Carl Magee: The Editor Who Cracked Teapot Dome, Shot a Judge and Invented the Parking Meter

Jack McElroy

 Newspaper Editor and Journalist (Retired)

Author

Carl Magee arrived in Albuquerque in 1919 and bought The Albuquerque Journal, then launched The Albuquerque Tribune.  The newspaperman was soon at war with New Mexico’s powerful political machine. Magee later exposed the Teapot Dome bribery scandal that sent New Mexico’s first U.S. senator, Albert Fall, to prison.  Along the way, Magee had run-ins with a local judge and the law. After leaving New Mexico, Carl Magee invented the parking meter and launched the successful Park-O-Meter business.

Jack McElroy spent 43 years as a journalist and editor at newspapers in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Tennessee. After studying English and journalism at the University of Arizona, Jack joined The Albuquerque Tribune as a young cub reporter. He then rose through the ranks at The Albuquerque Tribune, eventuallyserving as the managing editor. While in Albuquerque, Jack also earned a Master’s Degree at the University of New Mexico.  After ten years with the Rocky Mountain News, Jack then served nearly two decades as editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Under Jack’s leadership, the newspapers he worked for have won national awards for journalism, public service and advocacy for the First Amendment.

Jack McElroy’s book, Citizen Carl: The Editor Who Cracked Teapot Dome, Shot a Judge, and Invented the Parking Meter, is available through the University of New Mexico Press (www.unmpress.com).