in Sussex County.

Because of these attacks, the newspaper struggled to maintain its financial footing for the following two to three years. At the same time, the situation seemed to have brought a great deal of respect to the paper from around the county and state. Some of its contributors and supporters included Jacob L. Swayze, William A. Stiles, General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick of Wantage, John Loomis, A. F. Fellows of Newton, and H. A. Van Fredenburg, as well as other prominent people from around the county.

In 1878, the residents of Sussex County experienced a very high-profile political fight for the position of High Sheriff of Sussex County. Three men were involved in this campaign: J.B. Hendershot, Republican; William L. Decker, a Democrat from Sparta; and George B. Cole, running on the Greenback party line.

Charges and counter-charges were thrown about by the candidates. The Independent advocated to have Hendershot withdraw from the race in an attempt to eliminate what the editors perceived as potential problems with the final vote. They also promoted a fusion ticket that included Cole.

When their efforts in this regard failed, they backed Cole. Once the vote had been tallied, Decker led Cole by only 56 ballots, holding a simple plurality, not a majority of the votes. However, since it was a three-way race, it was decided that Decker was the winner. He was sworn into office on Jan. 1, 1879, and served in that office until the end of 1883.

1880 was a presidential election year and local politics kicked into high gear. The Independent endorsed the Republican platform and candidates at all levels, from national down to local races. James Abram Garfield headed up the Republican ticket for president. Winfield Scott Hancock was the candidate for the Democrats. Both Garfield and Hancock were generals in the Union Army during the Civil War and carried themselves admirably during their service.

Based in part on the continual promotion of the Republican candidates, the county yielded a greatly reduced majority for the entire Democratic ticket, as compared to past voting patterns. Hancock carried the county by roughly 800 votes.

It was during this presidential election cycle that things turned rather personal and dicey. The newspaper had no friend in Sussex County Sheriff Decker, as they had actively advocated for his defeat in the election of 1878. Decker packed a grand jury that held no good feelings for the Independent, the newspaper owners, or editors.

The grand jury handed down indictments against Jacob L. Swayze, Whitfield Gibbs, and John J. Stanton during the December term of the County Court of Oyer and Terminer.

The charge was libel. The attorneys for the three journalists sought to interpose “pleas in abatement” to the indictments. This request was overruled by the Court.

Jacob Swayze died on June 7, 1881. His death did not bring an end to these legal matters, as the case continued against Gibbs and Stanton. Negotiations continued between the counsel for the state and the attorneys for the two men.

In October of 1881, an arrangement was reached between all of the parties, which required the defendants to plead guilty to the technical charges. In exchange, only a nominal fine would be imposed. However, the attorney representing the State apparently betrayed the agreement with the defendants.

At sentencing, Stanton and Gibbs were each given a term of six to 10 months in state prison. However, neither man was ever compelled toserve these terms.

The level of treachery of people in certain elected offices became very evident to the population of the county. Residents of the county took great deference to the actions of the sheriff and the courts. While Gibbs and Stanton were temporarily incarcerated in the county jail in the basement of the county courthouse, they were given keys and were able to receive friends in the public areas of the courthouse.

It was reported that on their first night in jail, a large crowd gathered in the county park and burned a model of the courthouse. The first Sunday of their incarceration brought out roughly 500 county residents to show their support for the editors.

This was going on while the presidential campaign was working its way to election day, Nov. 2. All of the weekly newspapers in the county took sides politically, favoring the Democratic or Republican candidates and the political platforms they represented.

In the end, Garfield won the election with 214 Electoral College votes, while Hancock received 155. Despite the Electoral College vote, Garfield’s margin of victory remains the narrowest in history. Garfield received just 1,898 more votes than Hancock, with more than 9 million votes cast. Each man received slightly more than 48% of the total vote.

While Hancock did not win the election, his sweep of all of the southern states effectively cemented the Democratic Party’s dominance in that region for generations.

Garfield was sworn into office on March 4, 1881 as the 20th President of the United States.

Following the election, attention fell back to the plight of the two editors of theIndependent. It was at this point that the legal battle became heightened. A significant Democratic leader from Jersey City, former Governor Joseph D. Bedle, and Martin Rosenkrans, a well-known and respected attorney in Sussex County, were hired to represent the editors.

Ironically, Gibbs and Stanton were released from the county jail the day after the presidential election, based on a writ of error that had been submitted to the New Jersey Supreme Court and was sent down to the Court of Errors and Appeals. The legal battle continued for slightly more than three years.

Gibbs and Stanton finally won their case in July 1884. This culmination came following a challenge to the entire selection process of petit and grand juries that are known to hold animus toward a defendant. The results of this case dramatically impacted the manner in which juries were picked, thus eliminating the ability of elected officials to inappropriately influence the possible outcome of charges against defendants.

The case also brought about comprehensive revisions to the libel laws of the state through the passage of legislation in the following session of both the State House of Assembly and the State Senate.

Newspapers throughout the greater New York region and across the nation reported about this case on a regular basis, from its inception and throughout the trial. Among all of these newspapers, only the New Jersey Herald did not condemn the actions of Sussex County Sheriff Decker and the county prosecutor’s handling of this matter.

The Sussex Independent persevered, reporting news for the people of Sussex County.

From when the German-American Bund camp first opened in Andover Township in 1937, the Sussex Independent was vociferous in its opposition to having the camp in the county. The other county weekly newspapers did not provide anywhere close to the amount of coverage of this topic as the Independent.

For nearly four years, John Stanton made sure that almost every edition of his weekly newspaper carried a story that would raise the awareness of county residents about what this insidious organization was doing at the camp with its insinuation of Nazism into the life of the county. The camp was finally shut down by Sussex County Sheriff Denton Quick in July 1941.

The Sussex Independent continued to be published under that name until 1940, with the death of John J. Stanton. In 1941, the publishers renamed the newspaper The Sussex County Independent and relocated to Newton, New Jersey. The paper continued reporting news about the county until 1952, when it ceased operations.

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Sussex County Historical Society President Wayne T. McCabe may be contacted at sussexhistorian@juno.com