About

Reverend P. H. Brewster and O. P. Heath established the Cartersville Sentinel in March 1874 in Cartersville, Georgia. The four-page weekly circulated on Tuesdays at a subscription cost of two dollars and supported the Democratic Party. Like many papers in Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District, the Sentinel supported independent Democrat and Cartersville resident, Dr. William Harrell Felton. Brewster’s career as a newspaperman in Cartersville began at the Cartersville Semi-Weekly Express in 1871, and his time with the Express became the center of some drama between himself and W. A. Marschalk of Brewster’s old paper, now called the Standard and Express. In the April 15, 1874 issue of the Standard and Express, Marschalk describes a ‘personal attack’ Brewster made against Marschalk in the Sentinel’s pages. When Marschalk purchased the Standard and Express in 1873, he discovered that the paper’s subscriber records were poorly kept. In his efforts to rectify these records, he reached out to subscribers, and, according to Marschalk’s account, P. H. Brewster took serious offense. The dispute continued throughout April and beginning with the Standard and Express’ April 29, 1874 issue, Brewster appears to have refused to cooperate with Marschalk. This early rivalry with Cartersville’s leading newspaper combined with the town’s small population negatively impacted the Cartersville Sentinel, and it struggled to grow its subscriber base. The paper did experience brief growth after Captain A. M. Samford replaced O. P. Heath as part-owner and editor, in part because of Samford’s lively editorial voice. Samford was an ardent supporter of Dr. Felton, and Cartersville residents took interest in the Sentinel during Felton’s successful run for a United States House of Representatives seat. On February 3, 1875, however, the Standard and Express reported that the Sentinel’s last issue was published on January 26; the paper concluded that “in its death we find another proof that more than one paper cannot prosper in Cartersville.” Samford and Heath, however, partnered and made an attempt to revive the Sentinel in March 1875. Under their management, the Sentinel circulated for two more months before ceasing publication permanently.