The first bookkeeper for the Vancouver World newspaper took off with some of its money
When the Vancouver Daily World was incorporated on Nov. 1, 1888, three people signed the forms: John C. McLagan, J.M. O’Brien and John William Gunn.
The World would become the top newspaper in pioneer Vancouver. But evidently not quickly enough for Gunn, who took off to the U.S. with some of the World’s money.
On Dec. 7, 1888, the World ran a front-page story on Gunn skipping town.
“John W. Gunn, the World’s defaulting bookkeeper, writes to his friends in this city from Port Townsend that he is on way south, San Francisco being his objective point,” it began, “where he will no doubt bask and lord it in free style on his ill-gotten gains.”
The World didn’t say how much money he allegedly absconded with: “irregularities are cropping up every hour.” But it denied a report in “a local contemporary” (the rival News-Advertiser) that it was only $130, “and that sum (was) due him.”
As it turned out, Gunn didn’t go to San Francisco — he had taken a job at another newspaper in Snohomish County, in what was then Washington territory (it became a state on Nov. 11, 1889).
Still, in January 1889, Gunn felt aggrieved enough to send a letter to the editor of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review in his native Ontario, stating the “reports in and telegraphed from the Vancouver World are false in every particular.”
The World would have none of it.
“The writer of the foregoing takes very good care that he keeps behind the international boundary to protect himself from British justice,” it thundered.
“The vilest of criminals invariably proclaims his innocence. Even if caught red hot in the act with his victim’s gore on his hands, a murderer will assert his innocence.”
The World’s story doesn’t have a byline, but it was probably written by owner/editor McLagan, who was known for his sharp tongue.
McLagan must have been furious that Gunn’s letter had been published in the Woodstock Sentinel-Review. McLagan had started his newspaper career as a printer there after immigrating to Canada from Scotland. In 1884 he became the first editor of the Victoria Daily Times, and four years later moved to Vancouver to start The World.
In his first editorial, McLagan promised to “cater to the citizens of this city” by illuminating “the living forces building up the material, moral and social life of the city.”
High falutin’ words, considering the paper was usually four pages in the fall of 1888, and filled with nuggets that are so trivial they’re hilarious.
On Dec. 3, 1888, for example, the daily City and Country News column stated “the person who removed a truck from the front of McLennan & McFeely’s store last night will greatly oblige by returning it, as the owners wish to use it.”
On Dec. 3, the paper reported “it seems to be in the air that there is a possibility of another couple having eloped on the Yosemite this afternoon.”
The Province noted the Vancouver correspondent of the Globe was Odlum himself.
“It is always interesting to read a great man’s unprejudiced opinion of his own greatness,” it said.
The World thrived during a real estate boom after the sale, and Taylor decided to build the World Tower, now known as the Sun Tower.
But there was an economic depression just before and during the First World War, and Taylor sold/lost the paper to new owner John Nelson in 1915.
The Sun purchased The World in 1924 and folded it into the Sun on March 12, 1924. Less than two months later Sara McLagan died on May 1, 1924.
