Josey for Sterling

Governor Ross Shaw Sterling of Texas, who reputedly has lost in deflated real estate large wads of the fortune he made from oil, last week lost his newspaper, the Houston Post-Dispatch, to an insurance man named J. E. Josey. The surrender of the newspaper, heavily burdened by notes, was not a surprise; but, to many, its acquisition by Mr. Josey was.

Last October Governor Sterling placed his affairs in the hands of a friendly trusteeship headed by his good friend Banker Jesse Holman Jones. The trustees, who loaned Governor Sterling $800,000, found one of his properties could be sold immediately--the Post-Dispatch, only morning paper in the city, which the Governor established in 1924 by merging his newly acquired Dispatch with the old, moribund Post.

Two bids were received: one from rich Lumberman James M. West, who held a claim on some of the newspaper's stock as security for a $250,000 note to Publisher Sterling, and who had quietly bought up enough more stock to give him control. The other bid came from Mr. Josey, another good friend of Trustee Jones. After some court wrangling, Lumberman West sold his interest to Mr. Josey for $485,000, after which he went off with Governor Sterling to the latter's ranch to hunt deer.

The Scripps-Howard Press and the Chronicle (published by Banker Jones) reported the sale; but not the Post-Dispatch.

Many Texans nodded sagely, insisted that Mr. Josey was merely a dummy for Banker Jones who would eventually take over the Post-Dispatch. Both men firmly denied it.

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