History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 47

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648

USA > Indiana > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 47

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"Respectfully yours, "H. BERRY, JR., "Acting Editor of Franklin Democrat."

In this same issue of the American, Clarkson makes an appeal to the sub- scribers of the Democrat to pay their arrears at once in order that the editor may be able to re-establish his paper at the earliest possible moment. "We are not prepared to ask anything in the shape of charity. Such acts towards

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him might cramp his independence as an editor ; but we ask that ample justice be done him in the payment of the last farthing. Three or four hundred dollars will be needed by him to purchase a new press and other materials to issue his paper." On July 2, 1852, the Democrat issued its first number following the fire, with Cyrus B. Bentley as editor. It was continued under the same management without intermission until August, 1863, when Bentley sold it to Nathan T. Carr. Bentley sold the paper on account of being elected county auditor, an office which he held from 1863 to 1871. Carr retained the management of the paper until the winter of 1866, when Bentley agan became the owner. On February 5, 1869, Bentley sold the paper to William Robeson and William B. Maddock, the new owners conducting it until August 9, 1872. At this date John Brady became its owner and editor, and he continued to issue it regularly until October 30, 1873. On this date he says: "With the present number of the Democrat my connection with it ceases. I have sold the office to Cyrus B. Bentley, who will hereafter control it. If during my connection hwit the Democrat I have said or done anything for which I am sorry, I am indeed very glad of it, and, in conclusion, please allow me to subscribe myself, most affectionately, yours, like thunder."

Bentley continued to publish the paper until his death, June 6, 1882. In the issue of June 29, 1882, it was announced that it had been sold to George Downey, a son of Judge Downey, of Rising Sun, and Edgar R. Quick, a son of Dr. John H. Quick, of Brookville. The new owners issued their first number July 6, 1882, and stated in their opening issue that, "as in the past, the Democrat will in the future be Democratic in all things, devoted to the cause and ever watchful of the best interests of town and county, generally." On December 20, 1883, Downey announced his retirement from the paper and added in his valedictory that he intended to return to the practice of law. Quick issued his first number on December 27, 1883, and concluded his con- nection with the paper with the issue of June 20, 1889. In this issue he announces that he has sold the paper to A. N. Crecraft and that the latter intends to instal William K. Bracken as editor and manager of the paper. The new owner had been connected with the schools of Franklin county for many years and during part of this time was county superintendent. With his second issue, June 27, 1889, he increased the size of the paper to a six- column quarto.

October 31, 1891, it again changed ownership, the consideration being six thousand dollars, since which time M. H. Irwin, who was born and reared at Fairfield, has been its editor and publisher, having published it for a longer number of years than any of his predecessors. The name was changed from

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Franklin Democrat to the Brookville Democrat on January 17, 1895, owing to the confusion arising from another Franklin Democrat being published at Franklin, Johnson county.

In the issue of November 5, 1891, in his salutatory, Mr. Irwn said, "It is unnecessary to go into details as regards our plans for the future. Perform- ance is always better than promise. Suffice it to say, that the paper will in the future, as it has for over half a century, advocate the principles of the Democratic party, believing that its restoration to power will best advance the prosperity of the whole people. We shall endeavor to publish a live local newspaper which shall faithfully chronicle all of the news of this good old county of Franklin, and which shall be a welcome visitor to the homes of its one thousand six hundred and fifty subscribers." How well this promise has been kept during the nearly twenty-four years under his management is shown by the material increase in job printing and advertising as well as in subscrip- tions (two thousand five hundred copies now being printed each week), until today it is regarded as one of the best newspaper properties in the Hoosier state.

THE BROOKVILLE MONTHLY VISITOR.

The Monthly Visitor was published in Brookville by James M. Miller from July 15, 1884, to his death, January 7, 1901. Although it was published in Brookville, it was printed at Cincinnati. Its editor was a man of striking personality. It was started, as the editor says, with "neither money, office nor material." It was non-political and non-sectarian, and was started by the editor to aid him in his struggle for a livelihood and give him employment to relieve the weary monotony of helpless invalidism, which extended over the last thirty-eight years of his life.

The distinctive feature of the Monthly Visitor was a series of articles bearing on the history of Brookville and Franklin county. As a matter of fact, this constituted about the only material in the paper pertinent to the county. After the death of the editor, January 7, 1901, his sister, Jennie, issued one number. Probably the most striking issue of this paper during its existence of seventeen years, was that of July 4, 1898, when the editor issued a supplement which contained a ten-column history of Brookville.

SPORADIC SHEETS OF BROOKVILLE.

There have been a number of papers published at Brookville concerning which it has been difficult to obtain much more than their name. Most of

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these have had a brief career and their existence was probably measured by the length of the presidential campaign during which they were issued. Two of these were Democratic sheets, the Bugle Man of 1840 and Young Hickory, which is credited with being published during the presidential campaigns of 1848, 1852 and 1856. Both of these Democratic papers were undoubtedly printed in the office of the Franklin County Democrat. The Whigs issued a paper from the press of the American in 1852, which was appropriately and patriotically called the Scott Eagle.

The Temperance Spontoon was issued by Thomas A. Goodwin in the fifties, while he had charge of the American, and his hatred of the saloon was such that his remarks on the question were vitriolic to the extreme. Sar- casm and invective filled this intemperate sheet and so his enemies said drove more than one man to drink.

A quarter of a century before the telegraph was known, a paper by the name of The Indiana Telegraph was establishd in Brookville. This was established before March 5, 1819, since a fugitive copy of that date is men- tioned by Isaac H. Julian as being in a volume of newspapers which was pre- sented to him by James Osborn.

The Western Agriculturist and General Intelligencer was the cumber- some title of a paper edited by Augustus Jocelyn before 1830. The Brook- ville American of August 29, 1879, says that the editor has seen a copy of the above paper dated November 19, 1829. Its name was too much for it and apparently it died within a year or two.

The Valley Star was started in 1877 or 1878 by Thomas Jefferson Higgs, who continued as editor and owner until 1880. In that year B. A. Smith bought it and tried to change its fortune by changing its name. However, The Valley Sentinel, its new name, did not bring it any greater degree of prosperity, and within a year Smith sold it to his son, Robert, and daughter, Estella. J. W. Scott appears as an editor of the Sentinel in 1880, Vol. III, No. 45, being dated November 1I, 1880.

The paper disappeared during 1882 and in July of that year John F. Geyer became the owner of the plant, but it was never again issued in Brook- ville.

The Leucht Thurm was a German paper started late in 1871 or early in 1872, by Charles Moormann, who edited it for two or three years. He then disposed of it to Charles E. Schnier and Jean Faust and the new owners at once changed the name to Germania. In a few months Faust sold his interest to Schnier and a short time later Moormann, the founder of the paper, again assumed control of it. It soon ceased publication and on March 22, 1875,

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the office fixtures were sold at sheriff's sale. Thus passed away the only German paper ever published in the county.

NEWSPAPERS AT LAUREL.

The Laurel Review, which was established early in January, 1877, by Benjamin A. Smith, is the only paper now published in the town. Its career is featured by so many changes of ownership that it seems nearly impossible to trace its history, year by year, down to the present time. From fugitive copies of the paper, as well as information gleaned from various sources, the historian is able to present the main facts in the history of the paper.

Benjamin A. Smith, who established the paper in January, 1877, was a practical newspaper man and his failure to make the paper a success was due rather to his limited subscription and advertising list rather than to any short- comings on his own part. The paper was printed regularly at Laurel for about eighteen or twenty months, but, the patronage proving insufficient, Smith moved his entire plant to Montpelier, Indiana, and presumably estab- lished a paper in that place. But the fates seemed to be against him and within a short time he was found at Muncie, Indiana, with his newpaper plant, where he seemed to succeed no better.

Sometime during 1879, Smith returned to Laurel and again published a paper here for a few months under the name of the Laurel Review. Dur- ing this year, Smith sold his Review plant to John F. Geyer, and bought the Valley Star, a paper which had been established at Brookville in January, 1878. Upon assuming the management of this Brookville paper, Smith at once changed its name to the Valley Sentinel, and continued as editor for a year or two. In the absence of the files of the Review, it is not known who its editors and proprietors were from the time that Geyer took charge of it up to the time John O'Hair assumed control. O'Hair says, in his issue of December 27, 1888, that "Three years ago, at the earnest solicitation of the principal business men of Laurel, we began a publication of the Review in the face of many warnings and much discouragement." This would indicate that O'Hair began his connection with the paper in the spring of 1885. On that date O'Hair announced that he had obtained the services of W. H. Glide- well, who "will have editorial charge and look after the interests of the Re- view at the county seat, while Mr. O'Hair will remain the local editor at Laurel and business manager." In this same issue O'Hair reviewed the his- tory of the newspapers of Laurel, and since he was closely associated with the business himself, it is fair to presume that his discussion of the local news-

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papers was accurate. For this reason his article is here reproduced in its entirely :

"There was Dale, who started the Chronicle; Turner, the Times, fol- lowed by Jefferson Higgs ; C. H. Pelton; who started the Index; B. A. Smith, who came and went twice and remained a season; and Joseph Taylor, who run a paper as long as any of his predecessors.

"But each of these gentlemen, in his turn, either ran aground financially or became dissatisfied and, like the Arabs of the desert, folded his tent and silently stole away. In the face of these facts, but not without some mis- givings as to the outcome, we embarked in the newspaper business with every- thing to learn from the very ground. We think we may claim, without ego- tism, that our subscription list (and he claimed fourteen hundred subscrib- ers) and advertising contracts show that the venture successed beyond any- thing we dared hope for in the beginning. We enlarged the paper to double the size of any former publication in this place. We felt satisfied after a time in purchasing for the office a No. I Hoe patent power press, which enabled us to print our paper many times faster than the old hand and lever presses could do. We added other machinery and supplies, until now we have one of the best equipped offices in the county. We have felt in every way satisfied with the paper save in one particular-that being our inability to give a first-class paper for the whole county on account of having no com- petent person who could devote sufficient time to the work to handle all county news and local affairs, and especially at the county seat. To enable us to do this, we have taken into the business W. H. Glidewell, who will at- tend to that part of the work and edit the county-seat department."

O'Hair maintained his connection with the Review up to the time of his death, November 28, 1914. He had various partners at one time or another, .T. L. Dickerson being associated with him from 1892 to 1896. Among other editors connected with the Review were C. H. Peltam, C. M. Taylor, Mains, L. M. Boland and C. K. Muchmore. Since the death of O'Hair, his wife has managed the paper.

There have been at least four other papers in Laurel besides the Re- view, but none of them lasted more than a year or two. Not much more than their names have been preserved and no copies have been seen by the his- torian. Nothing is known of the News; the Chroncile was established by W. A. Dale, February 2, 1872, but it is not known how long it was issued; the Times was started about January, 1875, by a man named Turner and, later, T. J. Higgs became its editor ; the Index was founded by C. H. Pelton

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some time in the seventies, but nothing more has been ascrtained concern- ing it,

ANDERSONVILLE.

Indiana has the unique distinction of maintaining the only newspaper in the Union on a rural route, eight miles from a postoffice, in the Four Counties Herald, published at Andersonville; and the paper has an editor as unusual as his paper.

The Rev. F. Wilson Kaler is of tidewater ancestry, his granfather, a Universalist minister, having liberated his slaves in 1837, when he moved from Virginia to Andersonville. When the future minister-editor was twelve years old he went into a printing office. He started the Four Counties Herald on a capital of one ream of paper, a keg of ink and eighteen dollars' worth of type. He had no press and only enough type to set up one page. For a press he used the back of a broken tombstone, and a home-made proof roll, printing one page of an edition and then distributing his type. He thus had four press days each week. Since he started the paper, he has done all the editorial, reportorial and typographical work on the Herald, and for the past seven years has served as an active ordained minister of the Christian church. He now has more than one thousand dollars invested in his little eleven-by- twelve office building. He owns his home and has an interesting family. He also finds time to be an active worker in five secret orders.

The Andersonville Herald was established as the Four Counties Herald on May 1, 1887, by W. A. Kaler. In 1889 the founder of the paper sold it to F. Wilson Kaler, who has published it continuously since that year. It is published every Thursday and confines itself solely to local news. The plant has a Cranston cylinder book press, three job presses, a gasoline engine and such other material as is usually found in a small newspaper plant. The paper is a seven-column folio, twenty-two by thirty, and has a subscription list of seven hundred. The name of the paper was later changed to the Andersonville Herald and has since borne this name. The editor is a regu- larly ordained minister of the Christian church, preaches regularly and of- ficiates at many weddings and funerals. He has written two books, "The New Purchase-a Story of Indiana Pioneer Days," and "The Green People- a Story of Greenland," both of which appeared serially in his own paper.

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OLDENBURG HERALD.

This paper was projected by Peter Holzer and Charles Hirt, the editors of the Batesville Democratic Herald, and was printed in their office in Bates- ville. It was established primarily as a special edition of the Batesville paper, with the addition of one page devoted particularly to Oldenburg news and the advertisements of its merchants. Holzer & Hirt remained the editors of the paper, which, however, lasted only from February 1I, 1910, to No- vember 4, 1910. It was Democratic in politics and during its short career attained a circulation of six hundred.

CHAPTER XX.

FRANKLIN COUNTY ORNITHOLOGY.

By Joseph F. Honecker, U. S. Ornithologist, a Former Franklin County Boy.

I have the honor to transmit herewith, for publication, a chapter on Franklin county ornithology, the results of a study of the birds known to occur in Franklin county.

Up to the present time the relationship and distribution of the many species of birds have been imperfectly understood. The present report furnishes for the first time a complete systematic synopsis of the group, showing the species of most economic importance. With the great interest in the relations of the birds to the farms, orchards and gardens; with the direct attention to the birds as a nature study in our public schools; with the increasing desire to prevent the pitiful slaughter of all our beneficial native birds, for decorating purposes, it is desired that I give in this report an account of this subject.

It is my intention not to include any birds in this list which have not occurred within the county, and not to note any species as having bred in the county unless I have good reliable authority that it has done so.

While this chapter is based largely upon my own notes, which I have made principally in Franklin county during my past life with the exception of the last three years when I located at Spokane, Washington, in addition I have been assisted by my father, Mr. Louis Honecker, my favorite com- panion in many a woodland stroll, whose keen eye observed and gloried in the charms of the various sceneries, whose listening ear caught the music of the breezes as they murmured through the boughs of the forest trees and the cadence of the babbling streams, and delighted in the minstrelsy of the feathered singers. And on January 2, 1902, the blue-birds and the snow- birds whispered to him their last farewell, and warbled something like Eternity. To Mr. Amos W. Butler, of Indianapolis, Mr. Ed. R. Quick, and

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my brother, Mr. John C. Honecker, both of Brookville, Indiana, for this, to each one, I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness for the kind assistance they have rendered, especially to Mr. Quick, for so many valuable oological specimens which he so generously placed in my private collection.

Love of the birds is a natural passion and one which requires neither analysis nor defense. The birds live, we live, and life is sufficient answer unto life. But humanity, unfortunately, has had until recently other less justifiable interests. Ornithology as a science is modern, at its best not over two and a half centuries old, while as a popular pursuit its age is better reckoned by decades. It is, therefore, highly gratifying to those who feel this primal instinct strongly to be able to note the rising tide of interest in their favorite study. Ornithology has received unwonted attention of late, not only in scientific works but also in popular literature, and it has at least a deserved place in our many colleges and public schools.

BIRDS AS MAN'S ALLIES.

The birds are here as economic allies, to bear their part in the distribu- tion of plant life, and to wage with us a continued warfare against rodent and insect foes, which would threaten the beneficence of that life. They. are here, some of them, to supply our larder and to furnish occupation for us in the predatory mood, but above all, they are here to add zest to the enjoy- ment of life itself; to please the eye by a display of graceful and bright colors; to stir the depths of human emotion with their marvelous gift of song ; to tease the imagination by their exhibitions of flight, or to goad as- piration as they seek in their migrations the mysterious, alluring and ever insatiable "Beyond."

My dear readers, never, never, indulge in the habit of keeping our native birds in confinement, as cage life is irksome for birds or beasts, but, if we must be amused, and above all, if we feel called upon to pass adverse judgment upon this gifted bundle of contradictions, as he exists in a state of nature, let our harshest sentence be sociable confinement with occasional freedom on parole.

During the last few years I have lived in Franklin county, Indiana, I received quite a number of letters from all over the United States, in- quiring why so few birds are found about the homes, among the ornamental shrubs and trees and in the orchards. My correspondents also wish to know how our beautiful native songsters can be induced to take up their residence in the neighborhood of man. As the many inquiries came from the East, the

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West, the North and the South, I shall treat the subject in the following manner :

The Northern, Eastern and Central states show but little difference as to their bird-life, and there is also little diversity in regard to the ornamental trees and shrubs of the gardens. The region included is bounded on the north by the British possessions, on the east by the Atlantic ocean, on the west by the Rocky mountains, and on the south by the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. While living in the country I have always had birds at my home and in the neighborhood, and I shall, therefore, give my own experience.

Birds settle only where they find the surroundings perfectly congenial ; where they are protected and consequently feel safe ; where dense shrubbery, evergreens and deciduous trees abound, and where water and suitable nesting material are near at hand. In one garden they are exceedingly numerous, while in another one close by only a few pairs, perhaps, are to be found. When protected, they soon learn to regard man as their friend. Their enemies, especially cats, squirrels and owls, must not be allowed to rove about in the garden and orchard, and such thieves and robbers as the blue jay (cyanocitta cristata ), the loggerhead shrike (lanius ludovicianus) or butcher bird, and that abominable tramp and anarchist among birds, the English sparrow (passer domesticus), should never be tolerated in a garden or park where other birds are expected to make their homes.

In the days of my boyhood the groves re-echoed with the songs of many birds. The woods, however, have been cleared away, and in the poor rem- nants of the once magnificent forests there are few birds to be found today. The cooing of the passenger pigeon (ectopistes migratorius), the sweet notes of the veery (turdus fuscescens ), the thundering sounds of the ruffed grouse (bonasa umbellus), the loud hammering of the pileated woodpecker (ceoph- loeus pileatus) are very seldom heard. I have devoted much time in erect- ing bird houses and planting ornamental trees and shrubs for the accommo- dation of the birds. Here they soon took up their residences. On the top of the barn and granary, purple martin (progne subis) houses were placed, and in the gables of the barn holes were cut to admit the pretty barn swal- low (chelidon erythrogaster) and its relative, the cliff swallow (petrocheli- don lunifrons). Among the first birds to settle were the phœbe (sayornis phœbe), heralds of welcome spring, appearing in the last days of March or early in April from their winter homes in our Southern states. The Balti- more oriole (icterus galbula) suspended its beautiful hanging nest from a high horizontal branch of a sycamore tree. The cedar bird (ampelis cedro-

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rum), quiet and retired in its habits, and a most beautiful denizen of the garden, placed its nest, constructed of sheep's wool, on a low horizontal branch of an oak. The sprightly canary-like song of the American gold- finch (spinus tristis), often called the wild canary, was heard throughout the summer, and its cozy little nest, lined warmly with thistle-down, was placed in the upright exterior branches of a sugar maple. In the same tree, but lower down on a horizontal branch, the exquisite pendulous nest of the red- eyed vireo (vireo olivaceus) was found. This vireo is an incessant songster as it gleans among the upper branches of the trees. The rose-breasted gros- beak (habia ludoviciana) nested in a clump of dense wild crab-apple trees, partly overgrown with grape vines. Another inhabitant of the grove not easily overlooked is the bold kingbird (tyrannus tyrannus), the guardian of the barnyard, its nest saddled on a rather strong moss-covered limb of pear tree. The quail (colinus virginianus), generally called "bob-white," con- structed its nest in the orchard near the fence, and it contained one dozen white pear-shaped eggs. The cat bird (galeoscoptes carolinensis) and the brown thrush (harporhynchus rufus) both nested peacefully in the same rose- bush. The little chipping sparrow (spizella socialis) built its tiny little nest, lined with horse-hair and nothing else, on the grape arbor for years and it usually contained four pretty greenish spotted eggs. The cardinal grosbeck (cardinalis cardinalis) claimed a rose-bush for its home, with three or four eggs to a set. The yellow warbler (dendroica æstiva) and the orchard oriole (icterus spurius) both nested in an apple tree. The phœbe (sayornis phœbe) plastered its moss-covered nest under a bridge near the barn. The crested flycatcher (myiarchus crinitus), the red-headed woodpecker (melanerpes erythrocephalus) and the flicker (colaptes auratus) constructed their nests in the rotten limbs of a sycamore tree. The blue birds (sialia sialis) and the purple martins (progne subis) built their nests in beautiful bird-houses I put up for them. The wood thrush (tardus mustelinus) and the familiar and pretty American robin (merula migratoria) nested in a pear tree. The Caro- lina wren (thryothorus ludovicianus), Bewick's wren (thryothorus bewicii) and the house wren (troglodtes ædon) nested in various places about the wood-shed and the barn. The green heron (ardea virescens) and I almost overlooked the quiet and retired mourning dove (zenaidura macroura) both nested in another apple tree.

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History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 47

Author: Reifel, August J Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1648

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648