The topics of tragedy and crime are scientifically insufficiently covered. Only a few authors have scratched the unexplored corpus of black chronicles as undoubtedly intriguing topics for investigators and media historians. The basic thesis of this work is the assumption that at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, information on tragedies and crime was professionally processed and placed in journalism. It was a time of turbulent history, but newspapers did not succumb to the influence of politicians or public pressure. The journalists did not speculate or succumb to the low passions of the readers, but accurately conveyed the facts. As a result, readers had full confidence in the newspaper as the public medium. The research material includes preserved sets of weekly newspapers Crvena Hrvatska, Dubrovnik and Prava Crvena Hrvatska. The paper primarily analyzes the content of articles published in the city chronicle. The paper deals with the treatment of crime topics in the researched newspapers, writing style and feedback-impact of newspapers on the public. The author uses the topographic and quantitative method: this is how we find out where certain criminal offenses took place and how many were recorded at certain locations (basic topographic locations are Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the World). The work by comparing news determines the difference between news, follows the evolution of the treatment of all topics and the change of journalistic style. The topic of the paper is also the role of editors who left a personal mark on the development of newspapers, especially Frano Supilo. The first chapter deals with the events and news of the Black Chronicle published in the 19th century. The second chapter’s topic is newspaper articles published in the 20th century. Comparing those, it shows the 19th century is “virgin” compared to the 20th century’s turbulent history. And the news of the black chronicle reflects this turbulent period: there are many more brazen thefts, accidents, bloody murders and assassinations of ministers, prime ministers and kings. One assassination, the one in Sarajevo, was the reason for the World War I. With the beginning of that war, two researched newspapers (Crvena Hrvatska and Dubrovnik) ceased publishing, and the WWI was the time limit of this research. In conclusion, the paper established the high professionalism of journalists of all Dubrovnik weeklies.