USA > Illinois > De Witt County > History of De Witt county, Illinois. With illustrations descriptive of the scenery, and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 25
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R. A. LEMON was born in Sangamon county, Ill., in 1848, but removed when young to Piatt county, and received his educa- tion in the schools there ; r ad law in 1867 with W. G. Randall, afterwards with Ingersoll, Harper & Cassel, at El Paso, until 1870; during that year was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Farmer City until 1877 ; he then came to Clinton, and during the present year entered into partnership with F. M. Burroughs.
WILLIAM MONSON is a native of Ohio, but came when very young to De Witt county, and obtained the rudiments of an education at Clinton, which was completed at the Illinois Wes- leyan University, Bloomington. He read law with Fuller & Graham, and was admitted to the bar in 1875. He practiced alone until 1870, when he became a partner in the firm of Fuller, Graham and Monson. Mr. Monson is a good lawyer and a genial. pleasant gentleman.
WILLIAM H. BOOTH, originally from Greene county, Ohio. He obtained the rudiments of an education at Waynesville, this county ; subsequently gained the highest class honors at the Illi- nois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, in 1873, in which place he afterwards studied law with Rowell & Hamilton, subsequently with Orendorf & Creighton of Springfield ; was admitted to the
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
har in the early part of 1879, and began the practice of his pro- fession in the same year at Clinton, and was for a time in part- nership with E. S. Van Meter. He was elected states attorney for fonr years in November, 1880, and is the present incumbent.
C. M. WELCH, of Farmer City, a native of Ohio, obtained his education in the academies of that and the neighboring state of Indiana ; came first to Illinois in 1860; the next year returned to Indiana and commenced studying law with Judge John Morris, of Fort Wayne, in 1861; soon afterwards joined the I'mion troops in the late war, and at its close in 1865 came to Farmer City, where he for a number of years followed the pro- fession of teacher ; finally reuewed the study of law with G. W. Herriek ; qualified himself, and was admitted to the bar in 1879, from which time he has continued to practice. In April, 1881, he was elected Mayor of Farmer City for the usual term of two years.
O. E. HARRIS, of Kinney, came from Henry county, Kentucky, at an early age, and received the first rudiments of an education in the neighboring county of Logan; attended the State Normal University in 1868, and completed his education at Eureka Col- lege; read law with Judge W. E. Dicks, of Logan county, and was admitted to the bar in 1673; settled at Kinney in the early part of last year, where he continues the prae ice of his pro- fession.
EDGAR S. VAN METER, born in Hardy county, West Virginia, | whole alphabet, and when he showed his master the type cut and educated in the schools of that state, came to Illinois in 1870, and to De Witt county in 1875; began the study of law with E H. Palmer, and was admitted to the bar in 1878. IIe practices the profession in Clinton, and does an extensive busi- ness in connection with the railroad interests of the county.
CHAPTER XI.
THIE PRESS. -
-
BY D. MACKENZIE.
DE" WITT COURIER, DE WITT COUNTY DEMOCRAT, THE VINDICATOR, CENTRAL TRANSCRIPT, WEEKLY CENTRAL TRANSCRIPT, CLINTON PUBLIC, DE WITT COUNTY PUBLIC AND CENTRAL TRANSCRIPT, THE CLINTON UNION, THE CLINTON TIMES, THE DE WITT REGISTER, THE CLINTON REGISTER, THE FARMER CITY REPUBLICAN, THIE ORTHORS. POR. THE FARMER CITY JOURNAL, THE FARMER CITY HERALD, THE FARMER CITY REPORTER, THE PUBLIC REAPER, THE REAL ESTATE INDEX, THE TEMPERANCE VIDETTE, THE DE WITT COUNTY GAZETTE, DE WITT COUNTY MESSENGER, THE KENNEY REGISTER, THE KENNEY RECORD, THE KENNEY GAZETTE.
IIE inventor of printing, Laurentius Coster, was born in Haerlem, Holland. about the year 1370. It was while rambling through the forest, contiguous to his native town, that he cut some letters on the bark of a bireh tree. Drowsy from the effort, and relaxation of a holiday, he wrapped his handiwork in his handkerchief and lay down to sleep. While men sleep the world moves. Damped by the atmospheric moisture, the paper wrapped about bis carvings had taken an impression from them, and Coster awoke to discover an inverted image of what he had carved npon the bark. The phenomenon
was suggestive because it led to experiments that resulted in establishing a printing office, the first of its kind, in the old, Dutch town of Haerlem. The date of the discovery was between the years 1420 and 1426. In this office John Gutenberg served a faithful and appreciative apprenticeship. Gutenberg was born near the close of the 14th century at Mentz, Germany. He is regarded by some German writers, as being the inventor of print- ing, but the preponderance of evidence is in favor of Coster. He, however, was the first to employ moveable types in printing, the date of which was about the year 1438. After the death of Cos- ter, he absconded, taking with him a considerable portion of the type and apparatus. He settled in Mentz where he won the friendship and partnership of John Faust, a wealthy goldsmith and of sufficient means and enterprise to set up the printing busi- ness upon a secure financial basis. The date of the copartner- ship was in the year 1450. It was dissolved several years later owing to a misunderstanding. Gutenberg then formed a partner- ship with a younger brother who had set up an office in Stras- burg, but had not been successful, and becoming involved in law-suits had fled from that eity and joined his brother at Mentz. These brothers were the first to use metal types.
John Faust, after the dissolution of partnership with Guten- | berg, took into partnership Peter Schoeffer, one of his servants, and an ingenious workman. Ile privately eut matrices for the from those matrices Faust was so much pleased that he gave Schoeffer his only daughter in marriage. Schoeffer's improve- ment in easting type from matrices was made in 1456. Guten- berg's printing office existed in Mentz until 1465. He died February 14th, 1468.
These are the great names in the early history of printing and each is worthy of special honor. In this connection it is fitting that mention should be made of William Caxton, who introduced printing into England, and was the first English printer of whomu there is any knowledge. Ile was born in Kent in 1422. In 1471 he entered the service of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. During his sojourn in Bruges he formed the acquaintance of Colard Mansion, a well known printer of that city. He acquired the art, and in 1476 returned to England, and set up his wooden printing press in Westminster. The " Game and Play of the Chesse," was one of his earliest publications IIe died about the
year 1491.
For a long time printing was dependent upon most clumsy apparatus. The carliest press had a contrivance for running the form under the point of pressure by means of a serew. When the pressure had been applied, the serew was loosened, the form withdrawn and the sheet removed. The defeets of this very rnde mechanism were at length partially remedied and improved by William Jansen Blain of Amsterdam. He contrived a press in which the carriage holding the form was wound below the point of pressure, which was given by moving a handle attached to a screw hanging in a beam, having a spring, that caused the serew to fly back as soon as the impression was given. The Blain press was made entirely of wood, and was in general use in Europe and America, until the present century. The next improvement in printing presses was made by the Earl of Stanhope, who constructed one entirely of iron, which printed the whole surface of the sheet at one impression-the size of the sheet being regu- lated by the size of the press. Numerous improvements were made upon the Stanhope press, which enlminated in the Columbian, an American invention patented in 1816, which in time gained a large share of approbation. Other inventions followed rapidly,
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
and all were more or less improvements upon others. The Ramage hand press came into more general use in America than any other. Cylinder presses are the great modern inven- tion in the history of the art. The first was invented by Mr. Nicholson, an Englishman, and was patented as early as 1790. Ilis patents covered and embodied almost every principle so suc- cessfully applied to printing since that day. Cylinder presses were much improved by Messrs. Applegath and Cowper in 1818. In 1814 steam was first applied to cylinder presses by Frederick Konig, a Saxon genins, and the subsequent progress of steam printing has been so remarkable as to almost justify a belief in its absolute perfection. Indeed to appreciate the improvements which have been made in presses only, one ought to be privi- leged to stand by while the pressman operated one of the clumsy machines of Gutenberg, and then step into one of the well- appointed printing offices of our larger cities, where he could see the roll of dampened paper entering the great mammoth press, a continuous sheet, and issuing from it as newspapers, printed, cut, folded, and ready for the carrier or express.
Type founding, or the manufacture of type, originated in Ger- many along with printing, and dates as early as 1492. It was then connected with the business of printing, but in time it be- came a separate and distinct manufacture. The process of cast- ing type was much the same, and done by hand from the 16th century until 1848, when Meller and Richard of Edinburgh, Scotland, invented and patented a machine for casting types. In 1860 it was much improved by the patentees, and is now the most advanced and approved system of type casting in both Eu- rope and America. The earliest type used were in the style now known as "Gothic," or Black-letter.
It would be interesting to trace more minutely the history of this great art from its humble origin in Harlem, through all suc- cessive stages, to the present, and to classify its products. For nearly a thousand years previous to its introduction, mankind had been surrounded by the densest ignorance the world has ever known. Teutonic barbarians had swept over fair Italy, had sacked her capital, had despised her civilization as unworthy even the indulgence of men dependent upon muscle and sword for empire and liberty. Vandalism had been christened, and had mocked the wisdom of philosophers while destroying and defac- ing the master-pieces of Grecian and Roman architecture and sculpture. Attila the "Scourge of God," at the head of vast Tartar hordes from Asiatic steppes, had traversed the Roman empire, spreading dismay and disaster, until checked at the fierce battle of Chalons. Omar had burned the great Alexandrian library, after declaring that if its volumes agreed with the Ko- ran, they were needless ; if they conflicted, they were pernicious. During this period, feudalism had kept the noble at war with his sovereign, had unsettled governments, and made men soldiers with scarcely time for necessary practice in arms; amusements were popular, only they contributed to martial prowess, and poetry in the main was but a minstrel's doggerel concerning the chivalrous deeds of a listening knight or the wonderful charms of a favorite mistress. From the fall of Rome, there had been but little talent and time to cultivate letters. A few ecclesiastics here and there were the custodians of the learning saved from the wrecks of Grecian literature and Roman knowledge. The masses were ignorant. They believed that the hand which com- monly held the sword would be disgraced if trained to wield the pen. Books were for the monk's cell or the anchorite's cave, and the objective points of all study were to escape purgatory, to cast a horoscope, to turn the baser metals into gold. Superstition,
priesteraft and thirst for material renown moulded public acts and private training.
The Crusades broke the power of feudalism, dispelled much geographical ignorance by making neighboring nations better ac- quainted, gave an impetus to commercial enterprises, awakened the sluggish intellect, enlarged the human mind and rendered it more tolerant, introduced the luxuries and refinements of the Greek empire, and brought about Magna Charta and Free Cities. With the expanding and increasing commerce, arts came to the front, trades flourished and practice began to test precept. The middle classes, whose condition ever determines the character of an era or nation, obtained concessions and rights to which they had been strangers for centuries. The mental world began to move. Famous journeys and discoveries were made. Roger Bacon and Berthold Schwartz studied the chemistry of the Arabs, and were among the first devotees at the shrine of physical science. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and England sought new outlets for their suplus products of soil, loom and fisheries. Mental darkness can make no long-continued stand against such enter- prise, and enterprise will ever find an exponent to herald its doings from nation to nation, and a medium to make its conquests the property of succeeding generations. Europe was in a com- mercial and intellectual ferment when Coster set up his printing office in Harlem, and inaugurated an industry until then unknown. To nnderstand the effect of that industry upon humanity, compare the enlightenment, civilization and progress of the present with the semi-barbarism and stagnation of the middle ages. Printing is rolling back ignorance, vice and degra- dation ; is unfolding the mysteries of nature, and is explaining the mandates of Him who made man in His own image, and ex- pects the homage of the creature due the Creator.
The Romans in the time of the Emperors had periodical notices of passing events, compiled and publicly posted. These Acta Diurna (daily events) were the newspapers of the day. Before they were posted in the public places, where all who desired could see them, they passed under the in- spection of the Emperor, and later, of Censors, Quetors or Magistrates, whose duty it was to carefully scrutinize and erase such information as they, or, the Emperor desired withheld from the people The first newspapers in Europe are traceable to Germany and Venice and date back to soon after the discovery of printing. In 1536 the first newspaper of modern times was issued at Venice, but governmental bigotry compelled its circulation in manuscript form. In the latter half of the 15th century small news sheets named the " Regulationer " and " New Zeytung" appeared in different cities composing the commercial centers of Germany, but they were generally in the form of a letter. The first newspaper established in Germany was the Frankfort Gazette, which still survives, and is credited with being the oldest newspaper in the civilized world. It was established in 1615. The first and nearest approach to newspa- pers in the English language were the pamphlets called the " English Mercury," "News out of Holland," and others, that made their appearance in 1622. They, however, hardly deserve the name of newspapers. In 1663 the Public Intelligencer, printed in London, made its appearance. It was the first Eng- lish paper to attempt the dissemination of news. It continued until the appearance of the London Gazette, which was first issued Nov. 7th, 1665, at Oxford. There were no papers printed oftener than once a week, until the reign of Queen Anne, that from the interest created by the war in progress, and the brilliant victo- ries achieved by Marlborough, there was a demand for more fre-
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
quent intelligence. To satisfy the demand of the Daily Courant was issued every day of the week, Sundays excepted. The Cou- rant was the first daily paper issued.
The first newspaper issued in America was the Public Occur- rences at Boston, Sept. 25th, 1690, hy Richard Pearce, and was immediately suppressed by the government. No man, or, set of men had the presumption to undertake a similar enterprise until fourteen years afterwards, when John Campbell, postmaster, es- tablished the Boston News Letter. The first issue was April 24th, 1704. It was a half sheet, twelve inches by eight, with two columns to the page. The Boston Gazette was issued Dec. 21st, 1719, and the American Weekly, at Philadelphia, one day later -Dec. 22d, 1719. In 1721 James Franklin started the Boston Courant, which was edited for six years by his brother Benjamin. From 1704 to 1748 there were hut six newspapers published in America. From 1748 to 1783 the number increased to forty-nine. The oldest living newspaper in the United States is the New Hampshire Gazette. It was founded Oct. 7th, 1756, and has been published without intermission or radical change of name from that date to the present. The first daily newspaper in the United States was the American Daily Advertiser, established in Philadelphia in 1784, now called the North American. The next year the New York Daily Advertiser was issued.
There are published in the United States and Territories nearly 9000 newspapers and magazines, of which 800 are issued .daily; 60 tri-weekly; 120 semi-weekly; nearly 7000 weekly; 40 semi-monthly ; 90 semi-annually ; 17 once in two months, and be- tween 50 and 60 quarterly. The Census of 1880 will show nearly one newspaper to every five hundred inhabitants. At the begin- ning of 1880 there were of journalistic publications in the United States, besides English, 220 German, 35 French, 25 Spanish, 25 Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, 10 Bohemian, 10 Hollandish, 5 Welsh, 2 Portugese, 2 Polish, 1 Hebrew, I Cherokee, 1 Choctaw and one Chinese.
Real journalism, by which is meant the compiling of passing events for the purpose of making them more generally known and instructive, did not commence until about 1820. Prior to that date the ambition of journalists was to direct and crystallize public opinion. The columns of the journals were much occupied with discussions and dissertations upon every conceivable subject in which the masses had no direct interest or sympathy, and news was almost entirely ignored.
Now, the real object of a newspaper is to get the latest, fresh- est news, and lay it before their readers in the shortest possible time. The innovation upon old forms and introduction of new methods whereby the publishing of news was made the first object of the paper, originated with the publishers of the New York Sun. It was the first real newspaper in the world. It was specially devoted to news both local and general, and soon attained a circulation unprecedented in the history of journalism. Other newspapers were not slow to observe the signals of success, and followed in the wake of the Sun, and soon old fogy methods were lost in the hazy past. News is the dominant idea of the successful newspaper of the day.
Journalism has become a powerful educator. Experience has been its only school for special training, its only text for study, its only test for theory. It is scarcely a profession, but is advancing rapidly towards that dignity. A distinct department of literature has been assigned to it. Leading universities have contemplated the inauguration of courses of study, specially designed to fit meu and women for the duties of the newspaper sanctum. These innova- tions are not untimely, since no other class of men are so powerful 13
for good or ill as editors. More than any other class they form public opinion while expressing it, for most men but echo the sentiments of favorite journalists. Even statesmen, ministers and learned professors not unfrequently get their best thoughts and ideas from the papers they read.
For dates and facts relating to the early history of the press of De Witt county, we are indebted to Hon. C. H. Moore of Clin- ton, who kindly placed at our disposal, files of nearly all the newspapers published in the county. From them we have gleaned much of the information comprising this chapter. We also desire to extend our thanks to Col. Thomas Snell, M. M. De Levis-the latter one of our county's veteran printers, and to present members of the press for favors showu and information given which has in a great measure enabled us to trace the his- tory of newspapers in De Witt county from their first establish- ment in 1854, down to the present time, and present it iu such a shape as we hope will be acceptable to our patrons and readers.
Prior to the publishing of a newspaper in the county the peo- ple of this section received their news from the outside world through the medium of the Louisville Journal, edited by the gifted George D. Prentice. It had a large circulation in De Witt county, and remained the principal medium for news until driven out by the hepublican and Democrat of St. Louis. After the completion of the Illinois Central railroad, Chicago journalistic enterprise drove all foreign competitors from the field, and from that time to the present has supplied the people with the metro- politan journals. The Springfield, Decatur and Bloomington papers were the medium for legal and official publications until snch times as they could be published in the county. The Singumon Journal published at Springfield, was the best known and most widely circulate.I newspaper iu this section, of any of the country papers of the State. It proposed and did to a certain extent publish much of the local news and gossip of the town of Clinton and vicinity through the aid of local correspondents.
The Weekly New York Tribune also supplied much of the political and foreign news. It was a power in the land thirty years ago. Many of the citizens yet living in this section formed their political opinions from reading the editorials of its great editor, who was then the foremost leader of the advanced thought of America. Few papers were ever published that were more potent in forming and crystalizing public opinion than Horace Greely's "Tribune," of thirty years ago.
Illinois during that time settled up slowly. It must be remem- bered that what is now the most populous and productive agri- cultural part of the State, was looked upon with disfavor by those seeking western homes. Emigrants disliked the open exten- sive prairies and criticised its sloughs and pools of stagnant waters; hence those sections of Illinois that were composed mostly of prairie land were slowly settled, although now so popular and the most populous portions of the State.
De Witt County never received a greater boou than the loca- tion within its borders of the Illinois Central Railroad. The completion of that great thoroughfare through the center of the county from north to south, at once brought its lands into market by assuring facilities for the transportation of grain and surplus products. Emigration immediately set in, land rose rapidly in value, swamps were drained and the land re-claimed, and the broad prairie was soon dotted over with farm houses, the happy homes of thriving husbandry. A new order of business was es- tablished, enterprise waved its magic wand and residents caught its infection and became imbued with a desire to excel. With enterprise came the desire for a newspaper, which was indeed to
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
speak for the county, for its advantages as an agricultural pro- ducing region, for its flattering promises of future greatness, and for its rights and privileges as an organized member of a great State. In addition to all this, was its increasing prolific impor- tance. There was a healthy growing seutiment in favor of free soil, and the exclusion of slavery from the territories, aud kindred other subjects of vital importance to all the people, that induced discussion and their proper presentation to the people. Then as now the people were not all of one mind, some were disposed to regard slavery as a divine institution, (in those days slavery appeared in some shape or another in all questions of a political character ), while others were gradually preparing the way and means to strike the shackles from the limbs of four million of slaves. The people were ready for a newspaper.
In the summer of 1854 S. H. MeElbeney and R. A. Mills, two enterprising gentlemen canvassed the town of Clinton and vicinity for subscriptions and aid for a newspaper that was to be established in their midst. The people met the proposition with favor, and subscribed liberally towards its support. Accordingly the type and presses were purchased, and on the 13th of October, 1854, the first number of the first paper ever published in De Witt County, made its appearance. It was called the
DE WITT COURIER.
Its appearance was greeted with fervor and enthusiasm. It was the first actual step beyond frontier life. Soon the newspa- per and railroad within her borders would give the county name and fame among its contemporaries. A new era was to be in- augurated in the history of the county.
In form the COURIER was a seven column folio, neatly printed and well edited. We were nnable to find a copy of the first issue, but we have no doubt that the editors in their salutatory to the public, made many promises for the future which were only par- tially fulfilled. It started with ten columns of local and foreign advertisements, and gave evidence of thrift and prospective wealth. Its motto was, " The People's paper, independent on all subjects and neutral in nothing." Among the first things appa- rently necessary in those days to insure a journal a respectable standing, was to appoint agents in St. Louis and Chicago, to solicit subscriptions and advertisements. For this purpose W. W. Swyner was appointed agent at St. Louis, and Charles Woollett at Chicago. Agents were also appointed in the sur- rounding towns of Bloomington, Decatur, Urbana, Shelbyville and Taylorville, to secure subscriptions to the COURIER. Among the resident advertisers in those days, and the first to support the paper, are names of several professional gentlemen who are still residents of Clinton. Some of the advertisements were unique in their way, and called the attention of the public to their wares in a manner that now-a-days would be quite odd. Among the professional cards is that of a physician and surgeon, who tells the public in poetical rhyme what he is willing to do in order to cure them of the "ills that flesh is heir to." If his nostrums and physic were as harmless as his poetic verse, then his patients had, at least, a fair chance of recovery. Various were the means resorted to for the purpose of increasing the circulation of the paper. Among other inducements offered by the editors and proprietors to increase the list was : "To persons furnishing the largest number of subscribers by the 14th of February, 1855. we will furnish a daguerreotype of themselves as a gift, half size, worth $8 ; second largest list, the same, worth $5; and third largest list, picture worth $3. This we think a fair and generous proposition." This magnificent offer, from some cause, failed to
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