USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume I > Part 66
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In 1901 Captain Ruppe became the chief moving spirit in the organ- ization of the Association of Volunteer Firemen of New Mexico, and was its president up to 1905. Besides his pharmacy he is one of the owners of the works of the Albuquerque Pressed Brick & Tile Company, which was incorporated in the spring of 1906 by Captain Ruppe and W. J. John- son.
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THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
The first printing press ever used in New Mexico was brought from Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1835, by Don Santiago Abreu. The press was set up at Taos, and there the first newspaper in the Territory was printed Father Martinez controlled this paper, called El Crepusculo (The Dawn), for his own political advancement, and it was continued only a few weeks, until its political end was achieved. According to records in the posses- sion of Mrs. Petra B. Abreu, of Rayado, after the death of Abreu, his widow sold the press to Father Martinez. It will be remembered that the Kearny Code was printed on an old press brought to the capital by Gen- eral Kearny in 1846. The second paper in Taos was El Heraldo, estab- lished by Sancho Valdez ; the Taos Cresset was established by Frank Stap- lin, and succeeding it is La Revista de Taos, the present weekly paper, which was founded by Jose Montaner March 15, 1902.
The first English paper in New Mexico was the Santa Fé Repub- lican, published in 1847, shortly after the American occupation. In the same year was begun the publication of the Santa Fe New Mexican, which was discontinued, and the present paper of that name dates from 1862. The Santa Fé Gazette was published between 1851 and 1860, on the press used to print the. Kearny Code.
Of the sixty odd periodical publications in New Mexico at this time, with only two or three exceptions, none of them date their beginning before the eighties. In 1850 there were only two newspapers in the Ter- ritory, and there was no increase in the next decade. In 1870 there were five publications, the number being increased during the following ten years to 18.
The New Mexico newspapers in 1882 were the following :
Albuquerque-Journal, daily and weekly ; Review, Revista, Miner and Manufacturer.
Bernalillo-Nezes.
Deming-Headlight.
Georgetown-Silver Brick.
Golden-Retort.
Las Vegas-Gazette, daily and weekly; Optic, daily and weekly; Re- v'ista Catholica, Mining World.
Las Cruces-Rio Grande Republican.
Lordsburg-Advance.
Mineral Hill-Mining City News.
Mesilla-News.
Raton-New's and Press.
Silver City-New Southwest, Mining Chronicle, Telegram.
Santa Fé-New Mexican, daily and weekly; Mining News, Nuevo Mexico, Christian Advocate, Democrat, Military Review.
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San Lorenzo-Red River Chronicle, Cronica.
Tiptonville-Mora County Pioncer.
White Oaks-Golden Era.
The periodical publications of New Mexico, according to the Amer- ican Newspaper Directory for 1904, were sixty-three in number, consist- ing of five daily and fifty-seven weekly papers, and one monthly publica- tion. Classified according to alphabetic order of towns, they are, witlı dates of founding, as follows :
Alamogordo-News, established 1896. Otero County Advertiser, estab- lished 1900.
Albuquerque-Citizen, daily, established 1886, the weekly in 1891 ; Journal-Democrat, daily, establish 1880; Weekly News, established January, 1897; Bandera Americana, Hormiga Deoro, both weeklies, and Abogado Cristiana, monthly; Industrial Advertiser, established 1889. At Old Albu- querque is El Indito, established 1900.
Aztec-San Juan County Index, established 1888.
Capitan-News.
Carlsbad-Argus, established 1889; Current, established 1892; Miner- Stockman.
Cerrillos-Comet (weekly), established February, 1882.
Clayton-El Fenix, established 1899; Enterprise, established 1889.
Deming-Graphic; Headlight, established 1880.
Farmington-Hustler, established January, 1901; San Juan Times, established 1891.
Gallup-Mckinley County Republican, established 1888.
Hillsboro Sierra County Advocate, established 1883.
Las Cruces-Citizen; El Labrador, established 1897; El Tiempo, es- tablished 1882; Progress, established 1886; Rio Grande Republican, estab- lished 1881.
Las Vegas-Optic, daily and weekly, established 1879; Advertiser, El Independiente, established 1894; La Vos del Pueblo, established 1888; Revista Catholica, established 1875.
Lordsburg-Western Liberal, established 1887.
Portales-Herald, established 1902; Times, established 1903.
Raton-Gazette, established 1898; Range, established 1881 ; Reporter, established 1890.
Red River-Prospector, established 1900.
Roswell-Record, established daily in 1902, weekly in 1891; Pecos Valley Stockman, established 1900; Register, established 1888.
San Marcial-Bee, established 1892.
Santa Fé-New Mexican, daily, and New Mexican Review, weekly, established 1862; Bulletin, established December, 1902; El Boletin Popu- lar, established 1885; El Nuevo Mexicano, established 1865.
Silver City-Enterprise, established 1881; Independent, established 1896.
Socorro-Chieftain, established 1882; Republicano.
Springer-Colfax County Stockman, established 1882.
Taos-La Revista de Taos, and Cresset, established 1894.
Tres Priedras-Mining Reporter, established September, 1903.
Tucumcari-Quay County Democrat, established January, 1902; Times.
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Wagon Mound-El Combate, established October, 1902. White Oaks-Eagle, established 1885.
The weekly edition of the New Mexican was first issued in Santa Fé in 1863 by Manderfield & Tucker, editors and proprietors. The office was then situated on what is now known as Galisteo street, on the north side of the River Santa Fe, between Water street and the river. It was located for several years in a one-story adobe building which was torn down about twenty years ago. It appeared partly in the English and partly in the Spanish languages. It continued as a weekly until July, 1868, when it was made a daily. The line of the Western Union Telegraph Company had been constructed to Santa Fé and telegraphic communications to Den- ver, to the north, and with Kansas City, to the east, had been obtained. From 1868 to 1880 it was the only daily paper in New Mexico.
The weekly edition was continued. On March 1, 1881, the owner- ship was changed, Manderfield & Tucker having sold their interests to a corporation organized by officials of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway Company. On June 1, 1883, ownership was transferred to Max Frost, then register of the United States land office in Santa Fé, and W. H. Bailhache, then receiver of the United States land office in Santa Fé. The paper was conducted by them as managers and editors until 1885, when a stock company was organized under the name of the New Mexican Printing Company, of which Max Frost, W. H. Bailhache and C. B. Hay- ward were the stockholders. From June 1, 1883, to January 1, 1894, Col. Frost was the president and manager of both the private and incor- porated company and the editor of the daily and weekly editions. A Spanish edition of El Nuevo Mexicano, published weekly, was inaugu- rated July 1, 1892. This edition is also an active publication at this date. On January 1, 1894, control of the corporation went from Col. Frost, who was the leading stockholder, to W. T. Thornton, then governor of the Territory of New Mexico, and associates. The paper, which had been Republican from date of its issue to Januarv 1, 1904, was turned into a Democratic organ and remained such until January 25, 1897, when Col. Frost and his associates again secured control. The policy of the three issues was changed on that date and the papers became again adherents and advocates of the principles of the Republican party.
The Daily New Mexican is the oldest daily paper south of Denver west of Topeka and east of San Francisco. The weekly edition is the oldest weekly west of Topeka, south of Denver and east of San Francisco. The daily has grown from a four-column folio quarto of four pages to an eight-page seven-column quarto. The weekly edition, which is called the New Mexican Review, is also an eight-page paper.
Col. Max Frost became connected with the paper first in the capacity of a correspondent on May 1, 1876; thereafter in a reportorial and editorial capacity and on the first of June, 1883, assumed editorial charge, which he has continued ever since except from January 1, 1894, to January 25, 1897. During his connection with the paper he was adjutant general of the Territory, appointed by three governors-acting Governor W. G. Ritch, Governor Lew Wallace and Governor Lionel A. Sheldon. He served as colonel of the first regiment of militia by commission of Governor Shel- don from July 1, 1882, to July 1, 1886, when he resigned. He was register of the United States land office from December, 1881, to May 1, 1885. He
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has served as county commissioner of Santa Fé county and member of the city board of education, and has been secretary of the bureau of immi- gration twelve years.
The first newspaper to be published in the English language in the old town of Albuquerque, so far as can be learned, was established about 1860 by Theodore S. Greiner, and named the Review. It was published weekly. He sold it two or three years later to Hezekiah S. Johnson, aft- erward judge of the district court, who in turn sold it to M. Ashe Upson. The latter changed the name to that of Rio Avajo Press. In the mean- time Johnson had gone east, about 1865, and upon his return in 1867 he purchased the paper from Upson and published it under the name of the Albuquerque Review. In 1869 Major H. R. Whiting took possession and published it as a semi-weekly in English and Spanish. The year follow- ing it passed into the possession of Dr. John Symington, and a year later was purchased by Norberto Saabedra, who published it in Spanish, but under the name of the Review. Saabedra sold it soon afterward to William Me- Ginnis, and the latter sold it to W. H. Bailhache, who continued its pub- lication until J. G. Albright moved the Santa Fé Democrat to Albuquerque, in 1882, when the Review was merged with the new paper under the name of the Democrat.
June 5, 1880, the first daily was issued, Daily Golden Gate, the pub- lisher and editor heing E. W. Deer. He died in the fall of 1880 and the paper came into the hands of James A. Spradling as Albuquerque Repub- lican. Thomas Hughes bought out Spradling and sold to the Journal Publishing Company.
The Daily Journal at Albuquerque was founded by Daniel Taylor, Thomas Hughes and Mr. Messenger, in connection with a job office. W. S. Burke as head of the newly organized Albuquerque Publishing Com- pany bought them out in the fall of 1881. They began its publication in 1882. W. S. Burke has been with the paper ever since J. C. Albright, who began publishing the Santa Fe Democrat January 1, 1882, brought his Democrat down from Santa Fé and, buying the Journal, merged it with the Democrat, the Albuquerque Democrat. It continued thus to 1894 or 1895, when A. A. Grant bought the entire outfit and continued it as the Journal-Democrat for two or three years. Since 1897 or 1898 the paper has been known as the Journal. In politics always Republican except when Albright had control.
W. S. Burke, editor, was born in Brownsville, Pa., November 2, 1835. He never attended school. He learned the printers' trade in the Intelli- gencer office in Wheeling, W. Va., 1853, and one and one-half years later moved to Iowa. He afterward went to Council Bluffs, where he had a job in the Nonpareil office, and finished his trade in 1856. Buying the Nonpareil office in 1863, he ran it to 1868, when he moved to Leaven- worth, Kansas, and bought the Bulletin. One and one-half years later he sold it to D. R. Anthony and remained as editor of the Times-Anthony's paper-until 1880, when he came to New Mexico. In 1881 he bought the Albuquerque Journal, and the rest of his record is in the history of the Journal.
Mr. Burke served in the Civil war, raised a company for the Seven- teenth Iowa Infantry, Colonel J. W. Rankin, and served in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. He was first superintendent of schools for
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Bernalillo county and founded the system in Bernalillo county, then in- cluding Albuquerque and Old Albuquerque.
Other papers at Albuquerque have been: The Adobe Land, by C. E. Stivers; Daily Times, by J. H. Hurd and W. Kite; The Montezuma, by O'Connor Roberts and Howard W. Mitchell (monthly) ; Southwestern Il- lustrated Magasine, by George F. Albright & Company; Sunshine, by Rev. Jacob H. Kaplan; The Barbarian, by Rev. Jacob H. Kaplan.
The Evening Citizen of Albuquerque was established in 1885 by Charles L. Hubbs. In the fall of 1886 it was purchased by Thomas Hughes, who was its proprietor and editor until William T. McCreight purchased half interest in 1888 and became its business manager and city editor.
Before this McCreight was telegraph and city editor, besides fore- man and typesetter, on both the Morning Journal and Daily Democrat. He was for many years the acknowledged fastest and cleanest type-setter in the Rocky mountains regions, and in several type-setting contests in the early days of Albuquerque, with swifts who showed up, he frequently made an average of from 2,000 to 2,400 ems of brevier per hour, fat barred, in a race of from eight to nine hours' composition, and was never de- feated.
In those early days, twenty odd years ago, it was conceded that Albu- querque had the fastest set of old-line case type-setters in the country, . and among the names were W. F. McCreight, Oscar Harell, Frank Wandress, Joe Prentiss, Charles Beach, "Shorty" Evans, Frank Hall and Harry Howe.
The Evening Citizen was conducted by Hughes and McCreight until April 1, 1905, and on account of the serious illness of Mr. Hughes it was sold to a company, of which W. S. Strickler, vice-president and cashier of the Bank of Commerce, is the president, W. T. McCreight being re- tained as its business manager and city editor.
Mr. Hughes came to Albuquerque in the spring of 1881, from Marys- ville, Kansas, and in the fall of that year purchased the Albuquerque Morning Journal from James A. Spradling, the founder of the paper. He conducted it for a year or two with Daniel Taylor and Maurice Messenger as his partners, and later it was sold to a company composed of Governor E. S. Stover, Franz Huning, Judge W. C. Hazeldine and several others, who took some little stock in the company. The paper finally collapsed under bad management from various imported managers, who ran it heavily into debt, and at a public sale Colonel J. G. Albright, the pub- lisher and editor of the Daily Democrat, purchased the plant and good will and Associated Press morning franchise for a mere song. In later years the Daily Democrat went on the rocks under the proprietorship of Colonel Albright, and A. A. Grant, extensive railroad contractor and owner of all the public utilities of Albuquerque at that time, lifted a mort- gage of about $9,000 held on the Democrat by Thomas B. Catron, and became the owner of the paper. It was conducted under the hyphenated name of the Journal-Democrat for several years and finally the name of Democrat dropped. Since then A. A. Grant has died and the paper is now owned by his son, Daniel Grant, who lives in Los Angeles.
Mr. Hughes was postmaster of Albuquerque for four years and served Bernalillo county in the council of the Teritorial legislature for four terms. He was the shrewdest Republican politician in Bernalillo county
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
and city of Albuquerque. At the time of his death, which occurred on June 30, 1905, he was fifty-nine years of age. He was one of the best editorial writers in the southwest and could say as much in half a dozen lines as it would take an ordinary writer to say in a column or more, and especially strong was Mr. Hughes in political campaigns. He and McCreight were bosom friends and partners since the inception of the town of Albuquerque and no one deplored his death any more than Mc- Creight.
W. T. McCreight is a native of Kentucky, his old home being Shelby- ville. He published a paper when eighteen years old in Franklin and Padu- cah, Kentucky. In September, 1880, he left Paducah for St. Louis and on September 12th he picked up the Globe-Democrat and read a want-ad. for a printer to go to New Mexico, it being signed James A. Spradling, care Lindell House, St. Louis. He answered the ad., little thinking that his application would be accepted. His application was to the point, a copy of which he still has in his possesion. It reads: "I am a printer. Merit will tell." Mr. Spradling received thirty-eight applications that day, but they all knew too much, and he accepted McCreight. This is how McCreight came to New Mexico, he landing in the old town of Albuquerque (for the new town was only a few tent saloons and dance halls) on the morning of the 17th of September, 1880. Besides being a printer and an all-around newspaper man, he was an athlete and enjoyed all kinds of outdoor sports. He organized the first baseball club of the southwest and for years was captain and manager of the champion club of the southwest, Browns and Maroons. He organized the first typo- graphical union of the southwest at Albuquerque and is a charter mem- ber of the present Typographical Union. He has always stood by union- ism, but is outspoken in opposing the payment of the same wages to in- competents that it paid to competent workmen. He was foreman of the Schenfield and later the Ferguson hook-and-ladder company and after- ward served four years as the chief of the volunteer fire department of Albuquerque. He organized the first athletic association of Albuquerque and was its first president. He was one of the prime movers in the or- ganization of the New Mexico Volunteer Fire Association and at the first convention held in Albuquerque was elected its first president. In his career he entered politics and ran for city clerk of Albuquerque, being elected over a very strong candidate, R. W. Hopkins, the present post- master, by a handsome majority. In the early days he was secretary of the New Mexico Editorial Association and represented that association at the next annual convention of the National Editorial Association at St. Paul, Minnesota, he being the first member from New Mexico to attend a national association of editors and newspaper men generally. He has a wonderful memory and can almost tell every important event which has happened in Albuquerque since the inception of the town. His memory on names of persons and their initials is equally as wonderful, while his spelling and knowledge of the country are beyond contradiction. The rea- son that he is not rich is his well known liberality, and he has helped many a young man out of the hole. For some months in 1882 McCreight was business manager and editor of the Daily Sun, published at Socorro, ar- riving there during the stormy days preceding the lynching of Joe Fowler, a cow-boy who had killed half a dozen. Several of the leaders of the
W. T. McCreight
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vigilantes are now living at Socorro. McCreight is probably the oldest American printer from the states, not in age, but in actual service, in the southwest.
La Bandera Americana, interpreted the American Banner, a Spanish paper published weekly at Albuquerque, is edited by Nestor Montoya, with Frank A. Hubbell as president and treasurer of the publishing com- pany. The paper was established May 6, 1895, by Manuel Salazar y Otero and on the 3rd of August, 1901, was purchased by its present own- ers, Messrs. Hubbell and Montoya. In 1891 Manuel Salazar y Otero had established at Los Lunas a weekly called La Cronica, which he conducted until La Bandera was founded. The latter is a strong Republican paper and the leading organ of the party among the Spanish papers in New Meixco.
Nestor Montoya, the editor, was born in Albuquerque and was edu- cated at St. Michael's college in Santa Fé. He was recommended by Con- gressman Elkins, then a delegate to congress, for a cadetship at Annapolis. He was employed in the postoffice of Santa Fé for about seven years under three postmasters and afterward went to old Mexico, spending a year in Chihuahua with an uncle. Subsequently he engaged in merchandising in Valencia county, New Mexico, for two years, when, again taking up his abode in Santa Fé, he founded La Vos del Pueblo in 1889 in connection with E. H. Salazar. Two years afterward he sold a half interest to Felix Martinez, but remained as editor for Martinez and Salazar at Las Vegas. Since 1884 he has been continuously official interpreter of the courts in the first judicial, now the fourth judicial district, and in the second dis- trict since coming to Albuquerque in 1895. He is filling the position of interpreter at the present time. In 1902 he was elected to the thirty-fifth session of the Territorial legislature from Bernalillo county and was chosen speaker of the house. In 1904 he was elected to the council from Berna- lillo county. He is a stanch Republican and one who has wielded a wide influence in public affairs, his opinions often being a decisive factor in matters of public moment. For eight years he was secretary of the Repub- lican county central committee of Bernalillo county and is a prominent member of the Knights of Columbus.
The first newspaper at Cimarron, then the county seat of Colfax county, was printed in 1872 or 1873 by Dawson, the enterprise being owned by the Maxwell Land Grant Company. Coogler succeeded Dawson as editor, and Thomas Henderson and "Colonel" Henry Whigham ran it later. When the county seat of Colfax was removed to Springer the paper ceased publication.
The Colfax County Stockman at Springer was founded in April, 1881, by the Northern New Mexico Cattle Company, composed of Senator Dor- sey, M. W. Mills, Jacob Taylor, Jack Howell. The company afterward leased it to Captain Henry Sturges, who conducted it for ten years. Since September 16, 1893, the Stockman has been owned and edited by Joseph Frank Hutchinson, who bought the plant from the cattle company.
In his reminiscences S. M. Ashenfelter states that in 1871 only one paper was published in all of southern New Mexico-the Borderer, at Las Cruces. It was edited by N. V. Bennett, brother of Judge C. Bennett, and the subscription price was six dollars per annum. It was published weekly and devoted much attention to Silver City.
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The Silver City Tribune was published at Silver City as early as 1873. It was a folio, six by nine inches. In 1882 a daily paper called the Tele- gram, the same size as the Tribune, was started. These had a short ex- istence, as did the Watchdog, another miniature paper, established in 1882.
The Eagle was established at Silver City August 22, 1894, by A. J. Loomis and H. L. Oakes. Early in the following year the former pur- chased Mr. Oakes' interest, and has owned the paper since. In 1896 Mr. Loomis purchased the plant of the Southwest Sentinel, one of the oldest papers in southern New Mexico, and added it to that of the Eagle. Having gone into the government service and being unable to give the paper proper attention he suspended its publication at Silver City in March, 1900, and the paper was not issued from that time until March 17th of the present year, when, having removed the plant from Silver City to Santa Fé, he resumed its publication here. Mr. Loomis is the owner and editor.
The Silver City Enterprise, which succeeded the Sentinel, its editor and owner since July, 1901, having been F. A. Bush, was founded October 25, 1882, by W. A. Leonard & Company, editors and publishers, who were succeeded by Leonard & Hawkins, they by Leonard & Cobb, they by Leonard & Sheridan. In 1890 Joe E. Sheridan bought the paper and published it until 1894, when he sold to L. M. Fishback, who in December, 1899, sold to Charles F. Grayson, who was Mr. Bush's immediate prede- cessor.
The Pecos Valley Argus, which was founded at Carlsbad, Eddy county, in 1889, by the Pecos Irrigation & Investment Company, was first edited by Richard Rule. In 1902 William T. Reed and A. D. Green bought the paper from the company, and in the following year Mr. Reed became sole proprietor. In 1893 the name was changed to the Carlsbad Argus. L. O. Fullen has been the editor since 1903. This was the first paper estab- lished in Eddy county. William T. Reed, owner of the Argus, a native of Columbus, Ky., has been in the newspaper business twenty-seven years in Kansas, at El Paso, Texas, and in New Mexico since 1881. He has been identified with the Pecos valley since 1888 and helped lay out the Carlsbad townsite. He was foreman of the Argus some time before he purchased the plant.
The first paper at Deming was the Headlight, founded in 1880, and disposed of in succession to Edward Pennington, S. M. Ashenfelter, Walton, George L. Shakespeare, the present proprietor. The Headlight issued a daily during the Spanish-American war.
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