A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 96

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930

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The passing of Mr. Hall from the bench to the presidency of the railroad company, deprived the State of Connecticut of the services of an able judge. The practice of the law made it possible for him to administer the affairs of a great railroad as no other calling could. As a judge Mr. Hall had the faculty of penetrating the difficulties of a cause and readily separating the important considerations from those less important. He was fearless and fair in the ad- ministration of the law and had a rare faculty of dispatching business. He died January 27th at sixty-four years of age.

In personal appearance Mr. Hall was one of the most striking. He had piercing black eyes, hair as black as a raven's wing, and a cast of features, which denoted firmness and fearlessness, yet were frequently lighted up by a gleam of kindness, which fully redeemed them from the appearance of austerity.

Joel R. Arnold, who practiced law in Windham County for many years in Willimantic, was a man whose success at the bar was entirely disproportionate to the ability possessed by him. Mr. Arnold was a great lover of books. The leading poets of English literature were his daily companions. He did not relish the drudgery of the law although it is said that Judge Loren P. Waldo, with whom he read law, pronounced him one of the ablest students he had ever had in his office. Mr. Arnold's diction had been rendered of a high and scholarly type by his familiarity with the best literature of his time.

Mr. Arnold was a man of most dignified appearance. He was nearly six

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feet in height, strongly built, with a massive head and very striking features. Mr. Arnold's ability as a speaker was marked and was many times compelled to supply his lack of preparation of his causes. The court room discloses the labor which the lawyer has put into his cases, and probably more cases are won by careful preparation than by oratorical effort or by cunning in the trial. The consensus of opinion of the friends of Mr. Arnold was that lack of applica- tion and industry alone prevented him from becoming one of the great lawyers of his time. He died January 6, 1884, at sixty years of age.

Elliot B. Sumner, who was known and respected as a member of the bar of the State of Connecticut, practising for the most part in Windham and Tol- land counties, came to the bar in the year 1857. He was a student in the office of Judge Loren P. Waldo, who afterwards became the head of the distinguished firm of Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde of Hartford. Mr. Sumner was rather slow of speech but correspondingly careful and accurate in his statements. He was slow in reaching a conclusion, but when he had once examined a cause and reached a decision, it was not. easy to dislodge him. He was rather a student than an advocate. He was a man of marked personal appearance, of robust build, with large head and deep set, penetrating blue eyes. He gave consider- able attention to probate law and to the law of wills and of real estate. In his time he was reckoned a master of the refinements which enter into the law of estates. Mr. Sumner was a useful and very successful member of the bar of Connecticut. He died October 24, 1900.

Huber Clark, a native of Haddam, Conn., educated in the common schools of his native town, studied law with the Hon. James Hull in Dennison, Iowa. He was admitted to the bar of Iowa in 1865. He removed to Willimantic soon after and practised his profession in Windham and Tolland counties until his death which occurred on the 17th day of November, 1914. He was many years judge of the Probate Court and in that office was a useful servant of the public. He was elected secretary of the state, 1899-1900. Mr. Clark was not an aggressive trier of causes. He was courteous and fair in his bearing towards his opponent and was always faithful and respectful to the court. Mr. Clark had an active experience at the bar and was engaged in a number of cases of importance.

George Wales Melony had his preparation and beginning for the study of law in the Natchaug High School. He studied law with Elliot B. Sumner, and was admitted to practice in the year 1874. Mr. Melony was an active and suc- cessful attorney. He had not the graces of oratory, but was effective in the presentation of causes. He was assistant clerk of the Superior Court in Wind- ham County for many years.

He was an admirer and close friend of the Hon. John M. Hall, and in many of his causes was assisted in the trial by Mr. Hall. Together they procured the necessary legislation for and developed and established the water and sewer systems of the City of Willimantic. There were many obstacles and much opposition to be overcome in bringing about the establishment of these two important municipal works, but the persistent effort of Mr. Melony, aided by Judge Hall, resulted in the establishment of the system. In the growth of the city and in the development of many of its enterprises, Mr. Melony was active. As a counsellor he was inclined to keep his clients as far as possible out of court .- He was strongly inclined to advise the peaceful settlement. He was a useful member of the bar. He died June 1, 1911, at sixty-one years of age.

CHAPTER XXVI WINDHAM COUNTY NEWSPAPERS

WINDHAM COUNTY TRANSCRIPT-J. Q. A. STONE-ALEXANDER MACDONALD- HENRY L. HALL-JOHN A. MC DONALD

By Nathan Waldo Kennedy

Back in the 1870s when I attended district school at different periods under Gilbert A. Tracy, Simeon Danielson, M. S. Shumway, and Cosmer A. Young, the late F. S. Luther of Brooklyn, representing the Windham County News Agency, made his weekly trips behind a mismatched pair of horses carelessly attached to a huge covered wagon, through the busy little farming village of Dayville. While he kept a more or less varied assortment of school supplies for rural trade, his specialty for a long term was the Windham County Transcript, to which he contributed with a caustic pen regularly. I can seemingly hear now the old bell he rang so loudly and almost continuously along the street and see my father hastening to adjust his spectacles and read what "J. Q. A." had to say. My father, Lorenzo M. Kennedy, had views of his own just as strongly as Editor John Quincy Adams Stone, so that my early impressions were vivid and lasting.

Under the guidance and control of Editor Stone the Transcript was for many years one of the cleanest and handsomest provincial folios in New England from a typographical standpoint. Not an ad of any kind was permitted on the front page, a part of which was devoted exclusively and sacredly to "Choice Thoughts." The editorial columns were of high grade, and the "Local Whit- tlings" occupied considerable space. Editor Stone was a vital force against the liquor traffic, and his personal persistency and pungent paragraphs on "Rum Did It" were noted and quoted far and near. As a political aspirant, he was not successful and owing to his dignified carriage and demeanor was misunderstood. However, I always entertained the very highest regard for Editor Stone, who took a deep interest in young men, several of whom now hold responsible and lucrative positions in various parts of the country. He lies at rest in Westfield cemetery.

Following the death of his worthy sire, the Transcript was printed by Charles D. Stone, who not long afterward disposed of the plant to Burroughs and Hopkins. Mr. Fred Burroughs was a first-class job printer and mechanical genius and though Mr. Hopkins, was without previous journalistic experience, they published an excellent home newspaper, ably assisted in the local depart- ment by Warren D. Chase, a prominent young lawyer now residing in Hart- ford. At present Mr. Burroughs holds an important "sit" as foreman at Central Falls, R. I., while Mr. Hopkins continues to write for the Transcript, owned and managed by the Transcript Publishing Company. For a time under the new administration the editorial chair was filled by James N. Tucker of East Killingly, whose ability as a thinker and writer on political topics of the day is unsurpassed, if equalled, by any contemporary in the state.

780

Henry L. Hall Willimantic Journal

Alexander W. Macdonald Putnam Journal

Nathan Waldo Kennedy

John A. McDonald Willimantic Chronicle

Thomas F. Connolly Willimantic Chronicle

WINDHAM COUNTY EDITORS

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

Probably the bitterest "friendly enemy" that Editor J. Q. A. Stone ever had was Maj. John Kies, who organized a democratic stock company at Daniel- son and for some time published the Weekly Herald, which hit "the head on the nail" and made the fur fly in all directions every time it discovered a chance. There was not a dull line in the Herald, and not a dull moment for the major. He hit right and left without fear or favor, and even had such old-time-all-the- time democrats as Dr. Joshua Perkins and Lawyer Lucius Prickard by the ears until they fairly squealed. When General Grant visited Roseland Park the Herald printed his "speech in full." It consisted of a headline and a whole column of blank space! Major Kies was a brave man in the Civil war, but his rampant manner of conducting a country newspaper not only cost the share- holders what confidence and money they had invested, but the major's political prestige as well. In his later life he appeared on the stump for the republican cause.

While it was in existence, Truman W. Greenslit (a "whilom" of the Tran- script office, as Editor Jones frequently expressed it) was associate editor of the Herald and advertised for a Dayville correspondent. I answered by letter and was the same day so eager to begin that I drove to the office to make doubly sure. This was the starting point of my own journalistic career, under the cognomen of "Item." Both Cosmer Young, principal- of the Dayville school, and Mr. Greenslit encouraged me by their assistance and to them I feel deeply indebted.

After the Herald suspended publication Mr. Greenslit and William H. Ham- ilton, a job printer, formed a partnership and established the Democratic Sentinel, an eight-page weekly, one-half of which was ready-print. It was in this office that in 1878 I "from devil up" learned to sweep the floor, wash the towel and rollers, set type and feed the press at $3.50 per week with no extra pay for overtime. Editor Greenslit won national renown as paragrapher at a time when puns and punning were in high order as wit. In this he was assisted by his brother-a man among men-Frank E. Greenslit, now city editor of the Pawtucket (R. I.) Evening Times, whose identity never became public. Editor Charles R. Lee of the Pawtucket Gazette and Chronicle regarded Editor Green- slit "the handsomest man in Quinnebaug valley." The Democratic Sentinel was issued until the close of the Gen. Winfield Scott presidential campaign, in which the publishers figured conspicuously with the view to securing the Daniel- son postmastership. Afterward Mr. Greeenslit edited the St. Johnsbury (Vt.) Caledonian and other weekly papers and is now publishing a daily at New Rochelle, N. Y. Mr. Hamilton started the New England Farmer, a poultry journal, and became colonel of the Third Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. He was buried at Westfield with high military honors.

In the summer of 1880 Charles F. Burgess, then age twenty-five, and who had learned the printer's trade at Middleboro and Marlboro, Mass., opened a print shop in Plainfield. His outfit comprised a few forms of type, an antiquated hand-press, a pleasing smile and lots of patience and grit. He ate on the improvised imposing stone and slept up-stairs. The Railway Journal, an adver- tising sheet, soon appeared, succeeded by the Plainfield Journal in 1881, sup- plemented by the Jewett City Press in 1882. Ten years later the office was removed to Moosup, where it now has exceptionally convenient quarters in the Masonic Building. Several years ago Mr. Burgess issued the Plainfield Sou- venir, which was a fine specimen of the "first preservative of all arts." Mr.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

Burgess is happily married, belongs to several fraternities, holds various offices and is a member of the Congregational Church. He is an example of what can be accomplished by energy, economy and thrift.

Friday, May 30, 1879, was Memorial Day. It was one of the early observ- ances held in High Street Cemetery, Dayville. By vote of a citizen's meeting held for the occasion the honor of entertaining and introducing the speaker was conferred upon myself. It was indeed a trying moment at that time; but I always felt amply repaid by listening to the splendid address of Henry L. Hall, editor of the Willimantic Journal. To quote a scrapbook memorandum, "it was a most scholarly and patriotic production." From that date until his death I became intimately acquainted with the genial gentleman. He was of ruddy complexion, short in stature, and whether by pen or public address understood the art of expression as preserved files will show. The Journal was then published by Hall and Bill. Later the subscription list was taken over by a Putnam paper. The succeeding partner, Arthur I. Bill, is still connected with job printing under the old firm name and he is one of Willimantic's well known business men.

George E. Hinman, a young and ambitious limb of the law from Massachu- setts, subsequently became editor of the Journal, and took a conspicuous part in Republican politics. He has filled several positions of public trust and is now a judge of the Superior Court.

N. W. Leavitt, who started the Enterprise at. Scotland and then moved to Willimantic was a carefree, shrewd, typical Yankee of the old school, and looked it. He was chock full of fun, loved music, wrote several playlets and "The Frogs of Windham"; had Leavitt's Swiss Bell Ringers on the road behind a spanking four-in-hand; and later was associated with the Chronicle in Willimantic. His caption hobby then was in alliterations-for instance, Scotland Squibs, Windham Wisps, Hampton Happenings, etc .; and he would crack his jokes. One week the Enterprise contained a crude cut of a so-called mule and Editor Greenslit of Danielson facetiously cautioned his Thread City neighbor to "Leav-itt-alone"; whereupon the Enterprise told him it was only a "Green-slit in the animal's tail." Mr. Leavitt sold his newspaper interests to McDonald and Safford, who merged the same into the Willimantic Chronicle. His last days were spent in Putnam, where he became a familiar figure. His body reposes in Grove Street cemetery.

John A. McDonald, the prime factor in the Willimantic Chronicle, was a graduate of the Transcript office at Danielson, where his parents lived. He was a planner, a promoter, and took chances. He conceived the idea of a democratic stock company and organized the Chronicle Printing Company, which brought him large personal returns and placed the Chronicle among the leading democratic weeklies of Connecticut. The Chronicle was the first paper in Windham County to employ a typesetting machine. Through Mr. MeDon- ald's keen foresight, the Daily Chronicle was started and is now in successful operation. Mr. McDonald was the victim of tuberculosis, and his premature passing away blighted further promise of a useful and most successful com- mercial career.

The Connecticut Home, from its inception in 1886 to its elose in 1894, ham- mered and pounded, punched, pummeled and paralyzed its opponents until the saloon and its long train of attendant evils was put to shame; and all to the financial loss and unspeakable credit and glory of its undaunted young editor

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

and publisher, Allen B. Lincoln of Willimantic. Not since the dark days of oppression and wrong has any person, paper or periodical made a more manly fight against odds and the liquor interests; and now that the prohibition wave is sweeping the country, and the United States Government has set its death seal on the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits, it is clearly demonstrated that, in God's own good time, right makes might and dreams come true. And since the suspension of the home in 1894, made necessary by lack of support, Mr. Lincoln, by voice and pen, on the platform, in the pulpit and through the medium of the press, has adhered strictly and unflinchingly to the protection of the American home. He ranks among the ablest and most forcible writers in this commonwealth; and Windham County, where he first saw the light, justly feels proud of him. I doff my hat to Allen B. Lincoln !

Forty-eight years ago, or about 1872, Everett Stone, elder son of Editor J. Q. A. Stone of Danielson, established the Putnam Patriot. The original list of subscriptions was taken from the Windham County Transcript, which had previously printed a Putnam department. A valuable adjunct to the enterprise was Mrs. Stone, whose rare ability as an executive and all-round newspaper woman soon put the Patriot on a popular and paying basis. During their ownership the equipment was largely destroyed by fire, but this was soon overcome and a season of prosperity ensued. At this period in the paper's history, A. W. Macdonald of Brooklyn, N. Y., finding advancing years creeping in, negotiated for the purchase of the Patriot, and Mr. Stone became identified with the Northampton Daily Herald and other Massachusetts papers.

The very day that Mr. Macdonald took possession another conflagration occurred, ruining not only his newly-purchased equipment, but the entire Union Block. However, Mr. Macdonald was undaunted by his misfortune and soon had a better outfit than the one before. He associated with himself L. O. Wil- liams, who had grown up from apprentice boy under Everett Stone, and the firm name was known as Macdonald & Williams. The personality of Editor Macdonald was manifested immediately. Of Scotch extraction, he was born beneath Canadian skies. After serving his apprenticeship at the trade, his latent abilities expanded and his services, suffice it to say, were in great demand. Among other achievements he founded the Scientific American and filled vari- ous important positions on metropolitan dailies. Seldom, if ever, did he pre- pare handwritten or typewritten copy, but "set up everything from his head." Early and late he would be seen at the case sticking eight-point type for the Patriot. He had little or no use for competitors, and the invectives and biting sarcasm that rolled and reeled from his trenchant pen were of the Horace Greeley and James Gordon Bennett variety. Nevertheless, he was a good, kind, conscientious man and sterling citizen, and has gone to his reward where, in the simplicity of his faith, he religiously expected to continue his calling "up yonder over there."

Following the death of Editor Macdonald, his son, A. S. Macdonald, took editorial charge, and Mr. Williams managed the mechanical end. The younger Macdonald, a rising attorney at law, inherited much of his father's penchant for journalism and soon injected new ideas, new methods and new life all along the line. Instead of long, wearisome editorials on abstract subjects he special- ized in local matters and county correspondence. The result was a bigger circulation, increased advertising patronage and job presses running continu- ously. Its prosperity became phenomenal. In the summer of 1919 a tempting

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

offer was made for the concern, by which change the new proprietors are Mr. G. Lawrence Perkins and Lieut. J. J. Whitehead, both of New York and Pom- fret. By the new arrangement Mr. Williams, who is in delicate health, retired from active labors altogether, while Mr. Perkins serves as president and Messrs. Macdonald and 'Whitehead as editors. Mr. Perkins, an active business man, has had meagre newspaper experience, while Mr. Whitehead is a graduate of Newspaper Row and a dynamo of energy. He won his spurs as lieutenant in the World war. Since the new firm assumed control of the Patriot new material and presses have been installed and the plant capitalized at $40,000. The Patriot is now the prettiest, the brightest and best home newspaper published in Windham County.

On March 30, 1882, after contributing to numerous publications and appear- ing before the public as "the youngest writer, paragrapher, journalist, political speaker and platform lecturer known," I launched for pastime the Dayville Sunbeam-"as full of spice as a jar is of ginger." Memorial Day following, its pages were printed red-white-and-blue, an entirely new feature. Its dimen- sions were increased in rapid succession and the circulation soon surpassed that of the Transcript, when the late Frank N. Scofield, foreman of the Transcript job department, gave notice that I must get the Sunbeam printed elsewhere. Accordingly the Campbell country press from which both the Transcript and the Sunbeam had been issued, was bought of J. Q. A. Stone and taken to Put- nam, where an office was opened and the heading changed to Windham County Standard, now called Observer. Those were hard, happy, prosperous days. While competitors devoted much space, talent and time to editorializing, the Standard specialized on illustrations, local news items and vicinity and country correspondence, in which it excelled "where others dared to follow."

Among attaches who helped to make the Standard such an unprecedented success was Frank P. White, commonly known as "Professor." Although par- tially blind (caused by an explosion in South America) he was a man of vision, an indefatigable worker, and knew how to "start something going" and get ads. The Professor is no more. John F. Fallon, who entered as devil, climbed into the city editor's chair and is at present at the head of the machinery department of the American Type Founders Company of Boston. Carl B. Johnson, principal of the graded school, also occupied the city desk and could spin off more reportorial yarns and legible copy in longhand than ever were seen or heard by the "gentry of the road." He owns and edits the Franklin (Mass.) Semi-Weekly Sentinel and has acquired an enviable reputation as a lecturer. Albert Carpenter, a graduate of the P. H. S., likewise did good work. He believed ability was the measure of success, and has proved the same to be true by the excellent positions he has filled on the Northampton Gazette and the Springfield Republican. Horace Wilson, another "local," became a leading reporter on the New York Herald. Louis R. Southwick, an occasional news writer, who lately passed away at South Woodstock, was for several years shipping editor of the New York World. Harold Corbin, stenog- rapher, typewriter, job printer, pressman, proofreader, etc., is editor of the Monthly Mirror at New Britain.

William and Lyman Gould, brothers, learned the printers' trade in the Standard, which they purchased and for a time published. They also con- ducted, for a long period, the Express at Rochester, N. H.

Perhaps the most enthusiastic, insistent, persistent and dynamic figure I Vol. 1-50

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ever brought to the fore was, is and ever shall be, William Harrison Taylor. When I discovered "Sunbeam Billy" he was the genial and affable clerk at the Chickering House, Putnam. At first he gave me brief news gleanings, chiefly personal. One day he approached T. C. Bugbee, a hardware dealer, and asked for news. "Man got shot," said Mr. Bugbee. "How?" inquired Billy. "Bought two pounds few minutes ago," was the reply. Several weeks later Billy appeared again and Mr. Bugbee said: "They aint goin' t' have the railroad crossin' no longer." "What's the matter ?" inquired Billy, grab- bing a lead pencil from back of his right ear. "'Cause it's long enough now," ejaculated his listener, roaring with laughter.

Billy took to the newspaper business as naturally as a duck takes to water. He resigned as hotel clerk and threw all his energies into the business end of the Sunbeam, afterward named the Standard. He kept the ad and job men as busy as bees, and was right on the job in deliveries and collections. Subse- quently he entered politics with the same characteristic determination, being chosen a messenger and doorkeeper in the House and next a representative to the Legislature and a member of the Republican State Central Committee in 1901. Meanwhile he issued an illustrated Souvenir of Putnam and Danielson. In 1888 he founded the Connecticut Editorial Association and for several years was its secretary and treasurer. His Souvenirs of the capitol, containing bio- graphical sketches and miscellaneous matters of public concern, grace every library in the state and throughout New England. At present Mr. Taylor makes his headquarters in and around the capitol at Hartford, where the title of "Souvenir" has become a household word.

In 1905 I accepted a position in the business department of the J. B. Lippin- cott Company, publishers, Philadelphia, remaining there four and, one-half years. The past ten years I have been identified as district supervisor of the Loyal Order of Moose of the World, a social, fraternal and beneficiary organi- zation with supreme headquarters at Moosehead, Ill., where the great voca- tional school for orphans is located.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 96

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930