USA > Michigan > Cass County > A twentieth century history of Cass County, Michigan > Part 26
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come the insuperable obstacles that beset pioneer publishing. Very often the person whose name conspicuously appeared as "editor and proprietor," also was incumbent of the long list of positions that rank below the supreme office down to the despised "devil." As business manager, as news gatherer, as typesetter, as foreman of the press room, and power man for the hand press, the old-time publisher had no sine- cure. Too often his supply of paper ran out before the means of trans- portation by wagon could bring him his next invoice. These condi- tions, and many others that we cannot here describe in detail, might have interfered with the regular editing of the first Cass county news- paper. Certain it is, that its career was fitful.
Mr. E. A. Graves was the editor and proprietor; a Democrat in politics and conducting his paper accordingly. Abram Townsend bought the enterprise in 1846, but he, too, failed to make it prosperous. In 1850 it fell into the hands of another well known citizen. Ezekiel S. Smith. He evidently believed that Cassopolis was not a good field for a newspaper, and that the new railroad-born village of Dowagiae offered a better location.
The removal of the Cass County Advocate to Dowagiac in 1850 gave that village its first newspaper. Mr. L. P. Williams soon bought the plant of Mr. Smith, and by him the name was changed to the Dowagiac Times und Cass County Republican. In 1854. while the proprietor was away on a business trip, the office and the entire plant was destroyed by fire. Thus perished the first newspaper, after having lived nearly ten years. Its history was closed, for no successor, phoenix- like, ever rose from its ashes.
The contents of the early newspaper call for brief comment. Apropos of this point, Mr. C. C. Allison says: "If you turn over the pages of the early paper expecting to find local news you will be dis- appointed. Now our papers exist and are patronized for the local in- formation they contain; at that time this idea of journalism had not arrived, at least not in this part of the country. A letter from a foreign country, describing alien people and customs, was eagerly seized upon by the editor, and its none too interesting facts spread over several col- 11mns of type. At the same time local improvements, county news, and the personal items which now form the live features of the small news- paper. were usually omitted entirely or passed over with scant attention. Marriages and deaths and births formed the bulk of the local news in the newspaper of fifty years ago."
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After the departure of the Cass County Advocate the citizens of Cassopolis evidently felt the void caused by no local newspaper. A stock company was organized, George B. Turner was selected as editor, and on March 17, 1850, the first number of the National Democrat was given to the public. Fifty-six years have passed since that date, and the National Democrat still flourishes. H. C. Shurter was the publisher for the original company.
The first few years of this paper's existence were not unmarked by vicissitudes, at least in ownership. In 1854, Mr. G. S. Boughton bought the paper, and within a few months sold it to W. W. Van Ant- werp. During the latter's proprietorship the late Daniel Blackman was editor. When the original stock company resumed control of the en- terprise in 1858, Mr. Blackman continued as editor, with Mr. H. B. Shurter as publisher. But, however well the paper may have served its ostensible ends, its financial condition remained discouraging. In 1861 the plant was sold at sheriff's sale. The purchasers were Pleasant Nor- ton, D. M. Howell and Maj. Joseph Smith. It was transferred by them to L. D. Smith, who managed it two years-the first two years of the war, when news was at a premium everywhere. In March, 1863, the paper reverted to Messrs. Norton, Howell and Smith, Major Smith taking the editorial end of the business.
In1 1862 the proprietors had employed as their publisher a young man, then twenty-two years old, named C. C. Allison. Born in Illinois in 1840 and coming to Cassopolis when eight years old, the dean, as he now is, of the newspaper profession in Cass county began his career, and is likely to end it in the National Democrat office. He entered the office as an apprentice in 1855. He set type, wrote news items, and in a few years was master of the business. On May 5, 1863. he bought the paper, and from that date to this he has owned, managed and edited the oldest paper in Cass county.
The National Democrat is published weekly, is Democratic in poli- tics, and it has been the steadfast policy of its proprietor to keep it in the first rank, an impartial and comprehensive disseminator of news, and at the same time an advocate of progress and public spirit in the affairs to which newspaper influence may be legitimately directed.
The Republican interests of the county are represented at Cassopolis by the Vigilant, which is also far more than a partisan journal; it is well edited, has live, clean news, and its standard of newspaper enter- prise is the very highest. The l'igilant has witnessed an entire genera-
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tion of human progress, and its columns have contained the history in epitome of Cass county since the 10th of May, 1872, when its first copy was issued. D. B. Harrington and M. H. Barber were the founders of the paper. It went through several changes of ownership during the first years. C. L. Morton and W. 11. Mansfield purchased it in Febru- ary, 1873, and in the following July Mr. Mansfield became sole pro- prietor.
In 1876 Mr. Mansfield associated with himself Mr. James M. Shepard, a dentist by profession, and having followed from 1868 to that clate the practice of dentistry in Cassopolis. Mr. Shepard, whose subse- quent career in public affairs is so well known, became the sole owner of the Vigilant in 1878, and has conducted the paper under his per- sonal supervision except while engaged in his public duties. For seven- teen years Mr. W. H. Berkey has heen connected with the office, and for about ten years has been managing editor of the Vigilant. He is a thorough and alert newspaper man and shares in the credit for the success of the Vigilant.
Although the plant of the Times and Cass County Republican was destroyed by fire in 1854, Dowagiac did not long remain an unoccupied field for newspaper endeavor. In the same year Mr. James L. Gantt established the Dowagiac Tribune. The Tribune held undisputed pos- session of the field until 1858. In the meantime the policy of its editor was bringing upon him a storm of disapproval that ended in a small newspaper war.
It should be remembered that the newspapers of that time were more of political "organs" than even the strongest of modern partisan journals. To advocate the success of its party and to give much the greater part of its news and editorial space to that cause was often the sole cause of a country newspaper's existence. And the change from that custom to the later "news" paper is recent enough to be remembered by all.
Hence it came about that when the course of the Tribune had he- come distasteful beyond endurance to the Republicans of the county, the officials and leaders of Cass county Republicanism met to consider and take action concerning their newspaper "organ." As a result of this meeting, which was held in January, 1858, overtures were made to Mr. Gantt either to dispose of the paper or to allow a committee to select an editor. in which case the expense would be borne by the party organi-
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zation. Mr. Gantt had no mind to surrender his prerogatives or policies, and his paper was issued as before.
But there remained another method. The party leaders induced W. H. Campbell and N. B. Jones to establish another paper in Dowagiac. This rival was called the Republican. Mr. Jones retired at the end of three months, but Mr. Campbell conducted the paper with such energy and was so well supported by his constituents that in 1859 Mr. Gantt sold him the good will of the Tribune, and moved the plant of the latter away. Thus the Republican was left master of the situation, and con- tinued for many years as the only Dowagiac paper. The names of the committee who were responsible for the establishment of the Republican were Justus Gage, Jesse G. Beeson, W. G. Beckwith, Joshua Lofland and William Sprague.
The Republican, like other Cass county papers, has passed through a series of ownerships. Mr. Campbell continued its publication until January, 1865. At that date Mr. Charles A. Smith, a young man of only twenty-one years, but a practical printer and energetic newspaper man, took control and conducted the business successfully for two years. Mr. Jesse G. Roe was the next purchaser, but being unacquainted with the practical side of newspaper business, after three weeks he sold the plant to its founder, Mr. Campbell. In 1868 Mr. H. C. Buffington was installed as proprietor and editor, and continued the publication until September, 1875, when the business passed to Richard Holmes and C. J. Greenleaf. These partners gave much space to purely local matters, and their management throughout was quite successful. In September. 1880. another transfer was made, when Mr. R. N. Kellogg bought the Republican plant. Under Mr. Kellogg's ownership the name was changed from the Cass County Republican to the Dowagiac Republican.
Successive owners of the Republican were E. H. Spoor, Becraft & Amsden, Becraft alone, then a Mr. Rose, Becraft & Son, and J. O. Becraft. Mr. Becraft was publisher of the Republican until 1904, when he sold it to Mr. H. E. Agnew, the present proprietor.
In 188c Mr. W. M. Wooster entered the lists of Cass county journalism. He had been proprietor of the Van Buren County Repub- lican, which he sold to Mr. Buffington, the former Republican editor. Buying the equipment of the Lawrence Advertiser, he removed it to Dowagiac, and on September 1, 1880, he issued the first number of the Dowagiac Times, as an independent in politics-an unusual course for a paper to take at that time. In 1881 the Times was sold to Mr.
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A. M. Moon, who has been identified with Cass county journalism nearly thirty years, and who came to Dowagiac from Marcellus. Mr. Moon conducted the Times until 1885, when he sold it to its present proprietor, James Heddon. In 1897 Charles IIeddon established the Daily News, which was issued from the same office as the Times, and the two papers are practically under one management. In this con- nection it is of interest that Ward Bros. established a paper called the Daily News in Dowagiac about 1880, although its existence was short.
The third paper of Dowagiac is the Herald, which was established in 1892 by Mr. N. Klock as the Standard. R. E. Curtis bought this paper in 1897, and it later became the property of J. A. Webster, who changed the name to the Herald. In April, 1903, A. M. Moon became the proprietor of the Herald and has since issued it every week.
Marcellus has a somewhat disconnected newspaper record, but the News has a record of nearly thirty years, and has been a good paper, ably edited and well patronized, since its start. The Messenger was the first paper in the village, established by S. D. Perry in 1874. The Good- speed brothers, Volinia farmers, soon came into possession of the plant and issued a paper known as the Standard under the management of Rufus Nash. The last issue appeared in August, 1876, and in 1877 Mr. A. M. Moon bought the plant and brought out the first number of the Marcellus Nozes. When Mr. Moon moved to Dowagiac he took part of the equipment of the News, but left the intangible interests and subscription lists of the News to his successors. C. C. Allison and J. J. A. Parker, who issued the first number under their management on December 24, 1881. Mr. Parker soon bought the interest of Mr. Alli- son, who had entered the newspaper field at Marcellus as a branch enterprise to his Cassopolis paper. Following Mr. Parker. the pro- prietor of the Notes was Mr. White, then Dr. C. E. Davis, who sold to the present proprietor, A. E. Bailey.
The Vandalia Journal was established by William A. DeGroot, and the first number was dated June 14, 1881. The paper later passed to Jos. L. Sturr. who, after a short time, discontinued its publication and moved the type and presses to Chicago.
Several years ago Mr. F. M. Viall established a small news sheet at Vandalia, but after about six months gave up the enterprise without having won fame for himself and brought the paper to any dignity in newspaperdom.
The Edwardsburg Argus, whose present proprietor is Henry Andrus
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(see sketch), was established in 1875, its first issue appearing October 5th. William A. Shaw, H. B. Davis, F. M. Jerome and G. F. Bughee were connected with the paper until 1879. In February of this year Dr. John B. Sweetland took charge of the paper, which he thereafter con- ducted in his vigorous and virile way, "neutral in nothing, independent in everything," and was the proprietor for twenty years, until his death in 1899. Dr. Sweetland, in conformity with his principles, kept his paper independent in politics, and if he favored any movement especially it was the Prohibition. Mr. Henry Andrus was local editor of the Argus a long time under Dr. Sweetland, and since the latter's death has con- ducted the paper, maintaining it at the high standard of former years. The Argus is issued regularly every Thursday.
Illustrative of newspaper politics of half a century ago, is an inci- dent related by C. C. Allison, the veteran editor of the Democrat. In 1840 Ezekiel S. Smith had been appointed by Gov. Woodbridge to the position of attorney in Cass county. Smith was a Whig, of the same brand and stripe as his political chief. He made it a point to emphasize his beliefs and aggrandize his party whenever possible while in Cass county. At that time the Democratic party was dominant in this sec- tion, its official organ at the county seat being the Cass County Advo- cate, with its pioneer editor. Abram Townsend.
Townsend was not succeeding in making his paper pay dividends, however successful it may have been as a political and news organ. One day, in this financial stress, he applied to Attorney Smith for a cash loan. "No more loans on that paper," replied Smith, who was already Townsend's creditor; "why don't you go to Asa Kingsbury?" Kingsbury was a leader in Democratic affairs at that time, and his financial support to the Advocate had also been drawn upon to the limit. On being informed of Kingsbury's unwillingness to extend further credit, Attorney Smith, acting upon a sudden idea, asked, "What will you take for that newspaper over there?" "Do you really want to buy it. Mr. Smith?" "Yes, I will buy the equipment and you can con- tinue as my editor," was the decisive manner in which the transaction was closed. "Now," continued Smith, after counting out the stipulated amount less what Townsend owed him, "let us go over and get out this week's paper." The make-up was about ready to go to press, and after looking it over the only change that the new proprietor requested was that the leading editorial be withdrawn and one written by himself substituted. This was done, and the Advocate appeared on the regular
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day of issue without any delay consequent upon the change of owner- ship, which took place quite unheralded to the citizens of the county seat. But for that reason the consternation was all the greater among the stanch Democracy when, on the first page of their loyal paper, they read a pungent editorial lauding the principles of Whiggism to the skies and holding up the sacred tenets and leaders of the Van Buren party to scorn and ridicule.
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CHAPTER XIX.
MEDICINE AND SURGERY.
The early followers of Aesculapius, in Cass county as elsewhere. were in the main honest, practical and sympathetic men. Such is the testimony of those whose personal knowledge connects the present with the past. Without the advantages of broad technical training, such as are within reach of the medical student now, without the vast heritage of accumulated experience, analyzed and classified for application to every morbid condition of mankind, the pioneer physician had to com- pensate for his narrowness of professional vision and skill by a perva- sive sympathy and inspiring cheerfulness.
Much of the practice was done by doctors who followed their pro- fession as an adjunct to the more necessary-to their own welfare- occupation of tilling the new soil or merchandising, or any other of the trades or activities by which the early settlers gained a living. There were, proportionately, fewer "town doctors." Some of the "farmer doctors" were college graduates and men of considerable attainments, though necessarily rough in exterior, and, although handicapped for want of appliances, were perhaps as fully competent to combat the dis- eases incident to those conditions as our more modern physicians are to combat our more modern diseases. For it is a well known scientific truth that many of the refinements and advantages of modern civiliza- tion are really violations of the natural laws, which bring about their own diseases as punishment.
A very brief record is left of those physicians who came to Cass county during the pioneer period. There was Dr. Henry H. Fowler, who seemed possessed of the pioneer spirit, for several new settlements in this part of the country knew him as a citizen as much as a profes- sional man. He was interested in the formation of the village of Geneva, on Diamond lake, and was a factor in having that place designated as the seat of justice. He had first located at Edwardsburg about 1830.
There seems to have been no physician during the thirties who left a permanent impress on the life and affairs of the county. During that decade Cassopolis and vicinity had, for varying lengths of time, doctors
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named Isaac Brown, Charles L. Clows, David E. Brown, Benjamin F. Gould. who was a college graduate and practiced in Cassopolis till his death, in 1844; David .A. Clows, and James Bloodgood. The first physi- cians in the county seem to have located at Edwardsburg. Of those early practitioners the most prominent was Henry Lockwood. Born in New York in 1803, a graduate of a medical college of that state, he located at Edwardsburg about 1837, and was in active and prosperous practice there till 1802. He died in December of the following year.
The old town of Adamsville, in the southern part of the county, had a notable doctor in the early days in the person of Henry Follett. Born in New York in 1789, he studied medicine under private direc- tion, served in the war of 1812 as assistant surgeon, and in 1836, with his family, made the journey in pioneer fashion from the east to his new home at Adamsville. Two years later he moved to a farm near the village, and in a combination of the two pursuits passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1849.
There were other physicians in the county during this period, but little record other than their names is preserved. Those earliest physi- cians-as well as their successors for many years-traveled about on horseback. There were no telephones by which medical assistance could be summoned to remote parts of the rural districts, and hence, up to recent years, the sight of a flying horseman hastening to town was a signal to the neighbors that some one was ill. An hour or so later back would come the physician, muffled up beyond recognition during the severe winter season, or bespattered with mud from hard riding over the miry roads. There were no carriages. If there had been they would have been useless because of the rough and muddy roads, which were scarcely more than trails cut through the woods. The distances traveled in reaching the sufferers were long, because the roads wound around so much, and often the patient was dead before the doctor could arrive. Sometimes after heavy rains the streams would be swollen so as to render the fords impassable, or the bridges would be carried away. necessitating a long detour in order to reach the destination. But num- berless and arduous as were the difficulties which beset the pioneer practitioner-and only a few have been alluded to, so that the picture is quite inadequate to reveal the hard life of our first doctors-it is to the lasting honor of the rugged character and faithful devotion to duty of those men that no call for help, matter not where it was or what its answering meant in the way of personal hardship, was refused.
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But the times and conditions of practice changed rapidly. Dr. H. H. Phillips, of Cassopolis, whose professional recollections in this county go back nearly forty years, states that when he began to practice the physicians no longer were traveling about the country on horse- back, with their medicine, surgical instruments, etc., in a saddle-bag. Buggies had already come into general use among the country practi- tioners, and the hard lot of the early doctor was in many other respects relieved.
The diseases of those times were principally malaria, caused by lack of drainage in the county; bronchitis and pneumonia, due to ex- posure incident to their mode of life, and diarrhea and dysentery in- duced by their coarse fare. Contagious diseases, on account of the iso- lation of the settlers, had little opportunity to spread. Heroic treat- ment was accorded their patients by old-time doctors. The tale is told of one such physician-not of Cass county, however-who gave a pa- tient suffering from a "blocked bowel" one hundred grains of calomel at a single dose, and, strangest of all, there was complete recovery from both the ailment and the dosage.
But malaria is no longer to be contended with. The marshes have been drained. Whereas the early settlers fought mosquitoes-now known as most active agents in the spreading of contagious diseases- by means of smudges, screen doors now shut out the pests from our homes. This use of wire screening is one of many improvements that provided wholesome sanitary conditions and guarded against disease. The decrease of malaria is graphically illustrated in the statement of Dr. Phillips that not one bottle of quinine is used now to thirty required when he began practice. Malaria was everywhere then, and quinine was the sovereign remedy in its treatment.
Passing from the pioneer period of medical practice, we find a number of men of more than ordinary ability who adorned the pro- fession during the last half of the century. Dr. E. J. Bonine, who practiced in Cassopolis from 1844 to the outbreak of the Civil war, was a soldier and politician as well as doctor. Born in Indiana in 1821, he prepared for his profession, as was then the custom more than now, under a private preceptor instead of within college walls. He was elected to represent the county in the legislature in 1852. He was, in turn, a Whig, a Free-soiler, and then helped to organize the Republican party. He enlisted for service in the rebellion, and was advanced from the ranks to surgeon in chief of the Third Division of the Ninth Army
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Corps. He located at Niles after returning from the war, and was prominent professionally and in public life until his death.
In the death of Dr. L. D. Tompkins on October 1, 1902, there passed away the oldest medical practitioner in the county. Arriving in the county in 1848, he saw and experienced the conditions of pioneer practice. Still alive a half century later, his retrospect covered the most important period in the development of medical and surgical practice. and he could appreciate as none others could the changes that a life- time had wrought.
"But perhaps it still is better that his busy life is done; He has seen old views and patients disappearing one by one."
A former account of his life says: "During the first eight or ten years of his residence in the county he almost invariably traveled on horseback. The roads were not then as numerous as now. and most of those which had been cleared and improved were in a condition in- ferior to those of the present. Large bodies of land were unfenced, and it was the universal custom among those persons familiar with the country when traveling in the saddle to save time by 'going cross lots' by way of the numerous paths leading through the 'openings' and heavy timber. Dr. Tompkins rode very frequently upon these paths and often in the darkness of night was obliged to lean forward upon his horse's neck to avoid being brushed from the saddle by overhanging limbs of the trees. Sometimes, wearied with travel and loss of rest, he would fall asleep in the saddle, but the trusty horse, plodding on through the darkness along the winding narrow path, would bring him safely home." At the time of his death Dr. Tompkins was more than eighty-five years old, a remarkable age for one whose earlier experiences had been so rugged. Born in Oneida county, New York, in 1817, he moved to Ohio at the age of fifteen, and there prepared for his profession and practiced until he came to Cassopolis in May, 1848. In 1852 he graduated from the well known Rush Medical College of Chicago. More than one physician now or formerly of Cass county ascribes the inspiration of his work to this aged doctor. In the history of Cass county medicine he will always be a venerable figure.
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