USA > Indiana > White County > A standard history of White County Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. I > Part 22
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WHITE COUNTY JACKSONIAN
Early in November, 1857, John H. Scott, of Logansport, came here and issued the first number of the White County Jacksonian, having purchased the press and material of the Political Frame. The word "Democratic" appeared in large type just below the heading on the first page and there was no question about its politics. Mr. Scott was regarded as a good newspaper man, and his paper gave promise of great success, but consumption claimed him and he died about one year after launching his enterprise here. His widow became the wife of the late Andrew Trook, whose perseverance and devotion as a fisherman are still remembered by many of the older generation.
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Having now reached the end of what may be called the antebellum period we may treat with less detail the remaining newspaper history of Monticello, as the newspapers of the later era have been more gen- erally preserved and are accessible to the public to speak for themselves.
WHITE COUNTY DEMOCRAT
In the spring of 1859 James W. McEwen came here from Pennsyl- vania and bought the plant of the Jacksonian. Mr. Scott before his death had changed the name of his paper to the White County Demo- crat, and Mr. McEwen continued it under the same name. For a time his office was located upstairs in the north end of the Commercial Block, but in later years it occupied the old Presbyterian church on Court Street, which gave him the advantage of a ground floor office and plenty of room. In 1866 he was joined by Mr. N. C. A. Rayhouser, and under this partnership the name of the paper was changed to the Con- stitutionalist. Mr. Rayhouser retired from the firm after a few months, and in 1870 Artemus P. Kerr bought an interest, which he retained until August, 1873. On his retirement Mr. McEwen continued to publish the Constitutionalist until January, 1877, when he sold his plant here to A. J. Kitt and D. A. Fawcett and moved to Rensselaer.
MONTICELLO DEMOCRAT
The new firm took possession January 26, 1877, and moved the office to rooms in the Reynolds block upstairs. They changed the name of the paper to the Monticello Democrat and its first issue appeared February 3, 1877. In the following April Mr. Kitt bought Mr. Faw- cett's interest and changed the form of the paper to a five-column quarto. Fawcett went to Delphi and started a paper called the News. After six months as sole proprietor, during which time the Democrat showed the same ability and spiciness that have always marked Mr. Kitt's newspaper ventures, he sold the office to Will B. Hoover, a young man who had been doing reportorial work for the Logansport Journal, and whose father, Dr. R. B. Hoover, was engaged in medical practice at Burnettsville. He took possession October 30, 1877. He was ambi- tious and enthusiastic in his work, but his health failed and he died at the home of his father in Burnettsville, September 21, 1870. He was succeeded in the newspaper business by Jasper H. Keyes, who took charge of the Democrat September 26, 1879. On March 20, 1881, his office was wrecked by a fire, and for several months White County was without a democratic paper.
In the following July a man named Cleveland J. Reynolds, of un- known antecedents, appeared on the scene and started a democratic paper called the Times. He proved to be a brazen pretender and early in January, 1882, he absconded after borrowing various amounts ranging from $25 to $150 from prominent supporters of his paper. He was
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never seen here again, and following his departure there was another interval of darkness for the democratic party of White County.
But on June 16, 1882, appeared the first issue of the White County Democrat, which has continued without a suspension or change of name to this day. It was published by Harry P. Owens and Wm. E. Uhl, both of whom were lawyers and members of the White County . bar. The subsequent history of the Democrat is thus related by Mr. James P. Simons, who for nearly twenty years graced the editorial tripod of that paper and by his long tenure and able editorial man- agement gave to the Democrat a statewide influence: "In January, 1883, Mr. Uhl sold his interest to his partner, who a few months later sold a half interest to Mr. A. B. Clarke, of Remington, who was a practical printer, and who has continued with the paper almost con- tinuously since that time, even down to the present day. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Owens sold his remaining interest to another young lawyer, Mr. Walter S. Hartman, who later, in 1884, sold his interest to his brother, Mr. A. D. Hartman, the firm name continuing Clarke & Hart- man until 1886, when the Hartman interest was sold to John A. Roth- rock. In 1889 Mr. Clarke removed to Colorado and Mr. A. B. Crampton, of Delphi, bought his interest and the publishers were Crampton & Rothrock, continuing thus until Mr. Rothrock purchased the Cramp- ton interest, continuing the publication alone until December, 1894, when he sold the entire plant to Messrs. J. P. Simons and A. B. Clarke, the latter having returned from Colorado some time previously. These gentlemen assumed charge under the firm name of Clarke & Simons. The senior member, being a practical printer, took charge of the me- chanical end of the work while Mr. Simons assumed charge of the news and editorial departments, and this arrangement continued for almost twenty years-until May, 1914, when Mr. Simons sold his interest to Mr. Charles L. Foster of Idaville."
DEMOCRAT-JOURNAL-OBSERVER COMPANY
Mr. Foster's connection with the paper began in December, 1912, at which time the Democrat, the Idaville Observer, the Reynolds Jour- nal and the Evening Journal (Monticello's only daily paper) were incorporated under one management known as the Democrat-Journal- Observer Company. The Reynolds Journal was soon afterward dis- continued, but the other publications have continued up to the present time under the same corporate management, from which, however, Mr. Simons has withdrawn. The present officers are A. B. Clarke, president ; Joshua D. Foster (father of Chas. L. Foster), vice president, and Chas. L. Foster, secretary-treasurer.
MONTICELLO SPECTATOR
By 1859 the republican party had grown strong enough to create a field for a republican newspaper in White County, and the want was
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supplied by the brothers James and Benjamin Spencer, who started the Monticello Spectator, a sprightly six-column folio. Its first issue appeared May 12, 1859. The press and type were brought from Rensselaer, where they had been used in the publication of the Gazette, a paper on which one or both the brothers had formerly been employed as printers. Some of the cases and stands thus imported are still in use in the present office of the Monticello Herald, which is a lineal descendant of the Spectator.
The Spectator was a typographical beauty and reflected great credit on the printers who produced it. It was all home print and showed more than ordinary editorial ability. It was not long in getting embroiled with its neighbor the Democrat on political issues, and from first to last it was engaged in a sturdy game of "give and take" on the questions of state rights, abolition of slavery, "nigger supremacy," free soil and other issues which divided the political parties of that day. The Spencer brothers had not reached the days of voting contests, and they were opposed to betting, but in the summer of 1860 they offered to send the Spectator "to all responsible Douglasites of White, Pulaski and Benton counties, payable when Lincoln carries Indiana." It is not recorded that they swelled their subscription list perceptibly by the offer or lined their coffers with Douglas gold, though Lincoln did carry Indiana at the November election. Early in September of 1860 Benja- min Spencer retired from the firm on account of failing health, and his brother James conducted the paper alone until it was transferred to Milton M. Sill early in 1862, after which he donned the blue and went to the front.
MONTICELLO HERALD
Mr. Sill changed the name of the paper to the Monticello Herald, which it still bears. Its first issue under the new name was February 14, 1862. Of this venture Mr. Sill himself says in his uncompleted history of White County: "The proprietor within a month learned that he had purchased one of the very largest and sleekest white elephants. The expense of publication so far exceeded the income that at the end of the first year he found his balance sheet showed a deficit of more than twelve hundred dollars. He still continued the publication, how- ever, watching for an opportunity to let go, until in the fall of 1863 he accepted a position in the War Office at Washington and placed the paper in charge of James G. Staley, who continued its publication until January, 1864, sold the plant to A. H. Harritt, raised a company of volunteers for the 128th regiment, went to the front and was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. What became of the proceeds of the sale of the Herald office the owner never learned and did not care to inquire. He found on his return in the summer of 1864 seventy-five dollars in the hands of the Auditor for the publication of the delinquent list in his absence, which he promptly accepted in full of all claims and was heartily grateful to the purchaser, Mr. Harritt, for stepping in as editor and proprietor of the Herald in his stead."
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Mr. Harritt had been principal of the schools here and he took two of his pupils into the office with him as "printer's devils.". Under his kindly tolerance they were permitted to issue a little paper of their own which they called The Junior, and which cannot be omitted in a veracious history of the newspapers of the county. It was about 9 by 12 inches in size and bore the names of A. P. Kerr and J. B. VanBuskirk as editors and publishers. It lasted until it began to consume more time than even the most indulgent of employers could afford to grant, and then the Junior's wind was gently shut off. Both of these juvenile publishers afterward drifted into the real thing-one as a publisher of the Constitutionalist and the other of the Herald.
Mr. Harritt was a vigorous and aggressive editor and the Herald under his management was an important factor in the republican victory of 1864 in White County. In February, 1865, he sold a half interest to Wm. II. Dague of Logansport, and six months later Mr. Dague became sole owner. He continued to publish the Herald until 1869, when he sold the plant to Mr. S. P. Conner and entered the practice of law here. In 1870 Mr. Conner sold a half interest to W. J. Huff, son of Judge Samuel A. Huff of LaFayette. After the election in the fall of 1870 Mr. Conner became dissatisfied with the political outlook and sold his interest to Mr. Huff, who remained sole proprietor until November, 1874, when he sold a half interest to J. B. VanBuskirk. In the meantime the fashion of country journalism had changed. A man named Kellogg had devised the plan of furnishing country pub- lishers their papers ready printed on one side at only a trifle more than the cost of blank paper. The Herald had adopted the ready-print plan, had enlarged to an eight-column folio and was devoting more space than formerly to local news. In 1877 the office was moved from a tumble-down shack a few doors south of the court house on Main Street to the Kendall Building on the present site of the O'Connor block. In 1879 it exchanged its old hand press for a Potter cylinder and soon afterward added a steam engine. No firm of country printers ever worked harder or more harmoniously to build up a business than the firm of Huff & VanBuskirk. In 1884 they built the present Herald building on Broadway and moved into it on the Fourth of July. In 1885 the paper was changed to the six-column quarto form which it still retains. Mr. Huff on account of eye trouble decided early in 1888 to move to California and sold his interest to his partner, who continued the business alone. During a period of four years (1900-1903) the Herald was published by Mr. Ed F. Newton, under lease. In January, 1904, the management was resumed by the owner, who continued as editor and publisher until January, 1915, when he sold the office entire to the Monticello Herald Company, headed by Mr. Charles S. Preston, clerk of the Circuit Court, under whose management it still continues.
THE NATIONAL
The National, a weekly paper, was established here in 1878 by Jacob Clay Smith as the organ of the greenback party, which was then
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causing quite a political stir in White County. The party soon died, but, except for an interval of about four years, the National continued to be published until 1905, when it was compelled to suspend by the sickness and death of its owner. He died August 4th of that year. In 1892 it passed for a time into the hands of W. I. Harbert, who continued its publication a few months under the name of the People's Advocate, representing the interests of the populist movement. The first issue of the Advocate appeared July 9, 1892, but in the fall of that year Harbert moved the plant to Reynolds and in partnership with W. D. Wattles launched the Broom, a short-lived publication similar to the Advocate. Mr. Smith, who in the meantime had been employed as a printer in the Democrat office, revived the National in 1896, and though in its later years it had no local organization to represent, he kept it alive until his health failed nine years later. The plant was sold piece- meal by his widow, the press being bought by the Democrat and used as a proof press.
MONTICELLO TIMES
During the stirring local discussion in 1892 which preceded the building of the present courthouse, Isaac Parsons, then editor of the Monon News, established a paper here called the Monticello Times. Its plant was located in an old building on the present site of the Baker-Uhl Building, and its first issue appeared September 16th. The editor said in his salutatory : "The Times will be thoroughly Democratic and free from all local dissensions. Its aim and purpose will be to harmonize and solidify the party." Notwithstanding this programme of peace, harmony and solidarity, the real purpose of the new paper was to provide a vehicle for certain legal advertising which the acerbities of the courthouse campaign had loosened from its accustomed moorings. Having reaped its harvest, and the animosities of the courthouse war having abated to some extent, the Times withdrew from the field early in the following year.
For about a year the Herald and Democrat again occupied the field alone, "scrapping" continuously, as had been their custom for several years-a custom which prevailed almost up to the closing of the grave upon one of the contending editors. It was a barbaric mode of journal- ism, apparently necessitated by force of circumstances in those days. It was afterward moderated to a more civilized plane of warfare, and for many years the journalism of the county seat of White County has been a model to the newspaper world.
MONTICELLO WEEKLY PRESS
The Monticello Weekly Press was the name of a paper launched by Cary M. Reynolds and Harry T. Bott in April, 1894. It was a five- column quarto and independent in politics. Its plant was located in an upstairs room on North Main Street. Mr. Bott soon retired from the firm, and about February 1, 1895, Mr. Reynolds sold the entire outfit to
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W. J. Huff, who was then in the grocery business here. Mr. Huff moved the plant to the Woltz Building on Washington Street, enlarged the paper to a six-column quarto and in August, 1895, added a daily edition. Later he abandoned the independent field and made the Press a repub- lican paper, but in spite of his long experience and the excellent character of his paper it proved a losing venture, and in September, 1897, the Press, both weekly and daily, suspended, and the unexpired subscriptions of the weekly were completed by the Herald and Democrat.
THE DAILY JOURNAL
In the meantime another daily paper called the Daily Journal had been launched by the original founders of the Press, Messrs. Reynolds and Bott, and though it had a struggle for existence it weathered every storm, and after a checkered career of nearly twenty years seems now to be a permanent fixture among the newspapers of the city. It made its first appearance March 7, 1896, as a morning paper but was soon changed to an evening edition and has so remained to this day. Mr. Bott was succeeded in the firm by Fred A. Clarke, who ultimately became sole proprietor, his partner going to Indianapolis, where he is now employed as a linotype operator on the News. In the fall of 1903, Mr. Clarke sold the plant to Ed F. and Chas. E. Newton and migrated to New York City, where he has taken high rank as a job printer, and is now a proofreader for the Kellogg Publishing Company. The Journal office was at that time located opposite the Forbis Hotel on Main Street, on the ground floor of what is still known as the Journal Building. Its publication was continued by Newton Bros. until Decem- ber, 1912, when it was merged with the Democrat, the Idaville Observer and the Reynolds Journal, and is still published by the Democrat- Observer-Journal Company. Both the Newton brothers followed the Journal into its new environment. Until the spring of 1915 Charles E. Newton was retained as its editor, while his brother Ed for a time was in charge of the Idaville Observer, later being assigned to the Reynolds Journal and performing various other functions for the company. Since April, 1915, Mr. Ed N. Thacker has been editor of the Journal.
WHITE COUNTY REPUBLICAN
In December, 1899, a paper called the White County Republican was started in Monticello by Ashbel P. Reynolds, who installed a second-hand printing plant at his residence on Water Street, whence the paper was issued, with D. A. Reynolds as publisher and Milton M. Sill as editor. It represented the views of a limited element who were opposed to the Herald's attitude on certain questions of that day, and for a time waged an animated campaign against what it regarded as factionism in the republican party. Not finding sufficient support, it suspended publi- cation within a year, and the plant was again on the market. It passed into the hands of Messrs. Hanna & Chilcott, and was used in the publi-
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cation of a paper called the Independent, and later for a paper called the Socialist. Both of these ventures were short-lived, and the plant was finally dismembered, part of it being removed to Burnettsville and part to Brookston.
WHITE COUNTY CITIZEN
In the spring of 1914 a weekly paper called the White County Citizen was launched at Monticello as the organ of the progressive party by Mr. W. L. Murlin, who came here from Grant County, bringing a printing plant with him. His office was at first located in the south end of the Forbis Hotel Building on the ground floor. The first issue of the Citizen appeared May 29th as a six-column quarto. After the November election it was reduced to a seven-column folio and changed to a semi-weekly. Later Mr. Murlin tried the experiment of a daily edition, but the response was not encouraging, and the daily was limited to three issues, which appeared December 17th, 18th and 19th. The semi-weekly continued until the first day of January, when it too suspended. At the time of the Citizen's demise its office was located in a room on North Main Street.
OTHER MONTICELLO PUBLICATIONS
In addition to the publications above mentioned there have been several church and school periodicals which have found a field of use- fulness and run a more or less successful course in Monticello. The Gleaner was the name of a bright church quarterly published here during the pastorate of Rev. S. C. Dickey of the Presbyterian Church during the latter '80s. A similar periodical called the Methodist Quarterly was published by Rev. W. B. Slutz during his two years pastorate of the M. E. Church, from the fall of 1887 to the fall of 1889. These quarterlies were in magazine form and represented the activities of their respective churches at one of the happiest periods of their history. A publication called the Bulletin, on a somewhat different plan, was issued in 1892-93 by Elder P. M. Fishburn, pastor of the Christian Church.
At one time the high school maintained a periodical called the Bee, and of late years the Armiger has become a household word as the annual publication of the senior class. It is a work of art rivaling many college annuals.
Mention must be made of one more periodical which was issued for a short time from the Journal press about 1907. It was the Soapmaw Journal, a freak conceived by a printer named Barney Fretz. He was an erratic genius with an artistic temperament which shone forth occasionally in music, poetry and the drama. At one time during his stay here he engaged in a public debate at the opera house with an alleged clergyman imported for the occasion, on the subject of the personality of the devil. Barney took the orthodox side of the question
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and vanquished the dominie, but the gate receipts hardly paid the hall rent. The name of his publication was composed of the initials indicat- ing the name of his cult, viz: "Society of America's Progressive Men and Women." Unfortunately it was mistaken abroad for an organ of the soap industry, and mail continued to arrive here for it from makers of soap and other toilet articles long after the Soapmaw Journal had ceased to exist.
EARLY NEWSPAPER FIELD AT REYNOLDS
Outside of Monticello, Reynolds was, in years past, considered the best newspaper point in White County. It is nearer the center than any other large town, and until it definitely abandoned its aspirations for the county seat, a possible future of large growth beckoned not a few to the place. Monticello held the newspaper field for more than twenty-one years, during which period, as we have seen, the Prairie Chieftain, the Tribune, the Republican, the Union, the Register, the Political Frame, the White County Jacksonian, the White County Democrat, the Spectator, the Herald, and the Constitutionalist, all suc- cessively or contemporaneously held the stage at the county seat, from 1850 to 1871, before Reynolds ventured into newspaperdom.
THE WHITE COUNTY BANNER
On February 24, 1871, appeared at Reynolds the first issue of the White County Banner, with the Reynolds Publishing Company as pub- lishers and Kleist & Wood as editors, according to the heading on the first page. On the second page the name of Rudolph Kleist appeared as editor. It was a five-column folio, 20 by 26 inches in size, and its name is said to have been suggested by Abram Van Voorst, an old settler of the locality and father of Henry Van Voorst, afterward county auditor. In 1872 J. E. Dunham, a young lawyer and ex-superintendent of the Rey- nolds schools, purchased the paper and managed it for a year. He changed its name to the Central Clarion, which in 1876 became the White County Register. Under that name it suspended in 1878-in after years Mr. Dunham explained why : "The cause of its suspension was a change in the law governing the publication of sheriff's sales. The original law directed that they be published in the newspaper nearest the land to be sold, which law was changed to permit them to be published in any paper in the county of general circulation. When this patronage was withheld from the paper it could fight the battle no longer." Evidently, the Banner should not have depended upon one solitary source of supply to keep it floating on the breeze.
THE REYNOLDS BROOM AND SUN
Another eccentric Reynolds newspaper enterprise was represented in the Broom, which had its origin in the National established at Mon- ticello by the greenback party in the spring of 1878.
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The plant was bought by W. I. Harbert in 1892 and moved to Reynolds, where the Broom was started in the interests of the people's party. Associated with Harbert in its publication was W. D. Wattles, a man of considerable ability, who afterward gained some distinction as a socialistic writer. The Broom barely outlived the campaign which called it into existence.
The Reynolds Sun, established by L. M. Crom in 1899, had a similar brief career.
THE REYNOLDS JOURNAL
Reynolds' last newspaper was the Journal, which issued its last number October 24, 1913, after having been in operation about three years. It was issued under the same management as the Idaville Observer and was taken over with that paper by the new corporation formed at Monticello in 1912 and known as the Democrat-Journal- Observer Company, a full account of which is given in the history of the press at the county seat. Irvine Gardner, Margaret P. Snyder and Ed Heimlich were at different times resident editors of the Journal, but toward the close of its career it was edited by Ed F. Newton, who visited the town once or twice a week from the county seat.
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