George Wilkes

George Wilkes (1817 – September 23, 1885) was an American journalist and newspaper editor. A native of New York State, he became a journalist and after losing a libel case was imprisoned in New York City's jail; he wrote a pamphlet on the jail's conditions in 1844 based on his stay. The following year, Wilkes and a friend started publishing the National Police Gazette, a newspaper on crime reporting and other sensationalistic topics. In 1856 Wilkes bought a sporting newspaper called the Spirit of the Times, which he had previously worked for.

After selling the Gazette, he published and edited the Spirit until his death in 1885. Wilkes also wrote a couple of books on non-sporting topics, and introduced pari-mutuel betting to the United States.