USA > Iowa > Monroe County > An illustrated history of Monroe County, Iowa > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
"Albia, Iowa, Jan. 14, 1861.
"To His Excellency, Gov. Pickens, Charleston, S. C .:
"Sir,-It is with feelings that I cannot describe, that impress me at the present moment, that I undertake to pen an epistle to you.
"Pardon me for addressing you, but I feel such an anxiety for the safety and perpetuity of our common country and her institutions that I cannot keep silent. The first thing I wish to mention is, that not all the men in the North who voted for Mr. Lincoln are abolitionists. Quite a num- ber of persons within my own knowledge voted the Republi- can ticket because of their great dislike to the Administra- tion at Washington. They wished a change of men at the head of affairs, at the same time never dreaming that by so voting they were helping to precipitate the nation into civil
143
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
commotion and confusion. Others voted for Mr. Lincoln be- cause of the free-farm plank in his platform, not caring whether slavery was voted up or down.
"So far, I have been talking only of those who have voted the Republican ticket. It is proper to say that in the young and thriving State of Iowa there were at the last election nearly sixty thousand votes cast in opposition to the sec. tional views and narrow, contracted ideas of the Lincoln party. In my opinion, there are at present more than sixty thousand men in the State who, if the election should be held to-morrow, would vote a conservative ticket as opposed to fanaticism.
"The above statements being facts, is it fair for South Carolina and other States to break up the Union? Is it fair for us to pass ordinances of secession-destroy this government, the best ever made by human hands, and leave thousands of true and loyal citizens in the old deserted edi- fice-citizens always true to the Union, and all the rights of every section of the country, who have stood by the old ship of State through sunshine and through storm?
"You are, my dear sir, taking the right tack to make enemies of those who were your friends. You do not offer the poor boon offered by the angels to Lot in Sodom. You do not give us a chance to escape from the thralldom of Aboli- tion, for you desert us in Congress, at a time when the pres- ence of your representatives is absolutely necessary to pre- vent our enemies from carrying on their measure so destruc- tive to the peace, happiness, and future well-being of the whole country. Thousands and tens of thousands of the peo- ple of the North are the friends of the South-have con- tended for their rights in the common territories; for the execution of the fugitive slave law as it is; for the right of the slave-holders to hold their negroes as property in the slave States; for the right of the owner to carry his slave from one State to another, passing through a free State without dan- ger of losing his property. Shall these friends of yours, who have adhered to your fortunes, and to the Constitution and laws, now be deserted by you and left to fight on amid the bewildering gloom that now enshrouds our erstwhile happy country? No! you will not leave us: you will seek redress of all grievances in the Union under the Constitution. There are more conservative men in the North, your friends, than there are of you, all told. Yet you propose to render us pow-
144
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
erless in action for good, by your secession movement. Secession ! Secession !! There is no such thing as peaceable secession, and the scenes already being enacted by your State and by the Government at Washington prove the assertion. If you persist in your course, you will destroy yourselves and us too. You will engulf us in the terrible maëlstrom of civil war; widen the breach now already open; compel those who are otherwise your friends to take part against you.
"The wise master-builder counts the cost of the edifice before building. The sage ruler, contemplating war with a neighboring nation, sits down and calculates the number of men and the amount of money necessary to carry it on. Have you estimated the value of the advantages you propose to enjoy out of the Union, over and above those which are in it? I entreat you, as you love your country and mankind, to consider well the course you are taking-a course that will plunge the nation into bloody war and destroy, for this age at least, the hopes of the friends of Christianity and Peace, also of Civilization and Progress, of Commerce and Agri- culture.
"O that the Being who controls the destiny of nations would intervene and spare our people and prosper us as He has hitherto done! Yours very respectfully,
"J. T. Young."
The Sentinel suspended on the 2d of November, 1861.
The Jeffersonian Blade was a contemporary of the Senti- nel, and was Republican in politics. It was established Janu- ary 26, 1860, by James Noffsinger. In May, 1861, Noffsinger retired, and Geo. Hickenlooper and Aaron Melick assumed the management.
The Blade of August 14, 1860, gives rather a graphic pen-picture of Henry Clay Dean, who addressed the people of Monroe County that week :
"The first argument the speaker presented was his great toe, about the size and color of an old-fashioned toad. It stuck ont of his sock about a foot, and was very much ad- mired by the ladies. We should have stated that the speaker commenced his speech by preparing to go to bed-that is, hanled off all his duds-but his shirt and breeches.
"The next argument introduced by Mr. Dean was this: 'If you want a discussion, bring on your man; I will make
145
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
him feel as happy as he can be in the flesh. I will skin him and hang him up to rot! "
It would appear that pioneer life was not without its social festivities. The Blade publishes a card from A. C. Barnes, announcing that he would serve watermelons at his home two and one-half miles east of Albia, on Friday after- noon of the 24th instant, at 4 o'clock. All who could not come on that date were requested to come on the following Tuesday afternoon.
The Blade of October 15, 1861, announces to its patrons that in consequence of one of its publishers (Mr. Melick) hav- ing gone to Iowa City for a few days' visit with friends and relatives, there would "be no paper next week."
The Blade ceased to exist October 15, 1861, and up from its ashes, phoenix like, rose the Albia Weekly Gazette, published by Melick and Young. In January, 1862, Melick retired and Mr. Young ran the paper until the following April, when he laid down his pen and took up his musket in defense of the Union, and in the years that followed his political senti- ments were changed and his party faith rechristened by the "baptism of fire."
The Weekly Albia Union, the well-known Republican organ of Monroe County of to-day, was established by Mat- thew A. Robb, May 20, 1862. The sheet then, as now, was Republican in politics.
The columns of the Union during the war period were filled chiefly with war news from the front. No other topic was of interest to the people. The soldier boys wrote letters home for publication, from the scenes of hostility. The tele- graphic wires were charged day and night with reports of the movements of the armies. Mothers watched the papers eagerly for the list of "killed and wounded," or to read the "latest telegraphic news."
The I'nion of March 26, 1863, contains an editorial con- cerning an organization known as the "Golden Circle," an alleged organization composed of rebel sympathizers. Fol- lowing is the article:
"Any society formed for the overthrow of this Govern- ment can have but a temporary existence. Such associa- tions may do us much harm and materially embarrass the de- signs of government, but they never can permanently resist its power and effectually supplant it. The Knights of the Golden Circle exist here, and in most of the townships 10-
146
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
throughout the county, but nobody fears them except as they do the midnight assassin or the torch of the incendiary. Whatever of evil they will ever accomplish, at most, cannot go far beyond the destruction of a small amount of private property and the secret assassination of a few individuals. Even this would be a melancholy state of affairs, but no one would deem such disasters equal to the great calamity which must befall us if this Government is destroyed. The leaders of the Copperhead Democracy pretend to be ignorant of any such associations, and deny that they have any knowledge of their existence, but they cannot cover up and conceal the monster deformity and loathsome organization by any such mild pretense."
While the name was familiar to every one, the existence in Monroe County of such an organization was probably a myth. In the first place, those identified with the movement would have been apprehended by the loyal citizens of the county, and, under the high tension of excitement existing at the time, would have been roughly dealt with. Public sentiment was so wrought up that it is quite probable that if any secret movement had been undertaken, to furnish aid and comfort to the South, the promoters of the movement would have been apprehended and lynched. The public brain was heated to madness, and in the blindness of intense partisan feeling many of these acrimonious charges made by the respective political parties against each other had no real foundation.
The "Golden Circle" was a real organization in some parts of the North and it may be true, and indeed quite likely, that it had its agents at work throughout the country, but in thinly settled localities like Monroe County, where most peo- ple were loyal to the Government, it would have been impos- sible for the emissaries of the "Golden Circle" to have estab- lished a working foothold. It is stated on reliable authority that an organization of this kind existed at Blakesburg, just over the county line in Wapello County. The term was used more as a malediction against the more active and partisan Democrats of the county than anything else, as nearly every noted Democrat was branded as a Knight of the Golden Circle.
The Union of March 3, 1864, contains a letter written by Rev. Jacob Wyrick, of Monroe County, to Jacob Hittle, a soldier of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, stationed with his
147
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
regiment near Little Rock. As the letter discusses the sub- ject of human slavery from a scriptural standpoint, we copy it just as it appeared in the Union. The reverend gentle- man's orthography is decidely unique, and we forbear to attempt to reconstruct it.
"Monroe County Iowa, Dec. 13, 1863.
"Dear brother,-I take my pen in hand to let you now that I am well at the present and all of my family and yours was also well last Monday. I was thare and saw all of them, and we talked of you, and I red the speach that you sent home. part of that speach is good when he gives it to all the high officers, I think that he tells the truth but when he attempts to justify the linkion prolamation and amansipation then he leaves the truth and the law of god for him and all the mansipations cant read in gods word and justify it, if they can I want them to turn down a lief and gave me the chapter and verse so that I may read it too for I say it cant Be found only by them that says that Sprinklinge of Baybies is baptism will you please read the 13 and 14 chapters of pauls letter to the romans here You see he commands no man to be a Judge of another mans servants of his own master and now we thousands put themselves up as Judges of another mans servants of his own master O may god help me to turn from disobedience to serve the only and true god by obedience to his lawes.
"Thence turn with me to the 6 chapter of effisians and 5 verse and hear you finde that thay are commanded to obey thare masters and if these abolishen can sho me that it is the word of god that telles us that it is rong to rule over them we will be Able to show them that the lord conterdicts himself but I as a man say that no man can do it, thence turn with me to the 4 chapter of Collassians and first verse and here you sea that the lord through the apostle commanded the masters to give to thare servants that wich was just and equal now if it was rong as the abolishens say then the lord would have sed set him free but remember well that no man can sho that and turn down the liefs whare the spirits sed so. thence turn with me and read the sixth chapter of the first timothy and hear the lord speak to many servants to count thare own masters worthy of all oner so if god sayes thay are worthy of all oner why do Gault and all other abolishen say that it is no oner may god spare them for denying his word is my prayer for them all.
148
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
makel and debby and all the family is well I want you Both to receive my love and remember me until death I pray that you may get back home safe Brother it does seam strange to me to read your solem letters and read in them that you desire the struggle to go on and hear that you voted for stone when he is aposed to peace on any termes untill the last visage of slavery is wiped out. o brother why will men vote for the cause that will keep them from thare wives and children and vote for the dagger to be pushed on that pearces ther one hartes. I want you to show this letter to all the abolishen and tell them to anser me I pray for you and I want you to pray for me I am yours truly
"Jacob Wyrick."
On the 7th of August, 1862, Mr. Robb retired from the Union; he enlisted in the Twenty-second Iowa Infantry, and was killed at Vicksburg. M. V. Brown bought the sheet, and Geo. W. Yocum did the editorial work. In 1863 G. W. and B. F. Yocum became editors and proprietors. In 1865 Val Mendal purchased this plant, and five years later he took C. M. Clapp in with him as editor and partner. When Mr. Clapp retired, in 1872, C. L. Nelson took editorial charge and did all of the editorial work, Mr. Mendal being the sole owner of the paper.
In 1882 Tom Hutchinson succeeded Mr. Nelson as editor for a short time, and on October 5th of the same year Mr. Mendal sold the paper to Hon. J. T. Young and son. These gentlemen conducted the paper until April 17, 1884. when ex-Lieutenant-Governor M. M. Walden bought the concern. Mr. Walden had Congressional aspirations at the time, and did not assume active management of the paper. Mr. Young continued as the editorial writer, and Frank Hickenlooper acted as local editor for a time.
On March 4, 1886, Walden sold the paper to Alpheus R. Barnes, who has been the sole editor and proprietor up to the present time. Mr. Barnes has been at the helm for the greatest length of time of any of the Union's former pro- prietors. He is assisted quite efficiently by his son Horace, a young man of strict integrity and of considerable promise, . well calculated to take up the cudgel in behalf of the public welfare and good government whenever age shall require the senior member to lay it down.
Mr. Barnes has his paper located in a handsome and well-equipped brick building on the southeast corner of the
149
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
Square, and owns the block as well as the newspaper plant. He is a veteran in journalism, and will doubtless die in the harness, a natural death. His bold and aggressive methods of conducting a paper have won for him some enemies, which would be an inevitable consequence with anyone conducting a high-mettled sheet for so long a time. Whatever may be said of Mr. Barnes' qualifications as a journalist, he has a wide circle of staunch supporters, and is a high-minded gentleman, was a brave and loyal soldier, and is the head of one of the best and most highly esteemed families in the State.
The Albia Republic was a Democratie paper, started by A. C. Bailey in August, 1868. It existed for about a year, when the plant was purchased by Messrs. Ragsdale and Hills. The Republic was a fair and faithful exponent of the Democratic doctrine, and might have established itself permanently had it not been that the Democratic support within the county at that time was very meager.
Ragsdale and Hills converted the concern into a Repub- liean paper, under the name of The Spirit of the West. The sheet made its first appearance December 1, 1869. In 1870 Hills withdrew, and one E. B. Woodward took his place. In June of the same year Woodward was succeeded by C. MeConnell, and in October of the same year a man named Brown succeeded McConnell. In April, 1871, I. S. Carpenter and C. C. Berger bought the paper, and in the same year B. F. Yocum succeeded Mr. Berger. In 1872 Yocum retired and left the concern solely to Carpenter. In 1872 Ben F. Elbert identified himself with Carpenter, and JJames Haynes became editor. January 16, 1874, J. C. Peacock & Company bought the plant and ran it six weeks, and then sold it to W. H. McConnell & Company, who removed it to Kearney, Nebraska. The publication led a checkered existence from first to last; not so much from incapacity on the part of its managers as from the fact that the local field could not support two Republican papers, and it was impossible for The Spirit of the West to gain a permanent foothold where the Albia ( nion held the patronage.
In 1874 the Reform Weekly Leader made its appearance under the management of Porte Welsh. The sheet was very rambling in its political tenets, and did not espouse any party cause in particular while under the management of Mr. Welsh. It was one of that class of so-called independent
150
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
newspapers which float around in a sea of ethereal thought, and exalted but impracticable social theories, yet ready, like the barnacle, to attach itself to whatever it may come in contact with. It was published simultaneously at Albia and Oskaloosa. On April 18, 1874, R. Tell Coffman bought the Albia concern, and J. M. Humphrey acted as associate editor. It finally, in 1874, espoused the cause of the Demo- cratic party, but early in 1875 it collapsed.
The Albia Reporter was the next newcomer in Monroe County journalism. It was established by G. N. Udell and G. C. Miller, April 10, 1875, and professed to be independent in politics, but soon enlisted under the banner of Horace Greeley and the Liberal-Democrat movement of that year. It did not run longer than a few months.
The next paper to attempt to attain the "north pole" of journalistic success in Monroe County was the Industrial Era, which made its appearance in 1875. F. A. Mann leased the plant from Geo. C. Fry, of Batavia, Jefferson County, Iowa, who had conducted it as a Grange organ. Mann converted it into a Greenback paper, and ran it until August 14, 1879, when he retired and his place was taken by Geo. Tucker, of Albia, who ran it for four months in the interest of the Greenback party. D. M. Clark, of Wayne County, was running for State senator that fall, on the fusion ticket, and Monroe County was carried by that gentleman, largely through Mr. Tucker's efforts.
In the latter part of 1879 Geo. Stamm leased the Era and continued it as a Greenback organ until May, 1882, when he retired. His paper made a strong fight to secure the enactment of the Iowa prohibitory amendment, which was voted upon by the people of the State on June 27, 1882.
The Albia Era, as it had been named by Stamm, was now leased from its owner, Mr. Fry, by Henry J. Bell, a brilliant young student and ardent advocate of Federal fiat money. Mr. Bell conducted the paper about a year. and was succeeded by H. E. Davis, of Bloomfield. Davis staid with the Era a short time, and finally Mr. Foster, the well-known weather prophet, succeeded as publisher. The paper ex- pired and was never resurrected when Foster let go of it. The Era was never a success financially.
E. O. Davis, at about this time, established The Opinion, a sheet in the interest of the Union Labor party, but it died down in a few months. Wallace Miner had charge of it for a short time. The paper was a failure financially.
151
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
In 1876 O. H. Wood established The Plaindealer at Melrose. The following year it was transferred to Albia and conducted as a temperance paper. It finally became a Democratic organ, but in 187S it collapsed. A short time afterwards Tom Leonard revived the sheet as a Democratic organ.
John Doner, in 1879, took charge of the plant and started the Albia Democrat, running it about three years. Some time later, after the paper had become defunct, Hon. T. B. Perry, and perhaps other leading Democrats in the county, recognizing the necessity of a party organ in the county. bought the plant, and placed its management in the hands of Messrs. Weber and Howard. These gentlemen built the concern up into a thrifty party organ. Mr. Weber was the most adroit and active party manager the Democrats have ever had in Monroe County. He proved to be a Moses to lead them out of political bondage. By his efforts the county was carried by his party; and under Mr. Cleveland's first term of the Presidency he was given the Albia post- office. Mr. Howard, his partner, attended to the local and mechanical departments, and besides being a first-rate printer, was a talented writer, especially in a light, humorous vein. Both gentlemen are now located in Utah.
In 1890 they sold out to W. E. Cherry, a gamey young newspaper man from the western part of the State. Mr. Cherry conducted the paper as a Democratic organ until 1894, when it was purchased by D. R. Michener, who in 1895 sold it to Campbell Brothers. These gentlemen did not succeed with it, and later in the year Frank Morris acquired an interest in the Democrat.
Early in the spring of the present year (1896) H. M. Belvel and H. H. Crenshaw, both of Des Moines, bought the Democrat, and are now publishing it. Mr. Belvel is a news- paper man of more than ordinary literary ability, and spends part of his time in Des Moines editing a syndicate letter, which is supplied to about seventy-five Democratic weeklies throughout Iowa. He is high-strong and aggressive in the enunciation of his party creed. He is the newspaper corre- spondent whom Senator Finn, of Bedford, chastised some years ago at the Capitol at Des Moines for publishing some malodorous statement concerning the latter.
In 1889 Messrs. Mendel and Nelson, both well-known veterans in local journalism, launched the Albia Herald, a
152
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
Republican paper. They ran it a few weeks and then sold it to a Mr. Crider, who continued it for about a year as a Republican sheet, when it succumbed through a lack of patronage.
The concern was well managed, but it was impossible for it to establish itself in the territory of so formidable a rival as the Union, whose right of priority seemed to be so well recognized by the public that it felt indifferent to the welfare of the newcomer.
When Mr. Crider abandoned the Herald, Hal Holesclaw and Mark Sylvester took hold of the plant and started a small independent daily, called the Albia News. It lived only about three weeks, and then collapsed.
In 1890 M. M. Hinton established the Monroe County Progress in the town of Lovilia. It was conducted as an independent paper, but disclosed a slight tendency towards the Populist party.
In 1891 Messrs. Gass and Swayne started a Populist organ at Albia, called The People's Defender, and in 1892 Mr. Hinton brought his plant to Albia and consolidated it with the Defender, the organ thus united taking the name of The Progress-Defender. It is the official organ of the Popu- lists of the county. Mr. Hinton is its sole publisher and proprietor.
The Albia Republican was launched at Albia, October 24, 1894, by the Whittaker Brothers, a pair of journalistic hustlers from Oklahoma Territory. It started as a Republi- can paper, but was an advocate of the free and unlimited coinage of silver, a position which the Populists and major portion of the Democratic party espoused in 1895 and 1896. Finding that these views did not meet the endorsement of the Republican party, the manager soon ceased the cham- pionship of free silver, apparently without any qualms of conscience.
In July, 1896, the Whittakers sold the paper to Val Mendel and a gentleman named Sebille, from Bedford, Iowa. These gentlemen are now managing the sheet, endeavoring to place it on a paying basis. It is issued both daily and weekly, and is a nice, clean sheet.
When the Whittakers sold the sheet, Charles, one of the firm, located in California, and is now publishing a small paper, called The Olive Branch, at the town of Cucamonga. Harry, the other brother, remained at Albia
153
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
a few weeks, and, becoming involved in a social scandal, left for parts unknown, leaving his wife behind.
While the Whittakers had control of the Republican, they made a vigorous effort to secure the county printing. Wagons and bicycles were awarded to the person securing the greatest number of subscribers to their paper. The Board of Supervisors, on the face of the sworn subscription- list of the three local papers, awarded the county printing to be placed with the Progress-Defender and Republican. The Albia U'nion contested the award, and carried it into the District Court for trial. The jury failed to agree, and a new trial is now pending.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.