History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916, Part 92

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1104

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HISTORY INDIANA DEMOCRACY-1816-1916

stalled Mr. Jones as editor, and the latter issued the paper therefrom, leaving the old out- fit in litigation-it finally going to Mr. Barnett, who died the next year at Vevay, Ind. By this time the local political situation, as far as the Democracy was concerned, had gotten into a fear- ful snarl. The Republicans had increased their majority until it registered from 600 to 1,100 at every election and the Democrats were divided into hostile camps, Mr. Korbly leading one consid- erable faction and Joseph C. Abbott the other.

Mr. Adams and Mr. Jones brought the Herald to the support of Mr. Korbly's faction. This an- gered Abbott and his friends, conspicuous among whom were John McGregor, a young lawyer of Madison, and Joseph M. Cravens, son of Judge John R. Cravens, and destined to be the future and most successful leader the party in Jefferson county ever had; so they induced Alonzo S. Chap- man, who was publishing a trade paper called the Sorghum Growers' Guide, at Madison, to launch a new daily and weekly Democratic paper in opposition to the Herald. This Mr. Chapman did, and the new paper was styled the Madison Democrat, and it made its initial appearance in the autumn of 1889, and for years thereafter the Herald and the Democrat continued to represent two unfriendly forces in the party.

In 1892 the party again abandoned the custom of putting out a local ticket, and a hybrid Inde- pendent aggregation, representing both Re- publicans and Democrats, endorsed and sup- ported by the Democratic organization, was put forth, only to meet defeat more decisive and over- whelming than ever before, or since for that mat- ter, administered to a regular Democratic ticket. In 1894, the year of great Democratic defeat everywhere, the Republicans maintained their lead in Jefferson county by some 800 votes. In 1896 a somewhat new alignment appeared in Jef- ferson county. Of the old Republican organiza- tion, Messrs. William P. and James Graham were dead, Thos. Graham and A. D. Vanosdol prac- tically retired from political management, and only M. C. Garber (the junior Garber) active, but a new power had been growing up in the county, Marcus R. Sulzer and Perry E. Bear, law- yers located at Madison, and Thomas McNutt, a farmer of Saluda township, who had been elected County Recorder two years before-these three latter gentlemen worked together and practically filled the court house with their henchmen. Messrs. Sulzer and Bear both had been Prosecut- ing Attorney for two terms and Sulzer had been a member of the Legislature, and this year Bear was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. Mc- Nutt was county chairman and two and four years later was a member of the Republican State

Central Committee. In the Democratic party there were changes, too. Mr. Korbly had gone to Indianapolis and Joseph C. Abbott had died, and the fierce warfare that had existed within the ranks of the party was abating, but the party was practically leaderless, and continued leader- less, and therefore ineffective, for several years. In addition to this condition the free silver cam- paign of Mr. Bryan brought its defections, far outnumbering its accessions, in this county, as well as elsewhere, and so the Republicans were again successful, electing their entire county ticket by majorities running from 600 to 1,000 votes. This was practically repeated in 1898 and 1900.

In 1897 John B. Niesse and Moses H. Cochrane purchased the Herald from John Adams, and Lin C. Jones retired from newspaper writing and from politics for all time, and the new manage- ment ceased all factional warfare, as against the Democrat, and that part of the party supporting it-they made the Herald consistently and mildly, but not aggressively, Democratic, and they have maintained the paper in that attitude ever since and until this day. Mr. Chapman continued the Democrat as a nominal Democratic paper for some years, all the time becoming more and more inde- pendent in its political action, and finally, in 1912, he turned it into a Bull Moose organ and it sup- ported the policies of Mr. Roosevelt's party again in 1914.

In 1902 came the Democratic revival in Jeffer- son county. It was not a favorable year for Dem- ocrats in the State and Nation, but it was a great year for the Democracy of Jefferson county. Un- der the leadership of Messrs. Garber, Sulzer and Bear, for six years the Republican party had con- tinued its invincible hold upon the county affairs, but the jealousy and unrest that always follows close upon the heels of success was at work with- in the ranks of that party. Bear was seeking re-election as Judge and Sulzer was asking for another term in the Legislature, and the ham- mers of the disappointed ones in their party were making music like an anvil chorus. In addition to this, the Democratic party, for the first time in many years, perfected an excellent organiza- tion. Factional feeling had died out and new leaders came to the front. Joseph M. Cravens was nominated for Representative and made an active and thorough canvass of the county and brought all his personal popularity, which was very great and very widely diffused with the vot- ers, to the support of the entire ticket. Curtis Marshall, a young lawyer of Madison, was the County Chairman, and John B. Lawler, a business man of the same place, was one of his most val- ued aids in organization work. This trio-Cra-

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HISTORY INDIANA DEMOCRACY-1816-1916

vens, Marshall and Lawler-in this campaign established the reputation as political leaders and ingratiated themselves in the affections of the Democratic workers of the county, that made them the controlling force in the party from that day until the present time. At the election Cra- vens was elected over Sulzer by more than 500 majority; Hiram Francisco, a son of the elder Hiram Francisco who was elected State Senator in 1870, defeated Perry E. Bear for Judge, carry- ing the county as well as the circuit; a Democrat was elected County Treasurer, and one Commis- sioner was also successful. The remaining can- didates on the county ticket were defeated by their Republican opponents by less than one hun- dred votes. The next campaign, 1904, was a hard- fought contest, Cravens running a tie with his Republican opponent and winning out in a special election for Representative, the rest of the Repub- lican ticket being successful but all having less than 200 majority and Jefferson county being one of only three counties in the State that increased the Democratic vote over the returns shown in 1900.

The campaigns of 1906 and 1908 were hard fought and closely contested. Mr. Garber had practically dropped out of the management upon the Republican side, and Mr. Sulzer, now post- master at Madison, was the nominal leader of the party, but factionalism had weakened his organi- zation until it was no longer an effective force. The naturally large Republican majority enabled that party to elect most of the county officers, but by very small majorities, and the alert and mili- tant Democracy, well organized and well disci- plined, elected Cravens to the Legislature again in 1906 and Francisco Judge in 1908.

In 1910 Mr. Sulzer, wearied of the fight he was making almost alone and unaided, and perhaps disgusted at the petty jealousy and ingratitude of many of his partisans, withdrew practically from the leading part in Republican politics in the county and the party drifted here and there and at the election went down before the well-drilled forces of Democracy, headed by Cravens and Mar- shall and Lawler. All the county offices voted for, except Treasurer, were captured by the Demo- crats and Cravens was elected again to the Legislature by more than 700 majority.

In 1912 it was the same story, and in this year all the Democratic candidates were elected by good majorities, and for the first time in the his- tory of Jefferson county every office in the court house was filled by a Democrat and never in all the history of the county were the officials more competent or accommodating. The Auditor was A. M. Taff; the Recorder, Wm. J. McBride; the Assessor, B. W. Noell; the Sheriff, Frank Mckay;

the Coroner, Dr. Robt. W. Cochran, and Commis- sioners, Edw. J. Wolf and L. G. Rodgers, all elect- ed in 1910, the Sheriff, Coroner and Commissioner Wolf being re-elected in 1912. The Clerk, Edw. M. Prenatt; the Treasurer, Edward Jeffries; Sur- veyor, Edw. J. Gasaway, and Commissioner Clar- ence T. Custer elected in 1912. Besides these court house officials Joseph H. Hanna was the Superintendent of Schools, Joseph M. Cravens Representative in the Legislature for the fifth term, and in the judicial circuit composed of Jef- ferson and Switzerland counties, Hiram Fran- cisco, Judge, and Curtis Marshall, Prosecutor, both in their second terms. It was indeed a Dem- ocratic atmosphere that enveloped the county. When the early days of 1914 came-in fact, late in 1913-mutterings of discontent were heard. In 1912 the nation, the State and the county all elect- ed Democratic officers and what patronage was left to be distributed, after considering the bar of civil service, was to go to the Democratic work- ers. Never before had the boys in Jefferson had such an opportunity and many of them came for- ward seeking the pie counter-postmasterships, internal revenue collectors or agents, rural route carriers, etc., were sought from the national ad- ministration-places in the militia and pure food inspection department from the State-road su- perintendents, high and low, poor farm, court house janitor and other appointments in the coun- ty-of course, all could not be appointed, not one in six could be appointed, and there was much dis- appointment, and the leaders of the local organi- zation were blamed. (As the disappointed Repuh- licans had done years before, the disappointed Democrats now began doing, knocking against their organization and leaders and seeking to de- feat their candidates-an illustration of the old story of the dog in the manger-they could not get the offices themselves and they did not want any other Democrat to have them. Added to this state of dissatisfaction and encour- aged and prompted by it, Judge Hiram Fran- cisco, who had been elected twice by the Dem- ocrats, announced himself for re-election to that office as an independent candidate. Curtis Mar- shall had been nominated by the convention, but perceiving that some discontent existed, a part of which was directed toward him personally, he declined the nomination, and then the convention unanimously turned to Hon. F. M. Griffith of Vevay and nominated him. Mr. Griffith was an ex-Congressman and a Democrat of national as well as State repu- tation and, living outside of the county, it was believed he would be acceptable to everybody. But the disappointed ones would not be appeased, and they got behind Judge Francisco's candidacy

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HISTORY INDIANA

DEMOCRACY-1816 -1916

and under this cover fought the whole ticket, and had the Republicans been well organized and un- der capable leadership, they would have easily tri- umphed, but they were not-they were fairly har- monious and hopeful, but weak in organization and leadership, while the Democrats were never more effective in their organization and leadership-the party workers from all over the county responded nobly to the call to arms, and the hardest-fought battle in all the years was waged-and when election day came and passed away it was shown that the Democracy generally had won a victory. Mr. Griffith was elected judge, defeating Mr. Sulzer, the Republican candidate, by a comfortable plurality in the circuit, although the latter carried Jefferson county by a small plurality. Francisco ran a very poor third. The prosecutor, recorder, assessor, treasurer, sheriff and surveyor were elected by the Democrats, while the Republicans elected the representative, auditor, coroner and two commissioners by small majori- ties, defeating Joseph M. Cravens for representa- tive and A. M. Taff for auditor, the two men that

the disaffected ones among the Democracy had especially fought, but on the whole it was re- garded as a decided Democratic victory.

When the 1916 campaign came about political matters in Jefferson county had resumed their normal condition. The Madison Democrat had sold its good will and subscription to the Herald, and there were now but the two papers, the Her- ald and the Courier. It was a hard-fought cam- paign between the parties, with little factional trouble in either party. As in former campaigns, the Democrats had the better organization and the Republicans had the larger number of voters, and the election resulted in a draw, the Democrats electing Joseph M. Cravens Representative (with Scott county, which had been added to the dis- trict), Edward M. Prenall clerk and George A. Monroe sheriff, the two latter re-elected. The Re- publicans elected the Treasurer, Surveyor, Coro- ner and two Commissioners.

What the outcome of the 1918 campaign will be no one knows.

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HISTORY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF JENNINGS COUNTY

By Fred C. Lockwood

ENNINGS COUNTY, named in honor of In- diana's first Governor, Jonathan Jennings, is situated in the southeastern part of the State and comprises an area of 240,000 acres of land. The county was organized under an act of the legislature approved at Corydon on the first Mon- day in December, 1816, and a year later the county seat sent its first representative to the Legisla- ture in the person of Zenas Kimberlan. Almost the whole of Jennings county was obtained from the Indians by what was known as the "Grouse- land Purchase" in the year 1811, while eight years later, which is to say 1819, the Indians, including the Delawares, Potawatomies, Miamis and Weas extinguished their sole right of ownership by what was known as the "New Purchase," which made all land in the county subject to entry.

The early settlers were their own manufac- turers and the loom and grist mill were brought into requisition, supplying their own wants and demands the best they could. Generosity and kindness were paramount features with the early settlers, which had a tendency to mitigate much of the hardships experienced. The work of clear- ing the heavily timbered lands and building log houses required assistance and often the settlers lent a hand at house-raisings, log-rollings and wood-choppings, which was invariably the occa- sion for much good feeling.

About one hundred and twenty-five inhabitants were within the bounds of Jennings county at the time of its organization. The first county officers were: James Scott, clerk and recorder; John Vawter, treasurer and marshal of the State; Maurice Baker, sheriff; Frederick Bonons, coro- ner; Samuel S. Graham, Samuel Campbell and James Shepherd, commissioners; John Test, judge of the circuit court; William Prather and Chapman Denton, associate judges; Jeremiah Sul- livan, prosecuting attorney.

The early settlers did not concern themselves with national and local politics. They were busy in their forest privacy in a desire to clear their lands. The presidential election of 1824 was a contest with a personal color. The candidates were Adams, Crawford, Clay and Jackson, and there was a mixture of adherents on account of personal preferences. After the organization of the Whig party Jennings was a Whig county, though not by a very large majority. Then, after the organization of the Republican party, the county had been mainly Republican, but is now

solidly Democratic with the exception of one county official-the recorder.

The present county officials are: James Tolen, treasurer; Lloyd G. Hudson, clerk of the circuit court; G. J. Bernhart, auditor; William Riley, re- corder; J. Dudley Stemm, surveyor; M. B. Hud- son, coroner; John W. Morrison, assessor; Clem V. Bridges, sheriff; Joseph W. Verbarg, prosecut- ing attorney; Robert A. Creigmile, judge; Shep- herd Whitcomb, superintendent of schools.

Jennings county residents who have held im- portant positions in the public services of the State and nation were: Jeptha D. New, elected twice to Congress, first in 1874, second in 1878; and Lincoln Dixon, the present Congressman from the Fourth Congressional District, elected in 1894; Alonzo G. Smith, attorney-general of Indi- ana, 1890-1892; Thomas W. Brolley, state statis- tician; Thomas J. Reilly, appointed collector of internal revenue under the Johnson administra- tion, and John Overmyer, speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives at the regular and spe- cial sessions of 1877.

The newspapers of Jennings county since its or- ganization have been The Vernon Visitor, estab- lished by Willoughby Conner and Richard Ran- dall in 1836; Jennings Democrat, established by Samuel McKeehan and E. H. Ransom in 1856; Anti-Bolter, established by M. H. Andrews in 1858; Jennings County Times, established by John Vawter in 1840; Vernon Banner, established by William Steinback in 1850; Little Jewel, estab- lished by W. S. Prather and Peter Thienes, Jr., in 1875; Die Post (German publication), established by Peter Thienes, Jr., in 1875; Republican, estab- lished by Lincoln Harrington in 1892; The Daily Tribune, established by J. E. Allison in 1899; The Vernon Journal, established by Edward Wagner in 1892; The Vernon News, established by N. C. Euler in 1906; The Vernon Herald, established by E. A. Grimes in 1909; The Butlerville News, es- tablished by Butlerville News Publishing Com- pany in 1909.

The present newspapers of the county are The North Vernon Sun, established by Samuel W. Holmes in 1872; present editor, Fred C. Lock- wood; owners, James N. Culp and Ernest Kling- ner; The Plain Dealer, established by A. S. Con- ner and James M. Mayfield; present editor and owner, C. C. Klingner; The Vernon Times, estab- lished by a stock company in 1913; present editor, J. R. Carney.

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HISTORY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF JOHNSON COUNTY

T HE State Legislature in session at Corydon in December, 1822, passed an act enabling and providing for the organization of the county of Johnson. Most of the territory included in this new county had been a part of Delaware county. Opponents of the move charged that the signatures secured to the legislative petition by George King were fictitious or the names of per- sons long dead. However that may have been, the Legislature passed the act and the county was organized with the county seat at Franklin, being named in honor of Benjamin Franklin at the sug- gestion of Samuel Herriott, who was the first clerk of the county.

At the first election, held on the 8th of March, 1823, Israel Watts and Daniel Boaz were chosen judges, Samuel Herriott clerk, William Schaffer recorder, William Freeman, John S. Miller and James Ritchey commissioners.

George King, leader in the movement for a new county, had secured the site for a county seat in advance, and this was selected by the commission- ers and named Franklin. Necessary property was donated to the county by King.

When Johnson county was organized Jonathan Jennings, the first governor, was still in office, and the population of the state was 147,178. James Monroe was president of the United States, hav- ing received five electoral votes from this state for his second term. James Noble and Walter Taylor were serving as United States senators. Governor Jennings, who resigned as governor to become a member of the congress, was the first to receive the vote of Johnson county for that po- sition, in 1824.

While partisan politics played very little part in the election of the local tickets in Johnson county prior to 1830, up to that time there being none but Democrats in the county, from the elec- tion of Andrew Jackson, in 1828, there has been no occasion when Johnson county has not come to the front with a rousing Democratic majority. Party lines have been pretty closely drawn, and no issue to a large majority of the residents of Johnson county has been sufficient to change the political complexion of the returns. Even in the most exciting elections preceding, during and following the Civil war, when hero worship was an important element in determining many ques- tions, Johnson county has never swerved from its Democratic majorities. In 1828, for instance, when Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun were the Democratic nominees against John Quincy Adams and Rusk, Jackson received 221 votes and

Adams 118 outside of Blue River township, of which returns were not preserved.

In 1832 Jackson and Van Buren received 263 votes against 120 for Clay and Sergeant, not in- cluding Franklin township, of which the returns in this instance were lost.

In the next presidential election in 1836 Van Buren and Johnson opposed William Henry Har- rison and Granger, his running mate. Even the popularity of Harrison in his home state was not sufficient to change anything in Johnson county, for Van Buren received 559 votes to Harrison's 438, not including Union township, from which there are no returns preserved.

In 1840 Harrison again opposed Van Buren, his running mate this time being Tyler, and John- son again accompanying Van Buren. This time, while Harrison was elected president, in Johnson county he received only 631 votes, as against 998 for Van Buren. The Democratic vote was growing stronger all the time.

When the election of 1844 came around, Clay and Freylinghuysen, the Whig nominees, oppos- ing Polk and Dallas, the Democrats, all the town- ships are reported save Nineveh, where 202 votes were cast for all the candidates, but the tally sheet was lost. The vote in the other town- ships was 992 for Polk, and 581 for Clay.

In 1848, while the aggregate vote of the coun- ty continued to increase very materially, most of the increase was on the Democratic side, and in that year Cass and Butler, the Democratic nom- inees, received 1,114 votes against 675 for Taylor and Fillmore, the Whig nominees.

Pierce and King, Democratic nominees in 1852, defeated Scott and Graham, the Whig combina- tion, 1,333 to 896.

In 1856 those issues which culminated in the great Civil war began to assert themselves throughout the country, the reflection of senti- ment being shown in the election returns from everywhere, the slavery question agitating the people in all the states. Buchanan and Breckin- ridge were elected president and vice-president in that year over Fremont and Dayton, the first nominees of the new Republican party, which was the successor of the Whig organization, deceased. The vote in Johnson county was 1,608 for Buchan- an, and 1,095 for Fremont.

In 1860, owing to a division in the Democratic party, the voters dividing on the question of whether or not slavery should be permitted, and separating the voting strength between north and south Democrats, Johnson county came near-

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HISTORY INDIANA DEMOCRACY-1816-1916

er going to the Republicans than at any time since in its existence. Douglas and Johnson, rep- resenting the Democrats, received 1,392 votes, while Lincoln and Hamlin, Republicans, received 1,303. Breckinridge and Lane, representing the southern Democratic sentiment, received 306 votes, these all being drawn from the regular Democratic party.

In 1864, while the state of Indiana was voting about 21,000 Republican majority for Oliver P. Morton for governor, Johnson county was con- tributing no part of that. It was still voting the Democratic ticket. In that same year Mcclellan and Pendleton, the Democratic nominees, beat Lincoln and Johnson in Johnson county, 1,713 to 1,532.

Even the popularity of U. S. Grant as the great war hero, while nominated by the Republicans in 1868, received 1,697 votes in Johnson county against 2,149 for Seymour and Blair, the Demo- cratic nominees. Even the candidacy of Greeley and Brown, fathered as liberal Republicans and by Democratic endorsement, was sufficiently pop- ular to attract 2,109 votes, as against 1,700 for Grant and Wilson for the second term.

In November, 1876, the Democrats carried the state of Indiana for James D. Williams for gov- ernor by over 5,000 votes. Johnson county at the same election gave Tilden and Hendricks 2,363 votes, and Hayes and Wheeler, Republicans, 1,860.

Four years later, Hancock and English, as Democratic nominees, received 2,461, as against 2,020 for Garfield and Arthur, the Republicans.

In 1884, when Isaac P. Gray was elected the Democratic governor of Indiana by a majority of nearly 8,000, and Grover Cleveland was first elected president of the United States, Johnson county gave to Cleveland 2,515 votes, while Blaine and Logan received exactly the same vote as that given Garfield and Arthur four years before, 2,020.

The Democrats who have served the county of Johnson in the principal offices from the date of the organization of the county, or from the date when the office was created, are as follows:

COUNTY AUDITOR.

Jacob Sibert 1841-46

Jonathan H. Williams

1851-55

George W. Allison . 1855-59

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History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916, Part 92

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1104