Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 49

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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A great feature in the history of the political newspapers of Cincinnati in the late "twenties" was the work of Charles Hammond in reviewing the conduct of public men. His political discus- sions with Dawson and the advocates of General Jackson aroused attention throughout the coun- try. He became so wrapped up in his opposition to Jackson as to publish for a time the well known campaign paper, Truth's Advocate, an anti-Jackson expositor which brought out from Dawson a similar sheet, the Friend of Reform and Corruption's Adversary. These papers, ed- ited with great ability but with very little regard to the decent proprieties of journalism, reached the circulation of about five thousand copies cach.

The Directory of 1829 gives the dailies as the Daily Gasette and the Daily Advertiser, the semi- weeklies as the National Republican and Adver- tiser and the weeklies as the Pandect, Chronicle and Literary Gasette, Liberty Hall and Cincin- nati Gasette, Western Tiller and the Sentinel. In 1831 the National Republican of Looker & Reynolds is added to the list of the dailies. Ham- mond is given as the editor of the Gasette and E. S. Thomas of the Advertiser. The two semi- weeklies, the American and Advertiser, were ed- ited by I. Thomas and M. Dawson, respectively. The weeklies were the Chronicle of E. Deming, Journal of A. Blanchard, Western Tiller of J. P. Foote and Sentinel and Star of J. C. Waldo. Three years later, in 1834, there survived Ham- mond's Gasette, Dawson's Advertiser, the Chron- icle and Literary Gasette, still published by Dem- ing and edited by Samuel Yorke At Lee, the Re- publican, edited by James Allen, and Democratic Intelligencer, edited by W. F. Thomas. The

Directory of 1836 gives four dailies,-the Gasette, still edited by Hammond and published by L'Hommedieu. & Company, with office in the L'Hommedien Building; the Republican of Looker & Ramsay, edited by Charles R. Ram- say on the north side of Third between Main and Walnut ; the Whig of James F. Conover on

the northeast corner of Second and Main, and the Evening Post of E. S. and L. F. Thomas on the west side of Main between Front and Second. Moses Dawson's Cincinnati Advertiser and Ohio Phoenix still appears as a semi-weekly and among the weeklies there were James G. Bir- ney's Philanthropist, the Mirror, published by Flash, Ryder & Company and edited by Shreve and Gallagher, as well as such papers as the Cin- cinnati Journal and Western Luminary of Rev. Thomas Brainerd; Cross and Baptist Journal, Western Christian Advocate, People's Echo, German Franklin and Farmer and Mechanic. It would be unprofitable and almost impossible to give detailed accounts of each of these journals, many of which had but a short life.

The Cincinnati Mirror, which was started in 1831 by John H. Wood, deserves special mention by reason of its editor, William D. Gallagher, one of the most distinguished literary men of the West. This paper was an eight-page quarto published semi-monthly. Subsequently Thomas H. Shreve became joint owner and assistant ed- itor, and in November, 1833, it was enlarged and became a weekly. In April, 1835, as already stated, it was consolidated with the Chronicle, then under the management of James H. Per- kins, who became associated with Gallagher and Shreve as editor. At the end of the year it was sold to James . B. Marshall, who maintained it for three months under the name of The Buckeye, and then sold it to Flash & Ryder. These own- ers took. the old name and the old editors. Gal- lagher and Shreve finally dropped out and J. Reese Fry was editor for a few months. As already stated, its subscription list was finally transferred to the Chronicle.

On the first Monday of January, 1831, the Republican was changed from a semi-weekly to a daily. It was first published by Looker & Reynolds and edited by Bayard. In 1833 Reyn- olds was appointed to a clerkship under Hay- ward, who had gone to Washington, and both he and Looker retired and the proprietors of the paper, in July of this year, were B. B. Reynolds and R. Disney and James Allen, known as "six foot two Allen," was the editor. By the carly part of 1834 Looker had returned to the paper and with Allen owned and edited it. Allen left in November to start a new paper called the Cincinnati Courier which, however, lasted for but two or three numbers. He was succeeded as editor of the Republican, by Charles R. Ramsay.

In September, 1833, Richard F. L'Hommedieu became interested in the Gazette, and upon the

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death of the senior partner, James Lodge, in December, 1835, the firm became known as S. S. and R. F. L'Hommedieu. The Gazette bought, in'1834, the first power press used west of the Alleghany Mountains. It had a capacity of 20,000 copies per hour and excited great atten- tion. The second power press in the city was purchased by the book establishment of .Ephraim Morgan in 1835, which also was the year of the importation by the Methodist Book Concern of the first cylinder press. In 1835 the Gasette es- tablished a Price Current sheet, the first in the city. It was conducted by John H. Wood and had but a brief existence. Mr. Coggeshall, in his history of the Cincinnati press, published in the Gasette in the years 1850-51, from which much of this article is quoted, gives many remi- niscences of the political discussions of those days in which the clique of "Jonas, Cist & Co.," "Benton's mint drops," "Goldibus" Robert T. Lytle and "Gildibus" John W. Mason figured at length. Joseph Jonas was the well known jew- eler at the northwest corner of Third and Main and with Charles Cist and Lytle formed the Jackson contingent, who at this time displayed with enthusiasm the hard money called "Ben- ton's mint drops.". Mason had some silver pieces gilded to show that the "mint drops" could be counterfeited as well as notes; under these cir- cumstances the names as above mentioned were given.

A curious incident at this time was the pub- lication in the Gazette of December 3, 1835, of the entire issue of No. 10 of the first volume of Maxwell's Centinel. This occupied four columns. and a quarter of the Gasette, on which there were at the time 28 columns.

Another incident of this year was the estab- lishment by the Gasette of the regular news ex- press by which the President's message was brought to Cincinnati within sixty hours after its publication in Washington at an expense of $200.

Another paper of this period was the Amer- ican, started in the early part of the year 1830 by Isaiah Thomas and Thomas F. Conover. It was a weekly and semi-weekly. Conover was succeeded after a short time by W. J. Ferris. In.1832 the paper advocated Clay and on April 17th of that year was issued as a daily. It lasted but a short time.

Richard Corwine & Sons started a Daily Her- ald in the latter part of the year 1833. Its life was brief. A Jackson campaign paper published during the campaign of 1832 by Joli H. Wood

and edited by Mr. Wood, James J. Faran and Thomas J. Henderson flourished in the year 1832. The MeLean campaign paper, the Demo- cratic Intelligencer, was established in March, 1834, by F. W. Thomas, J. B. Dillon and L. Sharp. It was a daily, tri-weekly and weekly, but did not outlive the year. On April 10, 1835, .J. F. Conover established upon the ruins of the Intelligencer a new paper, the Daily Whig, and on May 6th of the same year E. S. Thomas established the Daily Evening Post. The Harri- son campaign paper, the People's Advocate, was conducted by, John H. Wood and Benjamin Drake from May, 1835, until November of that ycar.

Mr. Thomas' paper, the Post, succumbed to the lack of patronage in December, 1839. Mr. Thomas himself was a man of great public spirit and particularly interested in the development of art in the West. He did much to bring to public attention the sculptors Clevenger, Brackett and Powers and the painters Beard and the elder Frankenstein. He died in this city in the year 1847 and was buried in Spring Grove. At the head of his grave stands . the life-like portrait bust carved by Clevenger, said to be the first por- trait bust carved west of the mountains.

The Whig of Mr. Conover terminated its lively existence a little earlier, some time in the latter part of 1838. Mr. Conover had the year before turned over his interest in the paper to Henry E. Spencer, so as to enable him to devote his time to the Cincinnati Gas Company, of which he was president.

Moses Dawson's Advertiser took to itself in the latter part of the year 1839 the paper known as the Journal, which had been established for a few weeks and associated with him as editor of the new paper known as the Advertiser and Jour- nal the well known writer and publicist, Elwood . Fisher. The paper was discontinued in the year 1840, at which time the Enquirer, which of course was Democratic in politics, took its place.

In 1836 William A. Harper, who had been connected with the Republican and had disposed of his interest to Looker & Ramsay, issued pro- posals to a new paper to be called the Western World. This was the first penny paper in the city. Mr. Harper lacked the necessary capital and the paper died after 25 issues. Mr. Harper's place on the Republican had been taken by Oth- niel Looker, Jr. The Republican soon expe- rieneed a change of faith, for upon the retire- ment of Mr. Ramsay in 1840 and the accession of Ezekiel Graham and C. S. Todd it was

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changed from a Jackson organ to the advocacy of Harrison. James Looker retired from the paper in December, 1840. Mr. Todd acted as editor and was assisted by John B. Russell. The paper ceased in 1841, as a result of so many political changes.

A campaign paper of 1836 was the People's Echo, established by the veteran in this linc, John H. Wood, who, however, had switched from Jackson to Harrison.

A paper called the Daily Express, which had a life of about two years, was established in 1837 by Joseph Reese Fry, who cssayed to furnish commercial notices and discussions of the Cin- cinnati markets. John H. Wood was connected with this paper as assistant editor.

The story of the Chronicle has been referred to in other chapters. This became a business daily paper on the first Monday in December, 1839. It was published by Achilles Pugh and William Dodd and edited by E. D. Mansfield and Benjamin Drake. Drake's connection was ter- minated by his death in the following spring. He was succeeded by John B. Russell, who is said to have been the first individual who could justly claim the title of local editor. . The local depart- ment of the Chronicle became very successful. This, too, was the first paper to give general election returns in systematically arranged ta- bles. Russell retired from this paper in the fall of 1840 to go to the Republican.

The story of The Philanthropist has already been told. Established in the month of April, 1836, by James G. Birney at New Richmond, Ohio, at the age of three months it was removed to Cincinnati, where it was published by Achilles Pugh from the northwest corner of Seventh and Main. Its subscription list numbered 700. "It met with no welcome from the established press of the city, but was regarded as one of those peculiar evils, to be found often in nature as well as in society which are not to be meddled with or mentioned, except by those whose neces- sities render them regardless of contamination. Not more than three numbers of the paper had been presented to the careful people of Cincin- nati when it became apparent that The Philan- thropist must be discontinued or meet with such opposition as was by no means calculated to en- hance the value of types and presses. It was talked about in bar rooms-speculated upon at the corners of the streets and discussed at other lounging places until on the night of the twelfth of July certain individuals were emboldened to take an important step towards calling out an

unmistakable expression of public sentiment." (W. T. Coggeshall in Gasette, June 12, 1851.) This step was the destruction of the printing office and the dismantling of the press. The mob that indulged in this lawlessness met with no attempt on the part of the city authorities to dis- perse them or arrest them and the excuse given for the outrage was that the paper was injuring the trade of the city with the South and keeping slaveholders from purchasing merchandise here. On the following day a placard was posted about the streets warning against the reestablishment of the paper. It was published by the Evening Post with comments calculated to increase the excite- ment. Mr. Pugh called upon the mayor for pro- tection and the mayor thereupon issued a proc- lamation stating that as $100 had been deposited for the purpose he would offer it as a reward for the arrest and conviction of any person con- cerned in the riot. On the following day, July 17th, a handbill was posted about the city offer- ing a reward of $100 for the arrest of Birney as a fugitive from justice. The executive commit- tee of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society issued an address declaring that they would not surrender their rights. This was signed by James C. Lud- low, Rees E. Price, James G. Birney, Isaac Colby, William Donaldson, John Melindy, Gama- liel Bailey, Thomas Maylin and C. Donaldson. On the 20th, Henry L. Tatem carried to the Gasette a call for a public meeting "to decide whether the publication or distribution of aboli- tion papers was longer to be permitted in Cin- cinnati." Many of the signatures of this paper. Charles Hammond declared, had been attached without authority. The anti-abolition meeting was held on Saturday, July 3rd, at the Lower Market house. The postmaster, Father Burke, presided and Morgan Neville, receiver of moneys in the Land Office, was vice-president and Tin- othy Walker, secretary. A committee of 12 was selected to remonstrate with Birney and his asso- ciates. On this committee were Judge Burnet, Josiah Lawrence, Robert Buchanan, Nicholas Longworth. O. M. Spencer, David Loring, David T. Disney, Thomas W. Bakewell, Jolin P. Foote and William Greene. The resolutions, according to Mr. Hammond, were prepared by Messrs. Longworth and Neville, who with Joseph Gra- ham were most active in getting up the demon- stration. They were to the effect that nothing short of the immediate discontinuance of the paper could prevent a resort to violence and that all lawful means should be used to discounte- nance abolition publications in the city, and in-

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structed the committee to request Birney and associates by every motive of patriotism and phi- lanthropy to desist from the publication of the paper and to warn them that, if they persisted, the meeting could not be held responsible for consequences. A correspondence ensued in which the supporters of the paper were firm in their determination not to be deprived of their rights. This correspondence was' published; the Republican, Whig and Post of the daily papers and a number of the weekly and religious jour- nals were particularly severe upon what they denominated the madness of the abolitionists. The Gasette opposed the abolition paper, but more strongly opposed mobs, and as a result this paper was stigmatized as an abolition sheet.

On the evening of July 30th, another meeting was held at the Exchange Coffee House. Joseph Graham acted as president and J. A. D. Bur- rowes as secretary. Here it was resolved that the abolition press should be destroyed and Birney notified to leave the city within 24 hours. At a subsequent meeting of citizens, held at the Court House, these proceedings were ratified. . As a result, on that night the rioters destroyed the printing offices, scattered the type, tore down the press and made riotous demonstrations at the houses of Mr. Pugh, Mr. Donaldson, Mr. Bir- ney and Dr. Colby. The press was thrown into the river, and after refreshments at the Ex- change, a suggestion was made to destroy the Gasette office, but this was overruled. A demon- stration against some blacks in Church alley was stopped for a time by the fire of two guns, but afterwards when the enemy disappeared the houses were looted. After this about midnight , the mayor, who had been a spectator of the pro- ceedings, addressed them to the effect that they might as well disperse. On the ist of August the mayor made some pretense of endeavoring to restore quiet, but the riotous conduct con- tinued for two days and two nights. The friends of law and order called a public meeting for three o'clock on the afternoon of the 2nd of August to be held at the Court House. Among the signers of this call were E. Hulse, Thomas 11. Shreve, Salmon P. Chase and Charles Ham- mond. This meeting, as is well known, was cap- tured by the Lower Market house sympathizers and Burke was elected president, Judge Burnet and Levi James, vice-presidents, and Joseph Gra- ham, who had been most instrumental in the riots, secretary. Resolutions were adopted dep. recating the mobs and offering support to the authorities. On motion of Mr. Graham the

meeting resolved that the abolition press was the cause of all difficulties and a resolution was also adopted praising the discretion, prudence and energy of the mayor and city authorities gen- erally during the great excitement !

The publication of the paper was suspended until Friday, September 3rd, when it appeared with Pugh as publisher and Birney as editor. Although issued from the corner of Seventh and Main, it was printed in Warren County.

As an evidence of the change of sentiment that had taken place in the city even long prior to the war, the statement of Coggeshall, published in 1851, "that a paper as judiciously and ably conducted as The Philanthropist would now be received in Cincinnati under circumstances very different from those which greeted it in 1836," is significant.

The number of penny papers in Cincinnati in the early days seems almost endless. The W'est- ern World has already been mentioned. In 1836 came the Daily Nezes, edited by G. W. Bradbury and E. R. Campbell and lasting 10 months. Two weeks sufficed for the Penny Ledger of S. Bangs. The Cincinnatian, edited by David Martin, was started in 1837 to oppose the Newes. It was the first Democratic penny paper. It failed after six months, and thereupon Martin published one number of the Hamilton County Democrat. The Sun, published in 1837 by John Campbell and edited by E. W. Peck, after a year was merged with the Republican. In 1838 Peter Zinn and Mr. Clark revived the Daily News. It appeared about four months and was then sold to A. Almon. After several changes of ownership, it expired at the end of the next year. After its death Alexander Stimson published the English Tattler, which tattled for three weeks. John D. Logan thereupon conducted The Buckeye for a short time. He was relieved by C. Il. Layton, who carried on the paper for about four months. Then came the Morning Star. published about three weeks by Col. Edward Stiff, who after- wards published for two weeks the Olive Branch.

The Directory of 1840 contains a list of the periodicals at that time published in the city. These included among the dailies the Gasette and the Republican, both Whig; the Journal and Advertiser, Democratic; the Chronicle (liter- ary), and the Newes and Morning Star. both pur- veying general intelligence. The designation "literary" and "general intelligence" were not put in with any invidions intent, however, as it is presumed that the other dailies were covered by both descriptions. The weeklies were the

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Catholic. Telegraph, the Western Christian Ad- vocate ( Methodist ) and The Philanthropist. The monthlies were the Western Temperance Jour- nal, The Ilesperian, Rose of the Valley and Fam- ily Magasinc. The German papers included the Volksblatt, the Friend of Truth, the Catholic weekly and the Christian. Apologist, the Metho- dist weekly.

Mr. Cist's book, "Cincinnati in 1841," gives a list of 29 publications with their circulation and the names of their editors. The Star had disap- peared by this time, while papers not mentioned in the directory are Calvin W. Starbuck's Daily Times and C. H. Layton's Public Ledger of 1,500 and 1,400 circulation respectively.

In 1840 a new crop of penny papers started. The first was the Spirit of the Times, started by Wilmerton, Starbuck' and Browne. It soon be- came the Daily Times of Calvin W. Starbuck, edited by Edward R. Campbell. Campbell was succeeded in August, 1841, by J. D. Taylor. This paper had come to stay and is here to-day.

C. H. Layton was the editor of the Public Ledger, which was started in June, 1840, and soon attained a circulation of 2,000. After sev- eral changes of ownership it expired at the end of five months. Colonel Stiff published the Western Steamer for two weeks in the summer of 1840. In 1842 came The Microscope, which, after four months, was sold out and replaced by The Sun. This was edited by L. G. Curtiss. After a short time it was sold to the "hard money" Democrats and, known as the Journal, was pub- lished by Samuel Lewis and edited by Elwood Fisher. As already stated it soon merged into the Advertiser. In 1843 Colonel Stiff appeared with The Focus for two weeks. W. D. Galla- gher and George S. Bennett published in the fall of 1842 The Message, which, after a month, merged into the Enquirer. In 1843 came the short-lived American Patriot, followed by the Queen City, Visitor and Truc Son. A Daily Commercial also appeared during this year, which was continued for a year under the man- agement of L. G. Curtiss and John L. Hastings. Mr. Hastings sold out to J. W. Browne & Company and the paper continued for a short time with Curtiss as editor .. This paper, after a number of vicissitudes, became firmly established and has continued until the present day.

. The People's Paper of C. II. Layton was started in August, 1843, and was shortly after- wards absorbed by the Evening Times, which published it as a morning appendix. In 1844 came the Archer, Patriot, Bulletin, Evening

Emporium, Mechanic and Queen City. In the spring of 1845 the Evening Neces was printed for a short time in the office of the Cincinnati Atlas, a short-lived paper edited by Nathan Gui !- ford.

Upon the death of Charles Hammond in 1840, John C. Wright, who had been a member of Congress and a judge of the Supreme Court, purchased an interest in the Gazette and became one of its principal editors. W. D. Gallagher acted as assistant with short interruptions until the fall of 1850. After the death of R. F. L'Hommedien, S. S. and Samuel L'Hommedieu sold their interests to John C. and Crafts J. Wright. John C. Vaughan, who had been asso- ciate editor for about four years, retired in 1844. In 1847, I .. C. Turner of Cleveland became as- sistant editor. By this time Brownlow Fisher had purchased an interest in the paper which he retained until November, 1849, when he sold out to W. J. Ferris. The first local editor of the Gazette was John B. Russell, who was succeeded afterwards by Thomas Gales Foster and later by J. R. S. Bond.

On March 5, 1841, John and C. H. Brough, who had been proprietors of the Ohio Eagle, published at Lancaster, purchased the Adver- tiser aud Journal and on Saturday, April 10, 1841, issued the first number of the Daily Ciu- cinnati Enquirer, which was an evening paper. In the spring of 1843 Collard Martin became a third partner. The Enquirer was the first Cin- cinnati paper to establish a regular local column, which was organized by George S. Bennett. In 1844 John Broughi's interest was sold to H. H. Robinson. Several other changes were made until finally, about 1846, the paper was purchased by Gerard, Day & Company, which concern con- sisted of J. H. Gerard, Albert G. Day, James J. Faran, and C. H. Brough. By the retirement of Gerard in 1848, the firm became Day & Con- pany. During the absence of C. H. Brough in the Mexican War, John Brough conducted the paper. When the former was elected presi- dent judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County he sold his interest in the Eu- quirer to James J. Faran and Albert G. Day. Mr. Brough died of cholera May 23, 1849, after a brief illness of but a few hours. Albert Day died in September, 1849, and his interest was represented by Timothy C. Day until it was soll to H. H. Robinson. In 1851 the paper was edited by Faran and Robinson.

In the "Cincinnati Almanac" for 1846 there are listed 16 daily papers. These included many

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of those already mentioned specifically such as the Gascette, Chronicle, Enquirer, Herald, Times, Commercial, four German papers and several evening dailies. The Cincinnati Atlas at this time was edited by Nathan Guilford and was of Whig propensities. A Democratic paper was the Ohio Union of T. B. Drinker who was as- sisted by George P. Burnham. The American Citizen of C. M. Baxter was what was called a "Native American" paper. The Herald of Ga- maliel Bailey, Jr., was, of course, the advocate of the Liberty party. Another paper of special interest was a weekly,-Charles Cist's Western Journal Advertiser. . The list includes also a long number of weeklies, many religious and others devoted to special interests. Two years later the Atlas was edited by E. D. Mansfield and F. A. Foster. Cist's Weekly Advertiser was still edited by this well known historian. From the pages of this paper, Mr. Cist made up his two volumes known as the "Cincinnati Miscellany," which are invaluable to any student of Cincinnati his- tory. Another paper of interest at this time was the Globe, a daily and weekly edited by John C. Vaughan, Stanley Matthews and James W. Taylor. It had quite an elaborate staff for those days. W. J. Sperry is given as the com- mercial editor, and Joseph H. Moore as trans- lator from French and German, while J. V. Smith was the phonographic reporter. Another interesting mention of this period is that of a montlily, the Sidereal Messenger, published by O. M. Mitchel.

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 49

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048