USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 12
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"The one whose name appeared at the head of the editorial columns from that date for several years was William Kurtz, who took up Hutchen's un- finished work, profited by his mistakes and climbed the ladder to editorial success."
Under the management of Mr. Kurtz the Clarion acquired a large cir- culation in Gibson and adjoining counties. In politics it was Democratic, as opposed to the Whig party of that time. In the great political contest of 1860 the Clarion supported the Douglas wing of the party. but when Lincoln
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was elected and the Southern wing of the party inaugurated a rebellion, the Clarion followed the example of Douglas in giving full support to the Re- publican administration The paper took a decided stand against secession and exerted no small influence in the enlistment of soldiers in Gibson county to fight armed rebellion. As the war progressed all of the printers in the Clarion office laid aside their "stick" and enlisted in the army, and the editor himself followed their example As a consequence the publication of the paper was suspended in November, 1863, and remained in this condition for several months.
In October, 1864, A. J. Calkins purchased the Clarion plant and the paper reappeared as the Princeton Union Clarion. It was now Republican in politics, and has kept the faith ever since.
In August, 1877, Gil R. Stormont became the sole proprietor of the Clarion and continued as its editor and publisher for nearly twenty-five years. Under his management the material and mechanical equipment of the office was enlarged and greatly improved and the circulation of the paper largely increased. In 1897 the Clarion appeared as a daily in addition to the weekly issue. In April, 1898, the Clarion and Gibson County Leader were con- solidated under the name of Clarion-Leader, Gil R. Stormont, editor and pro- prietor. In July, 1901, the plant was sold to a company composed of Fred R. Ewing, Samuel R. Adams and James A. Westfall. About a year later a stock company was formed and another consolidation was made with the News, then owned by Harry K. Stormont. The name was again changed to the Clarion-News, by which name it is still known, with Fred R. Ewing, managing editor, published by a corporation entitled The Clarion Publishing Company. Since July 15, 1901, the paper, and the controlling interest of the corporation publishing it, has been under the control of Fred R. Ewing. The minor interests have changed lands several times. At present Fred R. Ewing is the editor and general manager, and George B. Grigsby is business manager.
When the Clarion became a Republican paper the Democratic party of Gibson was without an organ, an equipment which was very essential to a party in those times, whatever may be the opinion as to its usefulness now. So, in 1861, some of the leading Democrats formed a stock company, bought a printing outfit and employed W. H. Evans and James M. Keyes to put out a paper to advocate the Democratic faith. This was the beginning of the Princeton Democrat, which made its first appearance August 17, 1861. At the expiration of three months Mr. Keyes retired and Mr. Evans assumed full
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control, eventually buying up all the stock and becoming sole editor and pro- prietor. Mr. Evans was a practical printer, a forceful writer, with a style all his own, and the Democrat soon became a paper of wide circulation and much influence. For many years Mr. Evans with his paper held full sway in party affairs in Gibson county. But he received the appointment as postmaster when Cleveland became President in 1885, and gave up his management of the paper, finally disposing of the plant. The plant was taken over by a stock company, and after various experimental editors had tried their hand at pub- lishing the paper, with indifferent success, John C. Gorman assumed the man- agement. After a long struggle and strenuous effort Mr. Gorman was able to buy up the stock and became sole proprietor, and has made a financial suc- cess of the enterprise. He has a modern, up-to-date equipment and publishes a daily and weekly of creditable appearance and good circulation.
During these years a number of other newspaper ventures have been made in Princeton. Some of these have flourished for a time and gave prom- ise of being permanent fixtures, but all, save the Clarion and Democrat, have ceased to exist. Some of these journalistic ventures were inspired with the idea that there was a long-felt want that needed to be filled and they were ambitious to meet the demand. In most cases the supposed long-felt want was found to be a myth and these ambitious journalists, one after another, passed it along to the next one desiring a course in this school of experience. At one time there were four dailies and five weeklies published in Princeton. The three dailies that had been running for some time had hard work to make both ends meet, and no one knew this better than the publishers thereof, but when the fourth daily came out with a flourishing headline, "We have come to stay," there was cause for real concern as to the prospects of the others. But there was some relief when the paper that had "come to stay" suspended after an experience of one week.
One of the papers which was started and had a fairly successful career was the Gibson County Leader. The first number of this paper was issued April 9, 1884, by A. J. Calkins and W. D. Robinson as editors and proprie- tors. Mr. Calkins had formerly been editor and publisher of the Clarion. Mr. Robinson was a young lawyer then, and afterwards judge of the appel- late court, and is now located in Evansville. He only remained with the Leader for a short time. After a few years Mr. Calkins sold the office to John L. Dunlap and Newt Selby. Then Mr. Dunlap sold his interest to Hugh T. Carlisle, who continued the publication for a few years, and then the plant passed into the hands of George A. Schoeny and W. M. Herschell.
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After a few months' experience they disposed of the plant to Gil R. Stormont and the Leader was consolidated with the Clarion and it passed out of exist- ence as a separate publication.
Another newspaper venture that was developed after some variable en- deavors and experimental efforts and was made a success, was the Evening News, published by James McCormick. The News was the first daily estab- lished in Princeton. Mr. McCormick had for some time been publishing the Prohibition Era, having in 1888 succeeded Sumner Rose, who started that paper in 1887. After publishing the Prohibition Era for a few years with indifferent success, financially, Mr. McCormick discontinued it. From the same office outfit the Evening News was established, the paper making its first appearance in April, 1893. It was an uphill job to make a daily paper go in Princeton at that time, but the Newes made good headway from the start and eventually established itself. In the latter part of 1902 the New's plant was sold to Harry K. Stormont, who conducted the paper until February, 1903, when it was consolidated with the Clarion, the identity of the two papers being carried under the name of the Clarion-News. The consolidated paper was under the management of an incorporated company, composed of Samuel R. Adams, Fred R. Ewing, James A. Westfall and Harry K. Stor- mont.
Some time in 1850 The Gibson Review made its appearance in Prince- ton. with John Evans as publisher and James Patterson as printer, Patterson having learned his trade in the Clarion office. The Review was an advocate of Whig politics and made a strenuous fight against the Democracy advo- cated by the Clarion. At the head of its editorial columns was a declaration in favor of the nomination of Gen. Winfield Scott for President. Scott was nominated by the Whig party in 1852, but the Review did not stay long enough to announce his defeat, and the demise of the Whig party at the same time, in the election of that year. In 1851 the Review ceased to review things in Princeton and the office was moved to Petersburg.
In 1856 the young and aggressive Republican party formed a national organization and presented a candidate for President in the person of John C. Fremont. The adherents of this new party were not very numerous in Gibson county because of a lingering attachment to the old Whig party. But the principles presented in the platform of the new party found much favor with those who gave them thoughtful and unbiased consideration. To prop- erly present these principles a newspaper was a necessity. This was truly "a long-felt want." With this purpose in view, John E. Phillips and David E. Linegar, two young attorneys of Princeton, purchased a printing outfit and in
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the summer of 1856 published the first issue of the Princeton Courier. John E. Phillips was a vigorous writer and as editor of the Courier soon placed that paper in the front rank of political journals of that time. It was the most aggressive and influential political paper Princeton had seen up to that time, and it gave occasion for people to "sit up and take notice." While the Courier was only published for about two years, it did a good service while it lasted, better than some papers have done for a much longer period. The crystallization of sentiment that resulted in the organization of a militant Republican party in Gibson county was due to the Princeton Courier more than any other one influence.
In 1858 the Courier printing plant came into the hands of a man by the name of Hester and another paper was started called the Southern Indianian. James Patterson was associated with Hester for a short time as printer ; afterwards Jasper H. Keyes became interested in the publication, under the firm name of Hester & Keyes. Under this management the paper continued for about one year, when Napoleon B. Risinger appeared and the publishing firm was changed to Risinger and Keyes. In the spring of 1860 Keyes dropped out, a brother of Napoleon B. coming to the front. While under the Risinger management the Indianian, which had been Republican in poli- tics, performed a coup de main by an editorial announcing that the policy of the paper thereafter would be Democratic. Just how much Risinger received in compensation for this sudden change of faith is not definitely known, but it is certain the pecuniary consideration, whatever it may have been, was more than offset by the shrinkage caused by his Republican subscribers who tumbled over each other in their rush to stop their papers. It was but a short time until the Indianian disappeared. In this connection it may be of interest to state that Jasper H. Keyes, one of those who had an interest in the publi- cation of the Indianian, died at his home in Lexington, Michigan, February II, 1914, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was the last of the editors who published papers in Princeton before the war.
One more venture is entitled to a place in the newspaper history of Princeton. That is a publication called the Farmers and Laborers' Light. This paper was published in the interest of the Populist party, which covered a great deal of ground in Gibson county at that time. It was started in 1891 or 1892. We are not so sure about the date of its start as its finish, which was on July 12, 1893. The Laborers' Light had not done much in the way of illumination until the day and date above mentioned. What was started by the plant then was enough to make up for any lack theretofore
(9)
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or thereafter. It was about two o'clock on that hot July afternoon when the alarm of fire was heard, and the people were not long in discovering that it was a sure enough fire. It was in a small frame building, about where the Baldwin insurance building is now, on Broadway, occupied then by the Light printing plant. This was the beginning. The ending was about sundown that afternoon when all the block in which the fire started, the entire block on the west side of the square, the block north of that and on to the railroad, with scattering buildings in other parts of the town, were a mass of smoulder- ing ruins. The fire originated in an overheated flue of the engine the Light office used as motive power for their press, and was under considerable head- way when discovered. The passing of the Farmers and Laborers' Light was more spectacular than that of several other Princeton papers that had gone before, but it was a very undesirable distinction for those who had to do with the paper.
There have been several newspaper enterprises started in other towns in the county, of which mention should be made. The first of these, probably, is the Montgomery News, at Owensville, by E. D. Hulfish, in 1870. This paper was published for a few months, but not receiving sufficient support was dis- . continued, and Mr. Hulfish removed his outfit to Tennessee, where he estab- lished a paper. Returning in 1877, he started another paper in Owensville called the Echo. With occasional suspensions, this paper has been con- tinned by Mr. Hulfish since that time, until a short time ago when it was consolidated with the Owensville Star, with Mr. Hulfish managing editor of the combined papers. The Star was established sometime in the eighties by J. P. Cox, who has continued as its publisher, with a short interval, since that time. It has always been a good local paper, neatly printed and with a good circulation. In the same office has been published for several years the Bap- tist Messenger, a paper in the interest of the General Baptist church. It has a wide circulation among the brethren of that faith.
Oakland City got into the newspaper game in 1871, when J. K. Davison and David Doughty launched the Oakland City Independent. This paper was continued until 1873, when Mr. Doughty, being sole proprietor, removed the outfit to Boonville. There was also published in Oakland City in the early seventies a paper called the General Baptist Herald, of which Col. W. M. Cockrum was one of the editors. We have no data as to the length of time this paper continued there. Joe Armstrong also published a paper called the Record for some time in Oakland City.
On July 3, 1880, the Oakland City Enterprise made its first appearance,
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with Nicholas A. Spillman as editor and proprietor. Mr. Spillman was a practical printer and an industrious, hustling newspaper man, and he soon had the Enterprise on a solid financial footing. Mr. Spillman died in 1894 and the publication of the Enterprise was continued by Briggs Kepley, for a few years. The paper was not able to maintain the prestige given it by Mr. Spillman and was finally suspended and the outfit was removed to Peters- burg.
The Oakland City Journal was started in February, 1893, by J. W. Cockrum, first as a weekly and after a short time a semi-weekly publication, in which form the publication has continued ever since. Mr. Cockrum is an up-to-date newspaper man, a hustler for business and generally gets what he goes after in that line. Under his management the Journal has attained a good circulation and is a financial success. In mechanical equipment for job and newspaper work the Journal office is not excelled by any printing plant in a town the size of Oakland City, and not by many in towns of much larger size.
Fort Branch has had a newspaper for several years called the Herald, published by Charles Speer, with a fair local circulation. A short time ago the Fort Branch Times was started by C. B. and E. C. Swinney. The Times is a neatly printed and well-appearing sheet and with the energetic publishers that seem to be behind the enterprise it has a good prospect of being able to weather the storm.
The Western Signal is the high sounding title of a newspaper venture in Patoka, but that was all there was of it. Then there was the Patoka News, and several other good names for newspapers that have been tried in that town, but they were all misfits. The same is true of several ambitious at- tempts to persuade the people of Hazelton that a local newspaper was one of their crying needs. In every instance it has turned out that the crying need was on the part of the party who attempted the persuasion. It is not neces- sary to give a mortuary record of the several newspapers that have met the inevitable in Patoka, Hazelton and elsewhere in the county. It is sufficient to say that they are dead.
In this sketch it is probable that some newspapers that have been pub- lished in Gibson county during the last seventy-five years have been omitted. and it is possible that some of the dates and personal mention are not correct. Some errors of this kind could hardly have been avoided, since a large part of the dates and personalities mentioned are gathered from the writer's mem- ory, which is not an infallible source.
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
The key-note to all educational institutions in Indiana was the wise pro- vision of the first Constitution, adopted June 29, 1816, at Corydon, then the capital, and which read as follows: "It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for a gen- eral system of education from township schools to a State University, wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all." But prior to the laws enacted in 1852-55 the system had been poorly managed and directed by the state, the county and the townships. Many opposed the "free school system" contem- plated in the Constitution. Much was left to the Legislature and there the friends of free schools were not in a majority, believing that it was an unequal taxation, hence unsound constitutionally. Many of the courts thus held, too. There was no county uniformity, it being left largely to the option of the citizens of a county or township as to whether they had schools or not. To remedy this evil an effort was put forth-wisely, too-to compel parents to educate their offspring. This culminated in 1852 when the General As- sembly sought to make a uniform law for a better common school. The enactments of 1855 and those of 1865, carried out the mandate of the consti- tution.
At this point it is well to insert a well-written article by James W. Stott, in the centennial number of the Princeton Clarion-News, of March, 1913, under the caption of "One Hundred Years in the Schools of Gibson County :"
"Nowhere in the life of any community is the spirit, the progress and the ideals of a people better reflected than in its public schools.
"One hundred years of school history in Gibson county takes us back to the scattered homes of the early settlers in the little forest clearings-at first far apart, but gradually becoming more numerous and closer together. No sooner did settlers become established than some central place was selected for a school house. Here there soon arose a little log cabin dedicated to the cause of education. The first school house in Gibson county was built in the Robb settlement, in White river township, about 1807. In 1808 another was built near where Owensville now stands. As the settlements became more numerous, the little log school houses grew in number.
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, PRINCETON.
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"During the period from 1807 to 1813 a number of families settled in what is now Princeton. Their first school was organized in a log cabin, which stood near the present site of the White Lumber Company.
"These primitive school houses were built from the abundance of logs furnished by the forests. The floor was made of split logs, and a large fire- place extended almost across one end of the building. Providing wood for this fireplace furnished the big boys exercise. The chimney was made of sticks and clay. The light came through the greased paper, fastened over a wide space left between logs on one side. The door swung on wooden hinges and was fastened by a large wooden bar.
"The furniture of the room was in keeping with the building. There were no blackboards, globes, maps, charts, unabridged dictionaries, supple- mentary readers. The children were seated on benches, facing walls and with backs toward the teacher. The desks were rude shelving arranged around the walls of the room. When pupils did writing or figuring they stood up to the wall desk. When they recited they marched up to the front of the room near the master's desk, and 'toed the line'-generally one of the cracks of the floor.
" 'No lickin', no larnin', was the motto of many a teacher in those days, and the course of study, 'readin', 'ritin', 'rithmetic,' was frequently taught to 'the tune of a hickory stick.'
"In 1818 the state Legislature passed an act providing for the establish- ment of a seminary of learning in the county seat of each county, and in 1829 the Seminary building, as the center of the Gibson county school system, was completed. This occupied the site of our present new city high school building.
"From 1829 to 1860 is known as the seminary period in the history of our county schools. During this period population rapidly increased and the country schools became more numerous, while the attendance at the seminary gradually increased as Princeton added to its population. The year 1860 marks the beginning of a modern graded school system in Princeton, with D. Eckley Hunter as superintendent of schools. From that time to this the development of the schools has kept pace with the growth of the city, and the high ideals that have characterized the people of Indiana.
"Today more than fourteen hundred school children of the city are accommodated in the various well equipped school buildings, constructed of brick and stone, and this year, the centenary of Gibson county, the people of Princeton rejoice in the completion of one of the most beautiful and sanitary buildings in the state of Indiana.
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"The story of school development is the same in all parts of the county. Gibson county has two hundred and thirty-five teachers. It has twelve high schools, of which number four are commissioned-Princeton, Oakland City, Fort Branch and Owensville.
"Besides the public schools, the parochial schools at Warrenton, St. James, Haubstadt, Snake Run and Princeton, and last, but not least, Oakland City College must be given a place in the school system of our county. The high standing of Oakland City College is attested by the fact that many of our best teachers are now, or have been, students there, and that its enrollment is year by year increasing.
"But the log school house has quite disappeared. The term has grown from sixty days to eight or nine months. The Hoosier schoolmaster, whose stock in trade was sufficient for the pioneer days only, has passed to his reward. The state of Indiana is demanding better school buildings for its children, better preparation of teachers, better attendance of children, better co-opera- tion of parents, and as a result citizens thoroughly prepared to build into the life of our state the ideals of an educated, industrious and virtuous people.
"Our fathers have builded well in the hundred years just past. Will the verdict of the next hundred years be as favorable to us? To make it so, we as children, as patrons, and as teachers, must remember that our schools are the hope of our country, and act well our part."
OLD-TIME SCHOOLMASTER AND HIS SCHOOL.
From various data at hand, including state reports, educational works, interviews and the local writings of men in this and adjoining counties, the following paragraphs have been culled and selected for the purpose of show- ing the manner of teaching, the character of buildings, etc., which obtained in Gibson county at an early date, but all of which are really necessary to bring the reader to an intelligent understanding of what trials and difficulties our present boasted public school system has passed through during the last century :
THE "MASTER" AT WORK.
The log school house of the first generation, with its clapboard roof, its mud-and-stick chimney, its greased paper windows, latch-string door, puncheon floor and huge fireplace ; its puncheon seats, without backs or desks, and its rude, primitive writing desk beneath the window-this was the domain of the early rural school teacher in Indiana. Here assembled the pioneer chil-
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dren for such instruction as the early master was capable of imparting. The school hours in the early pioneer days were often very long, lasting in some localities from early morning until sunset, with perhaps an hour or an hour and a half at noon for dinner and recreation. In spite of the blazing fire in the great fireplace, both teacher and pupils were often chilled by the cold winds which found entrance through the numerous chinks and cracks between the logs. Seated upon the backless benches, many of the smaller pupils re- mained nearly the entire day with their feet dangling several inches from the floor, except as they were called to their recitations.
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