Newspaper article quotes as source docs

[camgarsky4]

The newspaper coverage before, during and after the trial had a strong dose of sensationalism and accuracy wasn't always a strong suit.

That said, are there good reasons not to accept attributed quotes as accurate?

[twinsrwe]

What quotes are you referring to?

[camgarsky4]

Twins -- here is one example (this is more of an implied quote)...I cut and pasted this from a forum thread from around 2013. There are other quotes I've seen and was curious what weight other folks placed on this type of information.

Boston Advertiser Oct 11th 1892.
'Mr Borden talked with Secretary Rounseville of the Manufacturer's Association
shortly before his death about his family affairs. He told Mr. Rounseville that he was not living at his farm during the
summer because there was so much trouble in his family that he did not feel like going....'

[camgarsky4]

Quick follow up on Mr. Rounsceville....the Knowlton Papers (pg 185) note that he was summoned as a witness, but was not called to testify. Presumably what the newspaper article tells us is in close proximity to what his testimony would have been?

[twinsrwe]

OK, I have heard of that quote. Thank you for posting it. Following are my thoughts: We need to keep in mind that it is a quote that was taken from a newspaper article. We know that newspaper articles can, and do at times, contain fault information. It is difficult to determine the accuracy of this quote since we don't know what the rest of the article entailed. It could very well be a quote that was taken out of context.

I think Andrew may have told Mr. Rounseville that he was not living at his farm during the summer, because he didn’t feel like going, although I could be wrong about that.

I could be wrong. but I highly doubt that Andrew Borden spoke with anyone other than John Morse about his family affairs.