USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 18
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for subscriptions, but Mr. Cone's recollection in those days was that of taking in boots, bootjacks and cord wood and things like that in pay- ment for the paper.
Mr. Cone was a free State man who came to Kansas to help over- come the votes of the pro-slavery men. He left Haverhill, Mass., for Kansas in 1857. Secretary Webb, of the Emigrant Aid Society at Bos- ton, sold him a ticket to St. Louis for $25. The Emigrant Aid Society was nothing more nor less than an organization to run abolitionists into Kansas. On the train Mr. Cone met six other abolitionists bound for Kansas, four men and two women. Arriving at St. Louis by train, they found there was a little branch railroad running to Jefferson City. The party bought tickets to Jefferson City. Stage coaches were running from Jefferson City to Independence Landing, now Kansas City, but the coaches were so crowded that there was no chance of going that way. So the four men hired a team and driver for $110 to transport all the baggage and the three women to Independence, although the men ex- pected to ride most of the way.
The roads were in such terrible condition that the men, far from being able to ride, had to help the wagon out of the mire constantly. The highway was little more than a trail. From Independence the six people went to Lawrence, and Mr. Cone took the stage to Leavenworth. He was bound for Sumner, three miles south of the present site of At- chison. Sumner then was booming and expected to be a bigger and better town than Atchison or Independence. Sumner is now dead. He walked from Leavenworth to Sumner. At Sumner his brother, D. D. Cone, was the pioneer publisher of the Sumner "Gazette." John P. Cone arrived in Sumner on December 9, 1857. John P. Cone was himself a printer and, he helped get out the paper. He remained in Sumner dur- ing the boom times, until 1861. Sumner was then losing its prestige, and he went to Atchison, the rival town, and worked on John A. Mar- tin's paper, "The Champion." After a short service on "The Champion," Mr. Cone continued to White Cloud and worked for Sol Miller on his "White Cloud Chief," which later was transferred to Troy. He was there during one winter.
At Marysville the Southerners seemed to be making progress to- ward controlling that locality. But George D. Swearingen, who had been elected sheriff of Marshall county, was a Republican, and he sent for Mr. Cone. The result was the publication in Marysville by Mr. Cone of the "Big Blue Union," the first Republican paper in Marshall . county. Mr. Cone ran the "Big Blue Union" until the summer of 1863. and in November of that year, he left the Marysville paper to start the "Courier" in Seneca. He had only a little hand press and a handful of type. Later, though, when he was given legal advertising from the United States and the State, he took in a hatful of money, and the first thing he did was to send to New York for a Gordon job press and a lot of type.
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Mr. Cone ran the "Courier" until 1871, when he sold it to Frank Root and West E. Wilkinson. Eventually Root sold his interest to Wil- kinson. Wilkinson edited the "Courier" until 1885, selling out to J. F. Thompson and Don J. Perry. It was about this time that the name was changed to the "Courier-Democrat." Mr. Thompson was the father of Senator William H. Thompson, of Kansas. Thompson and Perry lasted but a year, being succeeded in 1886 by Charles H. and Andrew P. Herold. The Herolds conducted the "Courier-Democrat" without change until 1896. Then J. M. Cober bought an interest in the paper, selling in a few years to L. M. McIntyre. The Herolds and McIntyre disposed of the property to W. F. Miller in 1891 or 1892. Miller did well with the Courier-Democrat, but decided to move to Iowa, and George and Dora Adriance, brother and sister, bought the plant and good will in August, 1909. This same proprietorship of the property obtains at the present time.
The "Courier-Democrat" has made the greatest strides in its history during the proprietorship of George and Miss Dora Adriance. Young, active, enterprising and keen writers, brother and sister have done things in the county with their paper. Theirs is a positive force. Their "Courier-Democrat" takes a stand for progress in everything. They are unafraid, and their paper is always fair. The relationship of this brother and sister is fine. They make their home together in a bungalow which they built.
THE MERCURY.
Seneca's second newspaper was the "Mercury." It appeared Sep- tember 19, 1869. Thomas S. Kames was the editor. The paper stag- gered a few weeks, fell and was wrecked. It never rose again. About a year later, January 18, 1870, to be exact, the "Independent Press" was issued. It sought to be quite important and stylish, and called itself the Nemaha County Printing Association. George W. Collins was the editor. It ran along until June of that same year, when Paul Connor took charge editorially. It got in a bad way financially and suspended in December, being less than a year old. It slept until March 3, 1871, three months, when it was revived. L. A. Hoffman was the proprietor then. About a year later Hoffman withdrew and W. D. Wood bought the paper. March 4, 1873, Wood changed the name to the "Nonpareil." The "Nonpareil" ceased publication February 6, 1874. It had more vicis- situdes than anything else.
THE SENECA TRIBUNE.
The Seneca "Tribune" of today, so long under the editorial charge of Harry Jordan, was started April 16, 1879, by George W. Clawson. With the changing bells of time, the "Tribune" and the "Courier" have changed parties and the "Tribune" is now Republican and the "Courier" is today
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Democratic. October 2, 1879, the "Tribune" was transferred to and the publication continued by George & Adams, H. C. Adams becoming sole proprietor on December 18 of the same year. Abijah Wells purchased an interest in the "Tribune" January 8, 1880. He became editor, the firm name being Adams & Wells. A year later Andrew J. Felt came down from Iowa, bought the plant and business and became editor and proprietor of the "Tribune." Later, he sold to Harry Jordan, who is still the owner.
Today we know the Seneca "Tribune" as "Harry Jordan's paper." Harry Jordan has conducted the paper for thirty years; has fought political fray. Harry Jordan will be recorded in Nemaha's annals as the political fray. Harry Jordan will be recorded in Nemaha annals as the editor who helped through the county's greatest trials and its most rapid advancement. Editors came and went through Harry Jordan's administration, but he remained, because he was serving best. That is the law in other things, and it holds in the case of the "Tribune's" editor. Mr. Jordon is Nemaha county's oldest editor in point of service. But he was not the "Tribune's" first editor.
OTHER NEWSPAPERS.
The Nemaha County "Journal," a sort of real estate publication, ap- peared in 1879. It continued a few months under the proprietorship of J. P. Taylor. Then it died.
Numerous attempts were made to make a success of other papers. in Seneca in later years. At one time five papers were being printed in Seneca. In 1891, James Jones started the "News." an Alliance paper brought from Goff. Jones let go in about a year and ran, wishing the paper onto the town Christian minister, Rev. J. S. Becknell. Theoretic- ally, it was a fine thing for Rev. Becknell. As a talking point, he could preach on Sunday and run the paper the other six days of the week. Somehow it didn't work out in practice and the "News" went into decline and died.
W. J. Granger launched the Seneca "Republican" about 1900. After a couple of years of toiling the "Republican" was moved to Oneida. where it breathed its last.
Then there was the "Rural Kansan," established by E. L. Miller, a real estate man. The "Kansan" was born along about 1901, and lived some five years, expiring of old age.
SABETHA NEWSPAPERS.
George W. Larseliere and James H. Wright launched the first newspaper venture in Sabetha. They called it the "Advance," and they issued their first paper on May 7, 1874. In November of the same year. Larseliere left, as it was a one-man proposition. Things looked a little
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brighter after that, and on February 4, 1875, William L. Palmer joined Wright in printing the "Advance." Palmer did not like the outlook, and beat it in six weeks. Then J. L. Pelletier came for a few weeks and left. On July 28, 1876, Wright sold out to E. A. Davis, who stayed two years. Finding that it was not a gold mine, Davis let the "Advance" die on January 18, 1878. The Advance was a weekly and Republican in politics.
Sabetha's strong newspaper publisher, James F. Clough, established the Nemaha County "Republican" October 5, 1876. It was a weekly from the first. In June of the following year, J. C. Hebbard, formerly of Seneca, and the first county superintendent, and later of Topeka, became associate editor of the "Republican." But he stayed only a year. The Cloughs, father and son, were brilliant men. The son, Edward Clough, is now editor of "Finance," in Cleveland, Ohio, an important publication of its kind.
In the nineties, the Sabetha "Commercial" was printed in Sabetha Seneca. His widow, Mrs. Laura Cober, still owns the files of this in- teresting Sabetha paper at her home in Sabetha.
The Sabetha "Herald" was established by T. L. Brundage, January 3, 1884. Brundage had run the Kansas "Herald" at Hiawatha. He sold out to the "Hiawatha World." In his salutatory in the first issue of the Sabetha "Herald." he says : "A Sabetha publishing company induced me to come here." He doesen't say of whom the company consisted. Within the first year a political disagreement was launched between Mr. Brundage and Mr. Clough, editors of the "Herald" and "Republican." Later this eventuated into a pitched battle. The Herald was finally edited by Mrs. Flora P. Hogbin, wife of Rev. Hogbin, of the Congrega- tional Church of Sabetha. She remained the editor for three years. Pool Grinstead later bought the "Republican." The war was ended by the purchase and combination of the two papers, the "Herald" and the "Re- publican," by J. A. Constant, who, in 1905, sold the paper to Ralph Tennal, who is the present owner of the paper. Mr. Tennal dropped the "Republican" part of the paper's name, and it has been since known as the Sabetha "Herald."
After the combination of the two papers, the Sabetha "Star" was started by C. J. Durst, who has since been and still is the proprietor. The "Star" has the unique distinction of never having changed editor or owner, and it is now twenty years of age. The "Star" is one of the few Kansas papers so distinguished.
Oneida tried for years to have a newspaper. The town men at Oneida were boomers as they were in every other town. But the mir- acle of making a paper pay was too much for even that optimistic com- munity. The Oneida paper tried different angles of making itself pay. . It was independent, then Republican, afterward Democratic and even anti-monopoly, but all to no avail. There was the "Chieftain," the "Dem-
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(I.)
NEMAHA COUNTY OLD SETTLERS.
and 2, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Dennis. 3 and 4, Mr. and Mrs. John Dennis. 5, Mrs. Margaret Hawley. 6 and , E. N. Hanks and Wife. 8 and 9, Hiram Burger and Wife. 10 and 11, John M. Ford and Wife. 12, Daniel Niel. 3, E. R. Pelton. 14, William R. Wells. 15, Orange M. Gage. 16, Peter Hamilton. 17, Samuel Lappin. 18, George harp. 19, George Merrick. 20, Scott B. Humphrey. 21 and 22, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Newton. 23 and 24, Mr. nd Mrs. Richard Johnson. 25 and 26, Dr. J. S. Hidden and Wife. 27 and 28, Mr. and Mrs. James Neville. 29, Mr. Sheppard. 30, Capt. A. W. Williams.
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crat," the "Dispatch," the "News," and what other affiant saith not. Oneida is now served by the Sabetha "Herald," which gives the town a department all its own.
CENTRALIA, CORNING AND GOFF NEWSPAPERS.
Many editors tried the newspaper business at Centralia before H. L. Wait gave the town its very unusual paper. For the Centralia "Jour- nal" of the present day, run by Mr. Wait and his wife, stands in the first rank of country newspapers in Kansas in a town of the size of Centralia. B. B. Brooks was Centralia's first editor. He started the Centralia "Enterprise" in November, 1882. James Wait, brother of the present editor of Centralia's only paper, was a printer on the old "Enter- prise" when Brooks was its editor. Brooks sold the "Enterprise" to a company of Centralia business men, including A. B. Clippinger, G. W. Pampel and A. L. Coleman. They concluded after a year and a half of ownership that they had enough newspaper experience, and disposed of the property to W. J. Granger.
Granger sat in the newspaper game a year and a half and sold to Bert Patch. Patch was good for three years. He sold to Dan Birch- field. Birchfield was owner of the "Enterprise" until 1894. He disposed of the property to F. M. Hartman, now editor of the Frankfort "Index." Hartman published the "Enterprise" until the fall of 1898, when Granger bought the paper back again. Granger sold the "Enterprise" to H. L. Wait and A. P. Jackson in 1900. These men consolidated the "Enter- prise" with the Centralia "Times," which had been started by a company of thirty-four Centralia men in 1893. James Wait, brother of H. L., Wait, was the first editor of the Centralia "Times." J. H. Hyde was the second editor of the "Times." H. L. Wait acquired the "Times" in 1899. The present Centralia "Journal" is the outcome of the town's newspaper . vicissitudes.
For more than fifteen years, Mr. Wait and his wife have published the "Journal." The paper has become a part of the existence of the pro- gressive town and the farming community. The "Journal" is a business enterprise and an institution ranking with the public schools as a town asset. The Waits are a force in the community, their organ a vital medium of progress.
Lew Slocum is the editor of the Corning "Gazette." The "Gazette" was established in 1895. Slocum has been the editor for sixteen years. He is universally liked. Slocum not only runs a good newspaper at Corning, but he finds time to conduct a successful jewelry and repair business at Corning.
The Goff "Advance" was started in the spring of 1892. The town has never had another paper. Some of the editors were: J. L. Papes, row of the Mulvane, Kans., "News;" T. A. Kerr. employed by the Capper publications at Topeka: E. F. Jones, now living at Sabetha; T. L.
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Briney, at present in Colorado; O. C. Williamson, a prosperous mer- chant and owner of a big store at Seattle, Wash. The Goff "Advance" is now owned by Ray T. Ingalls. In April, 1916, the Advance was moved into a new concrete building. Ray Ingalls is one of the most active newspaper men Nemaha county has had. Young, agreeable and intelligent, he gives the town a newspaper ability seldom seen in the country town.
THE BERN GAZETTE.
The "Gazette" is not the first paper printed in Bern, though Bern has never had more than one paper at the same time, and the "Gazette" is not the successor of the Bern "Press," which was the first paper estab- lished here. The Bern "Press" was established in 1889 by one George Beaumont, who, at the time, was a druggist. Very shortly after Beau- mont sold it to Frank Harber, who later sold to W. J. Mclaughlin. The "Press" was Democratic in politics, and during the Cleveland ad- ministration, Mclaughlin was appointed postmaster, conducting the business in the same building and in connection with the newspaper. Under the Mckinley administration Mclaughlin lost the postoffice, and shortly thereafter burned out, probably sometime in 1897, and the "Press" was never issued thereafter. The exact dates on which the paper was established, changed hands and discontinued, are unobtainable, because of the destruction of the records in the fire.
Bern was without a newspaper from the discontinuance of. the "Press" until May 6, 1898 (about two months after the great fire which destroyed the business interests of the town), when the first number of the Bern "Gazette" was issued by M. E. Ford, it founder. Mr. Ford continued its publication until February 1, 1901, when he sold to M. L. Laybourn, a newspaper man from Lyndon, Kans. Mr. Laybourn re- tired October 1, 1902, having sold to Fred W. Lehman, a young man who was reared in the community. On May 1, 1908, the paper passed into the hands of W. W. Driggs, its present owner, but since January I, 1915, it has been published by Driggs & Driggs, the firm consisting of W. W. Driggs and son, W. W. Driggs, Jr., the latter having been connected with the paper as an employee from the time of its purchase from Fred W. Lehman. The "Gazette" was established, and has always been conducted as a Republican paper until January, 1915, when, under its present management, it was changed to an independent publica- tion.
THE WETMORE SPECTATOR.
When Wetmore was still in its infancy a paper was started there, one of a string of papers along the Central Branch railroad called the "Acme." It lasted but a few months. Later, as the town grew older and stronger, a real newspaper was found a necessity, and the "Spectator"
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was started. It has now attained thirty-five years of healthy growth and has at least one subscriber who has taken the paper, beginning with its first issue, and the first of every January since, has gone to the "Spectator" office to renew his subscription. The editor now is W. F. Turrentine, who has been owner for over twelve years. J. L. Bris- tow, former editor, still lives in the Wetmore neighborhood. Mr. Tur- .rentine is mayor of Wetmore.
The Nemaha County "Spectator" was established in 1882 by J. F. Clough of the Sabetha "Republican," and T. J. Wolfley of Wetmore, and a printer on the Sabetha "Republican" by the name of George Fabrick, helped get out the first few issues. Some of the equipment came from Decatur, Ill., as the old address was plainly visible on some of the cases that were destroyed by the fire in May, 1907. A man by the name of Allen soon took Fabrick's place on the "Spectator," and in a few months, he was succeeded by J. T. Bristow, who, with only a few months' experience, was left in entire charge of the office. T. J. Wolf- ley soon bought out Clough's interest in the paper, and after conduct- ing it himself for a time, sold out to F. M. Jeffreys, along about 1885, and Jeffreys sold the paper to a stranger, whose name is forgotten. The stranger remained but a short time, and Mr. Wolfley bought the paper back, afterward, in about 1888, selling it to John Stowell, now an attor- ney at Seneca, Kans. Mr. Stowell published the paper a year or two, then sold it to S. C. Shumaker, who had been cashier in the Wetmore State Bank until he lost his sight. Mr. Shumaker and his wife pub- lished the paper for some time, with J. T. Bristow looking after the mechanical end. Mr. Shumaker died about 1890, and soon after that Mr. Bristow bought it from the widow, and continued as its publisher until April 1, 1904, when he sold it to J. W. Coleman, publisher of the Effing- ham "New Leaf" at that time, now the editor of the Atchison "Globe." Mr. Coleman changed the name of the paper from the Nemaha County Spectator" to the Wetmore "Enterprise." In 1905, the present publisher, W. F. Turrentine, purchased a half interest of Mr. Coleman, taking charge February I, 1905, and, in October of that year, purchased Mr. Coleman's remaining interest. On account of so many of the old time subscribers calling the paper the "Spectator," the present publisher changed its name from the Wetmore "Enterprise" to the Wetmore "Spectator."
A RARE NEWSPAPER COLLECTION.
An unusual collection of rare newspapers was made by the late Dr. Lyons and is owned now by his family in Sabetha. It contains newspapers from London and 'Liverpool, England, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland; and Basle and Lucerne, Switzerland, and a copy of the "Egyptian News" from Cairo. The latter newspaper is printed in three languages, English, French and Arabic. The Arabic looks very
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much like shorthand. The hieroglyphics are identical with the old Scott-Browne system. Dr. Lyons has also a collection of letters from famous men: Senator John James Ingalls, President Benjamin Harri- son, Dr. E. W. Barridge, a famous English physician, and many from famous foreign doctors and surgeons. Mrs. Lyons is a lineal descend- ant of the Virginia Randolphs, an ancestor, John Randolph, claiming his descent direct from Pocohontas. Mrs. Lyons has among her treas- ures a mahogany bureau made as a gift by the famous furniture house of Randolph for her grandmother.
CHAPTER XXIII.
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BENCH AND BAR
A LAWYER AND JUDGE-THE LAWYER AND NECESSITY OF LAW-ITS APPLI- CATION-THE BENCH-JUDICIAL POWER VESTED-ALBERT L. LEE- ALBERT H. HORTON-ROBERT ST. CLAIR GRAHAM-NATHAN PRICE- PERRY L. HUBBARD-ALFRED G. OTIS-DAVID MARTIN-REUBEN C. BASSETT-JOHN F. THOMPSON-RUFUS M. EMERY-WILLIAM I. STUART-DISTRICT CLERKS-SHERIFFS-COUNTY ATTORNEYS-PRO- . BATE JUDGES.
By Judge Rufus M. Emery.
"And ever the truth comes uppermost And ever is justice done."
While the writer has had a somewhat extensive personal experience, as a student in a law office, practitioner as an attorney and counsellor at law at Seneca, Kans., and served a term of four years on the Bench as judge of the Twenty-second Judicial District of the State, composed of Nemaha, Brown and Doniphan counties, all of which covers a period of over forty years, yet I realize that I am not especially adapted to the task of producing an attractive, forcible and instructive article on the "Bench and Bar" of this county, yet having in a weak moment consented to make this contribution, I ask the kind indulgence of the readers while I attempt to give them, what seems to me, might be of interest to them and which I have taken from the public and court records, traditions and personal experiences and recollections of myself since 1875, and supplemented with much valuable information and incidents suggested by early set- tlers and especially Judge J. E. Taylor who has practiced law at this bar since 1864, and to whom I ani under obligations for many early incidents, experiences and much information.
To the Bench and Bar, all acting under an oath of office, is confided the solemn and sacred trust and duty of vindicating, enforcing and carry- ing out the natural, revealed, common and statute laws of the land, which the sages of the law have defined to be the "rules of action, pre- scribed by a superior power commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong." These rules of action, or law, have for their object, the security and welfare of the Nation, State and municipality, as well as so- ciety in the aggregate, and the personal and property rights of the indiv-
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idual, as a component part of the body politic-the common people. Law is also frequently and aptly defined as "common sense," and in our opin- ion, springs from the natural equity and conception of right in the inner- most consciousness of a normal and well balanced human being, im- pressed on man by the creator and finds expression in multitudinous, complex and often intricate rules of action laid down in the law now in force, for our government, which has been built up and taken from the experiences and judgment of the soundest and best minds and hearts of the centuries that have gone before.
The immense influence, radiating from our institutions of learning, including our common and parochial schools, the pulpit and numerous church organizations, and the press of the land, are now and have been for centuries, impressing human hearts and minds with a conception of the object and aim of human existence, but it is now and always has been, since brute force controlled the action of men, left to the law to find the way and lay down the rules of action, that are necessary to establish stable and effective government, capable of maintaining itself and the rights of her citizens among the nations of the earth and to regulate the individuals and corporations and other powers between themselves, so that every person, without regard to condition, may enjoy the greatest possible liberty, consistent with his duty and relations to other citizens ; so that all may be secure in the fullest enjoyment of his natural rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and a guaranty that he may be secure in person and property against the encroachments of the sel- fish, the licentious, the avaricious and other evil disposed persons. A people so governed and protected by these wholesome laws, must of ne- cessity be contented, loyal and progressive and a beacon light to less fa- vored nations, pointing the way to a higher and better civilization.
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