USA > Iowa > Des Moines County > The history of Des Moines county, Iowa, containing a history of the country, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers > Part 49
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In November, 1838, Mr. Edwards responded to the requests of parties in Burlington, and moved his office to this place. December 13, of that year, he issued a "specimen number of the Burlington Patriot." It was a 28-column sheet, 223x34 inches in size, and was given up entirely to reading-matter, except a small space on the fourth page. There was inserted a notice of a two- days religious meeting in the State-house (as Old Zion was sometimes called), at which " Revs. Scott and Arrington were expected to be present." Messrs. Lamson, Bridgeman & Co. had a few small advertisements of general stock of merchandise for sale. Drs. Ransom and Knapp announced that they " had a full set of surgical instruments, and were ready to do all kinds of surgery." The Burlington Drug Store, by William S. Edgar & Co. Philip Viele, attorney at law, Fort Madison, presented his card. Henry Eno, Judge of Probate, published a notice. That comprised the list of advertisers. The patronage solicited did not offer itself, and the Burlington Patriot died on the day of its birth.
On the 6th day of June, 1839, Mr. Edwards issued the first number of the Iora Patriot at Burlington. The new candidate for public favor was a 24- column paper, 21x31 inches in size. Its first page contained no advertising matter ; was given up entirely to miscellaneous selections, and set in large, clear type. The second page was also made up of reading-matter, but four columns were set in smaller type, and contained editorials and communications. The third page gave nearly one and a half columns of advertisements, of which the following gives an idea : "Bridgeman & Partridge, wholesale and retail for- warding and commission merchants, brick block. Burlington, Iowa Territory." Smaller announcements detailed what they had for sale. Charles J. Starr had opened a " new store; " H. W. Moore & Co. were dealers in groceries ; Will- iam S. Edgar owned the " Burlington Drug Store." James W. Grimes, W. W. Chapman and Philip Viele were attorneys at law, with modest announcements of the fact. The fourth page was given up entirely to reading-matter, except the last column, which contained an elaborate argument in favor of Moffat's Life Pills and Phoenix Bitters. The beginning was surely not a very auspicious one for an ambitious newspaper man. As the weeks rolled by, the advertising increased slowly. Among the professional men we see J. D. Learned and C. J. Learned, H. Robb and W. J. A. Bradford, Messrs. Rorer & Starr appear in the issue of July 11, 1839, and August 1st appeared the card of D. Rorer alone. Cyrus Olney was also a candidate for patronage in the law.
The suspended Patriot of Fort Madison that day re-appeared as an exponent of Whig principles in the future metropolis of the Territory. Mr. Edwards observed in his leading editorial in the first paper : "The Patriot is the only Whig paper in the Territory. * We have not started it so much with the intention of making converts to the Whig cause, as to correct the misrepre- sentations so lavishly heaped upon the members of the party." The paper was from the first a most radical, outspoken and fearless advocate of the principles of the party it affiliated with. While it is not the purpose of this work to elaborate the political controversies of those days, we find it impossible to ignore the influence exerted upon all matters of public interest by the numerous politicians who located in Burlington and made that town the center from which emanated
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all controlling thought, social, commercial and political, for many years. This record shall give an impartial statement of the political complications of the early times, as viewed from the standpoint of a disinterested observer, who gazes upon the results of conflict-not upon the immediate processes of accomplish- ment-at a period far removed from the date of their occurrence.
September 5, 1839, a change was made in the title of the paper. Mr. Edwards had, as is shown elsewhere in this work, suggested the adoption of the term " Hawk-Eye" as a distinctive name for Iowa and her people. Mrs. Edwards was appealed to by her husband for a name appropriate and peculiar, and at once proposed " Hawk-Eye " as the most desirable. Mr. Edwards accepted the very judicious advice of his wife and honored her by placing the name over his columns. The paper appeared as the Hawk-Eye and Iowa - Patriot. The original manner of writing the word was with the hyphen, and that styles is still adhered to by the owners of the journal, so far as head-lines are concerned; but in their business papers, and also in the body of the journal, itself, the name is given in one word. When applied to the State or people, the name " Hawkeye " should be given without the hyphen, in accordance with modern orthography.
October 17, 1839, the paper was enlarged to a sheet 221x34 inches. A question has been raised as to the temporary suspension of the paper early in 1843. The files are not perfect, and we are obliged to speculate a little as to that matter. The volume which follows in order after the foregoing enlargement begins with a small sheet, 18x24 inches in size, which is dated November 30, 1843, and is No. 17 of Vol. V, but is also " No. 27, New Series." From this the inference is drawn that the paper was suspended for a brief period, and was then begun on a reduced scale, about the first of June. The numbering shows that the paper must have been suspended twelve weeks ; for, since it was estab- lished June 6, 1839, Vol. V, No. 17, would have taken it to the 5th of Sep- tember, 1843. The date of Vol. V, No. 17 is, however, given as November 30, or twelve weeks later than the regular time. It is also shown that the issue of November 30 was No. 27 of a " new series," which places the issuance of that revival at June 1, 1843. Hence, we conclude that, prior to June 1, the paper was suspended for three months. With the beginning of the new series, the name was changed to The Hawk-Eye, and the price reduced to $1.50. December 21, of that year, the paper was enlarged to 211x30 inches.
December 5, 1844, Col. Fitz Henry Warren became associate editor with Mr. Edwards.
About March 13, 1845, the paper was enlarged to 36x46 inches. July 24, 1845, J. M. Broadwell bought an interest in the paper, and the firm became Edwards & Broadwell. In the summer of 1848, the Hawk-Eye received its first special telegraphic dispatches, the line having been extended to the city during that season. There was much complaint over the poorly-operated wires.
August 10, 1850, a paper was established at Burlington, and called the Burlington Tri- Weekly Telegraph, having also a weekly issue. The origi- nators were Morgan & McKenny. This firm inaugurated a new system of journalism in Iowa, presenting the first tri-weekly edition ever issued in the State, and making, altogether, one of the finest appearing and most ably con- ducted papers it has been our pleasure to examine in the West. Both of the gentlemen associated with the Telegraph were originally Democrats in pol- itics ; but the new paper was Conservative Whig, inclining toward the extension of, or, at least, the non-interference with, slavery. ' It supported the Fugitive-
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Slave Law, and was a direct opponent, in many things, of the Hawk-Eye. Where the Hawk-Eye was radical, the Telegraph was conservative. The fact that such a journal was able to servive at all speaks well for the intelligence of Burlington. as well as of the education which their taste had received in newspapers. There must have been a field for the journal to have operated in, or it could not have lived.
The Hawk-Eye had shared the first official patronage of Legislature and Government with the Gazette, and both of those papers were able to bridge over the chasm which always yawns at the feet of a new paper ; but the Tele- graph was not so favored. It began with light support, but gradually worked into the plan of " small advertisements," as it is now called. Its columns were well filled after a few months. Still, its expenses must have been heavy, and it could not have made its accounts balance. June 14, 1851, a daily edition was begun.
June 23, 1851, Mr. Edwards retired from the Hawk-Eye. That paper passed into the hands of Stockton & Pierson, with the former as editor. Shortly afterward, Mr. Stockton retired, leaving Mr. Pierson owner. A tri- weekly edition had been begun in May.
Mr. Pierson was succeeded by Mr. C. Dunham, who associated with Mr. J. L. Brown, as partner.
In August, 1851. the cholera raged in Burlington, and, on the 5th of that month, Mr. Edwards died.
Thus, in 1852, the rival Whig journals were waging war upon their common enemy, Democracy, and upon each other. Some changes had taken place on the Telegraph. John H. McKenny had entered the firm, making it Morgan, McKenny & Co. In June, 1853, the " Co." was dropped. February 11, 1854, the " Burlington Telegraph Printing Co." took the office, the officers of the new concern being: Trustees, J. F. Tallant, James W. Grimes and Har- vey Ray, Jr. ; actuary, John G. Foote; editor, James M. Morgan ; printer, J. Smith McKenny.
July 4, 1855, Messrs. Dunham & Brown purchased the office of the Tele- graph and consolidated it with their journal, forming the Hawk-Eye and Tele- graph.
The sudden suspension of the Telegraph was a serious blow to Gen. Mor- gan. Ile had nursed the creation of his brain and hand through all its feeble years, sacrificing personal comforts that his pet might live. When the com- pany was formed, he was obliged to admit the expediency of the move, because the office was burdened with debt. In the first issue of the consolidated papers, he published an address to his former readers, that shows the bitterness of his feeling.
The editors of the consolidated journals admitted the address of Gen. Morgan to its columns with "some regret." They entertained the highest personal regard for that gentleman, and intended to do him no injury by purchasing the office and "good-will " of the defunct Telegraph. The editorial concluded thus : "The two papers have occupied almost identically the same ground on political questions. * * * While we have political feelings and prefer- ences, and expect to express them independently, we do not feel that we shall print a partisan paper. There is no call at present for such a publication. Old landmarks and old parties have been obliterated and crushed ont. The two great parties that have hitherto divided the country exist only in name. In the reforming of political elements it is somewhat difficult to tell exactly how things are to shape themselves. For the present there is but one question
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which agitates the political world ; that question is slavery. We unhesitatingly declare ourselves in favor of resisting the further aggressions of slavery, and opposed to its extension over any more free territory. We would confine it to its present bounds, giving it no more rights and privileges than are vouchsafed in the Constitution.
March 26, 1856, John L. Brown, the junior partner, retired from the paper, leaving Charles Dunham sole editor and proprietor. The journal became a strong Republican paper, nominating Col. John C. Fremont for the Presi- dency, subject to the action of the first Republican National Convention, as early as June 9 of that year. The success achieved in the Convention by the nomination of Fremont was joyously announced on the 25th of June.
Mr. Dunham continued as editor and publisher of the Hawk-Eye (having dropped the word Telegraph from the heading June 26, 1857) until 1864, when Messrs. Edwards & Beardsley became proprietors.
In October, 1874, "The Hawk-Eye Publishing Company " became proprie- tors of the institution. The editorial staff was composed of the following gen- tlemen : Frank Hatton, editor-in-chief; R. J. Burdette, J. S. Waite, C. Beardsley, associate editors ; Allison Leadley, city editor ; C. Y. Wheeler, business manager. J. W. Burdette succeeded Mr. Leadley, and Richard Stockton succeeded Mr. Burdette as city editor. Newton Snyder has been added as subeditor to the staff. Mr. H. W. Hall is now business manager.
GERMAN JOURNALISM.
The first German paper published in Burlington was called the Burlington Volksblatt. It was established in the spring of 1852 by Mr. Mertz, who is now Postmaster at Garibaldi, Keokuk County, Iowa, and edited by Adalbert Læhr, who afterward became a prominent German editor in St. Louis, where he died. His successor was Henry Kompe. Dr. Scholer had owned and edited the paper for some time, when H. C. Ohrt became associated with .him as editor in 1853, remaining until 1854, when F. Goll assumed the proprietor and editorship of the same. In 1855, it was purchased by Weber and Wolf, and the name was changed to that of Freie Presse, edited by Mr. Mader until July, 1856, when H. C. Ohrt succeeded him. After the October election in 1856, Henry Binder, of Chicago, became editor, remaining until March, 1857. Weber & Wolf, under foreclosure of mortgage, sold the paper to C. Kues- tenmacher, when H. C. Ohrt became editor until Prof. Seybold, of Milwaukee, took his place. Then came Mr. Bittman and again H. C. Ohrt as editors. In 1860, Mr. Vanzelow became proprietor and editor, but, on account of ill-health, was obliged to give up the editorship to H. C. Ohrt. Upon the death of Mr. Vanzelow in 1861, Daldorf & Guelich purchased the paper from the former's estate. At this time the name was changed to Iowa Tribune, and edited by Theodore Guelich. During this journal's career, under its various manage- ments it had been alternately Democratic, Abolitionist and Anti-Temperance. Under the new management it became Republican. In 1863, Theodore Guelich sold out his interest to John Daldorf, but remained editor until the summer of 1864. His successors were M. Langeloth, Conrad Greiner and Prof. E. Poppe. In 1868, John Daldorf formed a partnership with E. Schilling, whose father, Dr. G. Schilling, became editor. In February, 1871, a company styling itself the Iowa Tribune Company was incorporated, and consisted of Paul Lange, Prof. E. Poppe, Fred Becker and Theodore Guelich. In the spring of 1874, said company included Theo. Bischof, whose father, E. Bischof, was engaged as editor. In 1875, the Tribune Company dis-
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solved, and the paper went into the hands of Paul Lange & Co., Theodore Guelich being the only partner. At this time L. Mader was editor. In 1877, L. Weinstein, the present editor, succeeded Mr. Mader. The present circulation of the lowa Daily Tribune is 475, and of the Weekly 1,700 copies.
Other German papers have been published in Burlington at different periods. but are now all dead. Such have been : Der National Adler, Democratic; Die lowa Tribuene. Democratic ; Die Freie Presse, in 1876, Democratic; Das Volksblatt, in 1877, Democratic.
OTHER PAPERS.
The Mediapolis Enterprise is spoken of in the chapter devoted to that town. Among the graves of dead newspapers, one is able to distinguish the unpre- tentious tombstones of several Burlington ventures. The Burlington Daily started out as an evening paper. sixteen columns in size, and independent in politics, on the 12th day of August, 1873. Mr. Frank Phelps grasped the chief pen and ran his name in small type under the heading as proprietor. George Jamison was his associate, and W. Boecklin served as financial editor. The vigor which those men infused into its columns was sufficient to carry the frail youngster along and cause its enlargement to twenty-four columns in size : but when the chilly winds of November, 1874, blew around the street corners and filled men's eyes with dust, the proud yearling took advantage of the tem- porary blindness of the people and quietly laid down and died.
The Critic came among the Burlington people on the 1st of January, 1875. and told them what it thought of their doings. W. Boecklin was the editor. The old saying has it settled beyond doubt that even a worm will turn when trodden on. How much more likely are intelligent men and women to resent conspicuous mention of matters and things. Albeit the tales are told on fine book-paper, indignation runs rampant where society's toes are stepped upon. And so the society paper was noiselessly folded away, after a single month's existence.
The Evening Star arose June 9, 1875, and looked down brightly, but inde- pendently, on all things. Mr. Seth Eggleston was editor-in-chief; W. Boeck- lin and Frank Phelps, associates. The paper was twenty columns in size, and those columns were brimful of entertaining reading. But a cloud passed over the Star December 14, 1875, and when the vapor was blown away, the news- paper sky of Burlington presented a fine field for astronomers to wonder in. The Star had disappeared.
Every Sunday Morning came out to shock the good people and terrify the bad in September, 1875. C. Y. Wheeler was proprietor, and Frank Phelps held the pen in one hand and a spy-glass in the other. Charles Beardsley, W. Boecklin, George Jamison and Mrs. E. S. Huston composed the corps of asso- ciates. Thirty-six columns were filled each week with pungent paragraphs and editorials. But when the new year came, the life-giving ducats failed to drop into the till. Few in number, but brilliant in kind, were the issues that appeared. Aged three and a half months.
As one man said, with true Western pride in the little newspaper ventures which never reached that goal of publishers-"a paying basis "-" they called things by their right names, and died with their boots on." Which may be a mixed metaphor, but a very correct description of their life and death.
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Chocs. I. Bocker
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THE NAME "HAWKEYE."
The title "Hawkeye," as applied to a resident of Iowa or to the State itself, first appeared in print, so far as we have been able to ascertain, in the Fort Madison Patriot of March 24, 1838. That issue was the first one of the paper founded by James G. Edwards in this region. In an editorial, the following suggestion was made :
" If a division of the Territory [Wisconsin] is effected, we propose that the Iowans take the cognomen of Hawkeyes. Our etymology can then be more definitely traced than can that of the Wolverines, Suckers, Gophers, etc., and we shall rescue from oblivion a memento, at least, of the name of the old chief (Black Hawk)."
September 5, 1839, Mr. Edwards, who had moved his office to Burlington, gave the name of Hawk-Eye to his paper, as is shown in the history of the press. He was familiarly styled " Old Hawk " by his friends throughout the West, even to the day of his death. It is quite likely that the Indians had used their synonym of Hawkeye as a distinctive title for some of their associates, but there is no evidence to show that the name had been offered prior to Mr. Edwards' suggestion of it, to apply to Iowa at large. It has been stated that the Indian trader S. S. Phelps was alled " Old Hawkeye" by the red men ; but if he was, the cognomen went no further.
Until conclusive evidence is adduced to the contrary, the people of Iowa will be disposed to accredit Mr. Edwards with the honor of having affixed to the State a name which will live as long as Iowa itself endures.
THE SENATORIAL SUCCESSIONS.
The Territory of Iowa was admitted into the Union as a State in accordance with the provisions of the law regulating the increase of the national sisterhood, and under the Constitution adopted by the second Constitutional Convention of the Territory, held at Iowa City, May 4, 1846. The organic law was approved · by the people on the 3d day of August, 1846, by a vote of 9,492 in its favor to 9,036 in the negative. The indorsed Constitution was presented to Congress in December of the same year, and, on the 28th day of that month, a formal bill was passed, admitting Iowa as one of the States.
In anticipation of this action of Congress, the Territorial Governor, Hon. James Clarke, issued a proclamation, ordering an election to be held for the purpose of choosing State officers and a State Legislature. The election was held on the 26th day of October, 1846.
Of the several branches of government provided for at that time, this sketch has only to deal with the legislative. When the action of Congress confirmed the proceedings of the people of Iowa, it already found the ma- chinery of the State in motion. The first General Assembly convened at Iowa City November 30, 1846, and remained in session until February 25, 1847.
One of the most important duties which devolved upon the people at the first State election, was the selection of a Congressional delegation. The law provided for the election of two members of the Lower House of Congress directly, and, in accordance therewith, S. Clinton Hastings, of Muscatine, was chosen to represent the First District, or northern half of the State, and Shep-
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herd Leffler, of Burlington, to represent the Second, or Southern District. But the task of electing two Senators was delegated to the Legislature, and that body was invested with more than ordinary interest to the aspiring men of the newly-created commonwealth. Those days are not so far removed in the past as to be materially different from the present in respect to personal ambitions ; and the beautiful region of Iowa had attracted to it many of the rising men of the West. The legal profession was distinguished by the ability of its members, and the bar, as is admitted in all sections, whether new or old, is famous for its contributions to the legislative bodies of the country.
The Legislature which met in November, 1846, was, therefore, the object of more than ordinary interest and curiosity. It held in its hands the unusual power of choosing two United States Senators. The State Senate consisted of nineteen members, and was organized by the election of Thomas Baker, from Marion, Polk, Dallas and Jasper Counties, as President, and the election of John B. Russell as Secretary, on the 1st day of December. The House was composed of forty members, and elected Jesse B. Brown, of Lee, Speaker, and Silas A. Hudson. Chief Clerk. The political complexion of the majority of both Houses was Democrat.
The Congress to which the Legislature was to elect Senators was the Twenty-ninth. and only the last session of that. It may be well to explain that the United States Senate is so composed as to be a perpetual body-one third of its members only retiring at the expiration of each Congress (lasting two years). Thus, when a State is admitted to the Union, it chooses two Senators, who are not designated for any specific term by the Legislature choos- ing them. When the Senators-elect reach Washington, the Secretary of the Senate prepares three slips of paper, upon one of which is written " class first," upon another, " class second," and upon the other, " class third." These slips represent the three divisions of the Senate, which are as equal, numerically, as the whole Senate membership is divisible by three. If, however, recent additions to the list have made one of the classes larger than the others, that enlarged class is omitted from the slips prepared by the Secretary, and but two (being first and second. first and third or second and third, as the case may be) are furnished. When these preliminaries are arranged, the new Senators, or friends acting for them, see the slips placed in a box or hat, and draw one of the slips. The lot thus drawn determines the class to which the drawer is to be assigned. Ever afterward, the successors of those men take their places in the classes so decided upon. Vacancies caused by death, resignation or impeach- ment are filled for the unexpired term of the regular incumbent, and not for six years, or the full term. The purpose is to preserve, as nearly as possible, three equal divisions of the Senate.
The Senatorial aspirants were numerous, and the friends of the respective candidates were firm in their determination to see their favorites succeed. An element which entered into the contest in a powerful degree was that known as the " 'Possum " faction from the Half-Breed Tract, or, as it was familiarly called. " The Tract," in Lee County. This faction arose from the complications growing out of the sale of lands in the Tract by half-breed Indians to white men. Those settlers who had located on the disputed section were banded together for political and judicial purposes, with the one view of securing their own titles at whatever hazard. The Tract was thickly settled, and, as a conse- quence, held a controlling influence in the politics of the county. The " 'Pos- sins " were able to elect their own candidates, and were also determined to choose only such men to office as favored their claims.
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It chanced that the " 'Possums " held the balance of power in the first State Legislature. There were two Senators and six Representatives from Lee County, and if these men were to cast their ballots with the Whigs, the latter party would secure a majority of one over any Democratic Senatorial candidate. It is said that the Whigs and " 'Possums " effected a coalition, and agreed upon Mr. McCarty as their choice for Senator, as opposed to the Democratic candi- date, Augustus C. Dodge. When the separate Houses had balloted and failed of a choice, the two bodies came together in Joint Convention and proceeded to ballot for Senator. It is said that, upon the first ballot, Senator Samuel Fullen- wider, of Des Moines County, a Whig, refused to carry out the caucus plan of voting for McCarty. The result was an equal number of votes for McCarty and Dodge.
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