1847 – “Arms dealer ballistic: gives Editor both barrels”

The Tipperary Vindicator, 3 April 1847

The newspapers of the 19th Century were great places to stage long-running feuds. In an age when the radio was still a far off prospect, belligerents were left to duel it out in games of letter-tennis in the columns of the local newspapers. In the Nenagh Guardian of 27 March 1847, the Editor made a reference to the alleged conduct of an arms dealer who had visited that town some days earlier. The dealer himself was, to put it mildly, “put out” by these comments. In fact, he was so incensed that he took pen to paper to defend his good name, in the columns of another Nenagh publication, The Tipperary Vindicator of 3 April 1847. When the opening sentence of a letter includes the words “indignation”, “libel” and “atrocious”, you know the author is cross…