The newspaper and magazine industry has always been a cutthroat business - even in the world of Jehovah's Witness publications. Charles Taze Russell began what is now known as The Watchtower publication in 1879 for use in the door-to-door ministry by the Jehovah's Witnesses. They were unchallenged until 1889 when a new, radical door-to-door publication entered the marketplace.
In addition to writing for the Watchtower, Charles Taze Russell wrote the
hit-song "Knockin' On Heaven's Door."
A young journalist named David McStevens founded "The Loincloth: Exposing Christianity" in 1889 and immediately threatened the Watchtower's door-to-door dominance. Within the first year, Watchtower's circulation dipped down by 35 percent. Readership for the Loincloth increased even more when they began to give away tickets for the 144,000 available seats in heaven with crossword puzzle contests.
McStevens and Russell became embroiled in a heated battle; McStevens claimed Russell was buying some of the tickets to heaven and not coming by them the honest way - earning them or winning them. Russell did not deny the charges and then scalped 100 heaven seating tickets for a total of $2.3 million dollars.
With a little extra cash on hand, Russell increased the production and dissemination of his Watchtower literature. By 1910 McStevens had all but disappeared from the big picture. According to Witness Micah Onas's annual list in 1911, the Fortunate 144,000, David McStevens had slipped in the rankings all the way from #58 to #143, 820 - putting his eternal existence in jeopardy. Charles Russell held steady at #3 behind Jesus and Booker T. Washington.