Goodwill workers in NJ find original 1774 ‘rebel’ newspaper

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
yesterday

BELLMAWR, N.J. (AP) — A quick eye by Goodwill workers in southern New Jersey turned up framed pages from an original 1774 Philadelphia newspaper with an iconic “Unite or Die” snake design on the masthead.

The frayed Dec. 28, 1774, edition of the “Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser” boasts three items signed by John Hancock, then president of the Provincial Congress, who pleads for the Colonies to fight back “enemies” trying to divide them. ... A jumble of small advertisements offer rewards for a lost horse or runaway apprentice, while another insists the poster will no longer pay his “misbehav(ing)” wife’s debts.

The discovery was first reported by NJ Pen, an online news site.
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There are three other existing copies of the same weekly edition of the Pennsylvania Journal, all housed in university collections. Randall hopes this one will find a home in the Philadelphia area where the public can see it. She posted it for sale on the Goodwill website for 15 days earlier this year, but the listing didn’t get widespread interest. Snyder believes it should.
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