63

to secure original material, but much of his material
was eclectic, and what little original material there
was, was not of good literary quality.¹²¹ The maga-
zine ran from April 26, 1800 through May 27, 1801,
but was suspended from September 6 through December
13, 1800, because cf difficulties caused by the yel-
low fever epidemic.

Pechin's printing career in Baltimore after 1800
was long and varied, but a detailed study of his later
life belongs to another period in Baltimore printing
history. His interests and activities were varied;
he was in turn a member of the General Assembly of
Maryland, one of the commissioners for opening Pratt
Street in Baltimore, a tank director, member of a com-
mittee to raise funds for the poor, and one of a com-
mittee of welcome on the occasion of Lafayette's

visit to Baltimore.¹²² He was also the author of a
controversial pamphlet, Freedom of the Press Vindicated,
published in Baltimore in 1833.

Perhaps the most colorful incident in Pechin's
career came in September of 1814, when he closed his
newspaper office, and, as major of the state Militia,
his entire newspaper staff with him, helped to defeat

121 Terwilliger, W.B. A history of literary peri-
odicals in Baltimore, p. 10-11.

122 Ingle, Edward, op. cit. p. 17.