The story of the Sun, New York: 1833-1928 / by Frank M. O'Brien ; with an introduction by Edward Page Mitchell ...

66

THE STORY OF "THE SUN"

Webb went to the police and to the grand jury, and
for a few days it looked as if the hostile editors might
reach for something of larger caliber than pens. Thus
the Sun of January 22:
We were informed yesterday at the police office,
and subsequently by a gentleman from Wall Street,
that Webb, of the Courier and Enquirer, had openly
threatened to make a personal assault upon us. It
was lucky for him that we did not hear this threat;
but we can now only say that if such, or anything
similar to it, be his intention, he will find each of the
three editors of the Sun always provided with a
brace of "mahogany stock" pistols, to accommodate
him in any way he likes, or may not like.
The specification of "mahogany stock" referred to
Colonel Webb's own supposed predilection for pistols of
that description.
No sooner was this fierce clash with Webb over than
the Sun found itself bombarded from many sides in the
war over Maria Monk. This woman's Awful Disclosures
had just been published in book form by Howe and
Bates, of 68 Chatham Street, New York. They purported
to be "a narrative of her sufferings during a residence
of five years as a novice and two years as a black nun
in the Hotel Dieu Nunnery at Montreal." On January
18, 1836, the Sun began to publish these shocking stories,
in somewhat condensed and expurgated form. It did not
vouch for their truth, but declared that it printed them
from an "imperative sense of duty." "We have no better
means than are possessed by any reader," it cautiously
added, "to decide upon their truth or falsehood."