USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 84
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THE MORNING COURIER-THE COURIER-JOURNAL.
On the 12th of February Mr. Walter N. Haldeman, a native of Maysville, who had come to Louisville in 1837, and made a beginning as clerk in a wholesale grocery, afterward becoming book-keeper for Prentice's Journal, secured pos- session of the Daily Dime, on account of a debt due him. This little sheet had been issued for a few months by an association of printers with- out much success; but under Mr. Haldeman, who was himself less than twenty-three years old, it soon forged forward, and on the 3d of June,
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of the same year, it took a new departure, with an enlargement and a new name, as the Morning Courier. Thenceforth, for twenty-four years, the Courier was a notable and successful institution of Louisville, winning for its editor and proprie- tor both fame and fortune. In 1868, however, it was deemed advisable to merge the two leading newspapers of the city, the Journal and the Courier, into one as the Courier-Journal, by which title it is now one of the best-known pa- pers in all the land, and is the chief organ of the Southern Democracy.
The first number of the new journal apppeared on Sunday, November 8, 1868. The Louisville Democrat was also presently admitted to this powerful combination. Mr. Haldeman was made President and Business Manager of the company, Mr. Henry Watterson editor-in-chief, and Mr. Isham Henderson was the third mem- ber. On the 15th of January next following, the , office occupied a large building prepared for it on Jefferson street ; but, this proving insufficient for its demands, the site of the old opera house on the corner of Green and Fourth streets, was pur- chased in June, 1874, and the splendid six-story brick building, occupied by the Courier-Journal and many other offices and stores, was erected, at a cost, with the lot, of about $200,000. It has a front of one hundred and fifty feet on Fourth and eighty-six on Green street, and is one of the finest newspaper edifices in the country. At the southwest corner, in a commanding niche, is placed, in a sitting position and of heroic size, a statue of the famous poet-editor of the Jour- nal, Mr. George D. Prentice.
Mr. Casseday, in his magazine article on the Journals and Journalists of Louisville before the War, supplies the following additional details:
Haldeman brought to his task inflexible will and indomit- able energy. In the hands of almost any other man the paper would soon have emulated the example of so many of its predecessors. Haldeman did not know the meaning of failure; adversity only fixed his determination more firmly, and urged him to increased effort. He had "come to stay," and stay he did. He fairly conquered success in the face of all difficulties. He started ont with the idea of making a news-paper, and his enterprise in this direction soon woke up the sleepy old journalists not only in Louisville, but all over the West. As there were few railroads then reaching this city, and as the telegraph was yet unborn, the securing of news at the earliest possible moment was a matter of energy, enterprise, and expense. Haldeman spared none of these, and, from the very start, his paper was what is now called "a live institution."
Early in 1845 Edwin Bryant, who had been in the Journal
in its first years, and afterward was connected with the press in Lexington, becanie associate editor of the Courier, and occupied that position for a year, when he retired to make his overland trip to California. This trip secured Bryant's fortune, and also gave rise to the best of the books about early days in the Land of Gold. As a journalist Bryant was sensible rather than brilliant. His opinions were generally correct, and always enforced with the sincerity of honest con- viction. He was not a fluent but always a just and faithful writer, who inspired respect if he did not command admira- tion.
After Bryant had retired Haldeman reduced his editorial force, and in every other way curtailed his expenses. . .
During this time | 1849] Charles D. Kirk became associated with the Courier as a local reporter. He soon reached the head of this class of writers, and became afterwards dis- tinguished as a correspondent. His career commenced when he was a mere lad, but his great facility in preparing his im- pressions for the press, and the graphic care with which he presented every incident, soon made him a valuable assistant. His newspaper ambition was satisfied in the local department, and he rarely ventured into the editorial columns. He did, however, write a novel called Wooing and Warring in the Wilderness, which was really a clever production, but which, in spite of its alliterative title, never reached the success it really merited. Kirk was for several years the correspond- ent of the Courier at Frankfort, and his letters were read with interest and pleasure by all. He served also as a "local" on the Democrat, and had at one time a paper of his own called the Evening Sun, but his lack of financial ability prevented its success.
In January, 1853, William D. Gallagher, of Cincinnati, purchased a half-interest in the Courier. Gallagher had ex- perience as a writer, a politician, and an editor. He had edited the Hesperian, had achieved an enviable reputation as a poet and literateur, and had been for many years con- nected with the Cincinnati Gazette. Gallagher was a man of great honesty and dignity of character, a writer of first-class ability, and in every respect a valuable addition to the paper. Politically he was probably not in thorough sympathy with his readers, yet he earned their respect and admiration. He remained in the office about eighteen months, and was after- wards appointed by the Governor Surveyor of the Customs . in Louisville. He has since been constantly in Government employ, and is universally respected at home and abroad. Whatever position he has occupied he has filled with honor and dignity, and deserves, as fully as he receives, the respect of his fellow men. After he had severed his connection with the Courier, that paper reverted to Haldeman, who now found it a successful and prosperous journal.
Four years later, in 1857, R. T. Durrett purchased a half- interest in the Courier, and assisted in its editorship for about two years. Durrett, like Haldeman, was a man of immense energy, with a capacity for labor almost unequalled; but, unlike Haldeman, his energy was not always directed to one objective point. His labor, like his mind, was diffusive, not concentrative. His work was not like the deep current of a mighty river that sweeps away all the obstacles in its course, but like the restless mountain stream that seeks here and there an egress for its waters, careless where it makes a bed so that a bed is made, and avoiding impediments by sur- rounding, not by overturning them. Durrett made his mark in journalism in Louisville. If not always graceful, he was always forcible; if his style lacked completeness and classic- ality, it was distinguished by nervous force and energy, and his connection with the Courier is an epoch in the history of
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both. In 1859 Durrett sold his interest in the paper to Wal- ter G. Overton, and the establishment then became a corpor- ation under the name of the Louisville Courier Printing Com- pany. Colonel Robert McKee, formerly of Maysville, suc- ceeded Durrett in the editorial chair. McKee was a forcible and able writer, and managed the paper with marked ability until his career was checked by General Robert Anderson, who took possession not only of the editorial chair, but of the whole office, and stopped, by armed force, the matin-song of all its birds. Its subsequent glorious career is beyond the scope of this article, and hence, for us, this imperfect sketch of its history and its personality closes. However great its present position, or to whatever still higher rank it may attain in the future, it must be remembered that it is to the great sagacity, untiring energy, and unwavering determ- ination of Haldeman that the Courier owes its success.
THE LOUISVILLE DEMOCRAT.
Its genesis is recorded as occurring in the years 1842-43. About this time Mr. Phineas Kent, of New Albany, Indiana, backed by a stock company composed of James Guthrie and other leading Democrats of the city, undertook the work for the purpose of aiding in the Presidential canvass of 1844. After a short time Kent's stock was transferred to John H. Harncy, who took charge of the paper in Kent's place, the latter not being entirely acceptable to the party. We next hear of William and Thomas Hughes having shares in the work, and, the latter continuing only a short time, of the firm of Harney & Hughes be- ing absorbed by the Courier-Journal combina- tion. In the beginning of Harnay's connection with the Democrat, he had been persuaded so to do by Prentice, who had always treated him with the greatest respect. The very sharp contro- versy, that at one time came up between Pren- tice and Hughes, did not include his partner. Harney ranked as a scholar and a gentleman of broad, statesman-like views. A person of no previous journalistic experience, he speedily rose to the place of leader in his profession as well as in his political party. His writing was strong, forcible, and correct. He was too mathematical to be florid. What he lacked in the graces of expression was more than balanced by the direct. ness and energy of the style he used, and his services were willingly received. In the party membership there was not a rival. Hughes's writing for the paper was limited, but he found enough to do in the publishing department. For a time the two sons of Harney, William W. and Selby, contributed to the editorial work, the former writing articles chiefly of a literary char- acter, the latter's work being of a lighter kind.
A weekly paper, bearing the same name, has been published of late years in Louisville.
THE LOCAL JOURNALS OF 1847
were the Journal, published by Prentice & Weis- singer ; the Democrat, by John H. Harney; the Courier, by W. N. Haldeman ; the Presbyterian Herald, Rev. W. W. Hill ; the Baptist Banner, Rev. W. C. Buck ; the Catholic Advocate, the True Catholic, the Christian Journal (which were all the religious newspapers in the State, save one), the Temperance Advocate, and the Western Medical Journal.
THE LOUISVILLE TIMES.
Mr. Casseday, in his subsequent essay on Journals and Journalists, gives the following racy account of this and one or two other papers of the time :
In 1851-52 the Times was started by " the three Colonels," as they were then called. These were Theodore O'Hara, lohn Pickett, and Colonel Stapp; O'Hara being the chief editor, and Pickett a resident correspondent at Vera Cruz. They were ardent friends of Douglas for the Presidency in the oncoming canvass, and earnest advocates of Cuban an- nexation. Their career was but brief, for in 1853 the Times was purchased by Colonel William Tanner, the founder of the Frankfort (Kentucky) Yeoman, by whom, a few months later, a half interest was sold to Colonel John O. Bullock, and in August, 1854, Colonel John C. Noble, of the Hop- kinsville Press, bought Tanner's interest. The paper thus continued till January, 1857, when it yielded to the energy of the Know-Nothing party. The materials of the office were then taken by Colonel Noble to Paducah, Kentucky, and used by him in starting the Paducah Herald.
" The three Colonels " were all young men, typical Southern- ers; ardent, enthusiastic, and full of gush. The paper, under their administration, was popular, if not useful. If they were somewhat sophomoric in style they displayed a fierce energy and a youthful vigor that won them admiration for them- selves, if it did not make converts to their doctrines. O'Hara is known as the author of the Bivouac of the Dead, one of the best American minor poems. Although written by a most radical Southerner, one of its verses is now inscribed on a monumental stone erected to the memory of Northern soldiers in a Northern cemetery. Colonel Bullock conducted the paper pretty much in the aggressive style of his prede- cessors, though with more point and directness, and Colonel Noble was a very strong and bitter partisan writer; so that the sword-thrust of the one and the sturdy blows from the mace of the other made "Colonel Times" rather a formida- ble opponent.
In September, 1854, Jabez H. Johnson commenced his journalistic career as a writer for the Times, and continued it in this and other papers till his death. Johnson had the most inexhaustible fund of humor that was ever contained in one man. It not only trickled from his pen, whatever the subject upon which he wrote, but it slopped over in his con- versation and even in his soliloquy. It was not wit, though he had occasional flashes of that, but a subdued and inter- penetrating humor. His very signature, "Ynha Dam," was a pantagruelism. He was a man of culture, and hence his
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humor rarely degenerated into coarseness, but was character- ized by good taste and geniality. It was never forced, but exuded from him as naturally as the moisture from his skin. He occasionally aspired to the higher forms of serious com- position, and was not unsuccessful in them, but the effort ap- peared to fatigue him. Life seemed to him an endless round of fun, and he enjoyed seeing it spin away on its silly course.
About 1852 a paper called The Union was started by a company of gentlemen, but the advanced republican ideas which it advocated did not meet with a sufficient response in the public mind as it was then directed, and its career was very brief.
The Bulletin, an evening paper, was also published about this time, but was in the hands of writers already noticed, and hence claims no separate attention.
THE LOUISVILLE VOLKSBLATT
is to-day one of the leading German publications of the Southwest. Its history is full of encour- agement, showing the ripe fruits of energy and enterprise. It was established April 5, 1862, as a weekly paper. The demand for a live Ger- man paper was generally recognized at that time, and the proprietors were soon induced to issue daily, semi-weekly, and weekly editions.
In 1863 Mr. Krippenstapel sold his interest, and the firm was styled Rapp, Schuman & Co. He engaged in mercantile business, in which he was remarkably successful. Shortly after this Messrs. Civil, Calvert & Co. were induced to start a Republican English paper, and, in order to secure the dispatches, bought the Volksblatt and published an English and German edition under the name of the "Louisville National Union Press." In 1864 Mr. Krippenstapel was prevailed upon to take charge of the Press, and it was merged into a stock company. This arrangement was continued for something less than a year, when Mr. Krippenstapel bought the whole stock at par value.
Becoming the sole proprietor of the German edi- tion, he changed the name back to the Louisville Volksblatt, publishing daily, semi-weekly, and weekly editions. From that time the Volksblatt has been foremost among German newspapers, and a leader of public opinion. It has steadily grown in importance and influence, and was several times elected city printer in recognition of the popularity of its proprietor and of its large circulation. From the start the Volksblatt has been a consistent and an aggressive Repub- lican paper, and the increase of that party in Kentucky is largely due to the earnest personal efforts of Mr. Krippenstapel through the columns of the Volksblatt. Starting a paper in Louis-
ville has always been an up-hill business, and few of them, English or German, have gone so direct a route to success as the Volksblatt. To- day it has the largest circulation of any German paper published south of the Ohio river, and its value as a means of communication with the people is everywhere recognized.
On January 1, 1866, Mr. Krippenstapel issued the first number of the Louisville Omnibus, a literary Sunday paper. It has a large corps of talented writers, is admirably conducted, and has become universally popular, obtaining a larger circulation than any paper of a like char- acter that has ever been issued in the South. The Omnibus is eminently worthy of the high position it has obtained as a family journal, avoid- ing in its humor and general news every item which would contain a vulgar language. It is published every Sunday morning.
THE DAILY COMMERCIAL.
The first number of the Louisville Daily Com- mercial appeared on the 29th day of December, 1869. It was established by a stock company composed of a number of leading Republicans of the State, who felt that it was important to have in the metropolis of Kentucky a newspaper representing their principles. Though the Re -. publican party was largely in the minority in Louisville as well as in the State, there was ap- parently a field for another daily paper, the con- solidation of those previously existing having left no morning paper to contend with except the Courier-Journal. The title of the company was the Louisville Commercial Company, and it was organized under a charter granted some years previously by the Legislature, authorizing a gen- eral newspaper, book, and job printing business. Colonel R. M. Kelly, then a resident of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, and filling the position of Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the Seventh Dis- trict, was chosen editor and general manager, and resigned the aforesaid position to enter on his new duties; and Thomas Bradley, of Louis- ville, was elected the business manager.
The undertaking was ventured upon with wholly inadequate capital, and though the paper met from the first with what was under the cir- cumstances a liberal support from the business community, it had for a long time a hard strug- gle to maintain itself. Its staunchest, most
R. M. Kelly
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
hopeful, and most helpful friend during the first years was General John I. Croxton, of Paris, its largest stockholder, who died in April, 1874, at La Paz, Bolivia, while United States Minister resident to that country. Mr. Bradley retired as business manager after a few months, and his duties were assumed by Colonel Kelly in con- junction with the editorship, until General John W. Finnell, now of Covington, associated him- self with the paper, and for nearly two years took charge of its business interests. The panic of 1873 and the hard times following told upon the Commercial, as upon other struggling busi- ness enterprises, and it required a courage and a belief in its future which were abundantly manifested, to carry it through. One of its most liberal friends during the dark years of financial depression was Hon. John M. Harlan, now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. S. L. Ewing, Mr. W. B. Siegfried, and Mr. L. S. How- lett, who lately resigned the position of manag. ing editor, were at different times in charge of the publishing department. The Louisville Commercial company was several times reorgan- ized during its struggles, and in the summer of 1879 went into liquidation and its property was sold and purchased by the Commercial Publish- ing company, in which the principal stockholders were B. DuPont, E. H. Murray, R. M. Kelly, and W. S. Wilson. E. H. Murray was elected- president and general manager, and W. S. Wil- son business manager.
After some months General Murray was ap- pointed by President Hayes Governor of Utah, and resigned the presidency of the company. W. S. Wilson was elected to succeed him as president, which position he still holds, though, having been appointed early in 1881 collector of internal revenue for the Louisville district, he was soon compelled by his duties to give up all active participation in the management of the paper, and Colonel Kelly was then chosen man- ager, and assumed the duties of that position in addition to those of chief editor. Colonel Kelly is the only person now connected with the paper who has been with it uninterrupt- edly since its first issue. The managing editor is Mr. Young Allison, the principal editorial writer Mr. William A. Collins, and the city editor Mr. Hawthorne Hill. The Commercial has won for itself a firm hold on the business community
of Louisville, and a leading position in Repub- lican journalism in the Southwest. It has been a steadfast friend of State development, local reforms, and Republican progress.
THE SUNDAY ARGUS
was established May 26, 1876, by O. H. Roth- acker, W. H. Gardner, and Lowe & Stanley, the latter being the publishers. It published an eight-column paper from what was then No. 105 Fifth street, Louisville. On the Ist of January, 1878, J. Dinkelspiel purchased the interest of Lowe & Stanley, and the Argus Printing and Publishing Company was subsequently formed. The printing and job office of Lowe & Stanley was purchased in October, 1878, by said com- pany. In 1879, Mr. Rothacker retired, his in- terest being purchased by the remaining partners. Mr. W. H. Gardner died in 1881, in the month of January, and his interest was purchased by J. Dinkelspiel, who now owns all but two shares of stock. In 1879 the paper was made a nine- column one of folio size. Its circulation was increased to more than five thousand.
NOTES OF LOCAL JOURNALISM.
The Western Recorder, an influential organ of the Baptists, was established here in 1834.
The Louisville Notary was a short-lived pub- lication of 1834, started by the Rev. D. C. Banks and Mr. A. E. Napier.
The City Gazette was a daily started in 1838, and published for a time by Messrs. John J. and James B. Marshall.
About the same time The Messenger, a liter- ary and religious monthly which had been pub- lished in Cincinnati by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, then a young Unitarian minister and since one of the most famous of Boston divines, came with him upon his removal to the church of his faith here. It is believed to have been the first monthly magazine in the city.
The Literary Newsletter was started in De- cember, 1837, and was published from the Journal office for about thirty months, by Mr. Edmund Flagg.
In the same year the issue of The Western Journal of Education was begun, by the Rev. Benjamin O. Peers, Rector of St. Paul's Church.
The Anzeiger, the German Democratic daily of Louisville, was started by Messrs. Doern & Schoffer in 1849, and was then owned by Mr.
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Doern alone until October, 1877, when it was sold to the Louisville Anzeiger Company. More of its history will be given presently, in connec- tion with a notice of Mr. Doern.
In 1859 the Voice of Masonry and Tidings of the Craft appeared, in charge of the veteran Free Mason, Brother Robert Morris.
The Christian Observer, a Presbyterian organ, removed from Richmond to Louisville in 1869, claims to be a lineal descendant of The Christian Intelligencer, the first religious journal in Ameri- ca, whose initial issue was dated September 4, 1813.
The Louisville Daily Ledger began its issue February 15, 1871, and survived hopefully until April 26, 1876.
The Sunday Globe dated from February 7, 1875. During the same year Messrs. B. F. Avery & Sons started "Home and Farm," for which they claim a circulation of about one hundred and twenty thousand.
The Woman at Work, a literary monthly edited by Mrs. E. T. Housh, and "devoted to mental, moral, and physical culture, self-helpful- ness, and home adornment," had its beginning here in 1877.
The year 1879 was a prolific year for new jour- nalistic enterprises in Louisville. January 4th, appeared the first number of The Age, edited by Colonel Charles E. Sears and Mr. W. T. Price. February 19th, came out the Southern Quarterly Review. Jnne 7th marked the starting of The Bulletin, a weekly paper for the colored people, conducted by J. Q. & C. F. Adams. September 20th another paper for the American citizens of African descent, called The Ohio Falls Express, was started by Mr. H. Fitzbutler. November Ist, The Guardian, published in the interest of the Knights of Honor, was started by O. E. Comstock, but is now published by F. E. Slater. The New Southern Poultry Journal was estab- lished this year, by G. B. Duvall & Co.
In April, 1879, the two afternoon papers, the Evening News, conducted by George W. Baber, Esq., and the Post, were consolidated as the News and Post, which subsequently became simply the Evening Post. September 2, 1880, the subscription list and good-will of the Bowling Green Intelligence were transferred to the Post.
Straws, an illustrated monthly, 16-page quarto, was started in January, 1881.
The Louisville Journal of Commerce and Weekly Price Current became successor May 28, 1881, to the Trade Gazette, which had been founded here about four years previously.
The Ohio Falls Home and School Compan- ion, a monthly, was started in the winter of 1881-82, by Mr. M. L. Speed.
The medical and law journals of the city will be noticed in the next chapters.
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