USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume II pt 1 > Part 20
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practiced law and edited with signal ability the Columbus Times, a lead- ing democratic newspaper. He returned to Mobile in 1853, and at once entered journalism, buying the Register from its then proprietor, Mr. Thaddeus Sanford. and he remained with it until his death. In 1856, he received from Mr. Pierce. the appointment of minister to Mexico. He accepted and served the United States in that capacity for two years, when he resigned because his efforts to secure satisfaction for wrongs done to American citizens were not supported by Mr. Buchanan. He was elected to the legislature from Mobile county in 1859, and mayor of the city in 1860, and more than once since 1865, the county's representative in the general assembly. The persent editor of the Register, Col. Joseph Hodgson, has wide reputation as author and editor. One of the most readable as well as instructive works on events leading up to and con- nected with the late war between the states, is a volume from his pen entitled: "The Cradle of the Confederacy." He was connected with the Montgomery Mail from 1865 to 1870. and was for one term, from 1870 to 1872, the state superintendent of education.
The Mobile Advertiser. above referred to, we take it, without other data at hand to show to the contrary, antedated the Register. When political parties were fairly before the people of Alabama and seeking popular favor, the Advertiser was a tower of strength for the whig household. It was always well edited and well managed. Mr. W. G. Clark, for many of its later years the business director and manager, is one of the most capable men of the state. Mr. Clark was a great friend of the public schools and his name is thoroughly identified with the splendid system now in operation in Mobile. He is now one of the trust- ees of the state university, and in recognition of his great services in that capacity. one of the splendid halls erected within the university grounds at Tuscaloosa, within the past few years was named Clark Hall. The name of Charles C. Langdon is indissolubly connected with the his- ory of the Mobile Advertiser, for he was its editor in the most stormy period of its political existence. He was a native of Connecticut, but became a citizen of Alabama when about twenty years of age, settling with his brother, Levi Langdon, at Marion, Perry county, where they were engaged in merchandising. He went to Mobile in 1-34, but the business house with which be was connected met with disaster in the financial crash of 1936 and '37. He had developed great ability as a writer and was a favorite with the whigs, having been one of their can- didates for the legislature in 1838. He was defeated, but his party bought the Advertiser in a few months after the election and placed him in editorial charge. He was elected to the legislature at the two succeeding elections, after which he gave his undivided attention to his editorial duties until 1848. when he was elected mayor of Mobile. to which position he was annually elected, with one exception. until 1855. In 1-53, he sold his interest in the Advertiser and retired to a fruit farm, which he had
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established in the western part of Mobile county. He made the Adver- tiser during his connection with it. the foremost whig paper of the state, and conducted it with great force during the exciting campaigns of 1840 and 1844, as well as during the compromise days of 1850 and 1851. when a southern rights organization was attempted, and which he urgently opposed. He never lost his fondness for journalism, for, until the day of his death. he was a ready and vigorous writer, and articles over his sig- nature often graced the columns of the Moblie and Montgomery papers. He established and published for quite a while an agricultural monthly. Col. Langdon was an active participant in the campaign of 1560. and on the stump and with his pen advocated the election of Bell and Everett. He was a gifted speaker as well as writer. In the canvass of 1851, he was the whig candidate for congress from the Mobile district, and while it was something of a forlorn hope, he came near winning the prize. ' He was opposed to secession, but went with his state and was an ardent sup- porter of the Confederate cause. At the first election, in 1865, after the close of hostilities. he was elected as one of the representatives in con- gress from Alabama. The party in power refused to recognize his claim and he and the other representatives were refused admission. He again retired to his country home, but wrote a series of articles for the National Intelligencer in defense of the claims of Alabama to representa- tion in congress, which attracted great attention. He was several times elected to the legislature after that. During the administration of Gov- ernor O'Neal he was appointed secretary of state to fill a vacancy. No act of Governor O'Neal's gave more satisfaction to the people of Ala- bama than this appointment, for he had especial claims upon them. He was nominated twice afterward by democratic conventions, and elected, and died while in office. It was held by some that he was too old. being over eighty years of age, and quite feeble, when last nominated, but the convention declared by its actions that he should die in the harness.
The history of the press in Tuscaloosa county began with the publi- cation of the American Mirror in 1820, by Thomas M. Davenport. about two years after the appearance of the first white settlers in that portion of the state. Davenport had two daughters. They were both good printers and did most of the typography and much of the editing that was put upon the Mirror. One of them afterward married a Scotch printer by the name of Dugald McFarland. He purchased the Mirror from Dav- enport in 1827 and changed the name to the Tuscaloosa Chronicle. For several years he continued the publication of the Chronicle with the assistance of his wife and her sister, Miss Sarah Davenport. He was state printer and thus added considerably to the treasury of the Chronicle.
R. B. Brickell of Hunstville. Ala., published a prospectus in the Mir- ror, in 1824, of "The Political Synopsis." a paper which he proposed to establish in Tuscaloosa in the near future. But if he carried out his
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purpose, his bantling died in early youth and left no sign on the sands of time.
Seth Barton was perhaps the most remarkable of the early newspaper writers of Tucaloosa. He was an all round remarkable man, if not a genius. He came from Virgina to Tuscaloosa in 1821, and "hung out his shingle" as a lawyer. He was a Chesterfield, when sober, and cowboy when in liquor, and it might be very well said of him,
"In peace. the gentle gale of Spring In war the Mountain Storm."
He was elected to the legislature in 1825, over Henry W. Collier, by the casting vote of the sheriff on a tie.
Judge William R. Smith gives him the credit of the authorship of a famous hunting song, which was published first in the Spectator, a paper which will be noticed further on. The concluding verse will give some idea of the whole:
"Now Jackson Vines of all the crowd, Was daintiest in his piekin, For he was born a Methodist, And had a love for chicken; The partridge was his favorite feast, For these he had a setter: Tho' turkeys gobbled very well, Jack Vines could gobble better."
The local hits made the poem famous, and Judge William R. Smith says, in his reminiscences. that it elected Barton to the legislature. Bar- ton did editorial work on the Mirror, Chronicle and Intelligence and wrote nothing which was not unique. He removed from Tuscaloosa to New Orleans in 1831. and was first minister to Venezuela and subse- quently solicitor of the treasury under Polk. He died in Washington city, in 1850.
The Alabama Sentinel made its first appearance in Tuscaloosa in 1825. Thomas Grantham brought his printing outfit from Huntsville, and was both editor and proprietor of the paper. though Washington Moody, who subsequently became a leading lawyer and banker in Tuscaloosa, did all the editorial work that was worthy of the name. during the early history of the paper. A. M. Robinson. a Kentuckian, was editor after Moody's connection with the paper closed. It came as a sort of legend that Grantham's paper was well nigh destroyed by the publication of a poem which was written by Judge William R. Smith, then a brilliant youth in Tuscaloosa, and clandestinely published in the Intelligence by a printer who put up the joke. It was as follows:
" There is a girl in our town, She has a pretty nose; The only fault about her is She walks with pigeon toes.
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" I meet her every morning. And my heart with fervor glows; And I confess the witchery, Despite the pigeon-toes.
" And when I see her slippers, Just when the drapery flows, I won ler how suc i ankles Could sprout with pigeon-toes.
" I'll go and see the doctor, And ask him if he knows. If there is anything on earth - To straighten pigeon-toes."
The Spirit of the Age was established by Alexander Robinson in 1829, and was a success from the beginning, owing mainly to its literary excel- lence. But Robinson was more a man of genius than a man of affairs. and the success of the Spirit of the Age was no adequate compensation for him, for the drudgery of its publication. He discontinued the paper in 1833. The Chronicle of July 6, 1829, informs us, at a Fourth of July banquet in Tuscaloosa, Mr. Robinson responded as follows to the toast, Government- "As little of it as possible, and let all take a part in it." McGuire. Henry & McGuire commenced the publication of the Ala- bama State Intelligence in 1829, and it was continued under different managements until 1834. The first editors were Erasmus Walker and Thomas H. Wiley, with A. M. Robinson, associate editor.
James D. Ferguson began the publication of the Flag of the Union in 1833, and P. H. May was its first editor. Later on Hale & Eaton became the proprietors, with Samuel D. Hale editor, and soon thereafter, and up to 1846, when the paper changed ownership and name, Hale & Phelan were the publishers.
James W. Warren, an Englishman, who came from Wetumpka. Ala., where he was connected with William L. Yancey in the publication of the Wetumpka Argus, was the purchaser. He changed the name to "The Observer and Flag of the Union." The following was kept at the mast- head of the Flag of the Union:
THE TRUE ISSUE .- Shall ours be a government of the banks, or a gov- ernment of the people? Shall we have a constitutional treasury. or an unconstitutional National Bank? Shall we have a constitutional currency of gold and silver, or one of irredeemable paper? Shall we live under the despotisin of a moneyed aristocracy. or under the safeguards of a free constitution ?- Washington City Chronicle.
And the subjoined notice was kept standing as a warning to subscrib- ers :
NOTICE .- Shin plasters, Muggin's bills, nor any other kind of paper, save the notes of specie paying banks, will hereafter be received at this office in payment of accounts due us.
This was the first newspaper that grew to full manhood in Tuscaloosa. It became a power in polities, and was recognized as one of the ablest
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papers in the state. A. B. Meek was its editor at one time. and in it was first published his celebrated poem, "Land of the South," which now ap- pears in his book of poems.as a part of "The Day of Freedom," a poem of thirty pages. Meek & McGuire at one time owned an interest in the Flag of the Union. McGuire moved to Mobile and became one of the pro- prietors of the Tribune, and Judge Meek was one of the editors of the Mobile Register, from 1847 to 1853.
Adam, the rhymer, a coal black negro, furnished rhymes for the Flag of the Union, and for several other papers of his day. He was always ready to bet that he could furnish ten rhymes to any ordinary word, and the following are subjoined as an illustration, which Judge William R. Smith gives in his Reminiscences of Tuscaloosa. A wager was made and Adam was given "Jack" as the word, and he proceeded :
"Lawyer Jack
Is all the crack Anl sharp on track, He'll clear your smack,
Charges a stack,
But if you lack- God save your back, From Glover's twack, Iligb diddle, ho diddle. Paddy whack, Colver, gives old nig a snack."
Judge Smith also gives the following from Adam:
"Rensom, Peter, Is no big eater, Because the creter, Very well knows, As I suppose, That bacon and greens is sweeter."
Here is another specimen :
"Murphy, Jerry, Is fond, very, Of wine, sherry. And whiskey, cherry. Because, forsooth they make him merry. So is Ned Berry: And raw-bone Rube that keeps the ferry."
The Tuscaloosa Expositor was established in Tuscaloosa as a whig organ in 1834 by Alexander H. Robinson and John D. Davenport, the for- mer being the editor, and was succeeded by the Independent Monitor in 1837.
The Southron was a literary magazine established in Tuscaloosa in 1839 and was edited with eminent ability by A. B. Meek. Robert A. Eaton was the publisher. It lived but six months, through six issues, and died from starvation; although no magazine of a purely literary char-
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acter, in this country, has had abler contributors, as the following partial list will show:
Mrs. Ellen B. Freeman, Tuscaloosa: Miss Elizabeth M. Allison, Mo- bile; Mrs. Caroline L. Hale, Mobile; Mrs. Volvey E. Howard, Jackson, Miss. ; Joseph H. Ingraham, Esq. (author of "Lafitte," "The Southwest," and "Burton. or the Sieges"), Natchez, Miss ; Professor F. A. Bernard, University of Alabama; Rev. Albert A. Muller (author of "Sunset at Rome"), Clarksville, Tenn. : Henry W. Hilliard, Montgomery, Ala. ; Prof. R. T. Brumby, University of Alabama: Rev. Norman Pinney, Mobile, Ala. ; Hon. Richard Henry Wilde, Augusta, Ga. : Henry Thompson, Esq., Tallapoosa, Ala .: Prof. Henry Tutwiler, Marion, Ala .; Wm. R. Smith, Esq., Tuscaloosa, Ala .; J. M. Field Esq. (author of "Tag's Pilgrim age," a poem), Mobile; Rev. George Felix Heard, Mobile; Philander La- . Vergie, Esq., Tuscaloosa. Ala .: Timothy Flint (author of "Francis Berrien," etc .. etc.), La. ; Alexander B. Meek. Esq., Tuscaloosa. Ala. ; Rev. J. N. Maffit. Natchez, Miss. : Hon. A. B. Longstreet (author of "Georgia Scenes"), Augusta, Ga .; Samuel A. Hale, Esq., Tuscaloosa, Ala .; Wm. Gilmore Simms, Esq. (author of "Guy Rivers," "The Partisan," etc.), Charleston.
Bakus W. Huntington wrote "Bacon and Greens," which was pub- lished in the Southron and subsequently went the rounds of the rews- paper press. It is worthy of a place here.
BACON AND GREENS.
1 have lived long enough to be rarely mistaken . And borne my full share of life's changeable scenes, But my woes have been solaced by good greens and bacon, And my joys have been doubled by bacon and greens.
What a thrill of remembrance e'en now they awaken, Of childhood's gay morning and youth's merry scenes,
When, one day, we had greens and a plate of full bacon, And the next, we had bacon and a plate of full greens.
Ah! well I remember when sad and forsakeu. Ileart-rung by the scorn of a Miss in her teens, How I rushed from her sight to my loved greens and bacon, And forgot my despair over bacon and greens.
When the banks refused specie and credit was shaken, I shared in the wreck and was ruined in means, My friends all declared I had not saved my bacon, But they lied-for I still had my bacon and greens.
Oh! there is a charm in this dish rightly taken, That. from enstards and jellies, an epicure weans, Stick your fork in the fat-wrap your greens round the bacon, And you'll vow there is nothing like bacon and greens.
If some fairy a grant of three wishes would make one So worthless as I, and so laden with sins, . I'd wish all the greens in the workl -then the bacon- And then wish a little more bacon and greens.
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POSTSCRIPT.
I return to confess that for once I'm mistaken.
As much as I've known of this world and its scenes;
There's one thing that's equal to both greens and bacon, And that is a dish of-good bacon and greens.
One of the most notable contributions to the Southron was a poem by Albert A. Muller, entitled "Sunset a Rome." Muller was unquestionably a poet of rare talents. as is shown by the poem named, and several others which he contributed to the Flag of the Union.
Prof. Tutwiler is authority for the statement that one. or more, of his poems were published in one of the American editions of Moore's poems.
. Judge William R. Smith aid of the unfortunate Muller, who was too fond of the flowing bowl, and who died in poverty in New York: "If there is an elysium where those great spirits do congregate after death. I verily believe that Horace and Virgil would welcome to that realm the timid approach of the shade of Albert A. Muller."
Prof. F. A. P. Bernard contributed both prose and poetry to the Southron under the won de plume of Charles Augustus Conway; and he not only edited several Tuscaloosa papers, at different times, but edited two rival political papers at the same time: The Observer and the Independent Monitor; terrible assaults were made on the respective editors first by one paper and then by the other, and finally a duel was prevented in the nick of time by an unexpected explanation. Prof. Bernard died a few years ago in New York, after he had become one of the most distinguished of American scientists.
Mrs. Caroline L. Hentz was also a contributor to the Southron, and sometimes wrote for the Tuscaloosa papers. Her ephithalamium upon the marriage of Miss Mary Somerville, a beautiful young lady of Tusca- loosa, was published in the Independent Monitor and was considered a gem. She, with her husband. had charge of a female school in Tuscaloosa for several years. In 1546 "The Black Warror Punch" was published by John F. Warren, and edited by Milford Woodruff. and Thomas Power. It indulged in rough criticisms and jokes on the doings of the day, but was withal spicy, and had a large local circulation. A copy of it now extant has an account of a great celebration to take place on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the little ten by ten power house which the city. was building on the brow of the river hill. The boys really carried out one part of the programme and enclosed in the corner stone five copies of Punch. two dried venison hams, five cent shin plaster, and a coon skin.
The Independent Monitor was a whig paper which made its apearance in 1836, with M. D. J. Slade as proprietor and publisher, and Alexander M. Robinson as editor. B. F. Porter was the second editor, commencing in 1837; William R. Smith, the third, commencing in 1539; Stephen F.
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Miller, the fourth. beginning in 1840, Thomas O. Burke, the fifth. beginning in 1845; H. S. Whitford was the sixth editor and began in 1857; W. H. Fowler, the eighth. in 1858, and John S. Garner, ninth, 1860. The paper suspended publication soon after the war began. Slade died in 1857.
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William R. Smith is the only one of the editors of the Monitor now living. He lives in Washington city, and is one of the historic figures there. His career in congress made him famous, and his books and his poems stamp him as a man of extraordinary ability in the line of litera- ture. His translation of Homer was pronounced superior to Pope's, by the distinguished scholar and critic, Dr. Tutwiler. The Monitor had several "incognito editors" about that time, and among them, F. A. P. Bernard and Henry W. Hilliard. Garner resuscitated the Monitor in 1866, and sold it to John I. Harris, the next year. Harris sold to Ryland Randolph in 1868, who, in time, sold to Joseph W. Taylor: and then followed the consolidation of the Monitor and the Observer by Taylor and Warren. The Monitor was suppressed by the federal commandant in 1869, and Randolph. the editor, was arrested: and during the suspension, John King published "The Phoenix" from the Monitor office. The Monitor and Observer and Flag of the Union were rivals from the start; the Monitor being the whig, and the Observer the democratic organ of the county. They agreed to disagree at the beginning and right well did they keep their compact to the end. They even differed and quarreled over the correct spelling of Tuscaloosa; the Monitor declaring that the Indians knew how to spell the name of their great chief, and they spelled it with a "C"; while the Observer and Flag of the Union swore that the Indians always used "K" in spelling such names. Finally, Thomas Maxwell suggested to them that the Indians never spelled at all. and thus ended the controversy. Still, the lineal descendants of the respective papers mentioned. keep up the difference in the spelling of Tuscaloosa to this day. The Times represents the Monitor and the Gazette the Observer and the Flag of the Union. The Observer and Flag of the Union came into existence in 1846, as successsor to the Flag of the Union, and was published by James W. Warren, until 1563, under able editorial management. In turn, the following able writers were its editors: Samuel A. Hale. A. B. Moek. John G. Barr, F. A. P. Bernard, N. L. Whitfield. L. V. B. Martin, C. M. Cook. J. C. Guild. Stephen Miller. The paper was published without suspension during the war by Warren.
John F. Warren purchased the Observer and Flag of the Union from his father in 1862. and since that time has been connected with the Tusca- loosa press. He changed the name of the paper immediately after his purchase to the Observer, dropping the Flag of the Union. After the war was over, Joseph C. Guild was the first editor, and B. F. Meek followed from 1867 to 1969, and he was then, and is now, one of the most brilliant and scholarly writers of the south. He is and has been professor of
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English literature in the state university for many years. Warren sold the Observer to H. S. Whitfield in 1868, who changed the name to The Reconstructionist, and after running it as a reconstruction paper for some time sold out to Dennis Dykous, who named the new paper The Repub- lican Banner. Dykous was an old printer and newspaper man who went from Selma to Tuscaloosa, but he was a signal failure in his new venture and was glad to sell the paper back to Mr. Warren upon any terms. In 1871, John F. Warren came in possession of the skeleton of the old Observer and he christened the remains The Tuscaloosa Observer. About this time. A. H. Hutchinson, of Greensboro, purchased a half interest in the Observer and became its editor, but died within a few months there- . after, and in 1875 the Observer and Independent Monitor were consolidated under the name of The Tuscaloosa Times, with Joseph W. Taylor, of Eutaw, Ala., editor, and John F. Warren publisher. the paper being owned by them equally. The Times was run under this management until 1875, when Taylor and Warren dissolved partnership, and Warren then ran the paper until 1881, when Henry H. Brown became editor and joint owner. In 1886 the Times company was incorporated and John F. Warren took charge as publisher and James Somerville McEachin as editor. McEachin retired from the editorial management in 1885 and Carl Garnshorn, a German lawyer, became editor in 1887. In 1887, W. C. Jemison became owner and proprietor of the Times. C. N. MeGrovety is now the editor of the Times. He went to Tuscaloosa in 1887 and started the Daily Times in 1888. He is among the ablest and spiciest newspaper writers in the state, and is editing the Times with marked ability. He com- menced his career in journalism as editor of the Brown County News, in Georgetown, Ohio; in 1874 he took editorial charge of the Chronicle, in Augusta, Kentucky. and in 1875 returned to Georgetown, Ohio, and became editor of the Sentinel. He went to Dakota in 1855 and became the editor of the Democrat, which was the only democratic paper then in the territory. He has been special correspondent and reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and is recognized in Ohio as a life-long democrat and a splendidly equipped newspaper man. Thomas H. Garner was the first local editor of the Daily Times, and was succeeded by John L. Wallace in 1890, who now occupies that position and is also business manager of the paper.
The Crystal Fount, the state organ of the Sons of Temperance, was published from the Observer office in 1849 by John F. Warren. It had at its masthead the following:
"Devoted to temperance. morality, literature and general intelligence; and neutral in politics and religion."
It displayed the spirit of temperance run mad, and after running up an unprecedented circulation for a paper in this section, gradually petered out and died in 1852.
The Tuscaloosa Blade was established by Ryland Randolph & Co. in
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1875, with Randolph as editor. Montgomery I. Burton purchased the Blade from Randolph in 1872 and changed its name to to the Tuscaloosa Gazette, and in turn sold to Capt. Stephen F. Nunnelee, in 1876.
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