History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 34

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The Lower Sandusky Times, the Lower Sandusky Whig, the Lower Sandusky Telegraph, and the Lower Sandusky Freeman were all staunch advocates of the Whig party and its principles, and the Fremont journal has always been an earnest Republican paper, and has been consistent in urging the party to organize and contend for its principles. It opposed the election of Buchanan, and supported the war for the Union with zeal and great effect.

THE SANDUSKY COUNTY DEMOCRAT.

It should be noticed that the Lower Sandusky Times, which by sundry mutila- tions and changes of name became the Fremont journal, was first issued in Lower Sandusky in June or July, 1837. It soon appeared that A. G. White, the editor, was opposed to the Democratic party. After a few months the political course became clearly apparent, as it grew more and more pronounced in its political inclinations. This at once aroused the attention of the dominant Democracy, and they at once began to counsel, and devise the ways and means of meeting the advantages which the opposition had acquired by the establishment of a party organ in the county.

About this time Adolphus Kreamer had purchased a tract of land at the head of navigation of the Portage River, then in Sandusky, but now in Ottawa county, and had laid off and platted a town there, which was named Hartford, and was to become a great city. Among

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other wise things, Mr. Kreamer, in order to make known the existence of the future city of Hartford, had determined to start a newspaper there, and had obtained for that purpose a printing press and type for a newspaper and moved them from Toledo to Hartford. It was an old and second-hand press, as was also the material. Mr. Kreamer was a good Democrat, and Hartford was then in the bounds of the county. The newspaper material had lain there some time but the paper did not make its appearance. A financial crisis occurred, and the sale of town lots in a wilderness, as Hartford was at that time, was cut off and the future prospects of the embryo town were shadowed by thick, dark clouds.

In the fall of 1837, about three months after the advent of the Lower Sandusky Times, the leaders of the Democratic party were called together for consultation upon the question of establishing a Democratic paper in Lower Sandusky. John Bell was perhaps foremost in this enterprise and was chairman of the meeting. An association was formed to purchase a press and publish a Democratic paper. Stock was liberally subscribed, and a committee appointed to visit Hartford and endeavor to negotiate with Mr. Kreamer for his press and printing ma- terial. In due time the committee reported, and the press and printing material were finally purchased for twelve hundred dollars. The press, etc., was hauled by wagon from Hartford up the Portage River to the Maumee and Western Reserve road, and by that to Lower Sandusky: The paper was to be published by the joint stock company, not incorporated, and was to be under the control of a committee, of which John Bell was chairman. A young printer by the name of William Davis was employed to superin- tend the mechanical department, and the ed-

iting was to be done by anyone who wished to write for the paper, the matter subject to the admission or rejection of the committee. The first number of the paper, under the title of the Sandusky County Democrat, was issued in the fall of 1837. The paper was managed in this way for a year, perhaps a year and a half, when it was found not to pay expenses. The office was, during this time, on the second floor of the old building on the southwest corner of Front and Croghan streets, where the First National Bank now (1881) stands. The company afterward gave the publication of the paper entirely into the hands of William Davis, the printer, on his agreement to faithfully publish and edit the paper, and to keep the stockholders from further charges and expense.

Mr. Davis took charge of the paper on these conditions, and managed it to some profit for himself until after the October election of 1838. At this election Homer Everett, then a young man not quite twenty- five years of age, was elected sheriff of the county. Everett had written for the paper during the campaign, and on his election to the office, of course, became the dispenser of considerable advertising patronage. For, be it remembered that the financial crisis of 1836 and 1837 produced more sheriff's sales than any period before or since in the history of the county.

The stockholders by this time had become willing to donate their subscription for the benefit of the party, if the paper could be continued without further charge upon them. There was about four hundred dollars still due from the committee who had given their notes for the press, and they offered it to Mr. Davis if he would print the paper and pay that sum, or keep the signers harmless from the notes. On these conditions Everett and Davis bought the paper in the fall of 1838, or early in

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the year 1839. From this time Everett & Davis published the Sandusky County Democrat until 1842, when they dissolved, and at which time Everett was admitted to the bar, and entered the practice of the law in partnership with Nathaniel B. Eddy. Mr. Davis continued to publish the paper until some time in the year 1842, when he sold it to Charles J. Orton, who, for a time, had sole charge of it, after which Edward F. Dickinson bought an interest in the paper, and it was published a while by the firm of Orton & Dickinson, who transferred it to John Flaugher. Mr. Flaugher was a high- minded, honorable man, and a true Democrat, but his views on slavery and the war of the Rebellion were not satisfactory to the anti-war and pro-slavery portion of the Democratic party, who gave it a rather poor support, and the paper lost patronage and influence. In fact, as early as 1856, during the great discussion over the extension of slavery, the leaders of the extreme pro- slavery portion of the Democrats of the county started another paper, which drew off a large part of the patronage formerly enjoyed by the Sandusky County Democrat, and it had a hard struggle for life until, sometime in the spring of 1856, Mr. Flaugher sold the press and materials of the Democrat to Isaac M. Keeler, and the publication of the paper caused the radical pro-slavery Democrats of the county, who were dissatisfied with the principles advocated by the Democrat, to combine and bring about the establishment, in 1856, of

THE DEMOCRATIC MESSENGER.

This paper was started in 1856, under the editorial control of Jacob D. Botefur, who came from Boston. Mr. Botefur successfully conducted the paper for several years, but he had been reared where Democracy was composed of men of different characteristics from those of Sandusky county. Although his Democracy was radi-

cal enough, he did not understand the mental and moral condition, or tastes of those who supported the Messenger, and it was thought best for the party to put the paper in charge of men to the manor born, and Mr. Botefur accordingly sold out and retired from the editorial charge of the Messenger, and it passed to the hands and control of John B. B. Dickinson. After managing the paper for some time successfully, and with more talent than the paper before had shown, he was willing to retire from the charge of the paper, and sold it to Messrs. John and Frank Foulke brothers, and young men of some literary aptness, but of too romantic proclivities to make a solid Democratic paper. The Foulke Brothers, after a short experiment, failed to please the Democracy, and failed financially.

This condition of things resulted in a transfer of the press and materials for the printing of the Democratic Messenger to Mordecai P. Bean, who assumed the edit- orship and publication of the paper. For a time Mr. Bean conducted the paper and gave it considerable party popularity, but the patronage declined and the party then placed the paper in charge of J. S, Van Valkenburg, who conducted it until about the 1st day of April, 1872, when the establishment passed to the control of James M. Osborne, who had been a partner with Van Valkenburg about one year before, and who took charge as editor and publisher. Since Mr. Osborn took charge of the paper it has been a well- conducted political journal, thoroughly and decidedly Democratic. It is well received as the organ of the Democracy of the county. The Messenger office has a steam power- press, and a large job office attached, which is doing a thriving business aside from the patronage of the county officials, who are all of the Messenger's political party.

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THE FREMONT COURIER.

This is a weekly paper published in Fremont, in the German language, to supply the reading wants of a large, industrious, and intelligent portion of the inhabitants of Sandusky county. The Courier was founded and first published in Fremont, March 10, 1859, by Dr. Ferdinand Wilmer, a German physician by birth and education. Dr. Wilmer was a man of much learning, a ready translator of the English and German languages, and became at once, through his paper, the advocate of the most extreme party measures of the Democratic organization. Dr. Wilmer was not a practical printer, and Mr. George Homan was the printer of the Courier until the 14th of June, 1860, when Mr. Homan withdrew from the firm, and Dr. Wilmer assumed sole control of the paper until August 28, 1862, at which time Mr. Paul Knerr took charge of the mechanical department of the office. Dr. Wilmer, however, continued as editor until the 6th day of November, 1862, when he sold the office to George Homan.

It was during the day of the 18th of April, 1861, when the excitement produced by the Rebellion was kindling into flame, and many patriotic Democrats were going into the service to fight for the Union, that one forenoon the Fremont Courier, printed that day, fell into the hands of Frederick Fabing, a prominent German citizen of Fremont and a thoroughly patriotic man at heart. Mr. Fabing read and translated an editorial article to the bystanders. The Courier was, at the time spoken of, printed in the third story of what is now known as White's block, cor- ner of Front and Croghan streets.

The effect of this article in the Courier so well illustrates the temper of the times, that we give it as a part of the history of the Courier, as well as to show to future generations the true state of feeling at that

memorable time. This can not better be done than by a simple and brief narration of what followed Mr. Fabing's interpretation of the Courier's article.

In thirty minutes after the nature of the article was made known by Fabing, Front and Croghan streets, facing the Courier office, were filled with men. There were men with set teeth, and pale countenances, and eyes that expressed unutterable indignation; in fact, the whole crowd, numbering from five hundred to a thousand determined and angry men, had congregated under the windows of the office. One of the most pallid countenances in that crowd was our cool, level-minded fellow-citizen, Stephen Buckland, as patriotic a man as the city contained, and it contained many good ones. As he saw the crowd swelling and every moment becoming more threatening, he secured a location on the northwest corner of Front and Croghan streets. Colonel R. P. Buckland and Charles O. Tillotson took a position about half way up the outside stair leading to the Courier office.

When the storm was about to burst, and a movement of the crowd, and the utterances from below indicated a rush up stairs, with threats looking to the destruction of the office, and to serious personal injury, if not the life of the editor of the Courier, Stephen Buckland mounted a railing running along the street, near the northwest corner of Front and Croghan streets, and holding by an awning post, called the meeting to order, saying, that if the paper had done wrong, as was claimed, he was in favor of doing all that was fair to suppress it. "True," said he "the paper can speak to thousands while by our words we can speak to few. Now," said Mr. Buckland, "we must not do anything un- manly or rash. I move that judge John L. Green be chosen chairman of this meting, that we may deliberate in an

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orderly manner." The crowd listened, and Mr. Green was chosen chairman.

This firm and manly stand by Mr. Buckland had the desired effect. A com- mittee was chosen, consisting of William E. Haynes, Charles O. Tillotson, Doctor Robert S. Rice, and Jacob Snyder, who were at once permitted to pass up the stairs to perform the duty assigned them.

In less than five minutes after the com- mittee passed Tillotson and R. P. Buckland on the stairs, a window of the Courier office was raised, and the whole edition of the Courier, containing the offensive article, came whirling down like leaves upon the pavement. The papers were carefully piled near the middle of the street, and every one burned to ashes. None of the edition had been sent beyond the city limits, and the angry multitude was satisfied when the committee announced from the window that the whole edition was destroyed, and the type which printed the offensive article distributed, and that the paper would print no more articles to prevent the enlistment of men in the Union army.

The following is the translation of the offensive article, which appeared as editorial in the Courier of April 18, 1861:

The Union in its past proportions is irrevocably lost. The Republicans will be answerable at the judgment seat of history for the annihilation of the freest republic in the world, and the curse of the oppressed, whom they have robbed of the last place of refuge, and last hope that could become their part. The Republicans are now everywhere calling meetings of all citizens, irrespective of party, to devise means how to support the Government. They succeed in their ruse to get some easily deceived Democrats into their trap. We caution all our Democratic friends to take no active part in such meetings, for after the first heat of the excitement is over, they will repent of having been caught in such a dull way.

The next day, April 19, 1861, the Fremont journal published the foregoing in- terpretation of the Courier's article, with the following comment:

When the liberty-loving citizens of our town and vicinity, without distinction of party, understood the above, their indignation knew no bounds. They at once secured an American flag and took it to that office, and saw that it was flung to the breeze from out of the window.

The edition of the Courier, which had just been printed, was destroyed, and the editor requested to issue an extra, both in the English and German language, giving some explanation of his treasonable and palpably false article, which he did.

DOCTOR WILMER'S CARD.

A CARD TO THE PUBLIC .- An article which ap- peared in my paper of this morning, it seems, has created an immense excitement in our town. But few papers have been circulated, the balance of the edition has been destroyed. I declare to the public, upon my honor as a man, that it never has been, and is not now, my intention to write or publish a word, or to commit any action, against the General or State Government, or advise it to be done by others.

F. WILMER.

Isaac M. Keeler was, at the time spoken of, when this affair occurred, editor of the Fremont journal, and appended to Dr. Wilmer's card in his paper, the following fair and manly editorial comments:

The above explanation seems to have satisfied the people. We do not think Mr. Wilmer is a secessionist, or that he really had any intention of injuring the Government, but that he has permitted the partisan to get the upper hand of his patriotism. Let us all now throw aside party feeling, and unite in an endeavor to save the country at this serious crisis of its existence. Neither party, nativity, or sect, should now stand in the way of a hearty union of the people for putting down treason and rebellion, and of restoring peace and civil liberty to the whole country.

Mr. Homan continued the publication of the Courier until July, 1865. He, however, labored under some disadvantages, arising from the war, and the position he had taken on that question. He therefore concluded to discontinue the publication of the paper, and its issue was suspended for a period of about eighteen months, when Messrs. Anthony Young and Paul Knerr bought the office, and recommenced the Courier, which again appeared. In 1867 Mr. Young sold his interest in the paper to Mr. Knerr, who remained the sole owner until

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1870, in which year Dr. Wilmer, who all the time edited the paper, became a partner with Mr. Knerr. Dr. Wilmer stood thus connected with the paper until his death, which took place on the 17th of July, 1879. Mr. Joseph Zimmerman, an editor from Cleveland, at once took charge of the editorial management of the paper. Mr. Knerr, meantime, bought of Dr. Wilmer's widow the interest his estate held in the paper, and continued to be sole proprietor of the Courier until July 1, 1881, at which date Mr. Zimmerman, by purchase, became sole proprietor of the concern, and so remains sole editor and proprietor of the paper.

The Courier is now doing well. Mr. Zimmerman is a fine writer, as well as a gentleman of winning manners, whose management and talents will make the Courier welcome to the German reading citizens of the county and elsewhere. While thoroughly Democratic, Mr. Zimmerman is not of that bitter partisan nature which will make his paper odious to his opponents; on the other hand, he is a gentleman of such broad views and intelligence, that no doubt the paper will prosper under his management.

THE CLYDE TIMES.

Mr. Joseph C. Loveland has the honor of making the first attempt to establish a newspaper at Clyde. He issued the Clyde Times in April, 1866, sold it in 1867 to J. M. Lemmon and Mr. Notly, who continued the publication about one year, and sold out to parties from Elmore, in Ottawa county, who moved the press and material away.

THE CLYDE NEWS

was the next paper printed in Clyde. It was started by Clark Brothers, from Berea, in. 1868. Six months afterwards one of the brothers died and the printing of the paper was for a time suspended. In

the fall of the year 1868, George E. Sweetland & Brothers bought the material and resumed the publication of the paper. In 1869 H. H. Sweetland became the sole owner, and for a time published the paper; then L. D. Sweetland bought an interest in the business. The two Sweetland brothers last named carried on the paper until 1870, when it was discontinued for want of support.

THE CLYDE INDEPENDENT.

This paper was started by W. W. White in 1870, who conducted it until 1874, when he sold the paper, and material for printing it, to F. J. Tuttle, on whose hands the paper lost patronage and died within a year. Mr. White emigrated to Canada, and, after his departure it was revealed that he had so badly dealt with the patrons of the paper as to ruin it, hence the chief cause of its failure in the hands of Mr. Tuttle.

THE CLYDE REVIEW.

In 1873 Mr. George E. Sweetland returned to Clyde and commenced the publication of the Clyde Review, and carried it on until August, 1877, when he suddenly removed the press and material, and himself also, to the State of Michigan, and the publication of the Review was discontinued. In August, 1881, Mr. Sweetland came back to Clyde and resumed the publication of the Review, beginning where he left off in 1877. It is a small sheet, printed in an amateur office owned by William Frederick, publisher of an insurance paper, Mr. Sweetland having no office or printing material of his own.

THE CLYDE SENTINEL.

In the winter of 1874-75 A. D. Ames, who was publishing a paper at Green Spring, came to Clyde and began the publication of the Clyde Sentinel. George J. Hulgate afterwards became his partner, and, in company with his brother, R. P.

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Holgate, subsequently bought the paper and material. The Sentinel was discontinued in May, 1880, when it became merged in the

CLYDE ENTERPRISE.

The Enterprise was established in March, 1878, by Mr. H. F. Paden, with whom H. N. Lay was a partner until May, 1880, and A. D. Kinney from that date until July, 1881. In May, 1880, as above mentioned, the Clyde Sentinel was discontinued as a distinct publication, and its material and subscription list transferred to the Enterprise. The Enterprise, under the management of Mr. Paden, has become a public favorite. He wields a free, graceful, and fluent pen, and is a genial gentleman, of straight-out Republi- can principles, though courteous to oppo- nents when duty will permit him to be so. The Enterprise under his editorial control has obtained a much larger circulation than any former paper of Clyde, and seems to rest on a solid foundation, not only financially, but in public favor. While we acknowledge ourselves under obligation for much information concerning the press at Clyde, we must clear him of egotism by saying that the favorable comments on Mr. Paden and his paper are made by the writer, and must not be attributed to himself.

THE PRESS OF BELLEVUE.

Although the wealthy, pleasant village of Bellevue is not wholly within Sandusky county, it may be interesting to some of the people of the county to have the history of the whole press of that place put on record in this work, and we therefore do so.

The first venture was made by G. W. Hopkins, in the fall of 1851. He opened an office in the old Howard house-now defunct on Monroe street, and issued

THE BELLEVUE GAZETTE,

with the still more pretentious title of Huron, Seneca, Erie, and Sandusky Advertiser, having a spread eagle at its masthead, bearing a scroll with "open to all" emblazoned upon it. The paper was a five- column folio, in coarse type, devoted to current news and the ventilation of such ideas as contributors were ambitious to furnish. C. C. Cook, at present deputy postmaster, served in the capacity of "devil," thus being the first "printer's devil." His most vivid remembrance is that of his duty to ink the forms on an old wooden Franklin press-a duty with little sentiment and no poetry to allure him on to continued service. The people felt disposed to give the paper a fair support, but its editor was a victim to that human bane-strong drink; so, after a brilliant but brief career of six months, the fledgling perished.

In April of 1861, Mr. O. B. Chapman opened a printing office in Squire's block, corner of Main and Sandusky streets, and issued

THE BELLEVUE INDEPENDENT,

a seven-column folio, devoted to general and local news. This was the first year of the great rebellion, and it would seem that the stirring events of those times would furnish the necessary pabulum to make it a success. But it continued only a short time, and then perished for reasons not now apparent.

We now come to consider the first suc- cessful paper established in the village - one to which the town is largely indebted for many of its most valued improvements, being always intensely devoted to the welfare of the place and the advocacy of such public works and measures as would secure its greatest prosperity. We therefore think its editor worthy of more than a passing notice. Mr. E. P. Brown says of himself that he was born at Oxford,

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Ohio, March 5, 1842, of distressingly poor but outrageously honest parents, and claims that the laws of hereditary transmission have not, therefore, allowed him a fair chance. His early life was one of toil, with little advantage in the way of education, an old darkey preacher being his best tutor, but was successful in obtaining a "sheepskin" in a public school and valedictory honors. He learned the trade of printer in the office of the Oxford Citizen at the age of fourteen, when he obtained employment in a Cincinnati job office. He enlisted in the Thirteenth Ohio volunteer infantry at Urbana, Ohio, in 1861, and fought the enemies of his country for two years, lacking a week, serving in all the engagements of that regiment until the battle of Shiloh, when a rebel bullet between the eyes placed him hors du combat. He was left for dead, and was thus reported, and had the pleasure of reading his own obituary, containing much of a laudatory nature, a privilege seldom accorded the human family; but subsequent events show him to be an exceedingly lively corpse. His wound gave him an honorable discharge from the Thirteenth, but he finally reentered the army in the one hundred day's service as substitute for a Dutchman, in the One Hundred and sixty-seventh regiment, re- ceiving three hundred dollars therefor. After the close of the war Mr. Brown casually made the acquaintance of William L. Meyers, of the Tiffin Tribune, who proved a fast, firm. friend, and proposed that, since Bellevue was an excellent place to establish a paper, they embark together in the enterprise. They did so, but at the end of the first six weeks Mr. Meyers became discouraged and sold his interest to his partner for four hundred and fifty dollars, on a year's time. Mr. Brown himself had had but two years experience in editorial work, and never managed an

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 34

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