Fremont Older

Who was Fremont Older?

Fremont Older was a newspaperman and editor in San Francisco, California for nearly fifty years. He is best known for his campaigns against civic corruption and efforts on behalf of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings, wrongly convicted of the Preparedness Day bombing of 1916.

Born in a log cabin in Appleton, Wisconsin, Older began his working life at age twelve as an apprentice printer, he claimed, after reading the story of Horace Greeley. He worked in Virginia City, Nevada, on the Enterprise, then moved on to the Redwood City Journal, later writing for the Alta California.

In 1895, Older became managing editor of the San Francisco Bulletin, and gained notoriety when he took on the Boss Abe Ruef machine in San Francisco, during the mayoralty of Eugene Schmitz, which led to the corruption trials during the rebuilding of San Francisco following the 1906 Earthquake and fire.

At one point, Older was kidnapped and threatened with murder by persons unknown, but said to be working for the grafters. In his later years at the Bulletin, Older was offended by the owner's rewriting of his editorials and refusal to commit to a lifelong appointment, so after twenty-three years of service, he resigned in 1918 and went to William Randolph Hearst's paper, the San Francisco Call. Along with talented staff, he brought the Mooney case and numerous other stories that the Bulletin owner had refused to carry, including the Fair will case involving a state Supreme court justice and a bribe amounting to $400,000.