Henry F. Harrington

Who is Henry F. Harrington?

Henry F. Harrington was an American newspaper editor. He edited the Boston Herald for part of the 1830s.

In 1837, Harrington delivered a message by train from Worcester to Boston, a distance of 45 miles. The trip took just under an hour. Martin, while appreciative of Harrington's determination, ridiculed his disheveled appearance: ". . . and in those days the engineer had so little protection from the sparks and dust, that Mr. Harrington presented a very comical appearance, as with that precious document, the President's Message, in his hand, he rushed from the depot to his office."

Harrington opposed George Washington Dixon during that editor's run of the Bostonian; or, Dixon's Saturday Night Express. When one of Harrington's reporters called Dixon a "knave" for allegedly fabricating a story about an elopment, Dixon struck back at Harrington, calling him "Little Harry, [editor] of the Penny Herald"" and depicting him as a monkey labeled "Little Harry the Great Unbeliever". Harrington retaliated by accusing Dixon of stealing half of a ream of pink paper from the Boston Post—the Herald's main competitor.

The Lowell Courier satirized the ludicrous scene at Dixon's trial: