USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 62
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In 1887 St. John & Salmon started in Port Jervis a small quarto called Sunbeams. It was a semi-humorous publication, but the quality or quantity of its revelry failed somehow to attack the risibles of a sufficient clientele of the American public, and its weary publish- ers concluded to let the prosaic citizens plod on in their own dull. flat. Boetian way.
In 1888 N. E. Conkling & Co. started at Chester the Orange County News, a weekly, six-column folio, with N. E. Conkling as editor. It was an independent paper, giving much attention to local news. At times the paper published editions for Unionville and Pine Bush. In February, 1908, the plant was sold to J. B. Gregory, and removed to Monroe, where the latter started the Ramapo Valley Gasette, March, 1908.
In April, 1888, the Cornwall Local appeared at Cornwall-on-Hudson, under the management of H. A. Gates. In September, 1889, he dispose :1 of the plant to C. P. Brate, of Albany, who installed his brother-in-law, Thomas Pendall, a practical printer and bright writer, as editor and pub- lisher. In June, 1892, the Local came under the management of Lynn G. Goodenough, by whom it is still conducted. The paper was classed as in- dependent politically until it came into Mr. Goodenough's possession. In
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1896 he made the Local a republican paper, and as such it became a useful and influential member of Orange County republican newspaperdom. Recently the name of the paper became the Local-Press, as more signifi- cant of a newspaper than the name Local. In 1895 Mr. Goodenough pur- chased Mr. Merritt's right, title and good will in the Cornwall Mirror, and consolidated that publication with the Local.
In 1887 the Walden Citizen came into existence. It is a six-column quarto, republican in politics, well edited by J. H. Reed, and is a newsy and meritorious publication.
A valuable monthly publication was begun in Port Jervis in 1888, when Church Life was issued. It was printed under the auspices of the Re- formed church of that place. It usually appeared in eight pages, with two and three broad columns to a page. Its work was largely that of gather- ing up local historical matters, and one of its most valuable contributors was William H. Nearpass, whose penchant in that direction enabled him to furnish much valuable historical information that otherwise might have been lost to all generations. Another contributor was the Rev. S. W. Mills. D.D., for many years pastor of the Reformed Church of Deer Park. The paper was issued for about fifteen years, but why it was al- lowed to cease no one connected with the church seems to know. It was printed at the Gazette office.
The Orange County Dairyman was started at Middletown in the office of the Mercury and AIrgus, in December, 1888. The publishers were Mac- ardell, Thompson and Barrett ( Cornelius Macardell, Sr .. George II. Thompson, and Leon Barrett, the artist ). Its editor was W. C. Cairns, of Rockland, Sullivan County, better known as "Rusticus." The Dairyman was a five or six-column quarto. It never became profitable, and went out of existence in January, 1890.
The only Sunday paper of the four or more started in this county that seemed to have vitality enough to come down to our day was the Telegram of Newburgh. It was started in 1889 by Edward M. Ruttenber, the ven- crable and learned printer, editor, author and historian who lately passed to his great reward, mourned by all, and beloved and revered by those who knew him best. The Telegram is now published by J. W. F. Rutten- ber, son of its founder. Though started as a Sunday paper. it is now is- sued on Saturday, and is known as The Newburgh Telegram. It is ably conducted, as it always has been. A free lance in principle, it is fearless
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in its assaults, and sometimes makes things very interesting for residents of the Hillside city and its purlieus.
One of the publications that made a sensation at its start- ing, and during its entire career was a subject of wide interest, was called The Conglomerate. It was started June 15, 1890, by patients in the State Homeopathic Hospital at Middletown. The first number was a four-column folio, but it soon grew to a quarto, and its cir- culation increased until, at its zenith, over 3,000 copies were issued. It circulated in all parts of America, had subscribers in New Zealand, an.1 in fact in nearly every country, and its articles were copied everywhere. The Conglomerate stood for reform in lunacy matters, and for this reason, and because of its too outspoken policy against the State's lunacy commis- sion, the authorites caused its suspension. It was gotten out entirely at the State Hospital, where a fully-equipped newspaper and job-printing office was established by the patients under whose tutelage it was called into existence. Its pages were full of bright things. Not only were its editorials able, but its contributions were from brilliant minds, the names of whose writers, for obvious reasons, are withheld. It ceased publication in 1897, after a brilliant career, during which it was eagerly sought, read with avidity, and was a force for good throughout its whole brief career.
On the afternoon of April 29. 1881, appeared in Middletown one of the county's-aye, one of the State's-marvels of journalistic success under the title of the Middletown Daily Times. The first numbers were issued from the Hasbrouck printing office in the Hasbrouck block, corner of North and Depot streets, and was a seven-column folio. While it an- nounced that Lewis S. Stivers and John D. Stivers were editors and pro- prietors, it was understood that ex-Congressman the Hon. Moses Dunning Stivers, their father, stood sponsor for the publication, and this able writer and shrewd politician soon made his personality evident in every issue of the Times. Rapidly did the paper gain in circulation, in influence, and in popular confidence. Congressman Stivers was a man of pronounced per- sonality, had a way of winning friends and retaining them, and with the recent expiration of a successful term in Congress he was in position to build up a powerful country newspaper plant. And that is just what he did. In this work he was most ably assisted by his two sons, whose names appeared at the head of the editorial columns. Lewis S. Stivers was a practical printer, a pressman, and a thorough, all-round mechanical ex-
:
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pert ; young, with a love for the trade-credited by all printers as being not only practical but one of the most capable men in the State. His brother. John D. Stivers, had been his father's private secretary all through his congressional career, had acquitted himself with entire credit, and having been "brought up" in a printing office, was well qualified to enter the editorial department of the establishment. As a reporter, as one ready and quick to grasp the importance of legitimate news, he proved his fitness for the position by keeping the Times in the lead in its local and general news departments. It was under such auspicious conditions that The Middletown Daily Times presented itself to the public every afternoon in the week. except Sunday, and its rapid growth in favor was the fulfillment of the auguries of those who best knew its esteemed sponsor and its man- agers. Within a short time the establishment was removed to the first floor on the James and Henry street corner of the Casino block. Here it remained until it was removed to its present quarters at the corner of King and Center streets, in the handsome four-story brick building of its own, and known as the Times building or Stivers block. Here are fast presses, three Mergenthaler linotype machines and all the necessary ac- coutrements to enable the management to issue one of the best daily newspapers in this country, outside of the larger cities. Its circulation is now daily considerably over 5,000 copies. The death of the Hon. M. D. Stivers and later of his son. Louis S. Stivers, removed two of the brightest members of the Orange County newspaperdom, and necessitated reorgan- ization of the Times Publishing Co., which is now known as the Stivers Printing Company, with John D. Stivers as president and Dr. M. A. Stivers as secretary and treasurer. On February 11, 1906, the Middletown Daily Press merged with the Times and the combination has since issue 1 as the Middletown Times-Press. The editorial writer on the Times and Times-Press since November 1, 1905. has been A. W. Russell, whose bright, well-put comments are one of the features that commend this widely-read journal.
The Newes of Highlands was starte I at Highland Falls in 1891. It is published on Saturdays by F. F. & A. G. Tripp, and is politically inde- pendent or neutral.
In February, 1892, appeared in Port Jervis the Port Jervis Morning Inder, the second attempt in that place to establish a morning daily. It was started by Isaac V. Montanye, of Goshen, an.1 Sherwood Rightmyer,
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his nephew ; was an eight-column folio, independent, or rather neutral, in politics, Mr. Montanye being a democrat and Mr. Rightmyer a republi- can. The Inder was newsy, and well edited, but ceased publication in August of the same year.
Middletown seems to have been the theatre of the sensational in Orange County journalism. The Banner of Liberty, the Whig Press ( whose ed- itor was once caned in the streets for a bit of facetiousness ) ; the Sybil. the Mercury, the Mail, the Standard, the News, the Liberal Sentinel, the Labor Advocate, the Conglomerate-each had its day of riotous jest or caustic invective that set the town "by the cars" for a time.
The latest one to enter this field of humor, sarcasm and expletive was The Forum, the first number of which was issued February 28, 1897, by W. T. Doty and H. W. Corey, and which, within a few weeks, expanded into the Middletown Sunday Forum. The first few numbers were printed in New York for the publishers by one of the "patent inside" concerns, and the warmth of its reception was such that its proprietors felt justified in putting in a plant of their own. The office at first was in the business office of the Casino building, in the second floor, but was later transferred to the first floor of the rear of the same building on Henry street. From the unique "greeting" in the first issue, the following excerpt is made as characteristic of the purposes, course and whole conduct of the publi- cation :
"There are a number of reasons why we have concluded to publish The Forum. First, we want to publish it. Second, there are a number of people who don't want us to publish it. Third, there seems need of a pub- lication in this city that will call a spade a spade. Fourth, we can stop it when we want to. Being able to stop publishing it, if we want to, en- courage us in the idea of starting."
And so it was started, and with a pace that took the whole county by storm. It was exultant, exuberant, jocular, sarcastic, hilarious, but never whining, simpering, brawling or lachrymose. It had features such as no other paper in the county had, and all these peculiarities brought it into wider and wider notoriety, and the editions printed almost invariably fell short of supplying the demand. A leading feature was the "sermons" of "Pastor" Corey. There was a vein of the keenest irony in them, gener- ally of more or less local application, and the demand for these lively satires extended to all classes of citizens-those the severest hit as well as
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those who, from a safe "coign of vantage," liked to watch the unique assaults. Another of its peculiar features was the holding up to ridicule of the driveling "items" and personals sent in by so many cross-roads correspondents of country papers, and which were generally the clever work of "Deacon" Peter F. Kaufman, a local real estate man who always looked on the "funny side" of all events. The unfortunate and severe illness of Mr. Corey necessitated the abandonment of the "sermons." The concern was sold ( December, 1897), to Frank L. Blanchard, of New York, and later ( 1898) to W. T. Doty and Thomas Pendell, of Cornwall. The latter two ran out a daily, The Morning Forum, for some months in 1898. Then Mr. Pendall purchased the outfit, and transferred it to Mas- sena, N. Y. During the two or three years in which The Forum lived in Middletown it "cut a wide swath," and kept the whole surrounding coun- try wondering "what next?" and, had it continued as it began, would have landed its proprietors-who were getting a pile of fun out of the pro- ceeding-in the ranks of the multi-millionaires or in the penitentiary. A unique financial feature of the experiment was the fact that the paper more than paid its own way from the very first issue.
In October, 1898, S. T. Morehouse started at Cornwall-on-Hudson the Cornwall Courier. This was conducted by various parties, including Mr. Morehouse and his son, Claude, by the well-known writer Creswell Mclaughlin, Bernard Call, Clark J. Brown, Clayton Brown, and William Clark, and in 1906. ceased to exist.
The Orange County Record was started at Washingtonville, May 17. 1899. by the Hon. Isaac V. Montanye (since deceased, December 26, 1906) and his nephew. Montanye Rightmyer. Since the death of Mr. Montanye. Mr. Rightmyer is the editor and publisher. The paper is de- voted to local news.
In March, 1908. J. B. Gregory started at Monroe the Ramapo L'alley Gasette. The plant was that of the Orange County Newes at Chester, the paper started in 1888 by N. E. Conkling.
MISCELLANEOUS.
In addition to the above-mentioned so-called "regular publications." there have been numerous amateur, church. society, labor, semi-literary, and other more or less sporadic productions throughout the county from
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the time of the introduction of printing into the county at Goshen in 1788 to the present time.
An enterprise of importance that may be classed under this heading was that of the Franklin Printing Company, starting in Middletown, in 1879. At the head of the concern were James H. Norton, Isaac F. Gui- wits, of Middletown and William H. Nearpass, of Port Jervis. A con- siderable building was erected on Mill street, Middletown, next to the residence of Mr. Norton, and several presses and a finely equipped print- ing establishment was installed, to print "patent insides." A big business was there built up, and continued until the purchase and absorption of the plant by the New York Newspaper Union, and the transfer of the same to that city.
From 1884 to 1886 the United States Official Postal Guide for New York City was printed by W. H. Nearpass at the Port Jervis Gasette office. Anthony M. May & Co. had the contract for this work.
About 1886-7 lawyer T. A. Reid, of Middletown, amused himself for a few months with a paper he called The Jeffersonian.
Soon after, the Rev. Charles M. Winchester, a Free Methodist, came to Middletown, probably in 1879, he started a daily paper which he called The Standard or The Standard-Bearer. It was published in the interests of the temperance cause, and made a considerable excitement during the eight or ten months of its existence.
The Pine Bush Herald is a lateral production of the Walden Herald, and dates from 1904, with George W. Jamison as editor.
Town Life was a weekly issued in Middletown from June, 1904, to January, 1905, by Nelson W. Dix. It was a humorous publication with illustrations by the young publisher, who has a taste and a remarkable aptitude for drawing and cartoon work.
The Orange County Magasine was started in Newburgh in 1906, and in the same year the Goshen Independent Republican issued a side edition called the Chester Independent Republican, with George W. Ball as editor.
The first number of the St. Paul's Herald was issued in August, 1892, and each month thereafter for about one year. It contained eight pages, 9 by 12 inches to a page, and a cover. The Herald was issued in the in- terest of St. Paul's M. E. Church, and Middletown Methodism. The editor and proprietor was Henry P. Powers, the present City Editor of the Middletown Argus, and it was printed at the Times office.
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The Worker's Advocate was startel in Middletown about 1903, and conducted several years by W. H. McCarter, as an independent weekly paper.
The Church Helper was issued under auspices of Drew M. E. Church in Port Jervis, for about one year. The first number appeared in June, 1889. It was a monthly, devoted almost exclusively to church and tem- perance work.
The Parish Monthly has been issued since 1906 by sanction of the Rev. John J. Morris, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Port Jervis. It is a two-column folio, printed by P. J. Gaudy, Port Jer- vis. for the dissemination of local church news.
The Golden Rod is a monthly issued by Frederick Arthur Gates, M.A., pastor of the Ridgebury Presbyterian church, and printed at the office of the Middletown Times-Press. The Associate Editor is Mary C. Clark, with a corps of correspondents. It contains 10 pages and a cover, with two columns to a page, and with a subscription price of 25 cents a year. It has some local news and advertisements, but is devoted mainly to church and temperance work. It was started in January, 1907.
AMATEUR PUBLICATIONS.
The county has seen the birth and death of many amateur publications. The first in the county, so far as now known, and believed to be one of the first in the whole country, was issued in Port Jervis in 1862. It was called The Tiger. It was a diminutive production of four small pages, and was printed on one of the Adams Amateur presses, one of the first made, and the type, furnished by the same concern, was set by the ener- getic young publisher. William Henry Nearpass. The Tiger was issued semi-occasionally, to suit the whim or convenience of the publisher, for two or three years. Mr. Nearpass was then a clerk in the grocery and dry goods store of Charles St. John, at the corner of Pike and West Main streets. Mr. Nearpass was then about twenty-two years of age.
Newburgh has had many of these amateur prints, beginning in 1875. Among them may be mentioned the following: Union Jack. American Eagle, The Comet, The Index. The Collector, The Packet. The Laurel, The Amateur Herald.
In 1877 Port Jervis had the Amateur Guide, and in 1880 The Cricket.
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Academy Miscellany was started by the Port Jervis high school stu- dents in March, 1889, and was discontinued in May, 1895. It was a monthly publication, of eight pages, with two broad columns to a page, was devoted to school matters almost exclusively, and was a bright pub- lication.
The Owl is a bright twenty-page monthly issued by the Middletown high school students, and printed at the office of the Times-Press. It has been issued for several years, and is a particularly commendable school publication, both for the neatness with which it is gotten out, the literary character of its contents, and the business-like character of the publication. The present editor is James A. Rorty, the business man- ager, E. C. Faulkner.
During 1897 The Union School Journal was published by Merritt C. Speidel, now of the Tri-States Publishing Co., Port Jervis, and Hugh M. Cox, now a practicing physician in New York City, who were the editors and managers. It had 12 pages of 10 by 12 inches, three columns to a page, and had a circulation of 500. The publication was devoted to the interests of the schools and to matters of a general educational nature. The paper had the official sanction of the school authorities, and many prominent Orange County writers contributed to it.
THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE COUNTY.
IN ANCIENT GOSHEN.
The Goshen Repository was issued in 1788, by David Mandeville and David M. Westcott, at the Goshen Academy. The nature of the publi- cation seems now unknown; nor is the size of the publication, or its char- acter. In 1793 its office was near the court house. In 1800 it was sold to John G. and William Heurtin, thus showing a life of twelve years-a much better showing than that made by many of its successors there and elsewhere. Messrs. Heurtin changed its name to the Orange County Patriot, and in 1801 William Heurtin sold his interest to William A. Car- penter, when the name was changed to The Friend of Truth. In 1804 it passed to the ownership of Ward M. Gazlay or Gazley, and again its name was changed. This time it became the Orange Eagle. A fire in 1805 in the office singed the Eagle's feathers, but it was enabled to move
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about, and took its flight to Newburgh, where it became the Political Index.
Taking its name from an extinct Newburgh paper, Gabriel Denton, in 1804. issued the Orange County Gazette. Edward M. Ruttenber traces its history to Elliott Hopkins in 1807, to Elliott Hopkins & Co. in 1811, to Elliott Hopkins in 1812, to F. J. & A. D. Houghton in 1813. and to 1818, when it was "printed and published for the proprietor." How long after this it lasted is not known.
In 1808 Gabriel Denton started the Orange County Patriot and Spirit of Seventy-sir. It was doubtless a patriotic publication, probably a jingo organ firing the American heart for another struggle with Great Britain. which came in 1812. In ISHI it was removed to Newburgh by Lewis & Crowell, where it was published as a "new series." T. B. Crowell became its publisher, and announced that its columns were "open to all parties" but were "influenced by none." In 1822 Mr. Crowell moved the paper back to Goshen, and sold it to R. C. S. Hendrie, who, February 22, 1834. sold it to F. T. Parson, who changed its name to the Goshen Democrat. In 1842 Charles Mead associated with Mr. Parson. Nathaniel Webb secured Mr. Parson's interest, and the firm became Mead & Webb, and later Charles Mead & Son, after the death of Mr. Webb. In 1843 R. C. S. Hendrie started the True Il'hig, two years later selling it to Charles Mead. who merged it with his paper under the title of The Goshen Democrat and IFhig. Later the name Il'hig was dropped, and the paper remains to this day the Goshen Democrat. The firm of Mead & Son came into exist- ence January 1, 1865, and continued until January 1. 1892, when the elder Mead sold his interest to Edwin L. Roys. William B. Mead and Edwin L. conducted the establishment under the firm name of Mead & Roys until September 1, 1902, on which date they sold the concern to J. R. Colburn, of Washington, D. C. Two months later (November I. 1902). John F. Barringer, of Walden, bought the plant and, two months later ( January 1, 1903). sold it to John B. Scott and George F. Gregg. who conducted the same under the firm name of Scott & Gregg. until Sep- tember 1. 1905, on which date Mr. Scott sold his interest to George F. Gregg, who has since been its proprietor.
In 1820 Williams & Farrand started the Orange Farmer. Mr. Rutten- ber speaks of this as the Orange County Farmer, but as the copies now in existence bear the title Orange Farmer, the writer is inclined to believe
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the word "County" is a slip of the usually very accurate pen of Mr. Rut- tenber. Its founders were graduates of the Albany Plow-Boy, and aimed to make the Farmer an agricultural publication. How long it lasted is not known. A well-preserved copy of this Farmer is now in possession of Dr. James J. Mills, of Port Jervis. It is volume IV, No. 195, dated November 17, 1823.
About 1822 there moved into Goshen a lusty young pioneer, sixteen years of age, under the patronymic of The Independent Republican. This stripling was born at Montgomery, May 6, 1806, and there christened the Orange County Republican. Under the tutelage of Luther Pratt in 1812, in its sixth year, its name was changed to that of the Independent Republican, and in 1818 James A. Cheevey became its sponsor, and re- moved it to Goshen about 1822. In 1832 the Independent Republican plant was sold to Henry H. Van Dyck, who sold it in 1836 when he became State Senator, to Victor M. Drake, then a young printer twenty-seven years of age, who had for some time been employed in the office, as apprentice and journeyman printer. In 1841 Mr. Drake sold the establishment to Moses Swezey, who came to Goshen from Long Island in 1834 as a violinist and dancing master. He was a fine penman, a good bookkeeper, and an excellent accountant, and became the head clerk for County Clerk Lebbeus L. Vail. As editor of the Independent Republican he wielded a powerful and caustic pen, and became a power in Orange County politics. He was the father of the present Surrogate, John B. Swezey.
In 1846 Mr. Swezey sold the plant to Clark & Montanye. It continued, as it long had been, the local organ of the "Hunker" faction of the Democracy. Late in the '50's Mr. Clark went to Iowa and started a Republican paper. James J. McNally purchased the plant in 1853, and sold it to Isaac V. Montanye in 1857, only to repurchase it, selling it again in 1869 to Edward M. Ruttenber and H. P. Kimber. Mr. Rut- tenber retired, and in 1874 Mr. Kimber sold it to Thomas P. McElrath, an ambitious New Yorker, who had some fond illusions which he hoped to engraft into Orange County journalism. He made friends and foes fast and furious-particularly the foes-and in 1876 retired to New York, utterly disgusted with journalism in Orange County.
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