1852-1853.
Daily. First issue published January 1, 1852.
The Signal was the enterprise of a group of printers, – some of whom became prominent in after years. These printers included Charles G. Gonter, Joseph L. Craft, Robert McKee, John F. Frazier, M. C. Libby. A partner in this newspaper venture was J. Wilson McDonald who went to New York and became a famous sculptor. These men contributed their work to the Signal and that was the best part of the capital which kept the paper going. The anti-slavery people raised money to start a paper. They found the printers open to a financial proposition. The Signal was bought in July, 1852, passing into the possession of Blain and Brown, Giles F. Filley, Oliver D. Filley, John How and a few others who shared their sentiment in favor of emancipation. A new name was selected – the Missouri Democrat.
(From St. Louis, the Fourth City by Walter Barlow Stevens, 1911).
The Signal was the successor of the Barnburner, the first Free-Soil paper in Missouri. (Established in 1850) the Signal, published by William McKee and William Hill, advocated the same views. In 1853, Messrs. McKee & Hill, having purchased the Union, merged the two papers into the Missouri Democrat.
(From the History of St. Louis City and County by John Thomas Scharf, 1883).
