USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Richmond > Memoirs of Wayne County and the city of Richmond, Indiana; from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Wayne County, Volume I Pt. 2 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
Cambridge papers began in 1845 with "The Reveille," a Whig paper, the materials for which were brought by James H. Hunt from Greenfield, where he had published a paper. He conducted the "Reveille" in Cambridge till 1850. It was then published a year by Robert O. Dormer, suspended for a while, and revived for a few months by Mr. Hunt and his brother. They then moved the office to Portland. In 1850 "The News," a Democratic paper. was begun by William & Charles Daily, who had previously pub- lished the "Connersville Chronicle." E. B. Ryder, of Conners- ville, published it in 1851 and 1852, and then Lafayette Devlin bought it and continued it until about 1855. A job printing office was established in Cambridge City, in 1852, by Messrs. Whelan & Pritchard, who had bought out a Milton and a Hagerstown paper. A little later K. Whelan began "The Item," which was combined after a few months with "The News." The paper was then called "The Cambridge City News and City Item" and was neutral in politics. For a few months during 1855 Whelan. Buck-
339
WAYNE COUNTY JOURNALISM
ingham & Walts published "The Daily Item," a foolscap size sheet of news, fun, and gossip, probably the first daily in the county. It was bought by R. J. Strickland, who used the materials in starting "The Weekly Chronicle" in Centerville. in 1855.
"The Bulletin" was a Republican paper established in Cam- bridge in 1856, by George B. Seig and conducted by him for two years. It was then published for a year by Kosciusko Whelan. and in 1860 a new firm, Whelan, Keller & Leib, bought it. They started a newspaper called the "Flag of the Free." but it had a very short life, for at the opening of the war all the men con- nected with it enlisted and left no one to continue it. There was no paper in Cambridge during 1862 and 1863. In 1864 Strickland brought the press of "The Wayne County Chroni- cle" from Centerville to Cambridge City and published "The Jour- nal," a Republican paper, for a year. This brief summary of Cambridge City papers shows that up to 1865 the papers there were very short lived and not generally successful.
During the period under consideration several interesting papers were published in Richmond. "The Indiana Farmer" was started in 1851 by Holloway & Dennis. but soon stopped. A paper called "The Lily," conducted in New York by Amelia Bloomer, was moved to Richmond in 1850. and continued a few years by Mary E. Birdsall and then by Mary F. Thomas. In the fall of 1854 Calvin R. Johnson and Sewell R. Jamison, journey- men printers of the "Palladium." started a paper with the unique name. "Broad Axe of Freedom and Grubbing Hoe of Truth." It was an independent paper for six months and then became par- tisan and advocated the election of Fremont. In 1856, the last part of the lengthy name was dropped, making it simply "The Broad Axe of Freedom." The firm had in the meantime changed to Jamison & Burbank. These men retired in 1857 and were followed by Johnson & Morgan. The same year A. W. Menden- hall took the paper and during the year 1858 issued a daily paper, the first in Richmond. When Mendenhall sold to Dr. I. S. Drake and H. W. Livingston, the daily was discontinued. In 1861 S. W. Hammond became the owner and then Milton Hollingsworth. Isaac Julian, who was then publishing "The Indiana True Re- publican," in Centerville, purchased "The Broad Axe" in 1864. He moved "The True Republican" to Richmond and combined "The Broad Axe" with it. During 1865 it was published in Richmond as "The Indiana True Republican." conducted by Isaac H. Julian, with Julian & Spillard as proprietors. It was a decidedly live
340
MEMOIRS OF WAYNE COUNTY
paper. The editor called his readers' attention to the fact that "The True Republican" has "superseded 'The Broad Axe,' and succeeded to its subscription list, good will and material ;" also, that it was not a new paper but the one that Mr. Julian had published for the last six and a half years in Centerville; that by combining the two subscription lists "The True Republican" had become the "best advertising medium in Eastern Indiana." Ile also stated that it circulated more widely and in a different chan- nel from the other local papers.
In regard to principles, "The True Republican" took a de- cided stand on the great question of the time. "During the greater part of its existence," the editor said in 1865, "it was the only distinctively anti-slavery paper in the State. . It was just as firm and decided when anti-slavery papers were every- where spoken against as it is now, that the whole country ap- pears in their favor. 'The Indiana True Republican' is to-day the most radical newspaper of the State and it is the only Radical Republican paper in Wayne county." After such an avowal of its position, it was very natural that the name of the paper should have been changed, as it was, in 1866. to "The Indiana Radical." Below the title were the words, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,"-"Excelsior!" Throughout the life of the paper, Mr. Julian continued his claim that it was the "most radi- cal paper in the State," the leader in advanced ideas on the labor movement, tariff and finance reform, woman suffrage and tem- perance. He announced that the reforms he advocated would simply carry out to their "legitimate conclusions-covering all social as well as political reforms-those most radical of all com- positions, the New Testament and the Declaration of Independ- ence." A paper so full of the life and spirit of the stirring times in which it lived could easily claim our attention for a longer time than is allowable. One news item of special interest was the announcement in the issue of Sept. 9, 1869, of the appointment of Isaac Jenkinson, of Richmond, as United States Consul to Glasgow. The paper was discontinued in 1873, when Mr. Julian went to Texas.
In 1861 another paper, "The Independent Press," had been begun by George W. Wood, who issued it as a daily for three months and then as a weekly for six months. He sold it, in 1862, to Calvin R. Johnson, Thomas L. Baylies and Robert How- ard, who, on July 4, issued the first number of "The Quaker City Telegram," afterward called "The Richmond Telegram." The
34I
WAYNE COUNTY JOURNALISM
paper bore as a motto Webster's phrase, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." By 1870 we find that these mottoes, which are such an interesting feature of the early papers, had been omitted by all of them. In 1865, Dr. James W. Salter had become the owner, and in June, 1868, it was transferred to Alfred G. Wilcox. J. M. Coe became a partner the next year, February, 1869, and in October, 1869, Mr. Surface joined the firm. Mr. Wil- cox retired in 1872 and Mr. Surface sold out, in 1881, to E. C. Martin.
PAPERS BEGUN SINCE 1865.
The later history of "The Richmond Telegram" involves some other papers, of which "The. Democrat" was one. It was begun in 1880, by William Thistlethwaite, as a campaign paper and was suspended after the election. In January, 1881, Mr. Elder be- gan it again and it was published as "The Richmond Democrat" for ten years. Benjamin F. Wissler and George W. Meckel pur- chased it on Jan. 1, 1891, of M. C. Benham, the last proprietor. The two, both of whom were school-teachers, conducted the paper together for several months and then Mr. Meckel returned to the teaching profession. Mr. Meckel was a great admirer of the "New York Sun" and had succeeded in getting "The Richmond Democrat" changed to "The Richmond Sun" during his connec- tion with it. He continued to write for the paper until his death, the following year. During the presidential campaign of 1896, Mr. Wissler started "The Daily Sun," a four-page, six-column paper. On May 12, 1897, he purchased "The Independent-Tele- gram," a combination made in 1893 of "The Daily Independent" and "The Richmond Telegram," and united it with his paper, re-naming it "The Sun-Telegram." Both a daily and a weekly were issued. "The Sun-Telegram" became the most prosperous and widely circulated Democratic paper in Eastern Indiana, its circulation reaching over 4,000 subscriptions. Mr. Wissler sold "The Sun-Telegram" to Rudolph G. Leeds, of the "Palladium," and retired from newspaper work on March 1, 1907. "The Sun- Telegram" was then united with the "Palladium," which is now "The Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram."
On May 5, 1866, the J. E. Avery Company began a paper called "The Humming Bird," using it principally as an adver- tising sheet for their drug business. The papers were given away at the drug store. It was not a financial success, so after a few months Fred Maag and Mr. Crawley, who had furnished the
342
MEMOIRS OF WAYNE COUNTY
money for the venture and had been printing it, took charge of it. The two conducted the paper together until about 1870, when Mr. Crawley withdrew. On Nov. 5, 1870, the name was changed to "The Independent" and numbers for free distribution were printed. "The Daily Independent" was permanently established Jan. 1, 1874, but the weekly was also continued. The "Independ- ent" was always a morning paper and was for a long time suc- cessful. Mr. Maag was the publisher till 1892, when it was sold because of financial difficulties. It was continued during 1893 by some other parties and then merged with "The Richmond Tele- gram," which was then called the "Independent-Telegram." Prob- ably the most interesting matter which "The Daily Independent" contained was the account of the woman's temperance movement in 1874, known as the Crusade. For three months, beginning Feb. 22, 1874, a group of women went daily to the saloons to hold religious services and also hield mass meetings in the churches, all in an attempt to persuade saloon-keepers to quit their busi- ness. One man was induced to close his saloon, but after three months the violent agitation was given up. The "Independent" gave a daily record of this movement, which is especially note- worthy, because it was a part of a similar move for temperance reform which swept the country about that time.
Mr. Maag, publisher of the "Independent," was also asso- ciated with the German paper which the large German popula- tion of Richmond made possible. In 1892, Mattias Walterman began the "Hausfreund." Soon afterward a State law was passed requiring that all legal advertisements should be published in Ger- man. The Wayne county auditor, Elijah Parker, instead of giv- ing the county's advertising to the "Hausfreund," began another German paper, the "Correspondent," in which the advertising was done as the law demanded. The paper was not very successful. and when the law was repealed Mr. Maag bought it and also the "Hausfreund." This was in 1875. He consolidated the two and began the "Volkzeitung," which he continued to issue weekly till July 7, 1906. Mr. Maag still holds the type and ma- terials of this paper. There probably came to be less and less call for a paper published in German, as the younger generations of the German population learned English.
"The Democratic Herald." begun in 1870 by Endsley & This- tlethwaite, is given by one author as a re-establishment of the old "Jeffersonian." It was, however. a different paper, for it had a new name and new volume numbers. James Elder edited the paper till
343
WAYNE COUNTY JOURNALISM
December, 1872, when Dr. J. W. Salter, J. Hunt and E. C. Johnson bought it and made it a Republican paper for one year. They re- named it "The Richmond Times." Mr. Thistlethwaite bought it again and changed the name, Oct. 1, 1874, to "The Richmond Free Press." He also issued "The Daily Free Press," beginning Dec. 1, 1874. From June, 1877, to June, 1878, James Elder, who leased it from Thistlethwaite, conducted both the daily and weekly "Free Press." In 1878 Joseph Lomax, of Kalamazoo, Mich., owned it, and in February, 1879, the office was closed and sold at a constable's sale. The Indianapolis parties who bought it discontinued the paper four months later.
"The Evening Item" was begun April 7, 1877, by Isaac Kline, as a weekly paper, issued on Saturday. On Jan. 15, 1881, it became a morning daily, and, on March 8, was enlarged and again made an evening paper. It has remained one of the leading papers since that time. It was long edited by B. B. Johnson, and then by J. Bennett Gordon, who became the editor July 1, 1898. Under him the paper was a strong force in the community. His connection with the paper was severed June 3, 1909, when. William Dudley Foulke became proprietor and editor and so continued until the summer of 1911, since which time Edward F. Warfel has conducted the editor- ial columns, Mr. Foulke still remaining the principal owner.
There have been a large number of other papers published which can only be enumerated, giving a few facts about them in some cases and only the names of others, about which nothing defi- nite can be found.
"The Weekly News" was a Greenback-Labor party paper, begun in September, 1880, by J. B. Collett and H. W. Burtch. It was published every Saturday. Mr. Burtch became proprietor Dec. 10, 1881. The file examined ends with Sept. 9, 1882, and it seems that the paper ceased at that time. A paper called "The Weekly Enquirer" was begun in June, 1882, by M. L. Reed. It was con- tinued several years. In 1883 Martin Cullaton & Company started "The Sunday Register," an eight-paper Sunday morning paper. C. H. Lane was for some time its editor. W. H. Blodgett took charge of it July 20, 1884. The paper ceased in 1885. "The Richmond En- terprise" was started in 1890 and was published weekly till 1898 by the Register Publishing Company. B. B. Beeson was the editor during most of this time. A list of minor papers published at var- ious times, between 1870 and 1900, follows: "The Laurel Wreath," a small sheet of news printed on yellow paper in Fairview during 1875, by Harry Starr ; "The Richmond Review," a paper published
344
MEMOIRS OF WAYNE COUNTY
as an advertising sheet in 1874, by R. Jackson & Company, a dry- goods firm, and printed by the Telegram Printing Company ; "The Centennial Monthly," "Richmond Sunday News." "The Day Be- twixt." "Yours Truly," "Sunday Courier," "The Richmond Vidette," "The Spirit of Old Wayne," "Fish and Game Talk," and "Richmond Life."
Two papers issued by the Richmond colored people have been published recently. "The Interview" was conducted by Mr. Den- nis in 1906. "The Indiana Register" was begun March 13. 1909. by the Rev. N. W. Williams, as its editor, and George Butler.
"The Morning News," Richmond's latest daily paper, first ap- peared April 16, 1908, and has been issued every morning, including Sunday, since then. It is printed by the Quaker City Printing and Publishing Company.
In 1866 Devlin & Lutz bought the "Cambridge City Journal" from Strickland and threw away the old plant. They issued, in Jan- uary, 1866, the first number of a new paper, "The Western Mirror." This was the only Democratic paper in the "Burnt District," and under good management became quite a prosperous paper with a large subscription list. Mr. Lutz died in 1868 and Devlin continued it alone till May, 1869. He then sold to H. C. Meredith, who changed it to a Republican paper, called "The Tribune." It is still the principal paper of Cambridge City and has been under one man- agement for a long time, though in its early days it changed hands a number of times. On April 3. 1879, it was sold to the Tribune Printing Company, which published it, with Dr. A. L. Johnson as editor. On Jan. 6, 1881, F. C. Mosbaugh and F. L. Rariden bought it and continued, with Dr. Johnson as editor. Mr. Rariden retired in 1889 and the firm, consisting of Frank Mosbaugh and Jerry Mc- Daniels, has since been known as F. C. Mosbaugh & Company. The . "Tribune" is most highly spoken of by Cambridge City citizens as a good, clean, reliable weekly paper. It has so fully occupied the field in that community that none of the other papers since estab- lished have succeeded.
The various other ventures may be briefly mentioned. About 1869 L. L. Dale, of New Castle, published "The Democratic Times" in Cambridge City, but it soon suspended. Another Democratic paper, "The Cambridge City Chieftain," attempted by F. G. McCau- lay, of Defiance, Ohio, in 1870, also failed. In 1875 Frank G. White. from Hagerstown, began "The Review," which he sold in the fall of 1876. Afterward, W. P. Harding began "The Wayne Citizen." which he published till 1892. when the paper was bought by F. C.
345
WAYNE COUNTY JOURNALISM
Mosbaugh & Company, who installed E. M. Haas as editor and manager. After a few years Mr. Haas went to Richmond and "The Wayne Citizen" was discontinued. Later, the Messrs. Murray es- tablished "The Cambridge City News," which they soon sold to Wilson Brothers, of Aberdeen, Ohio. As the Cambridge City field was fully occupied, the Wilsons moved the paper to Ohio. An- other paper, called "The Journal," was started by a Mr. Harris, who died in June, 1900, and with him his paper ceased to exist. In March, 1901, Irvin & Fouts established "The Weekly Democrat," and they began a daily paper called "The Evening News," but it failed from want of support, in June, 1901.
Several short lived papers existed in Centerville after 1865. There was "The Union," published in 1866 by John and James Bro- magen. Another was "The Republican," printed for six months in 1869 by Charles W. Stivers. The "Odd Fellows Chronicle," of 1874, and the re-established "Wayne County Chronicle" were mentioned above in connection with R. J. Strickland's newspaper work in Cen- terville. In June, 1884, John L. Scott established "The Centerville Leader," which he published till Jan. 6, 1887. After this J. C. Day conducted a paper for a time. T. M. Day began "The News- Record," the present Centerville weekly paper, in September, 1895. It is now managed and edited by Mrs. Lenna King. In 1908 George WV. Grames began a paper which was moved after about a year to Jennings county.
After the outburst of the anti-slavery publications before 1850 had subsided there were no papers in Fountain City till 1878. In that year George Thompson began "The Fountain City Standard," which he published and edited till 1880, when it suspended publica- tion. The town had no paper from that time till 1895, when Charles Ward started "The Fountain City Eagle." He published it for" probably two years and then sold the plant and office to Roy L. Brown. Mr. Brown changed the name of the paper to "The Foun- tain City Times," and it has continued to the present time, although with several changes of management. Charles Hart bought it from Mr. Brown, about 1899, and conducted it for several years. During Mr. Hart's ownership the paper was enlarged and a fine job printing outfit was added to the office. Mr. Hart sold, in 1903, to John S. Burres, who continued it only a few months and then sold the plant, which was moved to New Paris, Ohio, but the paper was not sus- pended. It has been published since July, 1903, by the syndicate plan. A local editor and manager at Fountain City forwards the copy by mail to Bloom & Raney, the New Paris publishing firm.
346
MEMOIRS OF WAYNE COUNTY
This firm prints the papers and sends them to Fountain City by ex- press on Friday of each week. Claude S. Keever, who has been edi- tor and manager since 1905, says that this plan has proven success- ful and that the "Times" is in a prosperous condition. It is non- partisan and lays claim to being one of the best local newspapers published in any town of similar size in the State.
In the year 1865 Jolin Bromagen established and conducted a paper, called "The Hagerstown Journal," for almost a year. There were no further attempts to give Hagerstown a paper till 1873. At that time the village merchants wanted a local newspaper in which to advertise, so they formed a company and subscribed the money to begin one. Dr. J. M. Thurston, a busy practicing physician of the town, was persuaded to manage and edit it. They called the new paper "The Friendly Visitor" and issued the first number July 15, 1873. It was intended to be published semi-monthly, by the Vis- itor Publishing Company, at the subscription price of seventy-five cents. After three months, however, it was changed to a weekly at $I a year. The merchants' subscriptions to the venture were taken back in advertising and their accounts were squared by the end of six months.
The spirit of the little paper is shown by the following quota- tion from its headline : "Espousing the cause of no sect or party, its efforts are directed towards the best interests of the community at large." Most of Dr. Thurston's work on the paper was done in the evenings, as his avocation rather than his main business. An inter- esting feature of the paper was its wood-cut illustrations, which were the work of Dr. Thurston. The second year the paper was much larger and cost $1.25 a year. In 1874 John R. Achuff was the publisher and proprietor and Dr. Thurston editor. "The Friendly Visitor" was discontinued early in 1875, and in May of that year A. M. Dawson began "The Hagerstown Exponent." A year later Harvey J. Day, who had worked for Dr. Thurston on "The Friendly Visitor," bought the "Exponent." Mr. Day has been its editor and publisher ever since, thus being the editor of one paper for a longer number of successive years than any other Wayne county editor. It is now a weekly paper at $1 a year. Other papers have been started since the "Exponent" began in Hagerstown, but have not been able to compete with it. "The Hagerstown Herald," con- ducted for six months in 1880 by Lem Harris, failed. About nine years ago Messrs. Shultz, Campbell & Morrison established "The Reporter" and conducted it for six months, after which the press was sold
347
WAYNE COUNTY JOURNALISM
In 1876 "The Milton News" was begun by W. R. Hartpence, who sold after a year to Mr. Burr, of Dublin. In 1893 C. L. Wolf- gang started a paper, also called "The News." and conducted it till 1903, when he sold it to Frank Clouds. Clouds sold to P. B. Hass- ler, who discontinued it in 1906. There have been no others started in Milton since that time.
"The Wayne Register," of Dublin, was started in 1875 by a stock company, which published it till 1878. It was during this time that "The Milton News" was bought out and consolidated with it. It was published a year by Eckert & Burr, and then sold to Albert M. Burr, who has been publisher ever since.
Some attempts to issue papers have been made in Green's Fork. On Dec. 7, 1905, G. H. Oder Kirk established "The Wayne County Business Journal" and issued it weekly till Nov. 1, 1906, when it was moved to Richmond and run for awhile in Fairview. A second attempt was by Harold C. Burton, who started "The Green's Fork Gazette" on May 1, 1908. It was a good weekly paper for a small town. The last issue was printed Dec. 19, 1908.
MAGAZINES AND SCHOOL PAPERS IN RICHMOND.
The final phase of journalism in Wayne county to be consid- ered is the history of papers of the magazine type in the last half- century. There were a few such papers in the county in the earlier years, but since about 1855 all the ventures of this sort have been confined to Richmond. It is appropriate that the first magazine of the Quaker City of the West should have been a paper conducted by and for the Friends. "The American Friend" was begun in Jan- uary, 1867, with the purpose of aiding "in the growth and spread of Christianity, morality, and knowledge amongst its readers." The editors were Dougan Clark, William B. Morgan, Clarkson Davis, Timothy Harrison, and Eli and Mahala Jay, all prominent Friends ; and Mr. Harrison and Mr. and Mrs. Jay were the publishers. This magazine consisting of twenty-eight pages, about 6x10 inches in size, and was meant to fill the needs of Friends in the West in a more local way than Eastern Friends' papers could. Some distinc- tive features of it were the facts that every article and editorial was signed, either by the full name or the initials of the author, and that it contained no widely circulated articles or extracts from other papers. It was issued every month during 1867 and 1868, but in December, 1868, the publishers announced that it would be discon- tinned. The reason given was that a similar paper, called "The
348
MEMOIRS OF WAYNE COUNTY
Herald of Peace," had been started in Chicago and, as they had no selfish motive in publishing "The American Friend," they did not care to compete with the new paper and had agreed with its pub- lishers to discontinue the paper here.
There have been some other religious papers by certain churches. The "Kirchenfreund" originated here under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Severinghaus, of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. It was moved away from Richmond when he left, in about 1868 or 1869, and has been continued since under another name as an of- ficial paper of the Lutheran church. "The Richmond Lutheran" was another church paper published in this city.
In June, 1871, "The Industrial," "a monthly magazine devoted to the development of the industrial interests of the county," was begun by Isaac Kinley, as editor and publisher. The copies were printed at New Castle. The paper was 6x9 inches and contained about thirty pages a month. As the above quotation would indi- cate. it published articles on industrial, economic and scientific sub- jects, and also some poetry. It contained no advertisements, except offers of premiums to subscribers and agents of the paper. Mrs. Jennie Kinley, the proprietor's wife, wrote quite a great deal for it. An interesting series of articles in "The Industrial" was on Rich- mond industries and institutions. The number for October, 1871. contains the address of President Joseph Moore to the Earlham class of 1871. The only file of "The Industrial" available ends with No. 6 of Vol. 2, June, 1872, and it is probable that the paper ended at that time.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.