USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 23
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At the end of a year the "Daily Republican," which hitherto had been an evening paper, began to appear in the morning. Soon, it was the routine custom to set up the type of the entire paper, advertise- ments, news and editorials before nine o'clock in the evening, at which time all hands went home to bed. White would lock up all the forms but one, in which space was left to the extent of half a column for "late
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news." "Young Sam" filled that space with neighborhood items which he gathered about the town in the evening. After all the others had gone home to sleep, he was at work. He would leave his copy on the composing stone, where Chauncey White would find it when he returned to the office about three o'clock in the morning to get out the paper.
With the arrival of winter, and the end of 1844, the younger Bowles suffered the first of what were destined to be many failures of health. So serious did the situation become that he sought a warmer climate and spent several months in the South, mostly in Louisiana. That climate agreed with him, and he wrote a series of fifteen letters for the paper. They were in a clear and direct style, and showed something of his capacity to boil down the news and the views of others, for which he later became famous. The letters combined observation with vivid comment in such proportion as to make them readable and informing. They dealt with the climate, the productions and the business of the places visited; they told something of man- ners and morals, gave an occasional bit of picturesque description, touched on local politics, and drew the inference that slavery was worse for masters than for slaves.
The part taken by Samuel Bowles at the Know Nothing conven- tion in Philadelphia, in 1855, did much to gain national fame for him and his newspaper. Not long afterward Horace Greeley said in the New York "Tribune" that the "Republican" was "the best and ablest country journal ever published on this continent." With the advent of the Civil War, the files of the "Republican" from 1861 to 1865 reflect the growing determination of the North to preserve the Union, and then to free the slaves. The war stimulated the reading of newspapers throughout the country, and to Springfield it brought a considerable increase in population. Here were made the weapons that won the war. The employees of the United States Arsenal in its war-time manufacture rose rapidly from a few hundred to a force of nearly three thousand. The circulation of the "Daily Republican" doubled during the war, and so did its price, which was first raised from two cents to three and then to four. The cause of the increased price was the mounting cost of white paper, which continued to rise until it reached thirty cents a pound. Wood pulp for the manufac- ture of paper was not then used and there was a shortage of rags,
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due in part to the greatly increased use of rags for bandaging the wounded.
On November 15, 1861, the paper declared that if South Carolina sought to withdraw from the Union by peaceful negotiations, her withdrawal should be permitted. It added, "A Union that must be maintained by force is not desirable." This was very different from the stand the paper took a few months later, and maintained to the end of the war with unsparing vigor. The demand was for preserving the Union, and for a persistent use of force until the rebellion was put down and the Union restored.
Lincoln's Gettysburg speech occupied in the "Republican" of the morning after about a "stick full" of type under a small sub-heading, where it followed immediately after Everett's polished but forgotten oration. On the second day the "Republican" printed a separate editorial on Lincoln's speech. It declared that, "surpassingly fine as Mr. Everett's oration was," the honors of the occasion were won by President Lincoln, whose "little speech was a perfect gem, deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression."
The most famous editorial adventure of Mr. Bowles was that of being jailed in New York. It was the result of a conspiracy between a corrupt judge and a celebrated speculator who gave Samuel Bowles and the "Republican" the most valuable advertising they ever received. The newspaper took a special interest in James Fisk, Junior, who was Jay Gould's notorious partner in the fraudulent operations of the Erie Railroad. His birthplace was in Vermont in territory served by the paper. He began as a peddler on a glorified scale, with many traveling wagons. His later career in New York made him a national figure through his corrupt manipulation of rail- roads and courts.
In November, 1808, the "Republican" described Fisk as the "New Hero of Wall Street" and told the story of his recent operations and his previous history with biting and daring truthfulness. The "Repub- lican" carried its attack to a climax in the statement that many of Fisk's friends predicted he would end his days in State prison or a madhouse. Fisk's response was a libel suit for $50,000. This was not pressed, but gave Fisk an opportunity to attempt personal revenge. The next month, when Mr. Bowles was in New York with his wife, who was not well, he was suddenly seized in the old Fifth Avenue
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Hotel on a writ issued by one of the most notorious of Fisk's cor- rupted judges. Without being given a chance to see Mrs. Bowles, he was hurried off to the Ludlow Street Jail and held there through the night. A friend succeeded in locating the sheriff at a carousal, and applied for an order of release, whereat the sheriff shuffled out of the way.
In the morning a host of friends came to the support of Mr. Bowles, and his release was secured on bail. Nothing more was done in the case against him. The episode made a national sensation and was widely discussed in the newspapers. Its chief significance was in the illustration it gave of how far the judicial and administrative machinery of the metropolis was at the service of a set of gamblers, and could be used by them to gratify a freak of personal malice.
Less than four years later, Fisk's career was cut short before he had reached prison, madhouse, or his fortieth year. He was shot by the pistol of his rival for the favors of a dissolute woman. In edi- torial comment on the crime, the "Republican" mentioned the char- acter of the man, who in three or four years had made himself notorious the world over for reckless financing, the corrupting of courts and the pillaging of railroads. The public saw the worst side of him, and it was a very bad one; but there were traits in his char- acter that enabled the preacher of his funeral sermon to speak the kind word that charity to the dead demands.
No man ever strove harder to keep mistakes out of his newspaper than the second Bowles. One of his friends who saw him coming away from his office late in the night, made the comment to a com- panion, "There goes Sam Bowles after killing himself trying to find a misplaced comma." When a mistake had been made it was not easy to admit the error. Indeed, the story has been told of a man who complained to Mr. Bowles that the "Republican" had mistakenly reported his death, and he wanted the mistake corrected. In response Mr. Bowles expressed his regret that the paper could not make a correction, but offered reparation by putting his name in the birth notices.
Samuel Bowles, the second, traveled more than any other of the great journalists of his time. Within a period of fifteen years he crossed the continent twice, one of the times covering two thousand
Hampden-20
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miles by stagecoach. Another western trip took him to Colorado and four times he crossed the Atlantic.
He went wherever else the search for news or health called him, and wherever he went he was making notes and writing to the paper or filling his mind with facts and impressions to be drawn on later. He tells in one instance of working forty-two hours at a stretch with- out sleep. On a trip to Colorado at a time when the Indians were making trouble, his party was in the mountains and they had the thrill of an Indian scare, and of being forced to hurry back to Denver for safety. Mr. Bowles died in 1878. He had made his paper a national influence, and he had shown the qualities of a statesman. Many of his characteristics had a likeness to those of Horace Greeley, but were without Mr. Greeley's oddities. There was no class of editorial work that he did not do well, but above all he was a born leader of opinions.
On a Sunday morning in September, 1878, a well-known Spring- field citizen appeared on his front porch, clad in dressing gown and carpet slippers. In his hands were the family tongs. With these he carefully picked up a tainted object which lay before him. Then, marching around the house as if to avoid possible contagion to holy precincts, he deposited the object in the garbage can by the kitchen door. With the crisis met and duty done, he resumed the day's medi- tations. The cause of the offense which had been dealt with so sternly was a copy of the first issue of the "Sunday Republican," laid before the good man's door in hope of getting his patronage-and in the course of time the old gentleman yielded to temptation. Before he was summoned to final judgment on his sins, he became a subscriber.
During the Civil War the "Republican" sometimes issued extras on the receipt of great news, and distributed them on Sunday through the Massachusetts hill towns. They were received with mixed emo- tions. Good church members were torn between troubled thoughts at the desecration of the day and desire to get the news from the front. The desire to get the news seems to have been the stronger.
No head of a newspaper ever exercised closer control over every department than did the third Bowles. He first joined the paper as a regular in 1873, but his father's waning strength compelled him to take charge of the business management, and it was in looking after
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minute details, and in "telling others how and what to write," that his life was spent. His day began with a painstaking, methodical reading of the paper in his library at home. A clipping was made of each mistake, and when he had walked to the office the clippings went to those responsible. It used to be a by-word in the office that it was not possible for a mistake to escape him. He was appreciative of work well done, and for a member of the staff to receive a clipping from a page with one's initials on it, and the added words "Good!" or "Fine!" in Mr. Bowles' familiar script, carried a message more precious than words.
Until 1914, the "Republican," in common with most other news- papers, printed liquor advertising, particularly of the local brewery products, which at times inserted copy occupying full pages. Early in 1914 a Massachusetts State commission issued a report showing that drunkenness was increasing alarmingly with a host of attendant evils.
The "Republican," in commenting editorially, declared: "It is the duty of every citizen to consider carefully what he personally may do to aid in turning the rising tide of inebriety into a tide of sobriety, which must mean better lives among the people of Massachusetts."
When Mr. Bowles reached the office that day he sent for two members of the editorial staff. One of these was Waldo Cook, author of the editorial. The other was a director of the company. He turned to the latter, saying, "Do you think the 'Republican' should eliminate liquor advertising?" The answer was "Yes." His next, and only other question was : "Will you back that up as a director ?" That question was answered likewise, and he abruptly terminated the interview with a terse "Good-bye." Nothing more was said, but before the end of the week every liquor advertisement was thrown out of the "Republican" with intent that it should be forever, although advertising amounting to thousands of dollars a year was sacrificed.
In August came the outbreak of the World War, and financial advertising, in which the "Republican" always had been a leader, nearly ceased to exist. Newspaper revenues were gravely reduced, yet Mr. Bowles, in his annual report to the stockholders of the Republican Company, made a few weeks before he died, told with undaunted pride of eliminating liquor advertising, as a step which
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was the only one the "Republican" could have taken in the situation it faced.
The Springfield "Union" dates from 1864, when it was founded by Edmund Anthony to "expound Republican principles." It changed hands a number of times, and in 1872 was bought by C. W. Bryan. In 1890 the paper was taken over by the Springfield Union Publishing Company, and shortly afterward a morning edition and a Sunday issue were started. In 1926 "The Republican" acquired control of the "Union."
In 1880 the "Penny News," or the Springfield "Daily News" appeared, published by Edward and Charles Bellamy. This paper has the distinction of being the first penny journal in New England, which attracted considerable attention to it. Edward Bellamy, who wrote "Looking Backward," retired, and Charles carried on with the "News" until 1915, when it was sold to "The Republican."
The daily and Sunday newspapers, through these events, came under one ownership, that of Sherman Bowles, descendant of the famous Samuels of that line. The editorial policies differ, however, and on any question the Springfield reader can gain three separate views and thus draw his conclusions. The Springfield "Union" is strongly Republican in politics, both morning and evening; the "Daily News" expounds the Democratic side, and "The Springfield Republi- can," with its tradition as an independent newspaper coming down over a century, takes definite stands wherever it sees fit. A few years ago the Springfield "Union and "The Springfield Republican" com- bined to form a single Sunday paper. The Springfield papers are a power in the State, and "The Republican" is read all over the country.
People and Events
CHAPTER XX
People and Events
A distinguished member of the bar was George Ashmun, and great intimacy existed between him and Daniel Webster. Mr. Ash- mun was chairman of the Republican convention at Chicago in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President.
In the chair, as in the private councils attending the progress of the convention, he shone out with all his power; his voice rang clear through the great wigwam, and stilled the passions of its excited thousands. His manner and his presence commanded order through- out all the proceedings, and his political sagacity and quick-witted instincts early prophesied and contributed to the final result.
Growing out of this relation to the nomination, he had a pleasant intimacy with President Lincoln, and his counsel was sought and accepted by the administration. For years he occupied an influential and useful position at Washington. Probably the most notable instance of his influence was the result of his interview with Stephen A. Douglas directly after the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter. Such were his appeals, and the strong force of the arguments addressed to Douglas, that the Senator rose superior to partisanship and to rivalry, and took his stand with his country.
Although very late at night, Mr. Ashmun said, "Now let us go to the White House and talk with Mr. Lincoln. I want you to say to him what you have said to me, and then I want the result of this night's deliberations telegraphed to the country." Then and there Mr. Douglas took down the map, planned the campaign, and gave most eloquently and vehemently his strong support to the administra tion. Mr. Ashmun, himself, briefly abridged the story, and it went by telegraph that night all over the country.
Springfield never made to its public the gift of a character about which is associated more good humor, genial humanity or more dig-
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nified eloquence than that of George Ashmun. Whoever had a liking for the olden times took a lifelong delight in telling how he would drop in of an afternoon, "rub his nose, take some snuff," and awake to the pleasantries of cordial conversation. The more serious read
GEORGE ASHMUN, A Leader of the Old Hampden Bar
his political addresses, pitched in lofty sentiment, while the gossips treasure a fund of anecdote concerning him. He had the rare faculty of hospitality which is spontaneous without being familiar. If the tradition of the town is authority, one of the most brilliant
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occasions in our local annals was the dinner given by Mr. Ashmun to Thackeray, the English novelist. We have the word of the "Spring- field Republican," long since recorded, that "the company floated out for hours on a tide of humor, of brilliant gossip and suggestive criticism, so that even Thackeray, accustomed to the finest society of England as well as America, often laid down his knife and fork-a thing he would not have done without occasion-and listened or applauded with wonder."
Edmund Allen was born in Belchertown in 1786. He learned the trade of carpenter and cabinetmaker in his native town, and being a superior mechanic, he applied for a position at the United States Armory in Springfield. He was given a place in April, 1809. When he received notice that he could have the position, he started and by running and walking reached the armory grounds, a distance of nearly fourteen miles, in about two hours.
Colonel David Ames, Senior, was the son of one of the first iron workers in New England. Early in life he engaged in the manufac- ture of shovels and guns, and supplied the American Army with those articles. During the Revolutionary War, he held a commission in the militia, and was occasionally called into service. In 1794, on account of his knowledge of the making of arms, he was appointed by Presi- dent Washington to establish and superintend a national armory at Springfield, and under his supervision and direction the armory was first begun and was managed by him from 1794 to 1802. After leav- ing the service of the government he gave his attention to the manu- facture of paper. In this business he was successful and became, in 1838, the owner of the most extensive paper manufactory in the United States. Mr. Ames was known as a man of sound judgment and great business activity, and was generously disposed to give both publicly and privately for the benefit and improvement of the town. In 1810 Mr. Ames was the owner of the first piano brought into Springfield. It attracted much attention, and people would stop and listen to its sounds.
For a long time Springfield's most imposing home was the "spa- cious" Maple Street mansion of David Ames, Junior. The house was built in 1826-27 and was charmingly situated on one of Springfield's bold, rising hills. In early life Mr. Ames engaged in the manufacture of paper and was the active manager in the firm which did a pros-
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perous and extensive business, and had mills in Chicopee Falls, South Hadley Falls, Northampton, Suffield, Connecticut, and Springfield. After a period of nearly thirty years of remarkable prosperity the firm was induced to make investments in Canadian lumber and sawmills, and coal lands in Pennsylvania. The crisis of 1853 came and they were obliged to suspend payment. It is related that when the firm was at the height of their prosperity Ames' father remonstrated with him because of the lavish way in which they were spending money. His reply was : "Why, father, the money comes in faster than we can spend it; a thousand dollars a day. Why, father!" The warning was not heeded and suspension followed.
Colonel Galen Ames, son of David Ames, Senior, entered Yale Col- lege in 1814, where he remained two years, and afterward, as a sailor, made a voyage to the eastern quarter of the world. On his return home he began business as a dry goods merchant, and for a while had a store next north of the Corner Book Store on Main Street, where he had various partners at different times. In 1826 he was chosen lieutenant- colonel of artillery.
John Ames, "a natural inventor," was also the son of David Ames, Senior. While in New York, in 1822, he heard of a machine for making paper that had been invented at Brandywine, Delaware, but had failed to be a success. He became interested in it, went to work, and on the fourteenth of May, 1822, received his patent for the cylinder paper machine. Other paper industry inventions of his fol- lowed, and he did his utmost to prevent his inventions and methods from being stolen. The mill was guarded with great secrecy and the workmen were sworn not to reveal his ideas and plans for the manu- facture of paper. Mill owners throughout the country were watching the marvelous inventions made at the Ames Paper Mill, and workmen sought employment in order to steal the inventions. Mr. Ames died in January, 1890, in the ninetieth year of his age.
Another of the talented Ames family was James T., born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1810. He spent his boyhood days with his father, learning the cutlery business, but presently went to Chicopee Falls with his father and brother, where they engaged in the manufac- ture of edge tools, and there remained until 1833. The final move brought them to Chicopee Center where the pilgrimage ended, and
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the Ames Manufacturing Company was established with James T. Ames, superintendent.
Ames had a rare genius for inventions. In company with General James, of Rhode Island, he invented a ball, afterward patented, out of which grew the necessity of rifled cannon. During the War of the Rebellion, Ames had large contracts with the government for the making of swords and cannon, and for military accouterments. Besides a contract was secured for government mail bags.
Mr. Ames was one of the original owners of the Chester emery mine. He was also first to introduce bronze statuary work in the United States. His first work was the construction of the Washing- ton statue in Union Square, New York. The bronze doors of the Senate extension of the National Capitol at Washington were made under his supervision, and "were masterly specimens of his genius, and famous as triumphs of art." Mr. Ames died at the age of seventy-two.
Nathan P. Ames was another of the clan that aroused more than ordinary interest. He was born in 1803 and as a young man came to Chicopee Falls, where he established the cutlery business with nine workmen. In 1833, about thirty men were employed. A little later the business removed to Cabotville and located in a new shop. The company had a foundry for the casting of bells and cannon in connec- tion with the manufacture of swords. In 1838 they made a bell for the city hall in New York, which weighed seven thousand pounds. Mr. Ames died at the age of forty-four.
One other Ames notable was William, born in the Massachusetts town of Dedham, in 1801. His mother was a daughter of Colonel John Worthington, who was one of the "river gods." When a lad of eleven William came to Springfield to live with an aunt, and there he remained a number of years. For one period he served as a clerk in a Springfield store, and he tried other things, finally settling down to devote himself to literary culture and historical research. For more than forty years he made his home in Dedham, but came to Springfield every year for visits to his relatives. His personal appear- ance on the streets attracted attention "by his measured tread, moving along in the summer days bearing his hat in his hand, and a kind expression of satisfaction with all mankind." He was a cultured Christian gentleman of patriotic nature.
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When asked one day his opinion of the Yankee soldier, he replied : "The Yankee soldier is active and rough, wiry and tough." On another occasion during the Rebellion he remarked very gravely: "I wish I had command of an earthquake for five minutes. I would place it under Charleston, South Carolina." He died in 1880 at the age of seventy-nine years.
George Bancroft, famed as a historian, was a resident of Spring- field for a three-year period, during which his home was a large house at 49 Chestnut Street. The house was a gift from Jonathan Dwight, Junior, to his daughter Sarah, whom Mr. Bancroft married. In 1834 he published the first volume of his history of the United States.
On the Fourth of July, 1836, he delivered an oration before the democracy of Springfield. While in Springfield he completed the second volume of his history. At this time he had his office on Elm Street in a block the second floor of which was used for lawyers' offices, and to that place he moved his library from Northampton. In January, 1838, he was appointed Collector of the Port of Boston by President Van Buren, and was later appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Polk, in whose term of office the War with Mexico was carried on, resulting in the conquest of California.
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