SAN ANTONIO FREIE PRESSE FÜR TEXAS. Die Freie Presse für Texas, a German newspaper published by the Texas Free Press Company in San Antonio, was founded on July 15, 1865, by August Siemeringqv and Company a few months before the same company started the San Antonio Express-News.qv In 1867 W. B. Moore and James P. Newcomb,qv both newspaper men of experience, joined with Siemering and H. Pollmar, a former owner of the Daily Herald, in the work of editing the two papers. The German paper, with Siemering as editor, was a five-column, four-page publication issued bi-weekly, tri-weekly, and, at times, daily. About half the space was taken up by advertisements of San Antonio firms. The front page had two columns of advertisements, and the remainder was filled with fiction. The second and third pages contained national and world news. The editorials showed that the editor was a Republican in politics. He continued a staunch Unionist despite his participation in the Confederate cause. The volume for 1868 carried endorsements of Ulysses S. Grant for president. Prominent news items included national finances, Reconstructionqv laws, accounts of Indians and Indian raids, ranger activities, information about immigration, and advice to immigrants. The territory covered made the publication one of the prominent papers of the day. Its agents were located in many South Texas cities, especially those with large German populations. In 1877 the company sold the English paper, the Express, but continued to do the mechanical work until the Express bought its own presses some years later. G. F. Neuhause edited the Freie Presse as an eight-page, six-column weekly until the paper was discontinued on October 28, 1945.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rudolph L. Biesele, The History of the German Settlements in Texas, 1831-1861 (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1930; rpt. 1964).
Frances Donecker
