Lovejoy, Elijah P

Lovejoy, Elijah P(arish)

(born Nov. 9, 1802, Albion, Maine, U.S.—died Nov. 7, 1837, Alton, Ill.) U.S. newspaper editor and abolitionist. He moved to St. Louis in 1827. In 1833 he became editor of the St. Louis Observer, a Presbyterian weekly in which he wrote articles strongly condemning slavery. Under the threat of mob violence (1836), he moved his paper from the slave state of Missouri across the river to Alton, in the free state of Illinois. There mobs repeatedly destroyed his presses, and he was shot and killed while defending his building against an attack. News of his death strengthened abolitionist sentiment.