News from Niles Register

On April 30, 2006, a fire swept through the University of New Mexico’s Zimmerman Library basement. The blaze, started by an arsonist, caused $1.7 million in damage to books and the building.

 

On April 30, 2006, a fire swept through the University of New Mexico’s Zimmerman Library basement. The blaze, started by an arsonist, caused $1.7 million in damage to books and the building.

The backfiles of journals, magazines and newspapers suffered heavy losses. That was especially painful to me because for 40 years, I had relied heavily on that collection of periodicals for research purposes.

One thing I deeply regretted was the burning of the bound volumes of the old “Niles Register,” a tabloid-size publication on newsprint that appeared between 1811 and 1849.

Its publisher, Hezekiah Niles, ran the operation virtually alone for the first 25 years out of Baltimore. The Register has been called, legitimately, a forerunner of today’s news magazines.

Mr. Niles came up with the idea of printing news stories of the day, both snippets and full-coverage pieces, in such a way as to make them useful to students and historians of the future.

To reinforce that aim, he also published speeches and letters of public officials along with government documents. To this day, runs of the Register are still yielding dividends to dedicated researchers.

Although the volumes at the Zimmerman are no longer available, I’m lucky to have photocopies of numerous New Mexico items that I obtained from their pages over the years.

Hezekiah Niles, an ardent nationalist and patriot, viewed the West as a land of opportunity and the hope for a more prosperous future. Hence, he covered it extensively in his pages.

In the issue of May 23, 1829, he printed a decree issued by Mexico’s National Legislature, ordering expulsion of all people born in Spain.

The extreme measure was in retaliation for the Spanish government’s refusal to recognize Mexican independence, won in 1821.

In a Register editorial, Niles strongly condemned the decree as “a cruel act unworthy of the age in which we live.” And he further pointed out that “the barbarous law for the expulsion of Spaniards has seriously injured the country in draining off money and driving away many intelligent and enterprising citizens.”

Most of the exiles left the country by ship for New Orleans. But a small group of 10 men and six women assembled on the Santa Fe plaza and joined a caravan heading overland for Missouri.

The Register reported on their trip and took note of their arrival in the United States “where they have chosen a refuge and haven among us.”

Eight years later, Niles picked up and printed news of “A Revolution in Santa Fe.” That was the overthrow of the government of New Mexico in 1837.

Details had been brought east by a returning wagon train plying the Santa Fe Trail. “The governor, Don Albino Pérez, and all his principal officers have been murdered by the conspirators.”

“José Gonzales, the rebel chief, was declared and installed governor of New Mexico. About 15 men of distinction have been killed.”

The account went on to say that no Americans were known to have been harmed. But it noted that the revolutionists “had marked one of the Americans for sacrifice. His identity would be revealed when his head was seen upon a pole.”

I have not been able to discover the name of this targeted American. In fact, I’ve seen no other mention of him outside the pages of the Register.

Incidentally, several government officers had been decapitated and their heads displayed on poles in the plaza. In Mexico that was a custom then in vogue.

With the onset of the Mexican War in late spring of ’46, the pages of Niles National Register (as it was renamed) were soon filled with notices of the conflict. Prominent among them were reports of conditions in New Mexico.

An interesting disclosure appeared under the date of July 11. It stated that trail merchant Charles Bent had recently reached Missouri, having left New Mexico on May 27, at which time existence of the war was still known there.

Mr. Bent spoke of a conversation he’d had with Gov. Manuel Armijo. The official informed him he’d received word that Gen. José Urrea of the Mexican Army was marching for Santa Fe with a force of 5,000 men recruited in Sonora, Zacatecas and Durango.

His aim was to reinforce the paltry 180 soldiers stationed in New Mexico. As it turned out. Gen. S.W. Kearny and his Army of the West occupied the capital before any significant number of Mexican troops could arrive to defend it.

Excellent war coverage continued in the Register until conclusion of hostilities in the forepart of 1848. A year later, owing to increased competition and falling revenues, Niles National register suspended publication.

It had faithfully chronicled history-making events for almost 40 years.