USA > Illinois > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws > Part 36
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One day Black Hawk, among others, came in. The old warrior lingered around for some time, and finally pointed to a book lying upon the desk, an account book used in the store. The clerk, sup- posing he wished to examine it, took it and began to show him its construction, etc .; but the chief shook his head: that was not what was wanted. He took it, turned over the leaves, and pointed to the entries. Concluding finally that he wanted to refer to them, the clerk turned leaf by leaf, till he came to an entry against Black Hawk himself-such and such articles charged, amounting to so many dollars and cents. He was now understood; figuring up the amount, the clerk communicated it to him in some way, when the old chief pulled out the exact sum and paid it. When this was done, he motioned to have the account balanced, which was done, and he went away satisfied. The articles had been purchased and the entries made months before. The transaction showed not only an honesty of purpose, but good credit and a good memory on the part of the old chief.
Henry Asbury, Esq., of Quincy, furnishes the following:
"I met (at Burlington in 1835) the Indian chief Black Hawk, who, through an interpreter, told me that for a time when a child he resided with his parents at the point where Quincy now stands.
" Whilst standing on the bank of the river conversing with the chief, the steamboat Warrior passed up the river without landing. Black Hawk manifested whilst looking at the boat, great anger and displeasure; and went on to say that the day before, or a short time before the battle of the Bad-Axe, this same steamboat Warrior came up to a point where his warriors were collected in their retreat-that he sent a white flag to the shore for the purpose of offering a surrender-and that the flag was fired on from the boat. That he wanted in good faith to surrender, and would have done so, if permitted; and that the subsequent massacre of his people might have been thus avoided.
" He knew the name of the captain-Throckmorton-and called him ' Che-wal-i-ki Che-mo-ko-mon.' [Bad White Man.]
" Black Hawk was a very extraordinary Indian; rather under size, yet he was compactly built; possessing the most pleasant face and features I ever saw in an Indian. In manner grave, dignified, and polite. He looked less the savage than any Indian I have ever seen."
Another correspondent, Col. J. C. Walsh, of Maryland, says:
"I have often heard the old chieftain, Muck-ah-tah-mish-e-ka- ah-ki-ak or Black Hawk, make the same assertion he did to Mr. Asbury, namely, that he desired to surrender at the battle of the Bad-Axe, but that his white flag was fired on.
" Black Hawk and his family,-Moh-wah-e-quah, his wife, Nah- she-us-kuk and Sam-e-sah, his sons, and Nan-ne-sah, his daughter,.
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were remarkable for their high-toned deportment in every partic- ular. Nah-she-us-kuk, when I first knew him, was without excep- tion the finest formed man I ever saw; about six feet two inches in height, with limbs of most symmetrical mold, he was a striking counterpart of the Apollo Belvidere, and his manners were as graceful and polished as any courtier's. I have often remarked that he was truly one of nature's noblemen. One rare trait he possessed, and that was, he never made use of whisky or tobacco.
" My recollections of this Indian family are of the most pleasing character, and I shall never forget the kindness and hospitality with which I was invariably treated by them. Often has been the time, that, coming to their lodge hungry and sorely tired, after a day's hunt, that I have thought the boiled corn and deer meat which Moh-wah-e-quah (wolf woman) would set before me, was a feast fit for a king; and the soft skins and warm Mackinaw blankets that she would spread for my bed, was a couch on which had it been eider down my repose could not have been more pro- found and undisturbed. And I felt as safe in the rude wik-ke-up of the Indian chief in the depths of the forest, surrounded by those of his band who remained loyal to him, as if I had been resting in the guest chamber of the mansion of the prondest in the land."
CHAPTER IX.
HANCOCK NEWSPAPERS.
If any county in Illinois can count a larger list of unfortunate newspaper enterprises than Hancock, we pity the people thereof and shed tears in behalf of the projectors and publishers.
In June, 1836, now 44 years ago, the writer of this printed at Carthage the first newspaper ever issued in the county. It was called The Carthagenian, and was owned by a company of citi- zens. After a precarious existence of less than a year, it was pur- chased by Dr. Isaac Galland, one of the proprietors, and removed to Fort Des Moines, Wisconsin Territory, now Montrose, Iowa, its editor-printer going with it. There the new paper was called the Western Adventurer.
A short sketch of the newspaper press at that day will not be out of place here. The whole vast region north of Palmyra, Mo., and reaching to the Pacific ocean, was without a newspaper, with the exception of one at Dubuque and one just commenced at Bur- lington. At St. Louis, Chambers & Knapp published the Missouri Republican, with Nathaniel Paschal for its editor, then the lead- ing Whig paper west of the Ohio. There was also the St. Louis Argus, a Democratic paper. Elijah P. Lovejoy about that time began the Observer, a religious and anti-slavery paper, and for which he was killed by a mob at Alton, having removed his press to that city.
Rev. John M. Peck, a stalwart Baptist minister, well known in that day as a pioneer and historian, was publishing at Rock Spring in this State, and afterward at St. Louis, the Western Watchman. At Springfield, Simeon Francis was conducting the Sangamo Journal; and at Jacksonville was the Illinois Patriot, by James G. Edwards, and the Illinois Spectator, by Mr. Brooks, father of the late Austin Brooks, of the Quincy Herald, and John P. Brooks, one of our former State Superintendents of Public Instruction. These were soon discontinued or changed. Mr. Brooks removed elsewhere, and Mr. Edwards emigrated to Iowa, took the press of the Adventurer, and established the Fort Madison Patriot, which he afterward transferred to Burlington and named the Hawkeye.
About the same date Samuel H. Davis, of the Wheeling (Va.) Gazette, came to Peoria and established The Register, which he conducted with ability and success until his death. "Long John " Wentworth had a year or two before located at Chicago and issued The Democrat, though two or three other papers had previously
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CARTHAGE.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
been published in that embryo city. At Quincy, Judge Richard M. Young had published the Bounty Land Register, which was about that date suspended or merged into the Quincy Argus, by John H. Petit. Near the same date was also commenced the Quincy Whig, by Mr. S. M. Bartlett, or Bartlett & Sullivan.
There were papers at Vandalia, then the State capital, at Shaw- neetown, and a few other points in the sonth end of the State. One at Alton was begun by Judge Baillhache, formerly of Colum- bus, Ohio, called the Alton Telegraph, and was long a leading Whig paper in that section. Rushville, being an old town, mnay have had a paper, but its title, if so, is not recollected.
The old city of Galena must not be forgotten-that capital of the lead mine region-so long on the confines of civilization. Of course it had one, if not two papers anterior to the Black Hawk war. James G. Clark, Secretary and afterward Governor of Iowa Territory, commenced the Wisconsin Territorial Gazette, at Bel- mont, on the east side of the river; and on the division of the Ter- ritory, removed it down to Burlington, and named it Iowa Terri- torial Gazette.
Keokuk was then but just named, still widely known as "The Point," and had no paper for years afterward. Des Moines, Iowa City, Omaha, Kansas City, Council Bluffs, and all that string of cities to the Pacific, were nowhere. San Francisco, at the Golden Gate, from whose port the auriferous stream lias of later years been pouring to enrich the world, was but an unknown Mexican town.
From a list of the newspapers in Illinois, compiled from the Alton Telegraph in 1857, we find that the number was just twenty- seven, all told.
Previous to 1836 the people of the county were chiefly supplied with newspapers by the Missouri Republican, the Sangamo Jour- nal, the Bounty Land Register, and the St. Louis Argus, to which may be added the Watchman, which was received in a good many Baptist families.
After the suspension of The Carthagenian the county was with- out a paper until the fall of 1839, when the Mormons settled in it, and the Times and Seasons was issued at Nauvoo, by Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, the youngest brother of the prophet. Its first issue was dated Nov., 1839. It was a small sixteen-page monthly, and was designed for the organ of the Mor- mon Church: terms $1.00 per annum. This paper continued to be published (semi-montlily, at $2.00 after the first year) during the stay of that people in the county, under several editors and pub- lishers, among whom are remembered, besides its originators, the prophet himself, Frederic G. Williams, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, W. W. Phelps, and others. The circulation of this paper is unknown, but being a Church organ, it is supposed to have gone into the thousands.
About the year 1842, Patriarch William Smith, another brother to the prophet, established a small weekly paper called The Wasp,
24
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
and continued it for some months, when it was merged into a larger and more respectable paper, entitled the Nauvoo Neighbor. This was conducted, we believe, through the whole period of its exist- ence, in whole or in part, by John Taylor, one of the Twelve. It was the secular organ of the Mormon body, and was continued till about the time of the exodus to the far West. These three were the only Mormon publications issued in the county. They were conducted with a great deal of zeal, but carried the marks of incompetency and illiteracy on every page.
In the spring of 1840, Daniel N. White, editor and publisher of the Pittsburg Gazette, at the instance of his brother-in-law, Daniel S. Witter, of the Warsaw steam flouring mill, was induced to bring a press there and commence the publication of a paper, which. he called the Western World. It was a six-column weekly, at $2.00 per year. At the end of six months he retired, selling his estab- lishment to Thomas C. Sharp, Esq., and James Gamble, a journey- man printer. These gentlemen at the end of the first year changed its title to Warsaw Signal, a name which continued in Warsaw through various tribulations and changes, with short intervals of rest, for a period of about thirteen years.
In 1843 the office came into the hands of Messrs. Gregg & Patch, (Th. Gregg, Wm. Y. Patch) who for a year or so issued the War- saw Message, a Whig paper. Again, in February, 1844, the office reverted to Mr. Sharp, who, sometimes alone and sometimes with a partner, continued to publish it until the close of the Mormon war in 1847, which terminated his connection with the Signal. It then passed over to Gregg & Miller, and continued in their hands till 1850, when it was sold to James McKee, of the Nauvoo Patriot, who established the Warsaw Commercial Journal, a Democratic paper. Mr. Gregg afterwards procured an old press and material and revived the Signal in Aug., 1851, there being then for a time two papers in Warsaw.
In the fall of 1853, Mr. Sharp again decided to enter the edito- rial field; the Signal office and patronage were transferred to him, and with a new press and types he began the Warsaw Express, which he issued with fair success, for about fifteen months, and then sold to Mr. G. G. Galloway, Mr. S. continuing to conduct it to the close of the year. Soon after the issue of the Express, Mr. McKee also sold out his Commercial Journal concern to Dr. Ran- kin, who removed it to La Harpe; and thus originated the first newspaper in that ambitions town. The name of this paper was the Hancock Democrat. Just how long the enterprise lasted we cannot say; but only a few months, when Wesley H. Manier, Esq., of Carthage, purchased the materials, and in conjunction with Mr. Thaddeus Clarke, issued the Carthage Republican, Jan., 1854. These gentlemen continued it till October of the same year; it being an " independent " paper, price $2.00 per annum. Then it passed into the hands of G. M. Child, Esq., by whom it
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was transformed into an intensely Democratic sheet, and so con- ducted by him for several years. In Aug., 1861, Robert W. McClaughry, Esq., fresh from Monmouth College, with his brother-in-law, Dr. A. J. Griffith, purchased the Republican and changed its character, supporting ardently the measures of the Government in pulling down the Rebellion.
In Aug., 1862, Mr. McClaughry enlisted in the army and Dr. G. sold the Republican to J. M. Davidson, Esq., who, on Oct. 8th, 1863, issued his initial number, and has since continued as owner and editor to supply articles for every issue, with the exception perhaps of one or two numbers. Mr. D. is a native of Illinois; was born May 22, 1828, near Edwardsville, in Madison county. In 1845-6, in company with Charles McDowell, he published the Fulton Gazette at Lewistown; in 1855 established the Fulton Democrat at Lewistown, running it until 1858; then sold it to his brother, Wm. T. Davidson. In 1859-60-61, he published the Squatter Sovereign at Havana, in Mason county. During the session of the Legislature of 1858-9, Mr. D. was Legislative corre- spondent of the St. Louis Republican and Chicago Times.
During his more than sixteen years' continuous labor on the Republican (Democratic paper) Mr. D. has been faithfully devoted to his party and unremitting in efforts to advance its interests; has been energetic and zealous in building up his busi- ness; a hard worker, a ready writer; and has succeeded in making the Republican one of the best Democratic journals in the Mili- tary Tract.
But we can not follow these many newspaper enterprises and changes in the order of their dates; so we fall back upon Mr. Sharp, he being the oldest editor and publisher now in the county.
During the dark days of the Rebellion, in the winter of 1863-4, the several Union Leagues in the county, feeling the necessity of maintaining a firm Union paper in their midst, induced Mr. Sharp to undertake the enterprise. He accordingly purchased back the Express office of Mr. McKee (the paper having been discon- tinued and materials sold to him), and issued the Hancock New Era in 'April, 1864, which he continued for fifteen months, till after the close of the war. Having been elected County Judge in November, 1865, he removed to Carthage, where, after his four years' term expired, he obtained the Gazette, which with one year's exception has been under his management, as a Republican paper.
Mr. Sharp's editorial career has extended over a period of more than twenty years in all, since he assumed the management of the Western World; and his labors have covered not only the most exciting and perilous times in the county's history, but also periods most difficult and disastrous to newspaper enterprises.
Without instituting comparisons, it is no injustice to others to say that Mr. Sharp and Mr. Davidson are the strongest and most forcible writers of Hancock's editorial fraternity. Occupying as they do responsible positions at the county-seat, their papers have
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become the acknowledged organs of their respective parties, and their influence is felt accordingly. They may be set down as the veterans of the press in Hancock. May they acquire a compe- tence from their arduous labors, and live long to enjoy it!
We turn to Nauvoo again: Early in 1846, while the Mormons were preparing for their journey into the wilderness, the Hancock Eagle, a Democratic paper, was established there in the interest of the Mormons and their adherents. It was conducted by Dr. Wil- liam E. Matlack, a Philadelphian. Dr. M. was a well educated, classical scholar, a graduate of Princeton, had traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and had been editorially engaged with Horace Greeley on the New Yorker. This information is obtained from an editorial notice of his death in The Eagle, which occurred July 28, 1846, in the 34th year of his age. The Eagle was now offered for sale, and fell into the hands of Samuel Slocum, and a paper entitled the New Citizen was the result. During the winter of 1846-7, Mr. S. employed Dr. Isaac Galland as its editor. The Citizen was Anti-Mormonish, and, as its name implied, was devoted to the interests of the new citizens who were taking the place of the emi- grating Mormons. As the Doctor had been one of the prophet's baptized adherents and his private secretary and agent, it was thought he needed a little watching on the part of Slocum and his friends. So, one day, an editorial article appeared in proof sheet, which was of such a character as to " bounce " the Doctor from his tripod. The paper was then for a period conducted by the foreman, John S. Winter, Esq., for several years since manager and editor of the Knoxville Journal, and present County Clerk of Knox county, Ill. We know nothing of the circulation of the Citizen-it could not have been large-but we are informed that its exchange list was immense for a country paper, amounting to several hun- dreds.
In the fall of 1847, James McKee published in that city the Nauvoo Patriot, a Democratic paper. In 1850, he removed to Warsaw, and it is believed the Patriot office went into the hands of the Icarian Community. About the beginning of 1851, that colony began the issue of the Icarian Review, printed half in English and half in French. It was under the editorial charge of M. Etienne Cabet, their venerable and talented leader. They also published the Popular Tribune, under another editor whose name is not now remembered. The Community broke up and the paper was discon- tinued.
July 24, 1858, two young men, Gregg & Lambert, started the Nauvoo Democratic Press. It remained in their hands but a few months, when Messrs. Yates, Chapman, Bauer & Swartz took the concern. Finally Mr. Yates took it and employed Mr. Grove, a school-teacher, to conduct it. After Mr. G., it was conducted by Mr. Abraham Yates, son of the proprietor, until his death in 1860.
Henceforward until 1873, we believe Nauvoo was without a news- paper. On November 14th of that year, Messrs. Kramer and
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Thomas began the publication of the Nauvoo Independent. It remained in their hands but 44 weeks, when it was purchased by Hamilton & Nelson (Dr. R. B. Hamilton and Joseph Nelson), in whose hands it remained one year, when Dr. H. retired, and Mr. Nelson remained its sole proprietor. It is now in its seventh year and still under his care, with a fair prospect of continuance, a use- ful " independent," two dollars, S-column folio.
Star of Dallas, was the first newspaper in Dallas City, by Fran- cis Ashton, in the spring of 1859. In the fall it was removed to La Harpe and back again in two weeks. In the summer of 1860 it passed into the hands of Mr. Trueblood, who advocated the election of Judge Douglas to the Presidency. It died May, 1861.
December, 1869, G. M. Child, of the Hancock Democrat, at Car- thage, removed his paper to Dallas, where he continued to issue it until his death in 1872. It was a 7-column folio, at $1.50 per year. At his death it was discontinued for a time, but revived in the winter of 1872-3, by Mr. J. F. Taylor, his son-in-law, but it was not long lived. Attempts were made to re-establish it; and we find that in the winter of 1875-6, Messrs. Mason & Murphy were print- ing a paper there-the Advocate-which in June, 1876, passed into the hands of Mr. Walter B. Loring, who had been an apprentice and journeyman with Mr. Child. At a subsequent date, Mr. Penn Harris, of Chicago, opened out in Dallas City with an 8-page 64- column sheet; but it proved to be too big a boom, and was sus- pended after two numbers. It was called the Sucker State, date not remembered. W. C. Brown issued for a few months the Dallas City Monitor, which, we believe, was the latest effort until April 6, 1878, Mr. E. H. Thomas, formerly of the Nauvoo Independent, started the Dallas City News, a 7-column folio. It is still pub- lished under the same management, a live paper, and independent as to politics, and seems to be enjoying a fair patronage, likely to maintain a longer and more prosperous career than most of its pre- decessors.
Augusta has not been without its several newspaper enterprises. The first venture of the kind there was made in the summer of 1856, by L. S. Grove & Son. Mr. G. had been a school-teacher in various places in the county, and striking Augusta, concluded to try his hand on a newspaper. It was called the Augusta Weekly Times. It ran about one year.
The Augusta Home Banner was started about Dec. 1, 1864, by W. P. Campbell, editor and proprietor. He was succeeded in about a year by W. R. Carr, who continued the Banner about two years probably. Mr Carr is now a Methodist preacher at Rushville, Ill.
The Augusta Herald was begun Aug. 2, 1878, by Mr. Henry E. Allen, who emigrated from Knox Co., Ill., where he had been conducting the Abingdon Knoxonian. The Herald was a good local paper, and seemed to be managed with considerable tact and ยท skill; yet Mr. Allen left it in about a year, transferring it to Mr. Silas Robinson, by whom it was continued till early in 1880.
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In March, 1880, Mr. R. removed his press to Warsaw, where he began and is now publishing the Warsaw Democrat, an S-page Democratic sheet (as its title indicates) at $2 per year. Mr. R. also published, for a month in Warsaw, a little daily, called the Independent. The Augusta Mail is just started by Mr. Garrison.
From Augusta to Plymouth is but five miles by rail, up the C., B. & Q. " If Augusta can start a paper and fail, why can not we also start one and succeed?" thought the citizens of the rival town. So, one day in the spring of 1857, the writer of this, then at Warsaw, was invited to come to P. and take an interest in, and charge of, a paper they were going to issue there. He declined, but offered to condnet it for a salary. His offer was accepted, a company formed, press purchased, and the Plymouth Locomotive was put upon the road. He published it till November, then begged to be released, when it passed to other parties, and finally gave up the ghost the next year. The press and materials were sold to a publisher at Carthage.
Plymouth then remained without a newspaper for about eighteen years, when in Jan., 1877, Mr. E. A. Hail, of Macomb, brought a press there and issned the Plymouth Advocate. He continued it till Aug. 30, 1878, when he sold to Post & Bell (W. A. Post, Jesse W. Bell, Jr.). By these gentlemen-Post succeeded by W. S. Hendricks, as editor-the Advocate was continued until April 24, 1879, when it was stopped, and the press transferred to Clayton, Ill.
Again, June 26, 1879, Mr. Charles K. Bassett, of the Abingdon Register, brought another press to Plymouth and began the publi- cation of the Plymouth Phonograph. It began as a Democratic paper, but has changed to neutrality. Mr. B. is the youngest editor in the county, having just now reached his majority. Should he be able to sustain a paper in Plymouth, which he seems likely to do, it can hardly be aseribed to his youth and inexperience.
Returning again to Warsaw: During the summer of 1844, a small paper, called the Hancock Democrat, was printed at the Signal office for Mr. E. A. Bedell. Its purpose was to advocate the claims of Jacob C. Davis for Congress; but he failing of a nomination, the paper was discontinued after four issnes.
In 1853-4 a strong temperance wave swept over Illinois and the county of Hancock, and in Jan., 1854, a small monthly sheet was begun at the Express office by Mr. Gregg, called the Temperance Crusader. In a few months this paper reached a circulation of 1,700 copies, mainly through the agency of the Sons of Temper- ance. But it came to an untimely end. In an evil hour, an offer to merge with a similar sheet in Chicago was accepted, the united paper to be issued from that city. The Crusader subscription list was sent on; but for a year nothing could be heard from the paper or its publisher, when it was learned that he had gone East and abandoned the enterprise. The list was gone, and the paper could not be revived.
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- About 1856 or '7, W. K. Davison, a phenomenal printer, having money, struck Warsaw in his wanderings, and concluded to settle. The Warsaw Bulletin was the result. Mr. D. was not a literary man, but he was an industrions editor and possessed energy and business tact, and he made the Bulletin pay better than any paper yet published in the county. He conducted it with good success till the second or third year of the war, a portion of the time issu- ing a small daily, when he went into the army, leaving the paper in the care of Mr. John F. Howe, who allowed it to run down. Mr. Davison was mustered into the 118th Ill. Inf., as Quarter- Master, and served till the regiment was mustered out, Oct., 1865. But he was taken sick and died, after his discharge, before reaching home.
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