USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 40
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The Citizen and Gazette in its issue of April 27, 1849, referred to Flem- ing as the manager of the late Dominion adding that he was about to start a Democrat paper at Piqua. The word "late" is one of the mildest adjec- tives which the Citizen and Gazette bestowed upon the Dominion. In those days newspapers handled derogatory adjectives with a reckless abandon which transcended all bounds of politeness and courtesy as these newspaper virtues are understood today.
It is not certain what disposition was made of the plant of the defunct Dominion, but the way it was hawked about would seem to indicate that it was not of much value. The five years prior to the establishment of the present Champaign Democrat in 1855 witnessed a determined effort, albeit an unsuccessful one, to establish a Democratic paper in the county. With- out the files of the papers which appeared during this half decade it is impossible to give their appearance in sequence. About 1851 a printer of the name of Boggs from Springfield sent a printing plant to Urbana and began the publication of the Urbana edition of the Springfield Expositor, and the paper evidently bore the title of the District Expositor. The editor of the new venture was Enoch G. Dial, but the editorial chair evidently did not appeal to him and in a short time the Citizen and Gazette informed the public that Dial had found his duties too onerous and had resigned to accept a position in the state auditor's office. Dial presumably severed his connection with the paper in December, 1851.
A fugitive reference to the Democratic paper in the Citizen and Gascette, in its issue of December 5, 1851, states that "W. F. Mosgrove has sold his interest in the District Expositor to C. D. Mclaughlin and the paper will be conducted by Mclaughlin & Coverdill." No other reference has been seen to either Mclaughlin or Coverdill, and evidently their connection with the local press was short-lived. They were presumably in charge until the paper suspended with the issue of July 30, 1852.
A CHARACTERISTIC "OBITUARY" BY "SPECS".
When the Expositor retired from the field The Citizen and Gazette, in its issue of August 20, 1852, took occasion to bemoan the untimely demise of its competitor. A perusal of its obituary, as prepared by "Specs," shows the peculiar affection which the Whig sheet had for its Democratic adversary. This obituary, with its pathetic references to the earthly career of the departed sheet, is reproduced verbatim as it appears in the Citizen and Gasette of August 20, 1852:
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It is at length our melancholy duty to announce the decease of The Expositor, a paper formerly in the enjoyment of the full tide of insect life. Though politically opposed to us, we bury in its untimely grave all feelings of animosity. It was, to the extent of its limited abilities, a zealous and untiring co-worker with its Loco Foco friends in the task of regenerating the world. As usual, in all great reforms, some individuals are required to do the menial drudgery, while others more adroit succeed in obtaining direction of the vast system of spoliations, and reap the rewards and honors. It is not known that the deceased ever received either. Like unto the similitude of a mill, some of the machinery is used in cleaning filthy grain, some for grinding and some for bolting, according to their capacities. The tolling deceased Inbored in the character of a smut mill.
"If' felt the pulses of the stars, To find out agues, coughs, catarrhs; And told what crisis did divine, The rot In sheep, or mange In swine; In men, what gave or cured the Itch ; What made them cuckolds, poor or rich; What gains or loses, hangs or saves; What made men great, what fools or knaves?"
Through courtesy to its friends ou this mournful occasion, we give a recital of the symptoms and last Illness; in extolling Mr. Pierce for the prospective Presidency, the Espositor was seized with fintness and severe griping of the guts .- A number of young practitioners administered purges and pukes in the enthusiastic notion of curing the ailment.
"That belly which so oft did ache, And suffer griping for their sake."
During its last hours it did not seem to distinguish friends from foes. Its best friend, an officer too, received an indignant kick in the gizzard by an outstretched leg, from the effects of which he has not recovered.
The Expositor lingered with a consumptive wheezing until July 30th, when it expired. Several abortive trials were made by its attached friends to create a gal- vanie life in the stinking remains, though nothing but spasmodie contortious could be elicited. The attendants were obliged to fumigate the office with a burning State- man and brimstone.
The deceased having "thought the Democratie platform so unsafe to stand on, found it good enough to lie on," and was deposited on that plank which reads-
"That, the constitution does not confer on the general government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvement."
Its last will devises a lot of Gooses bridges to the whippersin of its party. and directs the following inscription to be placed over the remains of the Expositor :
"These bones have rattled, and this bead Hath oft in Loco quarrel bled."
In conclusion the Expositor is gone, and with it is gone subscription list and official advertising. Like a savory barrel of soap grease the fat is fried out, and nought remains of it but the cracklings that held the mass together.
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OTHER DEMOCRATIC PAPERS.
Following the interment of the Expositor it appears that the county was without a Democratic organ until the spring of 1855. Judge John A. Cor- win and Col. W. F. Mosgrove, of Urbana, secured the services of Charles B. Flood. at the time associate editor of the Columbus Statesman and on the 26th of April of that year there appeared the first issue of the Ohio State Democrat. Flood was a man of unusual talent and his brilliant editorial articles were widely copied throughout the country. He was in fact too big a man for Urbana and he resigned to become the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The issue of April 9, 1857, announces his departure and marks the installation of Robert B. Wright as editor. Wright continued as such until the paper suspended sometime in 1859.
The decade following 1855 was a trying one for newspapers in the United States and particularly for Democratic papers. Even the most loyal papers in the North, if edited by Democrats, were often unjustly accused of disloyalty to the Union. Thousands of Democratic papers were forced to suspend and those of Champaign county were no exception to the rule. This decade was marked by the most violent and bitter accusations through the medium of the newspapers. Harsh names were the order of the day ; never in the history of our nation has there been such lingual murdering as was done by the newspapers from 1855 to 1865.
And Champaign county had a share in this newspaper warfare. On August 6, 1857, a dodger was circulated by one of the political parties which carried the information that a paper by the name of the Champaign States- man would be issued weekly from that date until election for the small sum of thirty-five cents; furthermore, the public was informed that the paper was being issued "to furnish an antidote for the poison industriously distributed by the Black Republican press"-and its salutatory left no doubt as to which party was going to issue the paper. Nor was this extravagant outburst the only one of its kind during this decade; spades were called spades ; black was black, and white was white in these ante-bellum days. The papers did not scruple to handle their political enemies without gloves, and as one editor belligerently remarked in response to a wordy challenge from his competitor "I will not only not wear gloves, but I will see to it that my boots are well defended with hob nails." This statement concern- (27)
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ing his pedal defenses indicates that he intended to use both his hands and feet on his enemies. Truly the days and the times have changed and nowhere more strikingly than in the newspaper world.
FURTHER CHANGES IN NEWSPAPER FIELD.
In 1860 Owen B. Happersett and William A. Sampson started the Urbana Free Press, but it had only fairly started when it suspended pub- lication. Sampson enlisted upon the first call for troops and Happersett went to Kenton, Ohio, where he became connected with the Kenton Demo- crat. The plant of the Free Press was acquired by Col. John H. James in 1862 and he installed John W. Houx as editor of a Democratic paper which bore the name of Urbana Union. Before the close of the war Colonel James retired from the ownership in favor of the Urbana Union Printing Company, and, at the time the company was organized, A. R. Candy became the editor. Candy gave way to William H. Kernam, a brilliant writer, who soon left to become a member of the editorial staff of the Indianapolis Sentinel.
This brings the career of the Democratic paper up to about 1870. When Kernam left, George B. Hunter became the editor and he was in charge when the paper became the sole property of E. T. Harkrader in February, 1872. The new owner thought that a change of name might help the paper and he issued his first number under the name of the Demo- cratic Plain Dealer. Harkrader did not prove a success; six months after he acquired this paper he left the city like the Arab who folds his tent and silently steals away. He not only stole away, but, according to reliable accounts, he stole everything else that he could carry away. The historian graciously drapes the mantle of charity around the form of the founder of the Plain Dealer and leads him from the stage.
The sudden suspension of the erstwhile Plain Dealer left the Democrats without a paper. In 1873 Gen. Benjamin P. Runkle and Daniel Flannegan resuscitated the paper and started it off again, this time calling it the Urbana Union. Flannegan withdrew in the fall of 1874 and the firm became Benja- min P. Runkle & Company. In 1875 Flannegan, who in the meantime had secured the Buckeye Democrat, acquired the Urbana Union and at once con- solidated the two papers under the title of the Urbana Union-Democrat.
The next change in ownership took place on April 1, 1875, the paper at that time passing into the hands of Charles H. Haywood and W. H. Gulick. The new owners were so confident of their ability to establish and
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maintain a daily paper that they promptly started the Daily Union, the first daily paper in the county. The daily and weekly editions were continued by Haywood and Gulick until April 3, 1879, when the plant was sold to James K. Newcomer, a newspaper man of many years experience.
CREATION OF PAPER'S PRESENT TITLE.
Newcomer changed the name of the paper to its present title with the issue of January 1, 1880. The new owner continued in charge until 1883, when Dr. T. M. Gaumer purchased it and operated it for about a year, dis- posing of it to James T. Irvine. Dr. Gaumer discontinued the daily edition during the year he was connected with the paper. Irvine placed his son, Frank, in editorial charge and the latter continued to direct the paper until 1887. During this period ( 1883-1887) Doctor Gaumer and his brother, D. H. Gaumer, bought the Zanesville Signal and Doctor Gaumer occupied the editorial chair of this paper until he purchased the Champaign Demo- crat. His salutatory appears in the issue of May 5, 1887.
The connection of Doctor Gaumer with the paper marked the beginning of a new epoch in its career. The previous career of the paper had not always been marked by prosperity. It had often been in the hands of men who were not sufficiently endowed with ability, or else of men not conversant with local conditions. A survey of the men connected with the successive Democratic papers from 1844, when Judge Taylor launched the Western Dominion, down to 1887, when Doctor Gaumer assumed control of the Champaign Democrat, reveals some men of exceptional newspaper ability and some with only a modicum of that necessary quality. These democratic editors succeeded each other in the following order: Judge John Taylor, - - Reed, D. M. Fleming, - Boggs, Enoch G. Dial, W. F. Mosgrove, C. D. Mclaughlin, Judge John A. Corwin, Charles B. Flood, Robert B. Wright, Owen B. Happersett, William A. Sampson, Col. John H. James, John W. Houx, A. R. Candy, William H. Kernam, George B. Hunter, E. T. Harkrader, Gen. B. P. Runkle, Daniel Flannegan, Charles H. Haywood, W. H. Gulick, James K. Newcomer and James T. Irvine. These twenty-four men were connected at one time or another with the Democratic papers of Urbana, either as owners or editors, or both, between the years 1844 and 1887. During this same period the Democratic paper had borne no less than nine different names and there may have been more.
But the year 1887, as has been stated, marks a turning point in the history of the Democratic press of the county seat. The Champaign Demo-
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crat has been in the hands of the Gaumer family since that year and history must record that it has outstripped its Republican competitors, both as regards circulation and general news value.
Doctor Gaumer served in the editorial chair of the Democrat until his death on September 30, 1893. His widow at once assumed the management of the paper and directed it until her eldest son, Charles E. Gaumer, was seventeen years of age. He then became the manager of the paper and served in that capacity until January 1, 1899. At that time Frank C. Gaumer, a brother of Charles E., became manager and is still at the head of the paper.
Charles E. Gaumer went to Illinois and purchased the Monticello Bul- letin, which he published until May, 1901, when he returned to Ohio and bought the Middletown Daily Signal. He remained there until in August, 1908, when he returned to Illinois and became connected with the Cham- paign Daily News. In May, 1910, he returned to Urbana and again became associated in the management of the Champaign Democrat.
LATER PROGRESS OF THE DEMOCRAT.
On August 28, 1910, the weekly Democrat was changed to a twice- a-week issue. In September, 1910, The Gaumer Publishing Company, with an authorized capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, was organized under the laws of Ohio and took over the business, the company being com- posed of Frank C. Gaumer, Charles E. Gaumer, their mother, Eliza M. Gaumer, Billy S. Clifford and Clarence A. Coon, the two last named hold- ing only a small interest.
At once the semi-weekly paper sprang into popularity and its circula- tion list began to mount rapidly. The paper adopted a policy of printing all the news, without fear or favor, regardless of the social or business standing of the persons involved, and the paper built up a large clientele despite the competition of another newspaper, The Daily Citizen, having a more frequent issue.
On September 21, 1913, The Urbana Democrat was started as an every-other-day publication, published on Monday, Wednesdays and Fri- days. The twice-a-week edition was continued also and is still published and widely read. On November 15, 1915, the thrice-a-week edition was changed to a daily, known as The Urbana Daily Democrat, Frank C. Gaumer being its business manager and Charles E. Gaumer being its managing editor. The daily has grown in circulation and advertising patronage, having in
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June, 1917, three thousand six hundred and ten readers, while The Cham- paign Democrat still finds one thousand one hundred readers who have not yet felt the need of a newspaper of more frequent issue.
OTHER URBANA PAPERS.
In 1905, Rev. Van Fleet located in Urbana and started a weekly inde- pendent newspaper in connection with a small job-printing plant. In 1906, the business was acquired by John H. James, son of the John H. James previously mentioned in this narrative, and in 1907 The Urbana Daily Tribune was launched as a morning newspaper. It was Democratic in politics and ultra-radical in its denunciation of Republican leaders. It built up a sizable list of readers but proved financially unprofitable. It was a "thorn in the flesh" to Republican politicians, as well as a menace to the Champaign Democrat. In the winter of 1909-1910 an option was secured separately on the Urbana Daily Times-Citizen and on The Urbana Tribune by Frank C. Gaumer and George McConnell. They formed a new com- pany, The Urbana News Company, which purchased both newspapers and on March 1, 1910, merged them into The Urbana Daily Citizen. Frank Gaumer later disposed of his interest in the Citizen and from the years 1910 to 1917 the company employed as editors and managers in rapid succes- sion Frank B. Patrick, Frank B. Wilson, C. M. Davidson, F. Myers, Amherst Eaton and Vern Talbot.
On April 21, 1917, the controlling interest in The Urbana News Com- pany was purchased and taken over by Frank C. Gaumer and he started upon the difficult role of publishing both a Democrat and a Republican daily newspaper. He solved the problem, however, by placing the political poli- cies of the Daily Citizen in the hands of Frank W. Todd, its city editor, a member of the Republican party, who was advanced to the position of managing editor. In August, 1917, Charles E. Gaumer retired from the Democrat and became assistant managing editor of the Marion, Ohio Daily Star.
On April 1, 1917, The Gaumer Publishing Company began construc- tion of a two-story brick building on South Main street. On July 1, 1917. both newspaper plants were moved into the building. The Democrat is issued as an evening newspaper and the Citizen as a morning paper. Both companies are maintaining their separate indentities and the two newspapers their separate policies, although having business interests largely identical. This marks a decidedly original era in Urbana journalism.
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THE PROGRESSIVE WEEKLY.
An.Urbana newspaper with a brief existence known as the Progressive Weekly, made its first and last appearance on March 13, 1914. It was a four-page sheet and its subscribers, which numbered about five hundred, were made up principally of members of the Independent Club and their sympathizers. The paper was edited in the office of Joe Flaugher and was printed in Springfield. The editor of the paper was a young man named Francis Fennessy, a nephew of the late John T. Fennessy. In the adver- tising columns the paper carried the advertisement of eleven Urbana busi- nss concerns, most of whom were the supporters of Mayor Green and his administration.
THE MACKACHACK PRESS.
A short-lived paper which appeared in Urbana in the latter part of the sixties was the Mackachack Press. The paper was an exotic as far as Champaign county was concerned and this may account for its brief career in Urbana. It was established by Donn Piatt at West Liberty, in 1867, and was taken by its owner to Columbus shortly afterwards. It is to be pre- sumed that the new surroundings were not conducive to prosperity ; at all events, a few months in Columbus found the owner ready to seek greener pastures. At this stage in the career of the paper, its progenitor moved it to Urbana, but the anemic sheet was doomed to die-it quietly passed away less than a year after it was brought to Urbana.
THE CORNERSTONE.
A paper bearing the substantial name of the Cornerstone was estab- lished in Urbana in 1904 by J. A. Van Fleet. The paper was the official state organ of the Prohibition party and was published for about one year. The editor, a Methodist minister, had more religious than journalistic experi- ence and consequently had difficulty in keeping the paper in existence as long as he did. He even had visions of revolutionizing the community through the medium of the newspaper and to this end he started a paper by the name of the Newes. His zeal in reforming the city so far exceeded his ability to finance his paper that he was soon in hard straits. His creditors became clamorous; unpaid bills rolled in and piled up; and finally the distressed editor conceived the idea of writing on the margin of his paper a request to
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his subscribers that they pay up their arrears. He soon found out that he had leaped from the pot into the fire-the postoffice department began to investigate his peculiar methods of collecting accounts. The result was that the distrait old minister-editor was arrested, found guilty of infractions of the postal regulations, but on account of his advanced age, and the undoubted fact that he was absolutely ignorant of the fact that he was committing any offense whatever, the federal court recommended leniency. He was finally let off with the payment of a fine. Needless to add the News suddenly ceased publication.
ST. PARIS NEWSPAPERS.
St. Paris has had a complicated journalistic history since the Independent, its first paper, appeared in the village in the spring of 1870. The paper was established by the Vaughn brothers and maintained a more or less prosperous career until the spring of 1871. Evidently its patronage was insufficient to keep it alive, since in March, 1871, the plant was removed from the town and no immediate effort was made to establish another paper. In June, 1872, the second paper appeared bearing the gossipy title of the St. Paris Informant. Its publishers, O'Haver & Stawn, steered the frail craft until the squalls of winter hit it, when they pulled their sails and decided to sever their connection with it. They disposed of it to Musson & Taylor and the new owners tried to better its fortunes by changing its name to the New Era. In April, 1873, Taylor became the sole owner, but in the following November he sold it to the firm of Musson & Company. The next change of ownership occurred in January, 1877, at which time it passed into the hands of H. H. Hall. On October 28, 1879, the plant was visited by a destructive fire which resulted in the loss of all the files and records.
In May, 1880. C. R. Musson took charge of the paper, this being the third time he had been connected with it. The New Era later passed into the hands of J. E. Walker who was connected with it for a number of years. In the latter part of the eighties a paper by the name of the St. Paris Era- Dispatch came into existence and the name indicates that its first editor had combined the New Era with an already existing paper by the name of the Dispatch. The Era-Dispatch continued its independent career under various owners until July 13, 1901, when it was bought by Rev. J. W. Yeisley. The St. Paris Now's had been established July 13, 1888, by G. P. Shidler, who continued it until July 13, 1901, on which date Rev. J. W. Yeisley secured control of both the Era-Dispatch and the Newes, the former a Democratic and
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the latter a Republican paper. Yeisley announced that after September I, 1901, both papers would be independent in politics. He continued as owner and editor of both papers until 1907, when he disposed of them to L. M. Ross. In November, 1909, they passed under the control of Brown & Wiant, the present owners and editors.
In addition to the newspapers above mentioned there have been a few other papers which have come into existence at St. Paris only to disappear. Probably the most important of the ephemeral group bore the wavering title of the Quiver. This sheet was a religio-temperance paper and was estab- lished by Rev. J. W. Rushbridge and I. E. Rhynard in February, 1888. Its existence was due to a jumble of religion and politics, or, to be more exact, of church wrangles and local political squabbles. In the fore part of 1888 the temperance question was a live issue in the town and Reverend Rush- bridge, an ardent temperance advocate, allied himself with Rhynard and began issuing the Quiver in order to stir up sentiment in favor of abolishing the saloon.
The local politicians did not want the matter brought into local politics, neither by way of the pulpit, and certainly not by way of newspaper agitation. The preacher, however, was determined to make himself heard, not only in the pulpit, but also through the medium of a paper if he had to start one him- self. He induced a wealthy farmer in the vicinity of St. Paris, L. E. Rhyn- ard, to back him in a paper, promising to place a son of Rhynard in charge of the paper. Hardly had the paper started when the preacher suddenly left the town, forsaking his farmer friend, the latter's son, who had just taken hold of the paper -- and the very cause for which he had been fighting. The paper lead a truly quivering existence for sixteen issues, about four months, and was then purchased by G. P. Shidler, July 3, 1888. The new owner completely overhauled the plant and on July 13, 1888, issued the first num- ber of the St. Paris Newes, continuing at the head of the paper until July 13, 1901, as above stated.
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