The Kurier Poznański was a conservative Catholic paper which was started on 2 January 1872. From its birth, its editors got locked up in all kinds of conflicts and legal disputes with the Prussian authority supervising Polish publications in the Grand Duchy of Poznań. For the first time, Kurier Poznański was taken to court over four of its articles in 1872. The following year, the police and the prosecutor's office raised serious objections to five articles. This was a presage of worse things to come. Indeed, in 1874, the court was triggered into action over 21 of the paper’s articles. It ruled against Kurier Poznański in 17 cases, which meant that its three editors — Teodor Żychliński, Ludwik Gayzler, and Józef Żórawski — were handed down 17 months imprisonment and 300 talars (900 marks) fines. The efforts of the defense counsel who tried hard to persuade the court that the confiscation orders should be lifted and the journalists be acquitted usually failed to make much impression; in most cases, the judges preferred to side with the prosecution.