Benedict Lincoln Prieth

Benedict Lincoln Prieth as a corps student in 1893

Benedict Lincoln Prieth (born April 8, 1870 in Newark , New Jersey , USA; † September 30, 1934 in Avon by the Sea, New Jersey, USA) was an American newspaper publisher and publicist.

Life

After Benedict Prieth obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree at Princeton University on June 10, 1891 , he came to Germany at the age of 21 to continue his studies at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin . Here he joined the Corps Saxonia-Berlin in the winter semester 1891/1892. After four semesters, he returned to the USA in 1893 to publish The New Jersey Free Newspaper with his brother Edwin Prieth and to manage the associated publishing house. The New Jersey Freie Zeitung was founded by his father Benedict Prieth in 1858 and, after his death in 1879, was continued by his mother Theodora Prieth. The New Jersey Freie Zeitung was the best known and most influential German-language daily newspaper in New Jersey in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1917, he and his brother were arrested on charges of violating the Espionage Act , and the newspaper was confiscated because it had excelled in Germany-friendly articles. Both were released on bail. During the pending trial, Prieth ran for the office of commissioner in Newark, but was defeated in the election. About a year later, the trial opened, at the end of which the charges were dropped after the jury failed to reach a verdict. Prieth converted the newspaper into an "employee owned" company and withdrew from the management of the paper.

He also published books such as John William Lloyd's The natvral man: a romance of the golden age or the monthly art magazine "The Whim". As editor of this magazine he was in correspondence with Leo Tolstoy .

From 1905 to 1906 Prieth ran an independent light and electricity company in Newark, which he had previously acquired from the Puclic Service Corporation . In 1908 he served on the Newark Board of Education as a member. In 1914 he was named as a juror on the grand jury of the United States District Court in Trenton. He was treasurer of the New Jersey Republican State Committee .

Benedict Lincoln Prieth is buried in Newark's Fairmont Cemetery.

The Prieth case of 1917/1918 has recently been used in the United States as a case study in which students were asked to grapple with the question of the legitimacy of restrictions on freedoms such as freedom of the press and freedom of expression by the state in times of war or terrorist threat.

swell

• Adolf Stromberg: Benedict Lincoln Prieth † , obituary in Sachsenblatt, 19th volume, number 2, March 31, 1935
• Carl Weigandt: History of the Corps Saxonia-Berlin to Aachen 1867-1967 , Aachen 1968
• BENEDICT PRIETH, EX-EDITOR, IS DEAD , New York Times obituary, October 2, 1934
• Benedict Prieth's obituary , in the New York Times, October 2, 1934

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A GREAT DAY AT PRINCETON in The New Yortk Times, June 11, 1891
2. ↑ Biography of the father Benedict Prieth  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Federal Writers' Project: New Jersey, a Guide to Its Present and Past , p. 116
4. ↑ US OFFICIERS SEIZE OLD GERMAN PAPER in The New York Times, October 5, 1917
5. ↑ PACIFIST IS IN NEWARK Swamped ELECTION , in The New York Times, November 14, 1917
6. ↑ BEGIN PRIETH'S TRIAL in The New York Times, September 10, 1918
7. ↑ DISAGREE IN CASE Prieth in The New York Times, September 21, 1918
8. ↑ John William Lloyd: The natvral man: a romance of the golden age
9. ^ Advertisement in Liberty, Vol. XIV. 16, p. 7 ( Memento of the original from December 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 1.98 MB)  
10. ↑ Leo Tolstoy collection, Princeton University 1890-1925 ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ New Federal Grand Jury in South Amboy Citizen, January 24, 1914  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 4.39 MB)  
12. ↑ REPUBLICAN WAR OPINION in The New York Times, May 2, 1916
13. ↑ German American Identity and Dissent during World War I in New Jersey History Partnership  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.