Alfred S. Horsley was born on August 15, 1842. He fought in the Civil War as part of the 1st Regiment of Tennessee Infantry, known as the Maury Greys. He was the editor and proprietor of the Columbia Herald and Mail from 1869 to 1871. He died on February 18, 1905.

Edward Ward Carmack was born on November 5, 1858, to Francis McMilland and Elvira Kate (Holding) Carmack near Castalian Springs, Tennessee. His father died when he was three, so he went to work at a young age. He was a very bright student, so when he needed further education, his mother sent him to Culleoka Institute to be taught by William Robert Webb. After leaving this school, he attended Cumberland University before opening a law practice in Columbia, Tennessee in 1879. Through this position, he gained enough notoriety to be elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 1884, but after one term returned to Columbia to work at the newspaper. In 1886, he joined the Nashville Daily American, and in 1892, he became the editor of the Memphis Commercial.

Carmack married Elizabeth Cobey Dunnington on April 29, 1890, and they had one son, Edward Ward Carmack, Junior. In 1896, Carmack was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1901 to the U.S. Senate. In 1908, he lost the primary for governor of Tennessee, possibly because of his stand for prohibition, and so returned to Nashville to edit the Tennesseean. He used this platform to insult his former rivals, and on November 9, 1908, he and Robin Cooper shot each other over these insults. Carmack died from his wounds, but Cooper was acquitted of the murder. The subsequent publicity was instrumental in Tennessee voting for Prohibition in January of 1909.