Foster, Marcellus E. (Marcellus Elliott), 1870-

Born in Pembroke, Kentucky, Marcellus Elliot Mefo Foster (1870-1942) and his parents, Mariella and Marcellus, moved to Huntsville, Texas, in 1873. Foster graduated from Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University) in 1890. Five years later, he joined the Houston Post, working alongside William Sydney Porter, known best as O. Henry. In 1899, he became the youngest editor of a Texas newspaper. Two years later, he left the Post to found the Houston Chronicle . Using the pseudonym Mefo, Foster also began writing the weekly column Our City, which challenged the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

In 1908, Jesse H. Jones became part owner of the Chronicle, purchasing full ownership when Foster retired in 1926. The next year, Foster joined the Houston Press as editor and started writing the column Why, which criticized the state prison system under manager Marshall Lee Simmons and Governor Daniel J. Moody. After retiring as editor in 1937, Foster continued the column until 1941.

...