...In the '60s, the editor of the North Augusta Star faced economic boycotts, violent crowds and threats from the police after uncovering wrongdoing by the police chief. He never backed down, and eventually the town government reformed. And then there's the famous case of N.G. Gonzales, one of the founders of The (Columbia, SC) State newspaper, who was gunned down in broad daylight at the corner of Main Street in 1903 by Lt. Governor James Tillman. Tillman was the nephew of the most powerful politician in the state, US Sen. "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman, but Gonzales didn't care. He wrote paint-stripping editorials and merciless news stories that helped kill Jim Tillman's campaign for governor. When Tillman shot the unarmed editor, Gonzales didn't complain. He looked the Lt. Governor in the eye an offered one last editorial comment:

"Shoot me again, you coward."

Gonzales died. The well-connected Lt. Governor was acquitted. One of the pro-Tillman jurors who heard the case offered the quote above as a defense for letting a murderer go free.

But it was H. L. Mencken who gave us the most lasting quote from the political assassination of N. G. Gonzales: "He was the last editor of The State worth shooting." Just over 100 years ago, a newspaper editor was willing to risk his life defending his principles. Today, the fight for freedom can't even make the news pages of most American papers...