The first two columns of page 5 were devoted mostly to local
news,especially to public meetings and accidents involving
individuals from Franklin County. As with the Vindicator and the
Spectator in Virginia, the two Pennsylvania newspapers overlapped a
great deal in their coverage of local news. Items of a religious
nature seemed to draw special attention, with both papers on February
1, 1860, for example, carrying coverage of a local appearance and speech by
Rev. Dr. Peter Cartwright at the Methodist Church, and reporting on
local citizens appointed to church offices by the state conference of
the United Brethren of Christ. Also, it was in coverage of local
events that the two papers revealed the communal ties they shared.
While politically the editors feuded, and each paper wrote of the
other's political positions with contempt, the editors nevertheless
lived in the same town, shared the same friends, and engaged in the
same familial, commercial and religious networks. Political conflict
seems to have been somewhat disconnected from personal interaction at
the social level. See, for example, the amiable coverage each paper
gave on February 1, 1860 to the marriage of George Mengel, junior partner of
the Valley Spirit.
The remainder of page 5 was devoted almost entirely to news
and advertisements related to commercial and financial concerns.
Columns 3 and 4 usually carried, under the large heading "Latest
News," items received by the Repository and Transcript via
telegraph. Perhaps suggesting just what news had to be reported
immediately, this section of the paper mostly printed current rates of
exchange at the New York and Philadelphia markets for agricultural
commodities. Prices at Chambersburg markets usually followed the
"Latest News," but under the separate heading of "Report of
the Markets." Columns 5 and 6 carried advertisements, primarily
regarding estate sales and public auctions.
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