Alton Observer

The Alton Observer (1837) was an abolitionist newspaper established in Alton, Illinois, by the journalist and newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy after he was forced to flee St. Louis, Missouri.

The former earned money by their capture of slaves' escaping across the Mississippi from Missouri.

Southern Illinois had numerous slavery supporters, where farmers used slave labor for cultivation.

On November 7, 1837, abolition opponents mobbed the warehouse where Lovejoy had his press, and gunfire was exchanged between them and his supporters.

Lovejoy and his supporters killed one man in the mob, named Bishop, and wounded others.