USA > Indiana > Whitley County > History of Whitley County, Indiana > Part 18
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LUTHER,
commonly called "Sawdust Hill," is on the Goshen and Huntington state road near where it strikes the Huntington county line, section 36, Cleveland. township. Luther postoffice was established January 2, 1894. with Myron L. Pray, the merchant, as post- master, and continued in his name until dis- continued on account of rural delivery, Feb- ruary 29, 1904. It had been supplied by the route from South Whitley by way of Tunker.
SELLS.
This office on the river-road from Column- bia City to South Whitley, where it crosses the Nickel Plate Railroad a half mile west of Eberhard church and cemetery, was es- tablished June 25, 1898, with Rachael Bren- neman as postmistress. It was discontinued
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October 23, 1899. for want of business and because the postmistress moved to Fort Wayne, and for the further reason that the first rural route out of Columbia City cut off a part of the business. While in exis- tence, this office was supplied from the Nickel Plate Railroad.
WYNKOOP.
The last postoffice to be established in the county was at Wynkoop, on the Van- dalia Railroad. June 25, 1898, where Taylor postoffice had given up the ghost seventeen years before. Henry E. Fague was post- master until April 29. 1899. Then Stanley Smith until the office was discontinued No- vember 15, 1901, on account of rural deliv- ery from Columbia City and want of patronage.
The rural delivery system that has cov- ered the county since March I. 1904, em- braces twenty-five rural routes. Fourteen out of Columbia City, five out of South Whitley, three out of Larwill and three out of Churubusco, with date of establishment as follows :
COLUMBIA CITY.
No. I. established October 2. 1899. No. 2, established September 15, 1900.
No. 3, established September 15, 1900. No. 4, established October 15, 1900. No. 5, established October 15, 1900. No. 6, established March 1, 1902. No. 7, established March 1, 1904. No. 8, established March 1, 1904. No. 9. established March 1, 1904. No. 10, established March 1, 1904. No. II, established March 1, 1904. No. 12, established March 1, 1904. No. 13, established March 1, 1904. No. 14, established March 1, 1904.
CHURUBUSCO.
No. I, established November 1, 1900. No. 2, established February 1, 1904. No. 3, established February I, 1904.
LARWILL.
No. I, established March 1, 1904. No. 2, established March 1, 1904. No. 3, established March I. 1904.
SOUTH WHITLEY.
No. I, established October 2, 1899. No. 2, established December 15, 1900. No. 3, established December 15, 1900. No. 4, established March 1, 1904. No. 5, established March 1, 1904.
THE NEWSPAPERS.
BY S. P. KALER.
Up to 1853 not a word of printing had ever been executed in Whitley county, but for three or four years there had been a yearning demand by our people for a news-
paper, and especially the people of Colum- bia City and more especially the politicians. In May, 1853, Joseph A. Berry, of Steu- benville. Ohio, visited the place on a tramp
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westward in search of a location. He met with the proper encouragement and $200 was given him as a bonus to establish a newspaper. Consequently on the 13th day of July, 1853, the first issue of the Co- lumbia City Pioneer came from the press to the joy and gratification of the people. It was a strictly Democratic organ and had a circulation of about four hundred nearly from the first issue. Prior to this time all our legal advertising required by law was published mostly in Fort Wayne, but an occasional legal notice found its way into a Warsaw or Huntington paper.
Berry was a very noisy and blustery in- dividual with little ability of any kind, not even a good compositor. He, however, blundered along, scarcely missing a weekly issue until August, 1856. His conduct of the campaign was not satisfactory to the Democrats, nor was he satisfied with them or with the proceeds of the business.
P. W. Hardesty came from somewhere in Ohio and purchased the office and closed the campaign more radically than his prede- cessor. He was a man of considerable ability but lazy and shiftless and soon be- came involved in trouble with the county officers and outside creditors and soon after the November election of 1856 he moved the office to Paulding Center, Ohio.
For nearly two years Whitley county was without a Democratic paper. In the summer of 1858, Col. I. B. McDonald bought at sheriff's sale, from William Flem- ing, of Allen county, for $625 the office of the defunct "Jeffersonian."
This was a Democratic paper started in opposition to the "Sentinel" by Zephaniah
Turner, who involved himself in all kinds of trouble and was nearly killed by John Dawson, a prominent Republican.
McDonald at once moved the office here and established the "Columbia City News." He assumed editorial control but put Thomas L. Graves in charge of the office. McDonald was then clerk of courts. William C. Graves, a brother of Thomas L., lived in Warsaw and was in the banking business and he occasionally wrote an article for his brother and being interested in him came over often to see him. This gave rise to the old story that Graves owned an interest. Neither of the Graves brothers ever owned a dollar in the News.
In November, 1859, McDonald retired from the clerk's office and assumed entire management and control and Thomas L. Graves moved to Kendallville. Englebert Zimmerman was the foreman printer and gradually grew more and more in favor with the proprietor until in May. 1861, when McDonald was preparing to go into the service of his country he sold Zimmerman a small interest and turned the entire business over to him. On Mc- Donald's return from the army in 1864, he again assumed control of the paper and though relations were most cordial between them, Zimmerman retired to take charge of the Fort Wayne Sentinel. Frank Zimmer- man then took his brother's small interest and took charge under McDonald and after a couple of issues the name was changed to the "Post" and is continued to this day un- der that name and with the identical first head. In November. 1865. McDonald sold the office to Eli W. Brown, a Whitley
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county man, though he had been part pro- prietor of the Fort Wayne Sentinel for a time.
Brown continued sole owner and pro- prietor of the Post until April, 1879, when he, sold a half interest to John W. Adams. In April, 1881, Brown, having moved on his farm just west of town, sold the other half interest to Mr. Adams, who still owns, edits and publishes the paper. September 30, 1896, a daily was started in connection with the weekly which still continues. There had been earlier issues of a daily during county fairs and during the trial of Butler, the wife murderer, in 1884. The Post and its predecessors have always been the Demo- cratic organs of the county.
In July. 1854, the opposition to the De- mocracy. crystalizing into the Republican party, felt the necessity of a newspaper to combat the influence of the feeble Pioneer and secured a printing office and placed Henry Welker, another Ohio man. in charge, and the Whitley County Republican made its appearance.
The outlook was not promising and the road on which it traveled was a thorny one, though for a couple of years its competitor was out of business. Adams Y. Hooper had in some way become responsible for the ma- terial and soon was obliged to pay for it and became the owner and really was the owner during all its vicissitudes until sold to John IV. Baker in 1868. At times he thought himself out of the business, but the sales did not stick or the payments were not made. After acquiring the office, he sold to Welker, but he could not pay and the office reverted, and Hooper worried along with migratory assistants. In 1859 he sold it to J. O. Shan-
non and W. T. Strother and they changed the name to the Columbia City Argus, hop- ing the change of name might be beneficial. These parties soon failed, and Mr. Hooper again had the office on his hands, and in- stalled S. H. Hill as publisher and part ed- itor. After one issue the name was changed back to the Republican. In February, 1861, Hill retired and George W. Weamer took his place. In September of the same year Weamer tired of the place and went to war and was killed. During the war Hooper managed the paper and edited it himself. In 1865 he sold it to John Davis and after a few issues it again passed back to Hooper and then for a few months it was under the control of O. H. Woodworth and Hooper sold to W. B. Davis and Henry Bridge in 1866, and it again passed back to Hooper. In 1867 it was operated by A. T. Clark and later in the same year by Frank J. Beck, who continued until January, 1868. when it was sold to John W. Baker and passed finally out of the hands of Hooper.
Mr. Baker successfully edited, owned and published it weekly until January, 1905, and daily from 1888 till its close when, having been appointed postmaster at Colun- bia City he sold it to W. W. Williamson and the old Commercial ceased publication, be- ing incorporated into the Mail, the other Republican paper under the name of the Commercial-Mail.
When Mr. Baker bought it he called it the Whitley County Commercial, which name it retained until about January I, 1879, when it was changed to the Columbia City Commercial.
The next venture into the field of Whit- ley county journalism was at Larwill. In
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March, 1876, J. W. Torrey and W. J. Du- gar came to Larwill to establish a business college. After an effort of some weeks Torrey retired but Dugar remained and by midsummer had a commercial school in op- eration in Shorb's Hall, but it languished, and languishing did live about a year.
In order to help his waning fortunes Dugar bought a small printing office that had failed at Kewanna, Fulton county, and brought with it the failing editor, O. W. Snook. The first issue of the Larwill Re- view appeared Christmas day, 1876. S. P. Kaler had secured Dugar on a note for part of the purchase money and by the first of March had the note to pay and a printing office on his hands. His name appeared as editor and Snook continued as publisher 1111- til the Ist of May, 1877, when Kaler sold a half interest to George J. Holgate from Ohio. a practical man. The paper ran under the names of Kaler and Holgate until the Ist of January, 1878, when finding the busi- ness unprofitable, they leased it to W. E. Grose. an employe, and had it moved to Churubusco and the Churubusco Herald ap- peared the second week in January, 1878. Holgate returned east and Kaler looked after it. Grose, like many others under the same conditions, soon swamped and gave up, when Chase Millice, of Warsaw, took the lease and his management was worse than his predecessor's.
In July, 1878, Kaler sold the office to D. M. Eveland from the mining districts of Pennsylvania. Eveland soon swamped but by making some political deal secured assistance and the chattel mortgage was lifted and Kaler and Holgate received full payment.
Thus far, at Larwill and at Churubusco, the paper was strictly neutral in politics.
Eveland pretended first to run an inde- pendent Republican paper, then, in the same campaign, sought to make it the organ of the Greenback party then at the very zenith of its existence. It was savagely personal and its pages were read with interest. Eve- land was a man of mature years and excep- tional ability but rash and vindictive.
Having run through the campaigns of 1878 and 1880. being on all sides of all ques- tions as promised support : Eveland was as glad to shake the Whitley county dust from his feet as his enemies were glad to have, him do so. In December, 1880, he sold the Herald to I. B. McDonald and Henry Pressler, the latter taking but a small in- terest which McDonald soon after acquired.
McDonald leased it to William Hall and son and it became a straight out Democratic sheet. The elder Hall was a Baptist minister and a man of decided ability. His editorial management was superb, his articles as able as any in the country, temperate and argu- mentative yet thoroughly Democratic. The venture was not sufficiently remunerative and the elder Hall soon retired. The younger Hall was, like many others of his profession. a good enough printer but unsuccessful, and McDonald soon had the paper back on his hands. It was then leased to Charles T. Hollis and son and Frank M. Hollis took charge of the office. It remained radically Democratic and for the first time self-sup- porting until November, 1881, when it was moved to Columbia City. Hollis retired and McDonald took personal charge and suc- cessfully edited and published the Columbia City Herald, a Democratic paper. In May.
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1883, McDonald having purchased the Huntington Democrat and having other in- terests demanding his attention, ceased pub- lication, selling a part of the material to the Post and moving the balance to the Hunt- ington office.
Prior to the appearance of the Churu- busco Herald, about the first of the year 1877, Anes Yocum, the postmaster at Chur- ubusco, owning and operating a small job printing outfit, began publishing the "White Elephant," a small quarto semi-monthly, more as a pastime than anything else. It never assumed to be a newspaper of preten- sions, but ran for some four or five years.
After the removal of the Herald from Churubusco, Virgil A. Gieger began in a modest way the publication of The Truth, which has grown under his management to be a first-class weekly newspaper, noted all over northern Indiana for its wit and spiciness. It is independent in politics with Republican leanings.
About the Ist of June, 1878, R. B. Locke, a nephew of the celebrated "Nasby." opened an office at Larwill and began the publication of the Larwill Blade, but in about three months it passed into the hands of Charles T. and Frank M. Hollis, who published it for a time when the material was sold to I. B. McDonald, moved to Churubusco and was merged into the Her- ald when the Hollises took charge of that paper.
April 1, 1889, Eli WV. Brown, after eight years, retirement from the profession, bought a new newspaper plant and, locating on the west side of the square, began the publication of the Columbia City Times, a weekly Democratic newspaper. After
about two years he sold it to Williamson and Price, who changed the name to "The Mail" and to a Republican paper.
In about a year these gentlemen sold it to A. R. Thomas, who soon after sold it to John C. Wigent and son. These parties at once began the issue of a morning daily, in connection with the weekly and failed financially in 1895. A receiver was appoint- ed who ran it a few, issues, when it was sold at public auction. J. W. Baker, proprietor of the Commercial, bought the material and it ceased publication.
In January, 1896, W. W. Williamson, with a new office, began again the publication of "The Mail," a weekly, and August 14. 1904, began the daily Mail, which has still continued, absorbing the Commercial as be- fore stated.
"The South Whitley Magnet," the first paper published in South Whitley, started in November, 1882, by W. A. Myers. In 1883 Mr. Myers also started "The Beacon," publication devoted to the home and a household. The former was a weekly and the latter a monthly publication. Both were suspended in 1885 and the entire equipment was moved to Kalamazoo. Mich.
On April 1, 1887, William E. Ashcraft started the "Whitley County News," which he sold in February, 1889, to O. H. Downey, of Churubusco. Downey soon after sold an interest to Webb Emerson and Emerson la- ter acquired the entire interest. Emerson sold to George Bumgardner, under whose ownership it was edited by Dr. W. O. Stauffer.
Bumgardner sold to Robert J. Emerson and he sold to F. E. Miner, the present owner, August 1, 1888. Under Robert J.
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Emerson it was called the South Whitley News, but Mr. Miner changed it back to the Whitley County News.
The two newspapers at Columbia City,
Post and Commercial-Mail, are both daily and weekly, while the Whitley County News at South Whitley and the Truth at Churu- busco are weeklies only.
INDIAN INCIDENTS.
BY S. P. KALER.
Mention is made in several publications of Coesse having delivered a very eloquent address at Fort Wayne on the memory of his distinguished uncle, Little Turtle. Some writers have said it was at the funeral of the great chief, while others have said it was on the Fourth of July, and the time or times stated vary from the death of Little Turtle. in 1812, up to 1850. This is entirely er- roneous, and shows the disposition of writers to start with a very small imagination, and each to add to it. The few persons yet liv- ing who knew Coesse know that he was en- tirely unfitted by disposition, education. training and general intelligence to deliver an eloquent or any other oration. Richard Collins (shortly before his death in 1884) related to the writer that he had investigated and found the truth. On July 4, 1846, the people of Fort Wayne held a large cele- bration and gathered as many Indians as they could. Coesse was invited, as the guest of Byram Miner, and accepted. As a nephew of the great Little Turtle, he was given a seat on the speaker's stand and after the eulogy on the chief by one of the orators, Coesse was asked to get up and say some- thing, but all he could do was to stand up and show himself.
By the treaty made upon the Wabash,
near the mouth of the Mississinewa, October 23, 1826. all the lands north and west of the Wabash, in Indiana, the Miamis ceded to the United States, leaving out the fol- lowing reservations in Whitley county. "Seek's Village," "Beaver's Reserve," "Chapiene's Reserve" and "Raccoon Vil- lage."
The "Beaver," as he is styled, lived near Peru. As far as can be gathered, no white man in Whitley county ever saw him, and from the records, we feel sure he died as early as 1830, if not earlier. There was never any occupancy of his lands by Indians, except as they may have wandered into the public domain. His heirs or descendants conveyed it to white settlers.
About the year 1881 quite an excitement was raised in Whitley county on the rumor that the Indian title was not extinguished by failure of the United States to issue the patents. Third-rate lawyers from different parts of northern Indiana swarmed to the recorder's office, with troops of dilapidated looking Indians behind them, deluded into the hope that they might secure a second payment for their lands from our people. The record of every transfer and the signa- tures to it were carefully gone over, and at least pretended preparation was made for
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the bringing of suits. A decision of the su- preme court of the United States, soon after. in a parallel case, set all these matters at rest.
As early as 1826, at least, a Miami In- dian named Chino lived near the center of section 17, Columbia township, on the north- west quarter of that section. He had two daughters and one son. John Turkey fell desperately in love with one of the daughters, so much so that it seemed almost the entire subject of his conversation. He told the Mosher boys that he would have the squaw. in some way, or would never have any other. She refused to accept his attention, and when he pressed his suit to the point of be- ing offensive, she went away to Logansport, and remained a long time. She finally came back on a visit. thinking that perhaps time had cooled Turkey's insane, jealous love. but not so. While he did not molest her at her home, on New Year's day. 1844, he found her some distance from her mother's cabin. It was well toward night and she fled from him and tried to hide. A man named German lived on the northwest quar- ter of section 18, Columbia township, where John Betzner now lives. After he had gone to bed, about nine o'clock, she came to his cabin and called as if in distress. He was a German in fact as well as in name and could not understand her language of English badly mixed with Indian, and sup- posing it to be some prowling Indian, per- haps bent on mischief. would not open his cabin to her. Very soon he heard her cries of agony and springing out of his cabin found her lying with her head smashed in with a tomahawk, Turkey beside her with the weapon in his hand and making no
attempt to deny it. German took the toma- hawk from Turkey and ordered him to leave which he did. German then aroused his neighbor. Sterns, and they cared for the boly until Indian friends came and took it away. Turkey did not attempt to flee the country, and was soon in the hands of the authorities at Columbia City. The Turkeys were Miamis and lived at the village in sec- tion 17. Penimo was a bad Pottawattamie. who stayed about the two villages. If he had a home it was at the same village with the Turkeys. There was a deadly feud be- tween them.
On July 4. 1843, Sanford Mosher and Joseph Pierce went to the village in section 17. at about nine or ten o'clock in the morn- ing. As they came down the trail, near where the wagon road runs, and up the hill in front of the village, they heard loud noises and the terrible Indian "Whoop. Whoop." which meant bloody fight. Com- ing in sight they saw the fight in progress between the Turkeys and Penimo, and the squaws dancing wildly round. The boys ran up. when Penimo pulled off his coat, showing his calico shirt covered with blood. Turkey was lying stretched out and the squaws disarmed Penimo, and requested the boys to help carry Turkey up to his wigwam, which they did. laying him on the regula- tion couch of a piece of timber driven in the wall, the outer end supported by a peg to the floor, and covered with skins and blankets. The squaws swarmed around, and the boys went to the door. Penimo came riding up on a black pony, as if to ride over the boys. Pierce shrank back, but Mosher raised his hickory club and said: "You black devil, go away or I will kill you."
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He then rode away. They then went and got his coat, which they found literally cut to pieces by Turkey's knife. Soon the Indian bucks began to swarm up from the south, among them Mozette Squawbuck, a Potta- wattamie. He and another Indian, and the boys, tracked Penimo for some distance. Soon Orrin Mosher, George Mosher. Old Chestee and several other Indians came up. Chestee grabbed a bow and arrow from John Turkey and drew the bow to kill Squawbuck, thinking that he was the mur- derer of Turkey, but being told that he was mistaken, he dropped his bow and arrow and extended his hand to Squawbuck, which meant in the words of the white man, "I take it back." Penimo did not again show himself in this neighborhood until he shot old Turkey's squaw. John Turkey's mother. When Benoni Mosher came he paid his at- tention to Old Turkey. The squaws first protested against his going into the cabin, saying that it was "not good for white man to see Indian die." He was finally admitted and found Dr. Komota, the medicine man, fanning him with a feather, waiting'to see the last breath. The knife had penetrated one lung, and with each breath the blood gurgled out. Finally Komota saw some sign that gave him hope. He took a small stick and probed the wound and got its exact depth : then going out he secured a small piece of yellow bark of some kind, made a plug the exact length and large enough to fill the incision and stuck it into the wound. While he was out Dr. McHugh, from Columbia City, chanced along and was called in and looking at Turkey, said: "He is stabbed in the lung and will die," but he soon recovered.
In the spring of 1843, as Mrs. Turkey and another squaw were riding ponies to visit friends south of the river, when near Squaw Point, in section 32, about a half mile northeast of the present Eberhard church, Penimo came suddenly up to Mrs. Turkey and grabbed her pony by the bridle and bit. She gave it the whip, tore loose from him, and rode on into the river. When well into the river he shot her with his pistol and she fell off of the pony dead in the water. The pony stayed with its mate, car- rying the cther squaw. Penimo ran through the waters, caught the pony and rode away. Allen Hamilton, the Indian agent, offered a reward of two hundred dollars for the capture of Penimo. William Thorn, of North Manchester, followed the latter into northern Michigan, caught and brought him back. He and John Turkey were both incarcerated in the Whitley coun- ty jail, and both were indicted for murder. Each plead "not guilty" and took a change of venue. The cases were sent to Allen county for trial, but before the prisoners could be removed they escaped. To prevent escape as well as to keep them from fighting each other, Penimo was chained to the floor in the corridor, and Turkey was confined in a cell or apartment. Turkey succeeded in setting fire to Penimo's straw tick. de- termined to destroy his enemy, though he should perish with him, but the fire was ex- tinguished. In the dusk of one evening Sheriff Simcoke went to feed them. He went in leaving John Washburn in the door. Penimo had loosed his chain and, dashing past the sheriff, knocked Washburn out of the door, and both Indians escaped. They ran to the river, swam it near where the
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