Frederick Gilmer Bonfils (December 21, 1860 – February 2, 1933) was an American

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

who made the ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'' into one of the largest newspapers in the United States.Staff report (February 3, 1933). F. G. BONFILS DEAD; VETERAN EDITOR; Built The Denver Post Into One of the Largest Newspapers in the Nation. HAD SPECTACULAR CAREER I Long a Circus Owner. Took Part in Rush Into Indian Territory. Important Teapot Dome Witness. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Career

Born in

Troy, Missouri Troy is a city in Lincoln County, Missouri, United States. As of 2019, the estimated population was 12,820. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. Troy is an exurb of St. Louis, and is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

, he entered the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

in 1878, but resigned in 1881 and went into

land speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many ...

in the

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

booms. He purchased the ''Post'' with Harry Heye Tammen in 1895. Bonfils had met Tammen at the Windsor Hotel in Denver, where Tammen was a bartender (and editor of the Great-Divide Weekly Newspaper, as well as a worker in a

curio Curio may refer to: Objects *Bric-à-brac, lesser objets d'art for display * Cabinet of curiosities, a room-sized collection or exhibit of curios or curiosities *Collectables *Curio cabinet, a cabinet constructed for the display of curios People ...

store). In December 1899 Tammen and Bonfils were shot in their Denver Post office by W.W. Anderson, an attorney representing "maneater"

Alferd Packer Alfred Griner Packer (January 21, 1842 – April 23, 1907), also known as "The Colorado Cannibal", was an American prospector and self-proclaimed professional wilderness guide who confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874. He and fi ...

after a Post article had accused Anderson of taking Packer's life savings as a retainer. In the scuffle in the office Bonfils was shot twice and Tammen three times. Anderson was tried three times but never convicted while Tammen and Bonfils were convicted for jury tampering in the third trial. In 1900, both Bonfils and Tammen were horsewhipped and hospitalized by a lawyer who disliked their

yellow journalism Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include e ...

. Bonfils took $250,000 hush-money from Harry F. Sinclair in the

Teapot Dome scandal The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyomi ...

. Bonfils and Tammen both justified their style of sensationalistic journalism (as well as crediting their success as newspapermen) with the quote "a dogfight on a Denver street is more important than a war in Europe."The Continuing Task Of Updating America
/ref> In 1902, Bonfils and Tammen founded the Floto Dog & Pony Show. The show was named after Otto Floto, the famous sports editor of the Denver Post, who was involved in the publicity work for the show. In 1906, when bareback rider Willie Sells joined the show, it was renamed the

Sells-Floto Circus The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus that toured with sideshow acts in the United States during the early 1900s. History Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Harry Heye Tammen owned the firs ...

. Bonfils and Tammen owned the show until 1921, when it was one of a number of shows acquired by the American Circus Corporation. In 1909 Bonfils and Tammen bought the Kansas City Post and owned it until selling it to Walter S. Dickey in 1922.

J. Ogden Armour Jonathan Ogden Armour (November 11, 1863 – August 16, 1927) was an American meatpacking magnate and only surviving son of Civil War–era industrialist Philip Danforth Armour. He became owner and president of Armour & Company upon the death of ...

was a silent partner in the endeavor. The Post with its tabloid format, red headlines and

was closely tied to the rise of the

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

political machine in Kansas City. The Post was to fold shortly after the collapse of the machine.

Death

Bonfils died of encephalitis at his home in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1933 and was interred in the

Fairmount Mausoleum Fairmount Mausoleum is a public mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. The building was designed by architects Frederick E. Mountjoy and Francis W. Frewan. Constructed in 1929 and opened in 1930, the Fairmount Mausoleum contains th ...

at Fairmount Cemetery, Denver. At the time of his death, he was pursuing a libel lawsuit against the ''Posts competitor, the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

''.Staff report (February 13, 1933)
Death in Denver.
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' The life stories of Bonfils and Tammen were immortalized by their former employee, noted writer

Gene Fowler Gene Fowler (born Eugene Devlan) (March 8, 1890 – July 2, 1960) was an American journalist, author, and dramatist. Biography Fowler was born in Denver, Colorado. When his mother remarried during his youth, he took his stepfather's name to be ...

, in the book ''Timber Line: A Story of Bonfils and Tammen''.

References

External links

*
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils photos
via Library of Congress * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonfils, Frederick Gilmer 1860 births 1933 deaths The Denver Post people People from Troy, Missouri United States Military Academy alumni Editors of Colorado newspapers Abuse of the legal system