During its first year the Tribune published a letter on the trial of the suit for libel brought by J. Fenimore Cooper against Thurlow Weed, in which the novelist secured a verdict of $400. The writer of this letter remarked: “The value of Mr. Cooper's character, therefore, has been judicially ascertained. It is worth exactly $400.” This led Cooper to sue Greeley for libel, and the trial took place in Saratoga, in December, 1842. Greeley argued his own case, and the jury gave the plaintiff a verdict for $200. As soon as this result was announced, Greeley took a sleigh for Troy, where he caught a boat, and early the next morning he was at his desk writing his own report of the trial. This report, which filled twelve columns of the Tribune of December 12, 1842, he finished by 11 P. M.--“the best single day's work I ever did.” Cooper made this report the ground for another libel suit, but that suit never came to trial.
A young newspaper can secure no advertising
