Newspaper Reporter
Bio & Character Sketch of
Charles Nutter
March 3, 1903 - Aug. 7, 1987
Age in April, 1923: 20 Age at Death: 84
Age when picture was taken: (est) 20
Charles P. Nutter was born in Nebraska in 1903. After completing his initial education, he pursued a degree in Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia. His family was unwilling to pay for his education, so at sixteen, Nutter moved to Columbia on his own and worked for two years to save the tuition he needed to enroll.
At the time of the Scott lynching, Nutter was working part time as a stringer for The Evening Missourian newspaper.
Character Sketch
The Scott lynching was very likely the biggest story that Charles Nutter covered up to that point in his young life, but he would go on to a long and very rewarding career in journalism, likely spurred by the courage and steadfastness he displayed in Columbia while covering the Scott story and then taking the witness stand to testify against George Barkwell amidst many who wanted to quell his testimony. That he was run out of town immediately after the trial later proved to be his “badge of honor.”
Even in his years in Moscow, Russia, covering the Stalin regime as the Chief of the AP Bureau, it is very likely that the bravery he displayed in Columbia was a necessary component of the job.
Nutter’s hard work, evidenced by his desire to do whatever he could to “earn” his tuition at Missouri, carried him and his family – including the kids! – through the early lean years when he operated small town newspapers and did whatever was necessary to keep them operational.
Perhaps the most important skill that Nutter displayed in mid-1923 was his ability to honestly report what he saw, without favoritism or malice, and certainly without influence from outside parties or even regard for his own well-being. He may not have risked his life to gather the news, or even to report it in the newspaper, but he certainly did risk bodily injury or worse when he testified at trial.
Throughout everything, this young, hard-working, ethical, sincere and honest young man exhibited the very best of his trade – in stark contrast to the much older Ed Watson and Hollis Edwards at the Daily Tribune.