Chapter Two: Historical Notes

The Birth of Yellow Journalism

In the 1890s, American journalism underwent a sensational transformation. The term "yellow journalism" emerged from a rivalry over a comic character called "The Yellow Kid," but it came to represent a new style of newspaper reporting that prioritized sensation over accuracy, emotion over fact.

The Titans of Sensationalism: Hearst vs. Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal engaged in a circulation war that reshaped American media. Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, had built the World into the nation's largest newspaper through popular appeal and crusading journalism. Hearst, heir to a mining fortune, bought the Journal in 1895 and immediately set out to dethrone Pulitzer.

Their competition led to increasingly sensational coverage: giant headlines, lurid crime stories, pseudo-scientific discoveries, and manufactured scandals. The famous (likely apocryphal) telegram from Hearst to artist Frederic Remington in Cuba—"You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war"—captures the spirit of the era.

The Spanish-American War: Yellow Journalism's Peak

The 1898 explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor became yellow journalism's defining moment. Without evidence, both papers blamed Spain, with headlines like "Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!" The resulting public outcry helped push America into war. Hearst and Pulitzer had discovered that war sold papers—truth was optional.

The Perfect Environment for a Con Man

This media landscape of the late 1890s created ideal conditions for T. Allen McQuary's fabrications. Newspapers needed content, readers craved sensation, and fact-checking was minimal. A young man claiming to circle the globe as a purple knight fit perfectly into an era when newspapers regularly published stories of sea serpents, miracle cures, and impossible adventures. McQuary understood what Hearst and Pulitzer had proven: in the age of yellow journalism, a good story mattered more than a true one.