Martin Delany's writing skills first appeared and developed in writing for his own newspaper in Pittsburgh, "The Mystery," These reports and editorials caught the eye of many journalists, since "The Mystery" was, for several years in the 1840s, the only newspaper published by African Americans. Often cited as a source of columns and opinion in newspapers including other mainstream newspapers and in William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, "The Liberator," it was only a matter of time that Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany would meet and germinate together the idea of a new "black voice" newspaper, "The North Star."
"On last Saturday night they made a bold attempt to carry their designs into execution, which made the people of the community acquainted with their real character. The four Virginians from Stanton, one of their names Turk, which five of their pimps residing here, making nine in all, left town between ten and eleven o'clock, and at about twelve attacked a colored man named John Finly, living about six or seven miles below town in the mountains, entirely secluded from anyone, and after a spirited battle, in which three of the baby stealers were wounded severely, they retreated, and on Tuesday morning the prime movers of the scheme left for parts unknown. I understand a law suit is to be entered against those who still have the hardihood to sneak around this place. By this attempt against the liberty of a free citizen, they have deservedly called down the execration of all good citizens of every creed."
'The Mystery,' summer, 1847 (quoted in Ullman, p. 65)
