USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 95
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Other newspapers and newspaper men also are worth recalling. No period of the history of the old Gazette was marked by more vigor and enterprise than characterized the decade from 1873, when Frank A. Crandall had it. Erie never knew a better equipped journalist than he. Manysided, he was talented as a writer upon almost any character of subject, and when occasion demanded could say things in a way that compelled something to occur, and at once. It was he who made Grover Cleveland president of the United States, by suggesting him as a candidate for governor of New York, a suggestion that was taken
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up immediately by the Democrats, although Crandall at the time was editor of a Republican sheet, the Buffalo Express. If it had not been for Cleveland's phenomenal majority in the election that ensued the Democratic party might not yet have had the satisfaction of electing a president. Frank Crandall contributed much toward building up the Buffalo Express and his record as a journalist in the city at the foot of the lake has been brilliant. He is now in Washington.
Benjamin Whitman was the most successful newspaper man that Erie ever knew, laying the foundation of a fortune by his business management of a weekly paper, the Observer.
B. F. Sloan was another famous editor of olden times, having done excellent work on the Democratic Observer, and quite as good work on the Daily Republican, a paper of the opposite faith.
The list might be greatly extended but space will not allow more than a mention of a few more: Rev. Andrew H. Caughey, of the Constitution, wrecked by the Rippers in the Railroad war ; S. Todd Per- ley, connected with more than one venture; Supt. Missimer and Prof. Burns, who started the Herald; Rev. Father Thomas A. Casey, who edited the Lake Shore Visitor ; E. E. Sturznickel the editor of the Zus- chauer for many years; Otto Luedicke first to launch a German daily, and F. G. Gorenflo, and his associates, who demonstrated the ability of the German people of Erie to handsomely support a German daily.
Most picturesquely successful of Erie's daily newspapers is the Times, that like the saints, has come up through great tribulations. It was begun in 1888 by nine union printers out of employment as the re- sult of a strike. There was not much money among them with which to capitalize so important an undertaking as a daily newspaper, but undaunted, they procured sufficient type and, renting the back room of a basement, set up their paper and carting the forms several squares to a job printing office each evening to have the press work done, launched their venture. It was decidedly uphill work. One by one, members of the organization dropped out until, in the course of a year or two, there were left of the original projectors only two, John J .. Mead and Jacob F. Liebel. In 1890 there was a reorganization, J. H. Kelly, D. S. Crawford and John Miller becoming members of the com- pany. Slowly an equipment was acquired, but trouble grew, because the paper was steadily outgrowing the equipment, demanding new machinery to meet the requirements and the capital was limited. In 1893 Crawford and then Miller retired, to accept positions offered elsewhere, and a year or two later Kelly also withdrew. In 1894 the Sunday Graphic and Weekly Observer, published by F. S. Phelps, were consolidated with the Times, and Mr. Phelps became managing editor. Mr. Liebel died in 1897, and had no successor, Messrs. Mead and Phelps continuing the business. It was by this time in smoother
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water. The demands for the newest there was in machinery and fa- cilities continued, but they were more easily met. The linotype and the perfecting press found their way into the shop, because there was no other way by which to keep pace with the growing business, and so the paper continued to advance until it has become a paying prop- erty ; and it is telling only simple truth to say that the success of the Times is a business triumph for John J. Mead, who never for a moment, from the very start, lost faith in the ultimate success of his under- taking and proved sufficiently resourceful to meet every emergency as it arose. The industry and zeal of his partner, Mr. Phelps, have contributed their full share in the important department under his charge.
The Herald, designed at the start, in 1878, to represent conserva- tism, has lived up to its initial purpose. Democratic it is, but always reserving to itself the right to be the judge of what constitutes Dc- mocracy so far as that may relate to or be referable to its conduct. Steered in this straight course for years by Nelson Baldwin, it must be said the Herald was a success ; and his successor, Samuel E. Holley, with his city editor, W. D. Kinney, who has served for many years, have continued the Democratic daily journal of Erie true to its de- clared purpose.
Of those who were connected with the Erie press in various grades of journalism during the ten years period embraced in the eighties not a few found places of importance in the larger cities. Frank H. Severance, for a time editor of the Sunday Gasette, in 1882 went to the Buffalo Express. There he became father of the Illus- trated Express, a pattern from which the modern illustrated section of the Sunday paper in general has been modeled, the phenomenal suc- cess of the Express inviting imitation on the part of its contemporaries. Frank H. Harcourt and John R. Hess, associated in the city depart- ment of the Dispatch until 1884, went to Providence to the Telegram, and later became connected with other papers. Harcourt rose to con- siderable political distinction in Little Rhody, and acquired by service as inspector of rifle practice in connection with the National Guard of that state, the title and military rank of Major. Mr. Hess became con- nected with the Journal, one of the leading newspapers of New Eng- land, and for years has been an editorial writer and had charge of an important department of that paper. Fred Thompson, connected with the Lake City Daily, in 1878, preceded Messrs. Harcourt and Hess to Providence. Here we knew him as a clever writer, because of his con- nection with the little daily sheet; but the Lake City Daily, though greatly enjoyed by the entire city, which it kept in a state of hilarity, was never in any sense taken seriously; in Providence he was con- nected with the business department of the Telegram and afterward, for years, was paymaster of the great Gorham silver works, finding
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
time, however, to do admirable work as a dramatic critic for the Journal. He is now with Tiffany & Co., of New York.
Fred Mallery, connected with the Dispatch and Gasette during the eighties, found his way into the editorial office of the New York World, and became responsible for much that was startling in front page headlines. But he wearied of the night grind and passed from one paper to another, but has always since found that there was place for him in Gotham. Another who went to New York was Eugene M. Camp, managing editor of the Dispatch in 1884. It was his fortune to become associated with Harper's Young People-no; it was not for that reason that Young People closed its career. For some years he continued with Harper's, but is now doing news work in the cause of the Protestant Episcopal church, to the interests of which he is de- voted. Frank M. Bray, who became connected with the Dispatch in 1890, after a few years went east and obtained a leading editorial po- sition with the Literary Digest. This he surrendered to become editor of the Chautauquan, and that magazine was in his editorial charge when it was moved to Cleveland, and later, following Greeley's ad- vice, went west. Phil. Fiske, assistant city editor of the Dispatch, 1884-86, went to Pittsburg, first to the Post, where he made good ; then to be manager of the Tri-State News Bureau; and at length to Chris Magee's papers, the Times and the News, advancing steadily to promi- nence, but he dicd soon after the beginning of this century.
John Paul Bocock is remembered by but few, for his service on the Herald preceded Nelson Baldwin's, beginning in about 1882. Those who remember him will also remember Dana L. Hubbard, managing editor of the Dispatch at the same time, for they were rival humorists in their moments of relaxation, the fruit of which found its way into a departmental column of fun. John Paul and Dana drifted apart. Like the little birds in the nursery rhyme,
One flew east, and one flew west.
Bocock landed first in the office of Puck, in New York; Hubbard, for a time on the Indianapolis Journal, soon found his way to Chicago and was employed as an editorial writer on more than one of the lead- ing newspapers of the metropolis of the west. He was a highly edu- cated man and gifted beyond ordinary degree. Returning home from his labors during the short hours one stormy night, he fell through an open drawbridge and was killed.
Chicago claimed others of the Erie newspaper fraternity. For example, Charlie Stiger, famed in all the region roundabout Erie as the "Ground-hog" editor of the Dispatch, after a term with the Detroit News, burst into a splendor of fame as the Chicago baseball editor. The name of the paper is not now recalled, though the Journal comes into mind, but Chicago was the secne of his renown, and the material, his reports of the baseball games. It became general belief that Charlie Vol. 1-56
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Stiger was the fountain from which the slang of the diamond originally emanated-it is beyond question that no one else, then or since, posses- sed such an extensive and comprehensive vocabulary of it.
And it would not do to omit "Jack" Kelly when Erie's contribu- tion to Windy City journalism is mentioned. We knew him in Erie for his mighty clever Mrs. Muldoon character sketches in the Graphic during the last years of the eighties, and we knew him also as a deep well of Erie county folk-lore and traditions from which an almost in- exhaustible supply might be drawn. In his western home he made good on more than one newspaper, and now has an important billet on the Tribune.
Philadelphia remains as another city for conquest by Erie journ- alists, for the Quaker City was not to escape when all the rest of the western world was being captured. In 1882 there came to the Dispatch a recruit from North East. He came with Messrs. Johnson. Camp and Belknap when they took stock in Erie's morning paper. Two years later he crossed the state diagonally and ceased from his travels in the office of the Philadelphia Inquirer. In a remarkably short time the boy from the little Erie county town had made progress in the big city and was holding down with credit an important editorial position. Rather more than ten years later another Dispatch man, Henry M. Eaton (at the same time he was a member of the Erie bar) went to Philadelphia, and on the Inquirer and the North American distinctly made his mark. Both of these gentlemen are still identified with Philadelphia journal- ism.
There was another, who went to the Providence Journal ; but he returned to Erie and was for a time with the Dispatch, but is not now of the profession ; sometimes he tries his hand at the writing of his- tory. It might be said of him, however, that his journalistic career began on the Gazette in 1875 under Frank A. Crandall, and that the Dispatch and Times have both had some of his services.
IN CONCLUSION.
A man of venerable aspect is seated on his easy chair placed in a shady corner on the veranda of the attractive farm house that, shaded by a row of fine maples, stands on a gentle eminence back a little way from the road. His work upon the old farm is over, and it is his priv- ilege now to sit and dream of the past in the intervals between the flitting evidences of the present that ever and anon attract his atten- tion. He is a pioneer. Not one of those who first opened a space the diameter of a tree-top through which to let the sunlight in through the leafy canopy of green spread unbroken as far as the keen vision of youth could penetrate. No. He was a pioneer, but he came when the settlements in Erie county were half a century old. But even at that he came into a region that was only emerging from the woods. And as he sits there, leaning his two hands upon his cane, his day- dream interrupted by the whistle of the trolley-car passing along on the farther side of the highway, he calls to mind what was, and what has since come to be.
He knew when he came that the lines for him had fallen in pleasanter places. He found roads that could without great difficulty be traveled, and he came in something of state, for he drove in with a team of horses and a good wagon. And when it came time to build a house for himself he could make it of sawn timber and boards, and it was possible to add some comforts. His house was vastly better than many another he had passed, driving out from town, and on his way to and from the mill, for they were built of logs. Yes ; his experience had been a more pleasant one than that of his neighbors of the log houses.
But yet, the woods were everywhere; the clearings only here and there-little gaps in the forest-and most of his time in the fall and winter was devoted to the work of widening the open space in the woods. And as he sits this summer day and turns back in memory to traverse again the journey of his lifetime, he notes what the changes have been. He sees the slow widening of the fields; the toilsome work of clearing ; the burning of his logs and brush ; the conversion of the ashes into black salts; the laborious cultivation of his soil and the scant returns, barely enough to make ends meet. He recollects the rude implements with which he plowed and sowed and tilled and reaped when first his work as a farmer was taken up. And then he recalls
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the changes, step by step. The crude cultivator and the shovel-plow, and the grain cradle-marvels of invention in their day. He remem- bers the threshing-floor of the old barn, where for many a day he swung the flail. He calls up in memory the advent of the threshing machine to which motion was imparted by the equine treadmill; and the fanning-mill that came about the same time.
Then into his recollection there comes the mowing machine. No longer need he swing the back-breaking scythe, but, like a conquering hero, ride across his fields upon a chariot and the grass is laid low. Upon its heels comes the reaper, and, more marvelous still, it is made to bind as well; and, when his crop is in, the threshing machine has given place to the separator, that, drawn to his barn by a species of locomotive, is by the same engine put in operation. And so, before his mental vision there passes in review a procession of progress, a cycle of change for the better that, as he views it in his mind's eye, takes on the character of the marvelous.
He looks beyond the stretch of close-cut lawn, beyond the orange hedge, and sees the winding road. He remembers the weekly post- boy with his mail sacks before him on the saddle; he recollects the plank road and its stage, and his trips once a week to the village post- office on the day the paper is due to arrive. Now as he sits in his easy chair the rural carrier in his uniform of gray stops at his gate and the daily paper and letters from his boys and girls, some in the city and some in other farming districts, are delivered in his mail box. He sees the interurban cars sweep by, filled with passengers, and pres- ently another, that leaves on the platform by the roadside the empty cans in which the product of the dairy had that morning been sent by the same conveyance to the city. He sees it, and for a moment is surprised that all this has ceased to fill him with amazement, it is be- come so much the regular order of the day and time. His grand- children troop in with merry shout, and cheer him with their sports, while one, with ready will, brings up the daily mail.
It has not been a transformation, though between the first and last the change has been so great. It has been but an evolution-the march of American progress; and one man in his lifetime has been a witness of it all.
But the wheels of Progress have not yet been stopped. Retro- spection readily reveals a marvelous advance, and, whether, by the farmer pioneer or the city business man, the past is called up in re- view, the giant strides that have been taken forward and upward may well excite something akin to astonishment. But the end is not yet. The day of great things is not even at its meridian. Here, in Erie county, there have already been first steps taken toward results gigantic.
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
East of Erie, before the end of the second decade of this century there will have arisen a second city that may become a part of Erie, a community of the Twentieth century, the result of the development of Twentieth century science. It is not a matter or thing to be the subject of prophecy, but is already a settled fact. When the General Electric Company bought that tract of 800 acres of land, it was for the purpose of putting it to use, and already the plans for its development have been matured. The carrying out of these plans, which include extensive shops and residence districts, with streets and avenues and improvements, will require, for the industrial part of the undertaking alone, $10,000,000. The building of this manufacturing town is in the future ; and yet it is history to a great extent, for the purchase of the land has been made, and the plans adopted.
Westward there is a project of even greater dimensions that con- templates the creation of a new port on the southern shore of Lake Erie. A few years since the United States Steel Corporation acquired a large tract of land at the western end of the county. Today the cor- poration is paying taxes on 1,600 acres in Girard township and 800 acres in Springfield township. The Girard holdings include the valley of Elk creek from the Lake Shore Railroad to the mouth of the stream. Out of this there is to be constructed a harbor. That it is possible to make of it a large harbor the work accomplished at Conneaut is proof. There is more room for a harbor in the Elk creek valley at the lake than at Conneaut. Plans have already been completed, with all the details, for the accommodation of the shipping; for the storage of ore and coal ; for the railroad trackage ; for mills and furnaces ; and for every detail of the business, and nothing remains but to appoint the time to begin the work. That time is not far distant, according to statements that have been made by officials of the corporation-a year or two at the farthest.
Nor is it beyond the boundaries of the city alone that prophecies of progress may safely be made. The story of the industries of Erie has ever been a story of advance, and the expansion of Erie, if not swift, has been steady. Plans adopted and work already in progress bespeak remarkable enlargements and radical city improvements-grade crossings abolished, a new railroad station, new hotels, larger schools, more parks, more extensive mills and shops, and a cleaner and a healthier city.
INDEX
Academy Lands, 501. Academy of Music, 848. Academy Reunion, 792.
Adams, Frank F., Mayor, 637.
Adelphic Literary Society, 830.
Albion, 447, 449; Arrival of Jona- than Spaulding, 76. Albion, Indian Mound, 14. Almshouse, First, 113; the Present, 114. Alpha Theatre, 850.
Alps Insurance Company, 734.
Amateur Baseball, 852.
American Hotel, 846.
Amity Township, 437.
Anchor Line Vessels, 649; 650.
Andastes Indians, 16.
Animals of the Great American Forest, 3. Anshe Chesed Congregation, 827. Arion Society, 831. Art Club of Erie, 838. Associate Judges, 376.
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 802. Associated Charities of Erie, 774. Asphalt Paving, 628.
Atlantic, Duluth & Pacific Line Steamers, 649. Audubon Society, 842. Austin, Mrs. T. M., 673.
Babbitt, Elijah. 623: His Last
Trial, 380. Babcock, J. W., 484. Baker, B., 736. Baldwin, Nelson, 878.
Ball & Colt, Bank, 733.
Ball Engine Company, 695.
Bank, First at Erie, 730. Bank of Commerce, 731.
Baptists in Erie County, 173. Baseball Clubs, 831. Battle of Lake Erie, 137. Battle of Manila, 393.
Battle of the Thames, 152.
Battles, R. S., 473.
Bay State Iron Works, 694.
Beaver Dam, 564.
Becker, Philip, Mayor, 637.
Becker, P. A., 736.
Belle Valley, 506.
Bell House, 846.
Bell of the Queen Charlotte, 763.
Bell Telephone Company, 741.
Bench and Bar, 374.
Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, 304. "Beyond the Rhine," 626. Big Bend, 859.
Big Elephant Mound, 12.
Bigler, Prof. John F., 552.
Bird, James, and His Story, 156.
Bissell, Capt. Russell, 77.
Blancon Mill, Story of, 190.
Blast Furnace at Erie, 716.
Blila, A. W., 663.
Block House, on Wayne's Burial Place, 86. "Blue Ruin," 691.
Board of Health, 638.
Board of Trade, Erie, 727.
Bog Iron, 8; Quarrying of, 689.
Borough, the Ancient, 556.
Boston Store, 738. Boundary Line Dispute, 114.
Bouquet, Colonel, 47. Bowman Academy, 790.
Boys' Club, 775.
Brady, Jolin C., Mayor, 637. Braddock's Defeat, 43.
Bradstreet, Colonel at Erie, 55.
886
INDEX
Brant, Chief, Interest in the Tri- angle, 6%. Brewer, Eben, 876.
Brewing Industry, 201.
Brewster, Alexander W., 623.
Brewster ( William) Industrial School for Girls, 773. Brick Manufacture, 704.
Brick Paving, 629.
Brith Sholom Congregation, 828.
Brokenstraw Township, 563.
Brooklyn Fire, 336.
Brown Avenne U. P. Church, 808.
Brown, C. W., 684.
Brown's Hotel, 847.
Buehler's Hotel. 845.
Buffalo Road, 100.
1 Buffalo & Lake Erie Traction Com- pany, 755.
Buildings, Old, of Erie, 615.
Building the Railroads, 294.
Burdett Organ Company, 725.
Bureau of Charities, 713.
Burgettstown. 513. Burke Electric Company, 746.
Burrows, Judge Jerome B., 406.
Burrows, Sen. John Caesar, 405.
Burton (David) & Sons, 648.
Business Affairs of Erie. 727.
Business Men's Exchange, Erie, 229.
Caledonian Club, 840, 858. Canal Basin, Construction of, 643. Canal, the, Built, 234; Acquired by Private Corporation, 235; Lo- cation of. 237; Closed, 242. Canal-bed Railroad, 304. Candles, Manufacture of, 718.
Carnegie Steel Company, 651. Carroll Dock, 652. Carter Hill, 565. Cascade Street M. E. Church, 815. Catholic Cemetery, First, 865.
Catholic Church, Oldest in County. 498. Catholic Orders, 844. Catholic Parochial Schools, 800. Catlin, Henry, 871.
Calvary Baptist Church, 817. Cavalry Troops from Erie County, 339.
Cedar Post Campaign, 427. Celoron Expedition, 21.
Cemeteries, Old, 864.
Cemetery, Erie, 865.
Centennial of Erie, 639.
Central Market, 685.
Central Presbyterian Church, 805.
Chamber of Commerce, Erie, 728. Charter of Erie City, 623.
Chestnut Orchard, 590.
Chestnut Street Presbyterian
Church, 806.
Christian Endeavor Convention,
829. Christian Endeavor Union, 829.
Christian Science, 828.
Chrysanthemum Club, 840.
Churches ( See chapters relating to the individual townships and cities ). Church History, 160; (see under names of denominations ).
Churches of Erie, 802.
Church of Christ ( Disciples), 828.
Church of the Holy Family, 825.
Church of the Redeemer, 810.
Church of the Sacred Heart, 825.
Circus Days at Girard, 471.
City Hall, Erie, 768. City of Corry, 568.
City of Erie, ( see Part III.).
City Solicitors, 387. Civil War, Erie County, in, 324; Erie, in, 665 ; First Union Gun, 411. Claims on the Triangle, 58. Clarke, Charles S., Mayor, 637. Claus Theatre. 851. Clearing House. Erie, 734.
Clothing, Manufacture of at Erie, 704. Cloughsburg, 626. Collins, Napoleon, Naval Exploit, 343. Colonial Theatre, 850.
887
INDEX
Colonization by the French, Spanish and English, 19. Colt, Judah, Arrival of, 78; Land Agent, 88. Colt, Thomas G., 623, 624.
Colt's Station, 482.
Colt's Station Road, 102.
Coming of the Germans, 245.
Commerce, Developnient of, 203. Commissioners and Clerks, County, 116. "Company Store," 692. Compton's Corners, 550.
Concord Township, 440. Cone-in-Cone, 8.
Conneaut and Erie Traction Com- pany, 759.
Conneaut Township, 443.
Conneauttee Lake, 548.
Conneauttee Township, 549.
Constitution Office Wrecked by Rippers, 289.
Contrecœur, Succeeds Legardeur, 42.
Cooper, Prof. J. A., 552.
Cornplanter's Friendship, 67.
Corry Bond Troubles, 571.
Corry, City of, 568.
Corry, Hiram, 568.
Corry, Indian Mound, 13.
Corry Water Works, 572.
Country Club, 836.
Country Clubs, 507.
County Boundaries, 114.
County Fairs, 507.
County Government Organized, 107.
County Officers, First, 110.
County Scrip, 363.
Court House, First, 111; Burning of, 111; First Public Building at Erie, 763: Second, 112; New, 764. Court, First Held in Erie, 110.
Courts (see Bench and Bar). Cowell, Edward J., 748. Cranberry Day, 223.
Crandall. Frank A., 876.
Cranesville, 452.
Cross-cut Railroad, 303.
Crystal Point, 859. Culbertson, William, 548. Custom House, Old, 764.
Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, 841.
Davenport, Miss Helen, 675.
Deacon Chamberlain's Story, 73.
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