USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 27
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The Journal's quarters still were too small for the increasing business of the newspaper. A site was purchased at the southwest corner of Sixth and Delaware streets, where a building was completed in December, 1879. When Colonel Van Horn was elected to Congress in the fall of 1880, John L. Bit- tinger became an editorial writer and later managing editor of The Journal. M. H. Stevens retired in August, 1882, his stock being purchased by a mem- ber of the company. J. B. Lawrence became assistant editor in January, 1882, and at that time F. N. Wood who had been on the city editorial force since early in 1881, purchased stock in the company. At the annual meet- ing of the stockholders in 1885, Colonel Van Horn, his son, R. C. Van Horn, James A. Mann, F. N. Wood and J. B. Lawrence were elected direc- tors. This year also saw large additions and improvements made on the plant.
The Journal had outgrown its quarters at Sixth and Delaware streets in 1886 and a new location was bought at Tenth and Walnut streets. Work was begun on the building in the latter part of 1886 and by October, 1887, The
R. T. VAN HORN.
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Journal was at home in its new quarters. The sale of this site to the Bank of Commerce required The Journal to move. The newspaper, in 1897, moved to the first floor of the Rialto building at the corner of Ninth street and Grand avenue. It remained there until March 14, 1904, when it moved into its new building at the northeast corner of Eighth and McGee streets, one of the best equipped newspaper plants in the United States.
Colonel Van Horn and W. A. Bunker sold The Journal in June, 1896, and a company was formed with the following officers: C. S. Gleed, president ; Hal Gaylord, secretary and treasurer; Harvey Fleming, managing editor; and W. F. Craig, editorial writer. This transaction ended the journalistic career of Colonel Van Horn, which covered forty years of almost continuous newspaper work.
Colonel Robert Thompson Van Horn, to whom The Kansas City Jour- nal owes its existence and success, was born May 24, 1824, in East Mahoning, Indiana Co., Pa. His ancestors were from Holland and came to this country more than two hundred and sixty years ago, settling at New Amsterdam in 1645. The colonel's early life was spent on the farm until the age of fifteen, when he was apprenticed to learn the printing trade. From 1843 to 1855, his occupations were varied. For a time he worked as a journeyman printer, taught school, published and edited a newspaper, ran a steamboat and later studied law.
Colonel Van Horn has done more for Kansas City than any other citizen, coming here as he did when the city was a little strugglig frontier town. He put his shoulder to the wheel and helped to "boost" the city to the front rank where it stands today. He never permitted an opportunity to pass ungrasped, if he could say something favorable of Kansas City. He advised, he coun- seled, he talked, and through his paper, The Kansas City Journal, he had means of reaching thousands and of exerting an influence on all classes of society. He cared naught for official position, but because of his deep, intel- ligent interest in all public questions and original, practical ideas, caused him to be sought frequently for public office. The official positions he served faithfully and well because, like all true Americans, he had at heart the love of his country and his city. After his many years of public service, Colonel Van Horn lives a retired, unassuming life at his country seat near Evans- ton, Mo.
The present management of The Journal (1908) consists of Charles S. Gleed, president of the Journal company; Hal Gaylord, secretary and general manager; and William F. Craig, editor. C. S. Gleed became financially inter- ested in The Journal in the year 1892, and in the same year the terms of service of Hal Gaylord and W. F. Craig began-the former as assistant busi- ness manager and the latter as editorial writer.
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If loyalty is expressed by length of service, The Journal has every cause to be proud of its staff, as evidenced by the number of years the various heads of departments have remained with the paper. Mr. Harvey Fleming was with The Journal 16 years as managing editor and is now its special Eastern representative. He was born in West Virginia. His first newspaper work was in Wheeling, then in Wichita, Kansas, from which town he went to Washington, D. C., as correspondent for The Journal and other news- papers. Mr. Celbe C. Cline, news editor, was born in West Virginia, came West in early life and practically has grown up in the newspaper business. He has resided in Kansas City most of the time for the past 15 years, serving as reporter and later city editor on various local papers. Edgar P. Allen, editorial writer, was born in Kansas; he has been with The Journal as reporter, dramatic editor and in other positions for ten years and has oc- cupied his present position as associate editor four years. Thomas A. Marshall, editorial writer, was born in Mississippi, served on the editorial staff of New Orleans, Louisville and Denver papers and has been in his present position with The Journal since 1904. Frank A. Marshall is an editorial writer and dramatic eritic. He was born in Kansas and has been with The Journal as reporter, city editor and in his present position since 1892. Mr. Henry Stone is telegraph operator of The Journal. Miss Julia Berger is a special writer on the paper. Mr. George Foster is its Sunday editor.
Others are: Mrs. Virginia Price, society editor; Edward M. Cochrane, sporting editor; Henry C. Norberg, head of the art department; Lionel Moise, treasurer, who has been with The Journal 28 years; and Charles E. Rodgers, auditor. Charles Sessions, Washington correspondent, has been with The Journal 12 years; Albert T. Reid is cartoonist; Walter G. Bryan, advertising manager; James F. Kelley, manager of the country circulation, has been with The Journal 16 years: Gomer M. Thomas, manager of the city circulation ; Alice Marksbury, cashier. Walter C. Withers, foreman of the mailing department, has been with The Journal over 39 years; Frank Withers, assistant foreman, has been with the paper 36 years. John M. Roddy, superintendent of machinery and foreman of the press room, has been with The Journal 14 years. Charles Sumner is foreman of the ste- reoptype room, and D. B. Carpenter who has been with The Journal 26 years, is foreman of the composing room; Harry S. Michael, assistant fore- man of the composing room, has been with The Journal 14 years. T. Philip Brown, editor of the weekly Kansas City Journal, has been with the paper 37 years. W. L. Wynne is etcher and James B. DeWolf, head proofreader, has been with The Journal 18 years.
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Mr. Gleed is a native of Vermont, but has lived practically all of his life in Kansas. His earlier years were spent at Lawrence, where he was edu- cated, and where he was married, later removing to Topeka, his present home. Hal Gaylord, a native of Iowa, has lived all his life in the West, and has been in newspaper work since boyhood. He was connected with the Denver papers for years, coming to Kansas City in 1891 to take the business manage- ment of the old Kansas City Times. W. F. Craig was born in Tennessee. He came West in the early 'SOs, locating at Emporia, Kas., where he did newspaper work for a number of years before coming to Kansas City and The Journal. He has had editorial charge of the paper since 1896.
Brigadier General Frederick Funston, after he left the University of Kan- sas, came to Kansas City in 1890. He became a reporter for The Kansas City Journal. He worked three weeks and then went to Arkansas and accepted a position on a country daily. In the editor's absence Funston published an editorial in opposition to the paper's policy which brought the editor home in a hurry. Funston left town in haste, and this ended the Brigadier Gen- eral's newspaper career.
In its early days, The Kansas City Times was known as "The New York Herald of the West." The newspaper was founded as a Democratic organ by R. B. Drury & Co., the first issue appearing September 8, 1868. It was an eight-column folio. The newspaper did not prosper at first and in Decem- ber, 1868, it was transferred to The Kansas City Times Publishing Company, composed of W. E. Dunscombe, Charles Durfee, J. D. Williams and R. B. Drury as directors; Mr. Williams was business manager. John N. Edwards and John C. Moore became its editors. The first office of The Times was on Main street, near the Junction. James E. McHenry became business man- ager in April, 1869. He was succeeded in June, 1869, by C. E. Chichester. The office was removed to the corner of Fifth and Main streets, September 29, 1869.
The company was dissolved February, 1870, and the newspaper was for sale, the purchasers being Charles Dougherty of Independence. John C. Moore and John N. Edwards. A new company was formed August 20, 1871, of which Amos Green was president; Thomas H. Mastin, treasurer; Dr. Morrison Munford, secretary and manager. John N. Edwards was editor. With Dr. Munford came prosperity. He had had little journalistic experi- ence-about one year as proprietor, most of the time non-resident, of the Tipton (T'enn. ), Weekly Record-but he was a born newspaper man, a forceful writer, a good judge of news and fearless in his utterances.
The Times removed to new offices on Fourth street between Main and Delaware streets, in September, 1871. The newspaper was enlarged to a nine
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column folio, January 3, 1872, and that issue contained an exhaustive review of Kansas City in supplemental form. T. H. Mastin retired as treasurer of the company in April, 1872, and Dr. Munford's uncle, J. E. Munford, took his place. The Times survived the financial panic of 1873 and lent its energies to the re-establishing of business enterprises and inspiring of confi- dence. Amos Green, president of the company, sold his interests to the Mun- fords in May, 1875. The company was dissolved in November, 1875, and The Kansas City Times company was formed by the two Munfords and Sam- uel Williams. The newspaper had remarkable success and won more than a local reputation. The Times opposed the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden for President in 1876. It established a complete duplicate office in St. Louis and printed a special edition there for the delegates to the national conven- tion. In the campaign that followed, The Times established a complete plat in Denver, where was printed a Colorado edition so that its readers in the Rocky Mountain regions might have the news as quickly as those in Kansas City. It was The Times that originated the great movement for the opening of Oklahoma and the Indian territory in 1885-86. The newspaper was iden- tified with the movements to develop the southwest. It was in those days that The Times chartered special trains to Topeka to carry its issues contain- ing the proceedings of the Kansas legislature because the regular train sched- ules were not satisfactory. In spite of these expensive enterprises the news- paper made a large profit for its owners. It outgrew its plant several times. The Times moved to Fifth street, between Main and Delaware streets, in 1878, and in December, 1885, to its own building at the Junction which was said at that time to be "the finest, most elegantly equipped newspaper office in the world."
Charles F. Hasbrook became business manager of The Times in 1878. Soon afterward Dr. Munford became engaged in real estate speculation that involved the newspaper in debt. Dr. Munford had become a bit dictatorial in his attitude toward his party's local leaders and it was resented. There was bad feeling and it finally culminated in an open breech in 1886. Dr. Munford purchased the interest of James E. Munford in 1886. He became president and general manager with Charles E. Hasbrook as secretary and business manager. At that period The Times was one of the remarkable achievements of Western journalism. Its boldness and enterprise gave it a national prominence that few other newspapers possessed. Its special edi- tion of October 15, 1887, the day following President Cleveland's visit to Kan- sas City, was regarded as a special feat of journalism.
The Times was greatly affected by the "boom" of 1886. Dr. Munford had unbounded faith in Kansas City and he invested heavily in real estate,
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and lost. Dr. Munford, a man of resolute determination and tireless energy, concentrated all his efforts to discharge his obligations, and recover his losses, but he was not able to do so, and the creditors enforced their claim in June, 1891. Dr. Munford had previously established the Evening Times, which existed from October 9, 1890, to December 12, 1891. In the fall of 1892, Dr. Munford resigned as editor and Witten McDonald took charge until September 18, 1895, when a receiver was appointed. During this time jour- nalistic chaos prevailed in The Times office.
McDonald made a desperate struggle. He cut down expenses whenever it was possible. He moved the office from its old place at the Junction to more modest quarters at Ninth and Walnut streets, but debts continued to accumulate. After two years, in the summer of 1895, Witten MeDonald gave up the struggle and The Times was transferred to Wiley O. Cox, presi- dent of the Kansas City State bank, as receiver. The Times then owed about $200,000. Mr. Cox published The Times about six months and came to the conclusion that if freed from debt, it might be made to pay. So, when the paper was ordered sold, February 25, 1896, he bought it for $83,000. R. H. Lindsay, now Washington correspondent of The Kansas City Star, became managing editor and Frank P. Fuoss, business manager. Mr. Cox, though a believer in the gold standard, advocated free silver. On account of politi- cal disappointments, Mr. Cox finally disagreed with both factions of the local Democratie parties and with the state administration, too. Subscriptions fell off and business decreased.
Hiram J. Groves next became interested in The Times. He had been editing the Independence Sentinel for G. L. Chrisman. Mr. Groves interested Judge Chrisman in The Times and December 9, 1899, the newspaper was purchased by G. L. Chrisman, A. A. Lesueur, Senator William J. Stone and Mr. Groves. Judge Chrisman was made president of the new company and A. A. Lesueur, editor and manager. The Times did not succeed under the new management. In eighteen months the net losses amounted to about $100,000 in addition to the original investment. Captain Lesueur resigned as editor-in-chief. Mr. Groves was then made editor-in-chief. After Captain Lesueur resigned, the burden became very heavy for Judge Chrisman to carry alone, Senator Stone having retired from the company. Soon it became known that The Times again was on the market. William R. Nelson, owner of The Kansas City Star, bought The Times in October. 1901, for approxi- mately $140,000, and it became the morning edition of The Star.
Several men who won distinction in journalism and literature were con- nected with the old Kansas City Times. Eugene Field, whose drollery, humor and varied temperament made him such a delightful writer, especially to the
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He
literary Bohemian, became managing editor of The Times in 1880. filled the position with singular ability and success.
Under the management of Eugene Field, The Times became the most widely quoted newspaper west of the Mississippi river. He made it the ve- hicle for almost every sort of quaint and exaggerated story that the West could furnish. Field wrote for The Times both humorous and pathetic sto- ries and poems. His own experiences were not all comedies, but his genius would not permit him to accept the serious side of life, though often pre- sented to him. When editor of The Times, Eugene Field wrote the humorous poem entitled "In Memoriam," afterwards published as "The Little Peach." This is the poem, published originally in The Times of August 18, 1880:
"A little peach in the orchard grew- A little peach of emerald hue; Warmed by the sun and wet by the dew, It grew.
"One day, passing that orchard through, That little peach dawned on the view Of Johnnie Jones and his sister Sue- Them two.
"Up at that peach a club they threw- Down from the stem on which it grew Fell the little peach of emerald hue- Mon Dieu !
"Sue took a bite and John a chew, And then the trouble began to brew- Trouble the doctor couldn't subdue- Too true !
"Under the turf where the daisies grew They planted John and his sister Sue, And their little souls to the angels flew- Boo-hoo!
"But what of the peach of emerald hue, Warmed by the sun and wet by the dew ; Ah, well, its mission on earth is through- Adieu !"
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The poem traveled all over the world, and was found anonymously printed in the corner of an obscure country paper, by Hubbard T. Smith of Washington. It was set by him to an ear-tickling melody. Because of the exigency of the music, Mr. Smith added the refrain :
"Hard trials for them two, Johnny Jones and his sister Sae; Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! Listen to my tale of woe."
John N. Edwards, one of the editors of The Times, had no peer in Mis- souri as an editorial writer. His style was original, highly figurative and ornate. Edwards was editor of The Times from 1868 to 1873, when he went to St. Louis and was employed on the staff of The Dispatch. He returned to Kansas City and again became editor of The Times in 1887, occupying the position until his death, in 1889. Edwards published "Shelby and His Men" in 1867; "Shelby's Expedition to Mexico" in 1872; and "Noted Guer- rillas," in 1880. This editorial, entitled "Poor Carlotta," published in The Times of May 29, 1870, is a fair example of Edward's style :
"Dispatches from Europe say that the malady is at its worst, and that the young widow of Maximillian is near her death hour. Ah! when the grim king does come, he will bring to her a blessing and a benediction. The beautiful brown eyes have been lusterless these many months; the tresses of her sunny hair have long ago been scorched with fever and pain; the beau- tiful and brave young Spartan, rich in energy, in love, in passionate devo- tion, knows no more the roses and lawns of Miramar; the Mediterranean brings no more from over perilous seas the silken pennon of her fair-haired royal sailor lover. It is quiet about Lacken, where the Empress lays a-dying; but time will never see such another woman die until the world dies.
"It is not much to die in one's own bed, peaceful of conscience and weary. The naked age is crowded thick with little loves, and rose-water lines, and the pink and the white of the bridal toilettes. Here is a queen now in ex- tremity, who reigned in the tropics and whose fate has over it the lurid grandeur of a volcano. A sweet Catholic school-girl she was when the Aus- trian came a-wooing, with a ship of the line for chariot. She played mu- sical instruments; she had painted rare pictures of Helen, and Omphale in the arms of Hercules, and Jeanne d'Arc with the yellow hair, and the pen- sive Roland-her of the Norman face-over whose black doom there still flits a ruddy fervor, streaks of bright Southern tint, not wholly swallowed up of death. Yes! it was a love-match, rare in king-craft and court cunning. Old Leopold's daughter married with the flags of three nations waving over
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her, amid the roar of artillery and the broadsides of battleships. The sea gave its sapphire bloom and the skies their benison. Afar off French eagles were seen, alas! to shadow all the life of the bride with the blood of the husband. The nineteenth century witnessed the heroic epic which darkened to such a tragedy. She came to Mexico bringing in her gentle hands two milk white doves, as it were, Charity and Religion.
"Pure as all women ; stainless as an angel guarded child; proud as Edith of the swan's neck; beautiful; a queen of all hearts where honor dwelt mis- tress of the realms of music; rare in the embroidery she wove; having time for literature and letters; sensuous only in the melody of her voice; nevel a mother-it was as though God had sent an angel of light to redeem a barbaric race and sanctify a degraded people. How she tried and how she suffered, let the fever which is burning her up give answer. It is not often that the world looks upon such a death-bed. Yet in the rosy and radiant toils of the honeymoon, a bride came to govern an empire where armies did her bidding, and French Marshals, scarred at Inkermann and Solferino, kissed with loyal lips her jeweled hand and murmured through their gray moustaches words of soldierly truth and valor. She sate herself down in the palace of the Montezumas and looked out amid the old elms where Cortez's swart cavaliers had made love in the moonlight, their blades not dry with the blood of morning's battle; upon Chepultepec, that had seen the cold glitter of American steel and the gleam of defiant battle flags; upon the Ale- mada where Alvarada took the Indian maiden to kiss, who drove the steel straight for his heart, and missed, and found a surer lodgment in her own.
"All these were bridal gifts to the Austrian's bride-the brown-eyed, beautiful Carlotta. Noble white vision in a land of red harlots, with soft, pitying, queenly face; hair flowing down to the girdle and as true a heart as ever beat in woman's bosom. As a Grecian statue, serenely complete, she shines out in that black wreck of things a star.
"It came suddenly, that death of her lover and her husband. It dared not draw near when the French eagles flew, but afterward what a fate for one so royal and so brave. God shielded the tried heart from the blow of his last words, for they were so tender as to carry a sorrow they could not heal. 'Poor Carlotta!' Youth, health, reason, crown, throne, empire, armies, hus- band, all gone. Why should the fates be so pitiless and so unsparing?
"Somewhere in eternity within some golden palace walls, where old im- perial banners float, and Launcelots keep guard, and Arthurs reign, and all the patriot heroes dwell, her Maxmillian is waiting for his bride. Long ago that spotless soul has been there. Let death come quickly and take the body, and end its misery and subdue its pain. All that is immortal of Carlotta is with her husband. The tragedy is nearly over. In an age of iron and
WILLIAM ROCKHILL NELSON.
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steam and armies and a world at peace, it remained for a woman to teach nations how an empress loves and dies. Who shall dare to say hereafter that there is nothing in blood or birth? What gentle sister in the struggle and turmoil of life, will look away from that death-bed in Lacken Castle, and not bless God for being a woman and of the sex of her who is dying for her king and her empire? Sleep! the angels have no need of sleep. Nothing suffices love. Having happiness, one wishes for Paradise; having Paradise, one wishes for Heaven. There is a starry transfiguration mingled with her crucifixion. The crown is almost hers, and in the beautiful garden of souls she will find once more the monarch of her youth."
Augustus Thomas, the playwright, worked for the old Kansas City Times. His last important assignment was the "story" of President Cleve- land's visit in October, 1887. Arthur Brisbane, the $50,000 a year editorial writer for the publications of William R. Hearst, was a writer for The Times.
The Kansas City Star was founded as a four-page evening newspaper, September 18, 1880. In January, 1882, it purchased and absorbed the Even- ing Mail, and older newspaper. The Star purchased The Kansas City Times, a morning newspaper, in October, 1901, which it issued for a few weeks at a separate subscription price. The Times appeared as a morning edition of The Star, November 18, 1901, retaining its distinctive title for convenience only. Since that date, the evening, morning and Sunday editions of The Star have been circulated for a single subscription price.
The Sunday edition of The Star was established April 29, 1894. A weekly edition of The Star was founded March 5, 1890. It was the first weekly newspaper in America to be sold for a subscription price of 25 cents a year.
William R. Nelson and Samuel E. Morss, who had been owners of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Sentinel, were the founders of The . Kansas City Star. Mr. Morss's connection with the enterprise was brief. Within a few months his health failed so seriously that he was obliged to give up work entirely and devote several years to his physical restoration. Later Mr. Morss became the owner of the Indianapolis (Ind.) Sentinel and in President Cleveland's second administration he was Consul General at Paris.
William Rockhill Nelson was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., March 7, 1841. His father, Isaac deGroff Nelson, a native of New York state, held various public trusts, and was identified with the upbuilding of the state during the greater part of a long and busy life which ended in 1891. W. R. Nelson studied law and was admitted to the bar, but soon entered other and more active fields of employment. He was interested in the Nicholson pavement patents and introduced that pavement into many cities. For a time he built bridges and for another period was a cotton planter in Georgia. His inces-
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