Pony express (newspapers)

A pony express is a term which was used for express delivery systems which newspapers used in the 19th century to obtain news faster or publish it prior to rival publications. As with the celebrated Pony Express of 1860-61, these systems were eventually supplanted by telegraph lines.

In December 1830, three New York concerns competed to be the first to publish President Andrew Jackson's annual message to Congress -- The Journal of Commerce, the New York Courier and Enquirer, and the Association of Morning Papers. James Gordon Bennett of the Courier and Enquirer arranged for a horseback express from Washington to Baltimore, followed by a ship to Philadelphia and second horseback leg to New York City. The run took six hours and cost almost $300, but the Courier and Enquirer prevailed over its competitors.

The Journal of Commerce initiated a regular eight-relay express from Philadelphia to New York in January 1833. After its rivals sought federal governments help through the establishment of an express government delivery system, the Journal expanded its line directly to Washington, D.C., giving it a news advantage of one to three days.

By the 1840s, the New York Herald (founded by Bennett in 1835) had developed an express route from Albany, New York (the capital of the state of New York) to New York City. Bennett knew that telegraph lines were being built, but had rebuffed attempts to sell him on its merits, as he favored his established methods and the advantage it gave him over his competition. But in January 1847, the New York Evening Express accepted the offer of Ezra Cornell to use his new telegraph line from Albany to New York to get legislative news, and the Express was able to publish a new message from the governor in advance of the Herald pony express line. Beaten badly to press, the Herald was forced abandoned its opposition to the telegraph.

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