342
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1859
orphan before his majority, with a young brother and sister to support, he decided to come to Texas. He arrived in 1840, and for a while lived among the German colonists in the interior of the State. But he was not satisfied merely to make a living; he wished to have a career, so turned his attention to newspaper work. His first editorial venture was a German weekly called The Union, which he bought in Galveston in 1855. In a year or so he moved his plant to tne building occupied by the Civilian and Galveston Gctzette, and was permitted to use the presses of that paper to print The Union. In addition to his news- paper work Flake carried on a profitable mercantile business-selling seeds of all kind-on the Strand. To this place of business he finally moved his printing press, and in 1858, The Union became a tri-weekly. Flake took considerable interest in politics, and was strongly anti- seces~ion. He was not always prudent in his editorials, and one morning, in 1860, he went to his place of business to find all his type pied and things in a great mess generally. It was pretended that a false fire alarm had caused the havoc. Nevertheless, Flake was determined to carry on. In fact, suspecting that such an accident as had befallen him might at rnme time happen, he constantly kept most of his surplus print materials hidden in his home, thus he was able to clean up his press and put his paper out on schedule. After this experience, while he remained a staunch Union man, he was polite and prudent enough to stay on good terms with the Con- federate authorities. After the Civil War had begun he discontinued his German paper and began putting out a semi-occasional news-sheet under the name of Flake's Bulletin. This paper was issued whenever there was any news to be had, and its size was determined by the amount of news that he was able to obtain. It generally ran between two and four columns. After the pony express was established between Shreveport and Houston, news came more regularly, and was transmitted from Houston to Galveston by wire, usually reaching Flake between eight and nine o'clock, p.m. He would then set type by t.he light of a tallow candle, in order to issue his Bulletin next morning. This paper was always popular with the Confederate soldiers in the fort. It was printed on any color, or any variety of paper that could be procured. After the war ended this publication grew in popularity and soon had regu- lar publication days; and it was printed on white paper. But its troubles had not ended, for the lines between the Union and Confederate sentiment were sharply drawn, and the competitive newspapers made business for Flake unprofitable. In the summer of 1872 Flake went to New York to procure materials for his printing business. He died there in a hotel in New York City, · July 19, 1872. After his death the Bulletin lingered on for a short time but the odds against its existence were too great and it was suspended. Ferdinand Flake was married in Galveston, December 27, 1847, to Mrs. Anna Margaret Buckholtz. They had six children, all of whom died in early maturity. See Lewis Publishing Company, History of Texas with Biographical Histo1·y of the Cities of Houston and Galveston, etc., PP· 416--419. 2This letter makes it clear that Houston's letter of July 24, 1855, was in answer to one that Ferdinand Flake had written at the instigation of a group of men at Galveston and Houston. Both letters were published in
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