560 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

Col. Wade H. Harris, the present editor of the Charlotte
Observer, although a mere youth at the time, served as local
editor of the Sun, and today speaks of his experience and train-
ing in Wilmington in the warmest terms of appreciation.

Mr. Harry P. Russell shared with Mrs. Harris the duties of
the business office. He was a young man of fine attainments,
and later was prominently connected with the New York Sugar
Exchange and amassed a comfortable fortune. He died in
Orange, N. J., some six years ago.

The Sun was printed by Messrs. Jackson & Bell, the well-
known printers of Wilmington, and had as its capable fore-
man, Mr. Thomas T. Seeders, whose make-up was said to be
the best in the State.

The Africo-American Presbyterian, published in the interest
of the colored members of that denomination by Rev. D. J.
Saunders, a colored man of remarkable attainments, lived for
several years.

The North Carolina Medical Journal was established by Dr.
Thomas F. Wood in January, 1878. It was a monthly publica-
tion, ably edited and of great value to the profession.

The Morning Star, the State’s oldest daily newspaper, was
founded September 23, 1867, by William H. Bernard, who
came from his home in Fayetteville just at the close of the war,
and, on October 1, 1865, with the late Col. John D. Barry,

began the publication of the old Wilmington Dispatch, a morn- —

ing daily newspaper, with its offices of publication on the south
side of Market Street, between Front and Second Streets. The
copartnership existing between Messrs. Bernard and Barry
lasted but a few months, and there was a dissolution of the firm,
each partner assuming his share of the liabilities. Major
Bernard took charge of the job printing department of the
business and Colonel Barry continued the publication of the
newspaper, which, after two or three years, suspended publi-
cation.

The job office included in its equipment the first press on
which the Morning Star was printed. Major Bernard removed
his part of the business to a room over a grocery store, then
conducted by Edwards & Hall, on Water Street, between Mar-
ket and Dock. He did job printing exclusively for several
months, but on September 23, 1867, began the publication of
the Star, which was conducted for some months as an evening
paper, but later took the morning field. It has remained in

Peace Restored 561

the newspaper firmament of the State as a morning paper until
this day, while other papers, started at intervals since, during
all these years have, for various reasons, one after another
dropped from the morning constellation.

The installation of a faster press necessitated a removal of the
plant to what is now known as Custom House Alley, where
it was published for nearly ten years. In 1876 the Star was
removed from that location to Numbers 10 and 11 Princess
Street, once an inn of the earlier Cape Fear period. The build-
ing at one time housed the late Joseph Jefferson, who, with his
theatrical company, came from New York in a sailing vessel,
playing in the local theatre and making trips by vessel to the
larger port cities of the two Carolinas, maintaining permanent
headquarters in Wilmington. |

The predominant characteristic of the Star under the ad-
ministration of Major Bernard was its intense loyalty to the
Democratic party. Though conservative, it was not unmind-
ful of the need of party reform from time to time. Its greatest
Service was perhaps during what is known as the “White Gov-
ernment Campaign” in North Carolina in 1898, culminating
in the Wilmington Revolution in the same year. Major Ber-
nard never sought office, though for twenty-seven years he was
a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, and,
for a part of the time, a member of the Advisory Committee of
the party organization in the State.

On May 1, 1909, on account of impaired health and a desire
to retire from active journalism, Major Bernard sold the paper
to the present owners, the Wilmington Star Company, Inc.,
composed of some of the leading Wilmington business men, the
ncorporators being James Sprunt, H. C. McQueen, M. J. Cor-
bett, Col. Walker Taylor, D. C. Love, C. W. Yates, William H.
Sprunt, Capt. John W. Harper, J. A. Springer, W. E. Springer,
the late James H. Chadbourn, James H. Carr, Joseph E.
Thompson, Maj. William H. Bernard, and his son, William
Stedman Bernard, the last two named having retained a small
terest in the business largely for sentimental reasons.

Upon the purchase of the property by the new owners, in
1909, the paper was moved to quarters fitted up for it in the
Orton Building, a perfecting press was installed, and new type-
setting machines were added. Within the next four years the
paper about doubled its circulation in Wilmington and tribu-
tary counties in eastern North Carolina and upper South Caro-

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