Published by The Evansville Courier

It is said the trio decided to sell when Murphy had a run-in with Mayor Benjamin Bosse over alleged gambling by high-school boys in local pool rooms. Murphy's son was in high school at the time and Murphy attacked the practice in The Courier.

The paper was sold in January to Henry W. Marshall, an experienced newspaperman who had owned and published the Lafayette Journal and Courier during the previous seven years.

Murphy went on to become president of a Chicago bank. Roosa remained as editor for a while but soon retired. And Carroll remained as business manager.

On March 1, 1920 - just two months after the initial sale - The Courier announced Marshall had sold half interest in the paper to Bosse. The next day, Carroll resigned his position, and many people questioned whether Bosse had a hand in the paper's original sale to Marshall.

"The Courier was historically a Democratic newspaper, and Bosse was a Democrat - but Bosse had been under fire by The Courier for practices that were considered questionable," noted historian Darrel Bigham. "There were allegations of vote-buying, manipulation of public favors and violation of the liquor law. Bosse arranged to buy The Courier in order to gain control and silence his critics. Percy Carroll left the paper because he saw what was coming."

Bosse bought the remaining interest in The Courier the following December and made some stock available for purchase. Local banker C.B. Enlow, who had helped Bosse arrange ownership of the paper, obtained a small share. Enlow's son, Robert, would hold controlling stock in The Courier 30 years later.

By 1921, Bigham said, The Courier was, in effect, "a Bosse mouthpiece." When Bosse died from a heart ailment and pneumonia in 1922, his widow, Anna, took over the paper's operations. Under her ownership, The Courier purchased The Journal, its oldest rival, which dated back to 1834. The Journal continued to be published as an evening paper until 1936, then discontinued because of rising costs.