The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 202
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
"San Antonio Siftings." The News distributed Sweet's column statewide
and nationally. In 1879, Sweet was hired as associate editor for the Gal-
veston paper. To illustrate his phenomenal success, the Austin Weekly
Review wrote on May 9, 1881: ". .. Mr. Sweet's reputation as a humor-
ous writer is so well known that it is almost unnecessary to allude to it. It
is acknowledged that at present his sketches are more widely copied
and quoted than those of any other writer in the U.S." The New York
Journal wrote on April 16, 1881: ". .. Mr. Sweet's sketches, paragraphs
and bon mots are second to no living writer in freshness, originality,
sparkling wit, and refined humor."'
Sweet arrived in Galveston to take up his new duties in December,
1879. However, after his father died in December, i 88o, perhaps leav-
ing his son an inheritance, Alex resigned from the News. He then
moved to Austin where he bought the old Austin Weekly Review, which
he turned into Texas Siftzngs, which rapidly built up a circulation of fifty
thousand copies. His partner in the enterprise was John Armoy Knox,
an Irish banker's son who had come to Texas for his health. Siftings had
two associate editors, William O'Leary (later first city editor of the
Dallas Morning News) and Frank B. Holland (founder and publisher of
Texas Farm and Ranch magazine). W. H. Caskie was hired as cartoonist.
By 1884 the paper had won such national acclaim that it was moved
to New York City. "The prolific Sweet, who wrote most of the humor-
ous pieces, was joined by such contributors as A. Miner Griswold,
Henry Clay Lukens, Opie Read, Bill Nye, and poets Joaquin Miller and
James Whitcomb Riley."5 According to author William R. Linneman,
the paper "was the most popular of all the American illustrated comics.
Its circulation built up to 150,000, half again as large as Puck and for a
few years an English edition was printed at London."'
The publication of the magazine continued until 1895 when Sweet
and Knox disagreed over financial matters. After trying out a new hu-
mor magazine in Austin that failed, Alex returned to New York and was
associate editor for the Tammany Times when he died on May o, 1901.
When Sweet moved Texas Siftings from Austin to New York, he began
writing columns in the form of correspondence to friends back in Texas,
to whom he described the sights and wonders of his new home. This
allowed him to humorously contrast the urban East with the wild West.
4Ibid., xil-xiii, xiv (Ist and 2nd quotations), xv (3rd quotation).
5Ibid., xvi, xvil (quotation).
6William R. Linneman, "Colonel Bill Snort: A Texas Jack Dowlihng," Southwestern Ht storncal
Quarterly, LXIV (Oct., 196o), 187.202
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990, periodical, 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101213/m1/242/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.