USA > Indiana > Rush County > Centennial history of Rush County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 26
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
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GOING BACK TO PIONEER DAYS
In the public library in the court house there is a small collection of unbound newspapers contributed to the library by Mrs. Moses, widow of John F. Moses, these papers, including a number that antedate any in the Clark collection, and among which are about twenty copies of The True American, published in Rushville in the '30s. The oldest of these is No. 9 of Vol. I, of The True American, bearing date of November 29, 1831, a four-column folio, published by D. M. Wickham. There is also Vol. I, No. 1 of the Rushville Gazette, bearing date of January 5, 1833, which carries the announcement that the Gazette is but a continuation of The True American, announcement setting out that "the many attempts to establish a press in Rushville, and the frequent failures which have followed, warns us to be reserved in our promises. No doubt can be entertained but that a news- paper in Rush county conducted on liberal principles would meet with a respectable support. It is the intent of the publisher, when patronage will justify, to enlarge to a super-royal." The Gazette followed the same form as The True American, a four-column folio. In this Moses collection there are better than a half-dozen copies of the Gazette. Then there is a copy of The True Repub- lican, Vol. X, No. 31, dated December 26, 1849, T. Wallace & Co., publishers, and of the same for May 14, 1851, Wal- lace & Ball then being the publishers, further evidence of the changes in editorial management and control of the papers in those days. In The True American for April 28, 1832, there is published a "Regimental Order" signed by William P. Rush, colonel, Forty-second regiment, In- diana militia, announcing that the regiment will muster at John Smelser's on October 20, next : the First batallion will muster on the fourth day of May at John Mock's, one mile and a half northeast of Smelser's mill: the Second batallion on the fifth day of May at John Walker's in Center township and "officers, noncommissioned offi-
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cers, musicians and privates are notified to attend their respective musters armed and equipped as the law dictates."
The Indiana Herald and Rushville Gazette (a double-barreled name, suggestive of a possible merger of two struggling papers), date of May 4, 1839, published by Davis & Wallace, carries a page of advertisements char- acteristic of the period, a few of which are worthy of presentation, as for example: "Beware of Him !- It is deemed a duty to caution the public to be on their guard in relation to one Joshua Jones Walton. He is a shoe- maker by trade, but for a year or two past has been deal- ing out bald-face whisky by the gill, and partakes pretty freely of it himself. He is five feet, three or four inches high, rather heavy built, with black hair and beard, black complexion and large gray eyes. He has a wife and two children. He left this place about ten days since, without bidding his friends good-by, leaving his creditors minus nine hundred or a thousand dollars. When last heard from he was making his way to the western part of this state. He has proven himself destitute of moral honesty and altogether unworthy of confidence. (Signed) Will- iam Lower." A supplemental paragraph-"The En- quirer, Terre Haute; Journal, Springfield, Ill., and the Iowa Territorial Gazette are requested to publish the above three times and send their account to this office," illuminative of the not uncommon exchange practice of the newspapers of that period. But would the editor treat such an account as other accounts evidently were being treated ? In the same issue of this paper is the fol- lowing advertisement of J. M. Neely: "Wake Up! All persons indebted to me, of whatever age, sex or condition, whether halt or blind, rich or poor, are hereby notified for the last time that unless their accounts are paid off in two weeks from this date, they will on that day be visited with the wrath of the law."
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NEWSPAPERS OF RUSH COUNTY
The Rushville Republican-The Daily Republican, successor to the Rushville Whig, which was established by P. A. and O. C. Hackleman April 25, 1840, in a few years after its founding in March, 1904, won recognition as the leading newspaper in Rush county and has main- tained that distinction ever since. After Jacob Feudner gained control of the property April 1, 1903, following a period of nineteen years, during which he had had an in- terest in the newspaper with John F. Moses, rapid ad- vancement was made by the Republican. It was less than a year before Mr. Feudner's progressiveness manifested itself by the establishment of the Daily Republican, which since that time has steadily grown and prospered. It was due to Mr. Feudner's resourcefulness and natural ability, together with his persistence in the effort to provide Rush county with a daily newspaper which would best express the forward-looking interests of the county. that the Republican gradually forged ahead in the local news- paper field, and became recognized as one of the best county seat newspapers in Indiana. Although capable and able to take editorial charge of the newspaper. Mr. Feudner's inclinations bent in another direction, and he devoted his time to the job department of the business and to keeping the mechanical part of the plant in per- fect order. Mr. Feudner contributed frequently to the Re- publican after it became a daily, but his services were needed elsewhere, and Edward J. Hancock became the first editor of the daily. He retired on January 1, 1905. after serving for less than a year, and for the next few years, Clifford S. Lee, who started as a reporter under Mr. Hancock after graduating from the Rushville high school in 1904, was in charge of the news department of the paper. When he sought larger fields, going from the Republican to the Indianapolis Star, Tom J. Geraghty, who had had some local newspaper experience, became the editor of the Republican, and remained in that capacity
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until the summer of 1909, when he went to the New York Herald. Mr. Geraghty worked on several newspapers in New York, and finally became a motion picture scenario writer. He advanced rapidly in this work until he was made supervising director of the Long Island studio of the Famous Players-Lasky corporation. The bulk of the reportorial and editorial work was done by Mr. Geraghty during the time he spent on the Republican until Claud Simpson, a Rushville boy, who was graduated from Indi- ana University, went on as a reporter in the summer of 1908. Mr. Simpson remained only until the fall of that year, and was succeeded by Roy E. Harrold, also a Rush- ville young man, who had graduated from Wabash Col- lege the previous spring. When Mr. Geraghty resigned in 1909, Mr. Feudner, realizing the need of co-operation in every department of the newspaper, began to for- mulate plans to organize a company and permit some of the young men in the plant to own stock in the corpora- tion. Accordingly, the Republican Company was formed April 1, 1910, and incorporated with Jacob Feudner, his son, Will O. Feudner, Claud Simpson, and B. O. Simpson as stockholders. Claud Simpson, who had gone to the Indianapolis News as assistant state editor in October, 1908, was recalled to become editor of the Republican, succeeding Mr. Geraghty. B. O. Simpson, his brother, who had been employed in Indianapolis, took charge of the bookkeeping and collections, when the company was organized, and the younger Mr. Feudner, who had been associated with his father in the newspaper business for seven years, was in charge of circulation and advertising. Claud Simpson remained only a year as editor, and had to give up the position due to ill health. He went to Ros- well, N. M., during the summer of 1910, and was suc- ceeded by Roy E. Harrold, who continues as editor of the paper. Mr. Harrold also became a stockholder, taking Claud Simpson's stock in the company. The firm con- tinued with this organization until the elder Mr. Feudner
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was compelled to retire on account of failing health. He went to Denver, Col., in April, 1914, where he has since resided. On April 1, 1916, Frank Priest, who had been employed as a pressman in the Republican office for seventeen years, became a stockholder in the company. On account of his being unable to return to Rushville, Jacob Feudner severed his connection with the Repub- lican in March, 1918, and sold the controlling interest in the company to the other four stockholders. The ma- jority of the stock was purchased by Will O. Feudner, who obtained the control previously held by his father. It was not long after the Republican became a daily that Mr. Feudner realized the paper was outgrowing its quar- ters at the corner of Morgan and Second streets. In 1906 a modern newspaper building was erected by Mauzy & Denning at the corner of Perkins and Second streets for the Republican and the newspaper was located there for ten years. The Republican suffered a heavy loss from the serious flood of March, 1913, and the owners then realized that sooner or later the plant would have to be moved. When another flood, in 1915, inflicted severe damage to the company, not so serious. however, as that in 1913, the stockholders of the company decided to build. They bought a site one-half block north of the building which the company had occupied for ten years. and erected a modern newspaper plant, designed with the view of obtaining the greatest efficiency in producing a newspaper. The building was erected under the general direction of Will Fendner from plans drawn by Harvey D. Allen, and it has been pronounced by many visiting newspapermen as better fitted to meet the needs and ro- quirements of a newspaper and printing establishment than any to be found in any city twice the size of Rush- ville. The Republican occupied its new home August 8, 1916.
The Rush County News-This daily newspaper, pub- lished at Rushville, is the lineal descendant of the old
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Jacksonian, as what remained of that historic old paper's equipment after its abandonment is being utilized as part of the equipment of the News, which also occupies the quarters formerly occupied by the Jacksonian's successor the Democrat, on North Morgan street. The story of the merger, in 1907, of the Jacksonian into the Democrat, under the ownership of the Democrat Publishing Com- pany, has been told. Two years later, in 1909, William L. Newbold, a Rushville attorney, bought the Democrat. He continued to publish the paper until 1914, in which year he sold it to Lewis Holtman, who presently disposed of it to Richard Noyer, under whose ownership it was sus- pended under the stress of war times in 1918, and the Democratic party in this county thus was left without an official and formal medium of expression. This sit- uation continued until in the spring of 1920, when the party spurred by the needs of the approaching campaign, recognized the necessity of resuscitating the party organ, and the Rush County Daily News is the outcome of this necessity. The publishers, D. R. Mellett and W. L. Mel- lett, of Columbus, Ind., agreed to establish a daily news- paper in Rushville to represent the Democratic faith pro- viding satisfactory advance assurance could be given of proper support. This assurance was given by the secur- ing of a substantial advance subscription list assuring a sufficient circulation to interest advertisers, and the first issue of the News appeared on June 3, 1920, the publica- tion office being that formerly occupied by the Democrat. What remained of the defunct paper's equipment was purchased ; a new "intertype" machine was installed, to- gether with other modern machinery and equipment, the equipment including an up-to-date job-printing plant, and the Mellett brothers have been "on the job" since, giving the Democrats of Rush county a capable organ. The Melletts also own a daily paper at Columbus and are trained newspaper men.
The Rushville American-This paper, a six-column,
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four-page folio semi-weekly, published by James E. Naden at 121 West First street, was established on No- vember 22, 1894, and has never changed hands, still being published by its founder. Mr. Naden grew up to the printer's trade, beginning as the "devil" in the Repub- lican office in 1884. After spending three years there he transferred his connection to the Graphic office, and re- mained there several years, or until he decided to have a newspaper and printing plant of his own. In the mean- time he had been able to save $600, and with this money bought a small printing outfit and opened an office in a room over what is now the Greek candy shop, on Main street, Will G. McVay, who also had been a printer in the Republican office, and who afterward became city clerk, at that time occupying the ground floor of this building as a notion store. At first the American was but a small four-column folio printed one page at a time on a job press, the subscription price of the same being 50 cents a year. Job printing became Mr. Naden's specialty. and as his business expanded he took all the top floor of the building above mentioned, save a small room re- served as an office by Squire Poe, and there he remained for twelve years, or until his business had so expanded that it became necessary to find larger quarters and he moved to the ground floor of the Tyner building, south of the court house. In the meantime he had installed a Campbell press and enlarged his paper to a six-column, eight-page publication, continuing it as a weekly until 1907, when he changed it to a semi-weekly, six-column, four-page folio, which form is maintained. In 1910, Mr. Naden moved his plant into the quarters he since has oc- cupied on West First street. From his original invest- ment of $600. Mr. Naden has developed a piece of news. paper property valued at right around $7,000. He has ample type equipment and makes a specialty of job printing and stationery supplies.
The Carthage Citizen-This newspaper is the direct
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descendant of the Carthage Clarion, which was estab- lished in 1887, by Edward C. Charles, who presently found his experiment in village journalism unprofitable and sold his subscription list and "good will" to the Rushville Graphic. Some time afterward, however, be- coming encouraged by what appeared to be better con- ditions in the journalistic field, he revived the paper under the name of the Carthage Record, and after getting the paper "on its feet" sold it to William Allen, who made an excellent paper of it until the time of his rather sudden death, after which the paper led a somewhat des- ultory existence until it fell into the capable hands of Lloyd W. Henley, one of Carthage's enterprising young men, who had been teaching school in this county, and who is now nationally known as "Jack" Henley, the urbane secretary of the national Republican committee, and one of Indiana's most astute politicians. Henley "carried on" with the Record until the lure of wider fields at- tracted him elsewhere, and in the spring of 1899, he sold the paper and went to Indianapolis, where he became en- gaged in newspaper work, laying there the foundation for the political advancement which later came to him. In 1902, Chester G. Hill, of Carthage, bought the Record from J. D. Dennis, and was conducting it quite success- fully when in January, 1906, his plant was destroyed by fire, the loss being total, even to his books and subscrip- tion lists. Disheartened for the moment by this loss, Mr. Hill made no immediate attempt to revive the paper, and for more than a year Carthage was without a newspaper, but in May, 1907, Mr. Hill put in a new plant and started all over again, reviving the paper under the name of the Carthage Citizen, which it since has borne. In 1910, Mr. Hill erected a cement building on the town's main street for the housing of his newspaper, and has since felt rea- sonably secure against further loss by fire. The Citizen long ago demonstrated that it "had come to stay" and apparently is prospering beyond the ordinary run of
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small town newspapers. Mr. Hill not only is a newspaper man, but a printer, and carries. on a considerable job- printing business in connection with his paper.
The Milroy Press-Milroy has had a newspaper since 1882. in which year Charles F. Pollitt established there the Milroy Advertiser. The paper "caught on" and it was not long until its proprietor became convinced that it was more than an experiment. The name Advertiser, seeming to him to smack somewhat too much of commer- cialism he presently changed the name of the paper to the Times, and it was being published under that name when in 1887, George W. Rowe bought the paper and changed the name of it to the News, which it was proudly carrying when F. C. Green bought it and changed the name to the Press, under which name the paper since has been pub- lished. for some years past under the very capable direc- tion of Dewey Hagen. a young man who had his news- paper training at Flora and Louisville, Ill., and who upon taking charge of the Press at Milroy modernized the shop, putting in new equipment of an up-to-date character and installing at the same time a first-class job-printing plant. It is not too much to say that Mr. Hagen is widely regarded as a "phenom" in the field of village journalism. Trade journals in Chicago and in the East have sent representatives to Milroy to get stories of what he is doing there, and his fame as a village journalist and printer of more than ordinary parts has gone far. In addition to publishing the Press at Milroy. Mr. Hagen also is the publisher of the Laurel Rerier and also prints school papers for Milroy, Carth- age. Manilla and Waldron. He has two late model lino- type machines, a "Ludlow" and much other modern equipment not often found in village newspaper shops. He gives the people of Milroy. Laurel and vicinities ex- cellent papers and is "on the job" every minute. As his "given" name might indicate, Mr. Hagen is barely twen- ty-three years of age. and if his present energy persists his future would seem to be a promising one.
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SOME REFLECTIONS OF OTHER DAYS
Just how such a situation came to be is difficult of explanation, but it formerly was notorious that the news- paper man, like the doctor, was the last to be considered in the payment of bills. That the newspapers of Rush- ville were not exempt from this condition is revealed by a perusal of the old files of the papers, many a mouth-fill- ing and heaven-rending wail for money from delinquent subscribers and advertisers there being voiced. "The new advertisements contained in the last Republican, and the job work done in this office last week amounted to $95. Out of that sum we received $1.25-all in cash!" This was the not wholly unwarranted complaint uttered by the Republican in March, 1857. In that same month this same paper had the following heart-to-heart talk with its readers: "Money ! Money !! Money !!! We believe it has been nearly two years since we asked our friends for money. We are not in the habit of doing so, and were it not that we need money very badly, we would not do so now. But we need money to carry on our business, and we must have it. We have over $2,000 coming to us on our books, and out of that amount we ought to have five or six hundred at once. Come up to the rack, friends." Small wonder there were so many changes in the owner- ship of newspapers in those days. Business methods ap- parently were lacking in the sacred circle surrounding the editorial tripod. The subscription rates of the Repub- lican at that period were: In advance, $1.50; within six months, $2; within the year, $3; for six months in ad- vance, 75 cents. Terms of advertising-one-eighth col- umn, changeable quarterly, $18; quarter column, change- able at advertiser's pleasure. $24; half-column, same, $35; three-quarters of a column, same, $55.60; one column, same, $70; or upon the following terms-one square, three weeks, $1; three squares, same, $3; five, $4.50; ten, $8.50; fifteen, $12.50; twenty, $16. At that time the paper was carrying the following at its "masthead": "The
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Republican has the largest circulation of any county newspaper in the state." Fine! The circulation "boos- tor" even then was on the job. About this time the Re- publican carried an editorial asking the attention of oth- er publishers over the state in the interest of a convention of editors and publishers in Indiana for the purpose of securing the adoption of a uniform rate of advertising, especially with respect to patent medicine advertising, the article setting out that newspapers over the state were suffering from the operations of "swindling" ad- vertising agents. The "get-together" movement thus was just getting a start in that day of individualism and it is interesting to record that the suggestion for such a move- ment came from Rush county. In that same year the editor advised his readers that "we are under obligations to Mi. James Buchanan (not the president, but a better man). for a basket of fine apples. They were the finest winter apples we have seen this season." Good work- acknowledged a courtesy of a friend and took a "crack" at the hated administration all in the same breath. But polities was all in all with the newspapers in those days, and there were few local items that were not tinged with the intense partisanism of the period. For example: In March, of that same year (1857). the Republican carried an apparently innocuous little local item setting out that " Elder Drury Holt will deliver a lecture on 'Bible Slav- ery' at the court house on the evening of the 1st proximo, at early candle lighting. Persons of all parties are re- spectfully invited to attend. Honorable criticism is so- licited. Let there be a full attendance." Looks harmless. doesn't it? and vet here is what the Jacksonian of the following week had to say about it, not even waiting until after the lecture to make the "honorable criticism" that was solicited : " Drury Holt. a dyed-in-the-wool abolition- ist who, we are informed, got his property through the sale of niggers in Tennessee, is advertised in the Repub- lican to lecture at the court house this evening upon the
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subject of 'Bible Slavery.' As Hackleman thinks it is not necessary for a man to be of a 'legal cast' to compre- hend McLean and Curtis on the subject of free-nigger law, we suppose Drury will demolish the late decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. We are sorry Hull isn't here to enjoy a feast of fat things; but poor Matt had to run away. Hope the Judge and Jo Nicholas will not become as envious of Drury as they were of him." Sounds terribly remote and far away, doesn't it? And yet this is the sort of stuff that filled the newspapers of the dear old, hallowed days; the dear, dead days beyond recall-the editors, intent on their petty partisan bicker- ings, having neither time nor inclination to give their readers more than an occasional fragment of local news, or if they did print a bit of news managing somehow to hang a partisan stinger onto it.
It was the common thing for subscribers to the papers, particularly the rural subscribers, to pay up with commodities of one sort and another, products of the farm or chase, and turnips, apples, cordwood or pelts were looked upon by the editor as proper exchange, but sometimes he got more than he needed, as note the fol- lowing printed in December, 1860: "Remember, you who are interested, that after the last of next week we will take no wood on subscription unless we have specially agreed to do so." His woodyard evidently was filled. The political reward for service was what the editor for- merly looked forward to. On January 22, 1861, it is noted that "William J. Cowing, so long connected with the Rushville Republican, has resigned its control into the hands of Mr. Andrew Hall, who is certified to be a good man and worthy of the trust." And then, in the follow- ing June : "William J. Cowing, formerly editor of the Re- publican, has been appointed to a $1,200 clerkship in the Interior Department, in the Census Bureau." The Civil war period taught the newspapers the value of printing more news and paying more attention to local interests
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than to Washington gossip, as witness the following con- cerning the announcement of F. T. Drebert on taking control of the Republican on November 6, 1869: "While the Republican, under my control will freely discuss the political questions of the day, the advancement of the local interests of Rush county will always claim its first attention." And the columns of the newspapers from that time on began to reflect this change of plan. The '60s had passed, a new era was opening ; newspapers were beginning to perceive the possibilities of a new and un- tried field and when they got into the field they found the pasturage immeasurably better. Machinery and print- ers' supplies generally began to improve, conditions were better for the craft in more ways than one, and the editor took heart. The commercial spirit began to take hold of him. He no longer lived wholly in his partisan dreams, but began to take some outlook upon the practical side of his business. The newspaper was no longer an experi- ment or a mere profitless and ineffective medium of "reform." It gradually became a business proposition pure and simple, and as such today has gained in respect even as it has gained in the dignity of its calling-a news- paper, indeed, instead of a servile mendicant.
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