A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 43

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 43

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passed into the hands of the sheriff and was suspended in December, 1884. After a time it was revived and taken charge of by the Repub- lican Printing Company. Mr. Charles J. Robb had left the paper and gone to Sandusky, Ohio, where he was employed on the Sandusky Local, later he went to Flint, Michigan, as reporter and adver- tising manager of the Flint Journal, and later still he went to Chicago, where he directed the pub- lication of the Trade Journal and Price Current for the wholesale grocery house of Reid, Mur- doch & Fischer. The Republican Printing Com- pany asked him to come to Michigan City and take charge of the paper. He came one Saturday to see about it. They made liberal offers for him to run a Republican daily. He went back to Chicago to think the matter over. Knowing Ira S. Carpenter, then a job printer in Chicago, he consulted him, and together they came to Michi- gan City, and after considering the matter made arrangements to take charge of the plant in 1888. It was at about this time that the name of Michi- gan City Enterprise was changed to that of Michi- gan City News. After conducting the paper for a time Messrs. Robb & Carpenter bought out the Republican Printing Company. In 1902 Mr. H. R. Misener, city editor of the News since 1896, bought out Mr. Carpenter, since which time the firm name has been Robb & Misener. The News is a strong paper, Republican in its politics, firm in its principles, but not offensively radical. It owns its own building, erected a few years ago, and has a complete modern newspaper, commer- cial and book-printing establishment. In its job printing department it does work of a very high order.

During the suspension of the Enterprise, 1863-1865, Messrs. M. & J. Cullaton established another paper in Michigan City called the Michi- gan City Review. They continued to publish it for about a year and then, like many of its prede- cessors in the county, it ceased to exist.

The next periodical of Michigan City in order is the Michigan City Dispatch, which was started December 4, 1879, by Harry C. Francis, who was its editor and proprietor, a paper which was printed wholly at home when other journals were using patent insides or outsides.

Hon. Harry H. Francis was a citizen of Michigan City, of whom it can truthfully be said

the town is better for his having lived therein. He was for fifteen years one of its most vigorous champions. He was born in that city February 24, 1852, being the youngest son of Thompson W. and Esther Francis. After completing his common school education he entered Racine (Wisconsin) College in 1869, and finished a full collegiate course, leaving that institution in 1873. In the fall of the same year he entered the law school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. In 1875 Mr. Francis removed to Indian- apolis and immediately began the practice of law. He was fairly successful, and continued at his chosen profession until 1878, when he re- turned to Michigan City.

For several years Mr. Francis had written more or less for the press, and his editorial in- clinations finally led him into the profession of journalism. In 1879 he established the Michi- gan City Dispatch, a weekly publication, championing the Democratic cause, and in the spring of 1881 he began the publication of the Evening Dispatch. Both journals were emi- nently successful from the start, and it was in journalism that Mr. Francis found his calling. His career as an editor was a brilliant one, and made him prominent in the politics and journal- ism of the state. He was president of several editorial associations, and served his party in various ways. His last public position was that of state senator from LaPorte county, to which he was elected in 1888. In the legislature he championed the interests of his native town, and a number of state improvements made through his advocacy stand as a monument to his mem- ory.

Mr. Francis was as active in social as in busi- ness affairs. He belonged to numerous secret societies and enjoyed high honors at the hands of one of them. This was the order of Knights of Pythias. From a subordinate position in the local lodge he made his way upward until he en- joyed the honor of being a past grand chancellor of the state, and at the time of his demise he represented Indiana in the supreme lodge of the world. Mr. Francis was also a Scottish Rite Ma- son, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of several other societies. He was also a communicant of Trinity Episcopal church. Mr. Francis was unmarried and resided

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with his aunt until his death, which occurred on September 15, 1891. He was thirty-nine years old, and at the time of his demise occupied the responsible position of state bank examiner. In his death Michigan City lost its foremost friend and stanchest advocate.

At the death of Mr. Francis he was succeeded by Mr. John B. Faulkner as editor and publisher of the Dispatch. He was born in LaPorte coun- ty, July 29, 1864. His early school life was spent in the LaPorte schools and he moved to Michigan City with his parents in 1879. In 1881 he began his editorial career on the Dispatch, and his long years of service, associated with the late Hon. H. H. Francis, well qualify him to make a success of his chosen calling, which he has thus far done. The Dispatch is considered one of the best Democratic papers in this part of the country.

In the seventies Rev. M. S. Ragsdale was ap- pointed by the legislature of the state as moral instructor in the northern prison at Michigan City. In order to discuss the subject of prison reform and call the attention of the people to it, he established the Prisoner Reformer, a monthly periodical, the first number of which was issued in March, 1876. We do not hear of it afterwards.

Doubtless there have been other publications at Michigan City, but the writer has not been able to learn about them, with the exception of papers in foreign tongues yet to be mentioned.

In other parts of the county we have the Westville Indicator, a large six-column quarto now in its twenty-third yearly volume, with Charles E. Martin editor and proprietor. The paper is original and able and its characteristic way of serving up things has given it a wide reputation.

There is also the Wanatah Mirror, a large six-column folio now in its ninth annual volume, published every Thursday by William F. Hunt. It is in everyway creditable to the town and to its editor as a local paper.

In Union Mills there is the LaPorte County News, now in its third annual volume, a five- column quarto of respectable size, published ev- ery Thursday by the Monarch Printing Company oi that place. Sometimes these smaller and less pretentious papers are spoken of derisively, but the towns where they are published would not

like to do without them. Somehow the suspen- sion of one of these sheets is unwelcome. Some twelve years ago another paper with nearly the same name was published in Union Mills by one Atwater, which was not successful. After ex- isiting a few years it was suspended and the proprietor left the place, but however unfor- tunate the circumstances, the visits of the little sheet were missed.

In the early nineties another paper was pub- lished in Union Mills by the Rev. Mr. Welcome, then the pastor of the Adventist church in that place. It was a little church monthly printed at the Herald office in LaPorte, then at the corner of Maine and Monroe streets. It did not last long.

In 1884 we hear of the Bee, of Rolling Prai- rie; but we do not hear of it many times. In 1886 we read of the Daily Bee in LaPorte, which was soon suspended on account of the ill health of the editor ; though promise was made to the subscribers that it would be restored in the form of the Evening Telegram. Much sport was made of this. Among other things it was said that it had "stung itself to death." "The editor of the Daily Bee and his brother have erected a fine liberty pole and have a nice flag and streamer. The streamer has the word, Bee. What a host of people's names and useful things begin with a B, from the Ed. Burroughs of the Bee, to Blaine and bread and butter, and may we all be busy bees, etc !"

In 1885 the Hon. Jasper Packard started a sixteen page pamphlet called the Public Spirit, for the purpose of advertising LaPorte. It was printed at the Herald office. Little was heard of it.

As to papers printed in foreign languages there is Die Freie Lanze, a weekly independent paper founded in 1891, published in Michigan City. It holds a high place among the German papers of the state. Doubtless there have also been smaller ventures in the line of periodicals in other languages. Indeed, some of them might be mentioned if it were required, but it is un- necessary.

As to the papers in foreign tongues in La- Porte, Packard's History says that previous to the year 1876 there was a German paper pub- lished in LaPorte, but he gives no account of it

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and the writer has not been able to find any. It is very probable, however, that when the rail- road shops were here some attempt was made to sustain a German paper in LaPorte. At all events, one came later. For many years the need of one was apparent, and on November 27, 1877, Mr. Henry Goodman issued the first number of the LaPorte Journal. He had been engaged on the German press in Chicago and well understood how to minister to the wants of his countrymen in this section of their adopted coun- try. He came to LaPorte with little means to start his paper, but by economy, energy, good judgment and perseverance he built up a large and prosperous journal. It was introduced to the public as a nine-column folio but was en- larged until it became a seven-column quarto and the largest German paper then published in the state of Indiana. It was the only paper printed in German in this and the five adjoining counties. The office of the paper was located in the Good- man building, now occupied by the American Laundry, where it had a large jobbing depart- ment. The plant was at one time an excellent one. The paper was strongly Democratic and in the political campaigns which it covered did ex- cellent service for its party. Mr. Goodman was an excellent stump-speaker and his services were much in demand for that purpose. The paper employed a paid reporter at Michigan City, and all the news of that city and vicinity were weekly chronicled. Thus, and in many other ways it showed enterprise. The paper remained in the same building until it began to decline. Mr. Goodman failed, and the business affairs of the Journal got into a very unfortunate condition. But many intelligent Germans wished to save the paper for their kindred and party, and this, in addition to certain business considerations, induced them to form a stock company and take the concern into their hands. They did so, hired an editor, a manager, a foreman, moved the paper to the corner of Jefferson avenue and Mon- roe streets, and started anew. This was about the year 1895. But somehow there was trouble with the management, the paper continued to

decline, its last few numbers were published by the Bulletin Company, which bought the plant, and the Journal ceased to exist in 1898. It may be well to show what manner of man Henry Goodman was before he went down.

He was born October 31, 1840, in Northern . Prussia; attended elementary school in that county until sixteen years of age, then a college at Berlin two years, and graduated at Heidel- berg University. He was trained in English at Edinburgh University, Scotland, with a son of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D. D., the celebrated Scotch divine. Mr. Goodman wrote a disserta- tion on German Philology in competition with his class and obtained the first prize. He came to America in 1866 and entered into literary work. In 1868 he went to Chicago, where he was employed as city editor on the Chicago. Democrat, and afterwards on the Staats Zeitung and Eulenspiegel. He finally came to LaPorte,. where he established the Journal, as related above, and also another paper, The LaPorte Daily Star which soon went down. And Mr. Goodman went down with his papers. He went from La- Porte to Chicago, where he engaged in the insur- ance business, subsequently locating in Kankakee, Illinois, where he published a Republican German . newspaper and identified himself quite conspicu- ously with Illinois politics. He again moved to . Chicago, where he became the city editor of a German newspaper, continuing this labor until forced to leave the desk because of the inroads of disease. He went to the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. D. Shafer, at Montclair, New Jersey, where his death occurred on Sunday, July 10, 1904. He is survived by the widow, and two. daughters who will be remembered in LaPorte as the Misses Jennie and Flora Goodman.

This completes our survey of the press of the county, though we have not mentioned every lit- tle periodical published in the county, nor traced each one which we have mentioned into all its ramifications. The number, the ability, the char- acter, the endurance and prosperity of the publi- cations of the county are very creditable. .

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CHAPTER XXV.

WRITERS AND LITERATURE.

"None but an author knows an author's cares, Or fancy's fondness for the child she bears."- COWPER'S Progress of Error.

LaPorte county has produced something in the line of literature; though the word is not used here in a strictly critical literary sense.

In 1876 Lieutenant Thomas S. Cogley, of Michigan City, wrote and published the "History of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry Volunteers," a book of two hundred and sixty-seven pages. The copy in the writer's possession is beautifully bound in morocco with gilt edges. In the pref- ace, which was written at Michigan City, No- vember 1, 1876, the author says,-

"There never was, never can be, and never will be, a complete history of any war written; although the greater portion of the history of all countries relates to war. The great volume of blood is not complete until it has the personal ex- perience of each individual soldier. But such a record can be approximated, so far as integral portions of armies are concerned, by works of this character. Although this is a history of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, yet it is by no means complete ; because it does not contain the indi- vidual history of every member of the regiment. Even if it were possible to obtain the information necessary for such a work, to publish it, would require several volumes of the size of this, the expense of which, with its necessarily limited sale, would forbid such an undertaking.

"Although this only purports to be the his- tory of a single military organization, yet it is more. It is as complete a history of the opera- tions of the armies with which the regiment was connected, as will be found in works of greater

pretensions. All of it, except such portions as relate solely to the organization of the regiment,. will be of interest to the general reader."

Thomas S. Cogley was born November 24, 1840, at Liberty, Union county, Iowa. His father, Robert Cogley, was a physician in that town. In 1859 Thomas came to LaPorte county, which was afterwards his home. At the out- break of the rebellion he was attending school in LaPorte. On going to dinner from school one day, he read for the first time President Lincoln's call for seventy thousand volunteers, and on his way back to school he stepped into a recruiting office and enlisted. On arriving in Indianapolis the company had more names on its roll than could be mustered with it. The officers selected the number they were authorized to muster, leav- ing out some fifteen or twenty others, among whom was young Cogley. They felt as if they were disgraced for life, and some of them got together and resolved not to return to LaPorte to be laughed at. Cogley enlisted in Company C, Eighth Indiana Regiment, of three months' troops, was at the battle of Rich Mountain in West Virginia, and was mustered out with the company at the expiration of the term of enlist- ment. He then returned to LaPorte, thinking he could do so with honor. He enlisted several times afterward, was in many battles, was re- peatedly wounded, was taken prisoner but escaped, and his war record is an exceedingly interesting one. At the close of the war he re- turned to LaPorte, took two courses of law

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lectures at Ann Arbor, and entered the law office of Hon. Mulford K. Farrand, as a student. He was admitted to the bar November 9, 1866, Hon. Andrew L. Osborn being judge of the circuit court. At the May term, 1874, on motion of General Thomas M. Browne, Mr. Cogley was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of In- diana, and of the United States circuit court. In December, 1869, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Farrand. The History of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry was his first attempt in literature.

Mr. B. F. Taylor has given many literary productions of a very high character. His home was in LaPorte for many years. He was born in Lowville, New York, July 19, 1819, and grad- uated from Madison University in 1839. He be- came literary editor of the Chicago Evening Journal. During the Civil war he was its war correspondent for the western armies, and his let- ters attracted much attention, many of them be- ing translated and published in European papers. After the war he was a public lecturer for many years. He finally moved to Syracuse, New York, and to Cleveland, Ohio, where he died, February 24, 1887, and where, at last accounts, his wife still lives, the sister of Mrs. Leaming. He was a poet and miscellaneous author, as well as jour- nalist, war correspondent and lecturer. He was the author of "Attractions of Language" 1845), "January and June" (1853), "Pictures of Life in Camp and Field" (1871), "The World on Wheels" (1874), "Song of Yesterday" (1877), "Between the Gates" (1878), "Summer Savory" etc. ( (1879), "Dulce Domum" (1884), "Theo- prilus Trent" (a novel, 1887), etc. His poems include "Isle of Long Ago," "Rhymes of the River," and "The Old Village Choir.": The "Isle of Long Ago" may be found on page 591 of Chapman's History of LaPorte county.

It was perhaps from the memory of actual scenes in LaPorte county that Mr. B. F. Taylor wrote the following :

THE OLD BARN-MONEY MUSK.

In shirt of check and tallowed hair, The fiddler sits in the bulrush chair, Like Moses' basket stranded there,

On the brink of Father Nile.

He feels the fiddle's slender neck, Picks out the notes with thrum and check, And times the tune with nod and beck, And thinks it a weary while.

All ready! Now he gives the call, Cries, "Honor to the ladies !" All The jolly tides of laughter fall And ebb in a happy smile.

D-o-w-n comes the bow on every string, "First couple join right hands and swing!" And light as any bluebird's wing "Swing once and a half times round!" Whirls Mary Martin all in blue, Calico gown and stockings new, And tinted eyes that tell you true, Dance all to the dancing sound.

She flits about big Moses Brown Who holds her hands to keep her down And thinks her hair a golden crown And his heart turns over once! His cheek with Mary's breath is wet, It gives a second somerset ! He means to win the maiden yet, Alas, for the awkward dunce!

"Your stoga boot has crushed my toe! "I'd rather dance with one-legged Joe, "You clumsy fellow !" "Pass below !" And the first pair dance apart. Then "Forward six!" advance, retreat, Like midgets gay in sunbeam street 'Tis Money Musk by merry feet And the Money Musk by heart!

"Three quarters round your partners swing!" "Across the set!" The rafters ring, The girls and boys have taken wing And have brought their roses out! 'Tis "Forward six!" with rustic grace Ah, rarer far than-"Swing to place !" Than golden clouds of old point-lace They bring the dance about.

Then clasping hands all-"Right and left!" All swiftly weave the measure deft Across the woof in living weft And the Money Musk is done! Oh, dancers of the rustling husk, Good night, sweethearts, 'tis growing dusk, Good night for aye to Money Musk, For the heavy march begun!

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In February, 1862, Mr. B. F. Taylor thus alludes to a touching war incident of a railroad ride through this county :

Writing of shadows, we saw a sad sight on a Michigan Southern train-a woman in the tan- gled mazes of insanity. Young, wondrous fair, with a clear, soft eye, and hair that Petrarch's Laura might have sighed for, with a sprightly mind and a gentle spirit, she was, it was feared, hopelessly crazed. Her friends were taking her to the Asylum at Indianapolis, but sadly as to the grave.

One who would have been all the world to her. fell in Virginia in the front rank, and the bullet that found his heart out, struck a gentle girl as well. She was waiting at home for her "bold soldier boy." Her madness was mildness ; she fancied she could fly, and waved her white hands, singing all the while, snatches of songs and fragments of hymns. One moment it would be the bugle-like strain of,

"I see them on their winding way, About their ranks the moonbeams play," and then it would be a snatch of Logan's "O could I fly with thee,"

broken off with

"I'm o'er young to marry yet,"

and all along she would call in most persuasive tones-"Henry, Henry," listen an instant for a response that never came, and laugh so like "sweet bells jangled out of time."

It was not hard, knowing as much of her story as we did, to tell who Henry was; it was he that slept in his bloody vestments in some grave of the Old Dominion. Her friends stopped at the Salem Crossing, and as the train swept on, we caught a glimpse of those white hands as she waved them from the platform.

It was a sad, sad sight-one of the works of the war : and the poor girl's shattered fate strews somebody's threshold. Thank God it is not yours nor mine. Thank God it is no patriots. "Henry" dead to her, and she dead to the world, shall join hands and stand witnesses forever against traitors .- Herald, Feb. 15, '62.

Another La Porte county writer is Miss Cecilia E. Wilkinson, born in LaPorte county, the daughter of Richard H. and Julia A. (Hanley) Wilkinson, of New Durham township. Her par-

ents were of honorable connection. She was for many years a school teacher, teaching suc- cessfully in Monon, Rensselaer, LaPorte and Hammond, and living several years in Chicago. Her ancestry on her father's side was largely professional, in the lines of law, medicine and theology ; on her mother's side many of her con- nections were in high political offices. The Hon. Thomas J. Henley, M. C., first from Indiana and then from California, was her mother's only brother. The Hon. Barcley Henley, in 1890 an M. C. from California, is her cousin. She has traveled largely in the United States and Canada. She has never cared for the forms of conventional society, hates cruelty and injustice, and now lives a retired life in LaPorte, caring for an aged mother, eccentric, possessing many rare moral and intellectual qualities, and is little known. The LaPorte Herald of March 1I, 1902, contained the following concerning her : "Miss Cecilia E. Wilkinson, a well known teacher of this county, has the only diploma of the Indiana Teachers' Reading Circle in the county. It is accepted by the state board of edu- cation in lieu of examination in the science of education and literature. Only a four years' course is required in order to get a diploma, but Miss Wilkinson has been reading since 1886. The Teachers' Association was organized in 1883."

Under different noms de plume she has writ- ten largely for different periodicals, and many of her productions show wit, pathos, and good thought, and some of them are of high merit. When the second edition of "Local and National Poets of America" was in progress, a large royal octavo volume of twelve hundred and fifty-eight pages, the editors wrote to her for some of her productions and she submitted fifty short articles and poems, out of which they selected two. They may be found on page 1148, and one of them is the following :

DISCONTENT.

My mind seems wrapped in a tangled mist, A vague, undefinable dread.

An aimless waiting for that which is not, Which if present would yield no content.

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At morn when I wake to life's cares I ask, what made yesterday blank- 'Twas naught more than others endure- Do they accept all, e'en with thanks?

Is it meet that ambitions and hopes Should smother in fate's dismal clouds, And love for earth's beautiful things Be answered but by gloomy shrouds-

Which cover the dead of the heart, Which rend fragrant flowers with briars, Will not all the soul, worth a thought, Be crisped in life's fierce icy fires?

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 43

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273