The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 67

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082

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The second week the Herald did not appear, as a heavy rain storm came on and no paper was to be had in the city. The paper, however, appeared regularly after that, its advertising and other patronage increasing to very respectable proportions until September, 1856, when the franchise, good will and subscription-book were sold to J. A. Smith, the material being jobbed out to various parties, Edward Beeson purchasing about $1,000 worth.

On the 24th day of July, 1854, without much previous advertising, Mr. Buck issued a daily evening edition of the Herald. It was a four-column folio, 19x26 inches in size, the advertisements it contained being mostly made up from the Weekly Herald. It was continued, with only a short interval once or twice, until September, 1856, when J. A. Smith, now of Sheboygan Falls, bought it together with the balance of the Herald establishment.

The Western Freeman .- The first number of the Western Freeman appeared in Fond du Lac October 5, 1854, J. A. Smith, now of Sheboygan Falls, editor and proprietor. The material on which it was printed formerly constituted the outfit of the Sheboygan Falls Free Press, and was brought by Mr. Smith from that village. It was a six-column folio, of comely appearance and careful make-up, advocating " Republicanism, temperance and the Maine liquor law at $1.50 per annum, invariably in advance.' It was clean, respectable and dignified, and soon began to flourish as newspapers then went. Its advertising patronage increased until the 6th of December of the same year, when it was enlarged to a seven-column folio. It then had

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thirteen columns of "live " advertising matter, and was fighting strongly and boldly against the Fugitive Slave Act. In its issue of January 31, 1855, is published an article written by Sherman M. Booth while in prison in Milwaukee for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. On the 25th of April, Mr. Smith put at the head of his columns, " Official paper of the city," and he was the first official printer under the law requiring the City Clerk to let the printing to the lowest bidder, doing all the work-printing blanks as well as publishing legal notices and Council proceedings-for nothing during one year.

On the 5th of May, the paper contained the first Constitution and By-Laws of the Fond du Lac Agricultural Society.

On the 11th of July, 1855, the paper published an account of the trial of Sherman M. Booth, at Madison, for the value of the slave Glover, at which he was convicted, the slave being valued at $1,000. This verdict the Freeman denounced with unfeigned indignation, say- ing: "The result, when we consider the manner in which a jury was impaneled, will not surprise any one. All who had any prejudice for Mr. Booth were not allowed to be jurors, while those who admitted they were prejudiced against him were allowed to sit. Every man, as we understand it, confessed himself under obligation to take the law from Judge Miller. A jury trial under such a course of procedure is nothing but an aggravating and expensive mockery. It is nothing but the dictum of Judge Miller, who is one of the meanest tools of tyranny ! A court with such a Judge is a disgrace to Wisconsin, and is fast becoming a dan- gerous and intolerable nuisance."

On the 10th of January, 1856, the Freeman adopted a new style of make-up and had for its motto, in letters four columns in width, " Freedom for all mankind."

The last number of the Western Freeman was published on Wednesday, September 3, 1856. Mr. Smith had purchased the Fountain City Herald of Royal Buck, because there was " not business enough " to make two paying Whig papers, and merged the two the next week into the Commonwealth.

The Fond du Lac Commonwealth .- The first number of the Fond du Lac Weekly Com- monwealth appeared on Wednesday, October 15, 1856, the publication office being in Darling's Block. It was the result of the union of the Western Freeman, by J. A. Smith, now of Sheboygan Falls, and the Fountain City Herald, by Royal Buck, now of Nebraska, and was published by Smith & Orvis. As the Commonwealth of the present time is a continuation of the same paper without break or change of name, it is the oldest paper under an unchanged name in the county, being in its twenty-seventh year from the foundation of the Western Freeman, of which it is a continuation, and twenty-fourth year from the change of name to Commonwealth. The paper was a seven-column folio, and had a large advertising patronage, becoming heir by the consolidation to the patronage of two papers. The Daily Herald, which Mr. Buck had begun before the consolidation, was continued by Mr. Smith until the fore part of 1857. when it was dropped for want of paying patronage. Mr. Smith continued the weekly with a peculiar ability which was satisfactory to its patrons, being his own business manager and editor, nntil April 6, 1859. At that time, Smith & Orvis sold to Bryant & Lightbody, Mr. Smith being retained by them as editor. This arrangement continued until October 31, 1860, when Mr. Smith bought out Mr. Lightbody, the firm then becoming Smith & Bryant. Mr. Smith was editor as formerly, and Mr. Thomas Bryant, afterward proprietor of the Globe office in Fond du Lac, and now business manager of the Omaha (Neb.) Bee newspaper, was its mechanical manager.

In September, 1862, occurred what was popularly called the "Indian scare," and the Commonwealth furnished its trembling readers with a lengthy, entertaining and amusing account of it, which was copied far and wide. It was the work of J. A. Smith, and worthy the ludicrous occasion.

Files of the paper from this date are missing, having been destroyed in the flood of 1869. Mr. Bryant sold his share in the business to J. A. Smith a short time afterward, and, Novem- ber 14, 1864, Charles H. Benton, now of the heavy firm of hardware dealers, C. H. Benton &

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Co., purchased an interest in the establishment, and the firm became Smith & Benton, publish ers of the Commonwealth at Fond du Lac and a Commonwealth at Ripon, the latter being considered a " branch" of the former, and under the management of A. T. Glaze. Mr. Benton made an exceeding spirited newspaper man, and succeeded in provoking a lively fusilade from the opposition papers, which was pronounced at the time highly entertaining by the newspaper readers of the city. January 15, 1865, Mr. Benton severed his connection with the Commonwealth, and J. A. Smith became again editor and sole proprietor.

On the 1st of October, 1866, he engaged Ed. McGlauchlin as "city editor and collector," and the publication of a Daily Commonwealth was began. It was a large paper-patronizing telegraph lines and well filled with good matter. Business was at its best in Fond du Lac and although costly the daily was a paying investment. Mr. McGlauchlin made the local department very attractive.

In March, 1868, Mr. Smith made arrangements with the publishers of the Chicago Daily Post to use one side of their paper ready printed as it was issued in that city, and print the next day's Commonwealth on the other side. The paper was then a nine-column sheet and full of reading matter, one side being the Chicago Post-editorial, news, local and miscellaneous-and the other the Fond du Lac Commonwealth. This plan was dropped in less than a year and with it the Daily Commonwealth. While thus published it was cruelly dubbed the Com-Post. In Angust, 1869, J. A. Watrous purchased the Commonwealth with Thomas B. Reid and S. S. Fifield, and on the 22 day of August, 1870, began the publication of the Fond du Lac Daily. This proved to be the first successful daily paper in Fond du Lac, although the city had been blessed with six other very creditable daily publications. This daily took a somewhat different course, devoting column after column for weeks and months to the various manufacturing industries of the city, giving them and the locality more advertising than they had received before during their entire existence. The managers also engaged a corps of entertaining writers, and the paper very soon took an advanced position among the daily publications of the Northwest, pub- lishing regularly the afternoon Associated Press dispatches. In October, 1870, Mr. Reid sold his interest in the establishment, and the paper was then published by "the Commonwealth Company," and soon after by J. A. Watrous & Co. J. A. Watrous was editor, but the paper had such regular contributors as C. K. Pier (a member of the Commonwealth Company), George M. Steele, President of Lawrence University, and Miss Allie Arnold, now deceased.

On the 26th of September, 1871, Howard M. Kutchin, who had been publishing the Fort Atkinson Herald, purchased a one-third interest in the establishment and became one of the editors and publishers. This added largely to the strength of the paper, as Mr. Kutchin was an able writer and experienced printer ; but the plan of maintaining a corps of correspondents was not abandoned on that account. It was instead, enlarged upon, and Rev. T. T. Kutchin and others added to the list. This proved a valuable feature, for, credit being given to these correspondents for their articles, it widened the circle of the paper's friends and patrons, as well as added to its literary merits. Watrous & Kutchin continued editors and proprietors, both the daily and weekly becoming profitable and influential publications, until April, 1876, when J. A. Watrous, having the duties of Grand Templar of the Temple of Honor on his hands, leased his interest to Mr. Kutchin for one year. At the end of that time he sold out entirely to Mr. Kutchin, who published the paper as editor and proprietor until the middle of Novem- ber, 1879, when Charles G. Elliot, founder of the Schuylkill (Penn.) Republican, purchased an interest in the establishment, becoming business manager.

Since Mr. Watrous severed his connection with the Commonwealth. V. W. Richardson, T. F. Strong, Jr., of Fond du Lac, and L. A. Lange, have been local editors, the latter now holding that position.

The Commonwealth has been, during many years, one of the leading Republican papers of the State, always dealing promptly and pointedly, and from a standpoint of its own, with all questions of public policy. It has also devoted an unusual amount of space to the manufacturing and other interests of the city and to the matter of heavy and unnecessary taxation. In this direction,

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it waged a warfare so incisive and unrelenting as to turn public attention to the abuses complained of, which resulted in the correcting of the most flagrant of them, as well as in making thon- sands of new friends throughout the county. In the fall of 1878, the Commonwealth began, single-handed. to advocate the election of Matthew H. Carpenter to the United States Senate ; and to the persistency and ability with which the canvass was carried on through its columns, more than to anything and all things else, is attributable Mr. Carpenter's election, which took place in January, 1879.

Since the financial question became a factor in the political campaigns, the paper has given a goodly share of attention to a strong and clear discussion of its various phases, thereby earn- ing the reputation of furnishing the most sound and able financial discussions that appeared in the Northwest.

As a Republican newspaper, it has always taken a most active part in all campaigns, mak- its influence felt in the most unmistakable manner. It did not, however, spare the Republican party or the party leaders, when they chanced to be in the wrong, believing it far better to eradicate an evil than to attempt to hide it by silence. This honorable policy sometimes incurred the displeasure of the Republicans who happened to be criticised, but it secured respect from all quarters, showing an honesty of purpose that gave the utmost meed of praise wherever deserved, and administering the severest censure with egnal freedom and vigor. The Common- wealth is, as it has been for several years, the leading Republican newspaper of Central Wisconsin.

The Fond du Lac County Democrat .- In 1867, a strange genius, named Thompson, with- ont any warning, began the publication of a good-looking Democratic paper, called the Fond du Luc County Democrat. IIe had no means and soon left the place. the paper and office material falling into the hands of Borghart & Goodwin (Mortimer Borghart and Thomas J. Goodwin), who continued its publication until the concern was swallowed up by its debts and expenses. Hundreds of people subscribed for the paper, paying in advance, who never received a copy of it.

The Saturday Reporter .- On Saturday, August 25, 1860. John J. Beeson, now publish- ing the Independent, at Vancouver, Washington Territory, issued the first number of the Sat- urday Reporter from the second story of the building on the corner of Main and Second streets, now occupied by A. B. Taylor's hardware store. It was a neat, clean and attractive five-column folio, devoted almost wholly to local news, and was printed from the material on which Smead & Strong printed the Journal up to 1858. Mr. Beeson was a printer, having learned the trade of his father, Edward Beeson. Having always lived in Fond du Lac, he knew everybody, and was therefore well equipped for the editor of a local newspaper. In announcing his new publication, Mr. Beeson said his main object was to " build up a business that would pay." He should not make it an active partisan paper, but would nevertheless be neutral in nothing. The first number contained scarcely three columns of advertising and about seventeen columns of reading matter. The price was $1 per annum, or 10 cents per month in advance. Although modest in size and pretentions, the paper was well received everywhere. It advocated nothing in particular, took little part in politics, temperance or religion, that little being always mild and inoffensive : bnt was energetic in securing a place for every morsel of local news, and had a brief but pleasant manner of mentioning everything and everybody. This manner of conduct- ing the little paper made no enemies, and secured many new subscribers and friends. Thus it was run during the great rebellion, giving warm encouragement to the Union cause and all connected with it, without change in style, tone or appearance, until April 29, 1865, when it was enlarged to six columns per page. No other change was visible, except an increase in local matter. In February, 1866, Mr. Beeson again enlarged the Reporter, this time to a seven-column folio, and, on the 30th of January, 1869, to a nine-column paper, with a corresponding increase in the space devoted to home affairs, and continued on in the same pleasing, unsensational, but withal, successful style.

On November 22, 1873, James L. Thwing, a graduate of Lawrence University, left the Milwaukee Sentinel corps and purchased the Saturday Reporter of Mr. Beeson. He was alone

FOND DU LAC. flo Huber

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as editor and publisher until January 10, 1874, when II. R. Farnum, of the Madison Journal corps, purchased a half-interest in the establishment and added a large job office, something the Reporter had always before been without. Mr. Farnum devoted himself to the business of the concern, and Mr. Thwing exclusively to the preparation of matter for the paper: This arrange- ment was a happy one, the former adding rapidly to the business and the latter adding several new and pleasant features, as well as polish and completeness, to the paper. Under the ener- getic management of the new firm, patronage increased so rapidly that, on the 29th of May, 1875, new material throughout was purchased and the paper enlarged to a ten-column folio. The local department was made a prominent feature of the paper, as before, an assistant editor being employed almost exclusively for that work.

On the 17th of July, 1875, Rev. C. D. Pillsbury, now Pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ripon, purchased Mr. Farnum's interest in the establishment, and the firm then became " Thwing & Pillsbury, editors and proprietors." Mr. Pillsbury never gave his whole attention to the paper, and, October 1, 1878, Mr. Thwing, having leased his partner's interest, became editor and publisher. On the 9th of February, 1878, the form of the paper was changed to a quarto, six columns to the page.

During Mr. Thwing's connection with the Reporter, the paper has always maintained sev- eral distinctive newspaper features. These consisted of " Our Saturday Night," " Farm and Home," " Hits by the Paragraphists," "County Correspondence," " Thin Spaces," " Person- als" and " Miscellany," besides " Local" and " Editorial " in liberal allowances.

In these special departments, Mrs. J. L. Thwing has occasionally aided her husband in the preparation of matter for the paper.

The Saturday Reporter, which has never changed its name or missed an issue since its foundation, has always been a carefully prepared, clean and moderate toned newspaper. It has never taken any aggressive part in politics, but never failed to give dignified and cordial support to the nominees of the Republican party. It has always aimed to be strictly a family rather than a political newspaper, devoting a liberal amount of space to choice selections and extracts, miscellany, humor and fiction.

During several years previous to 1877, the Journal, the Courier (German) and the Tribun (German), were printed on the Reporter press, and, during the first week after the great fire at Oshkosh, in April, 1876, the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern was not only printed, but the type was set in the Reporter office. During the past year, the Reporter has been the official paper of the city, and is in a flourishing condition. Its weekly circulation being considered the larg- est of any paper published in the city, it has, during several years, published, for the Govern- ment, the list of letters remaining uncalled for at the post office.

The Frei Volks Presse .- On the 1st day of October, 1878, Charles Bruderle began the publication, in Fond du Lac, of the Frei Folks Presse, a large German weekly, devoted to Greenbackism and Socialism, with Prof. C. F. Kumlau as editor. Prof. Kumlau severed his con- nection with the paper after a few months, and Mr. Bruderle continued its publication under his own editorial management until the fall of 1879, when it was suspended for want of patronage.

The . Fond du Lac Tribun .- The Tribun, a German weekly Republican newspaper, was started in the city of Fond du Lac August 14, 1874. In April of the following year, the establishment was moved to Sheboygan, where the paper has since been published as the She- boygan Tribun. It is prospering and is regarded as one of the leading German papers of the Lake shore. The founder, Alfred Marschner, Sr., died on the 17th day of September, 1875. since which time the business has been conducted in the name of his widow, Auguste Marschner. The present editor and manager of the paper is Alfred Marschner, Jr.

The Nordwestlicher Courier .- This is a Democratic German weekly newspaper founded by Dr. Carl de Haas, May 4, 1871, and published in the third story of the Post Office Block, Fond du Lac. The first publishers were Carl de Haas & Son. It was begun as a five-column quarto weekly, published on Thursday, at $2 per annum, and a six-column folio, semi-weekly, published Wednesday and Saturday, at $+ per year. The semi-weekly was never a paying enterprise, and

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was discontinued May 31, 1873. A supplement containing general miscellany was issued with the weekly after the second year, free. In January, 1874, the Courier was enlarged to a six- column quarto, which is its present form and size. In April, 1875, Dr. Carl de Haas died, and the paper was continued by his sons, under the firm name of Fred de Haas & Brothers. They continued its publication until April, 1878, when the whole establishment was sold to W. F. Weber, the present editor and proprietor. November 13, 1879. Mr. Weber enlarged the sup- plement, thus furnishing a large amount of reading matter. The paying subscribers of the Nordwestlicher Courier number over two thousand, and its publication is a source of profit.

The Appeal .- The first number of the Appeal appeared in Fond du Lac May 10, 1876. It was a six-column folio, published monthly at 50 cents per annum, by J. A. Watrous, Grand Templar of the Temple of Honor in Wisconsin. It is devoted mostly to temperance, but is not the organ of the Temple of Honor or any other society. In May, 1878, the Appeal was enlarged to seven columns to the page, the price remaining as before. During the first three years of its existence, Watrous distributed gratis nearly forty thousand copies of the Appeal, its publication thereby being made a source of loss rather than of profit. It is now on a paying basis, and has a very large circulation, extending into a number of the surrounding States and Territories. It is published from the office of the Daily Commonwealth, in the city of Fond du Lac. Although mainly devoted to temperance matters. the Appeal has always contained a large amount of historical, personal and biographical sketches, rendering it to those not inter- ested in its leading feature, a most interesting and valuable publication. It is proper to record. in connection with this account of the paper, the manner in which the matter for the Appeal is prepared. Mr. Watrons, who has by far the greater share of his time taken up by his duties as Grand Templar, has prepared much of the editorial, historical sketches, personals and other matter for his paper, in hotels, while riding on the cars, and at any other time or place where a few moments could be utilized from travel or business. If he got a day at home, double duty was done by going to the " case " and composing articles as he set the type for them, using no copy. This work he called "rest," and for many months was all the rest he had.

The Wisconsin Farmer .- The first number of the Wisconsin Farmer was published from the Globe Steam Printing Office, No. 6 Forest street, Fond du Lac ,by Beeson, Lockin & Wing, on the 25th day of September, 1879. It is a sixteen-page publication, with four wide columns to the page, printed on fine calendered paper, and devoted exclusively to the interests of the farmer, dairyman and stock raiser. It is the only publication of the kind in Wisconsin, and is rapidly increasing in circulation. Edward Buson is editor. H. D. Wing associate editor, and John W. Lockin, business manager. The liberal encouragement the paper is receiving indicates that it is destined to become a permanent and prosperous publication.

The People's Champion .- On the 31st day of August, 1877, articles of incorporation, under the title of the " People's Printing and Publishing Company," were adopted for the pur- pose of " printing and publishing the People's Champion newspaper in the city of Fond du Lac, and doing a general printing and publishing business and to acenmulate capital for the stockhold- ers." The capital stock was to be $6,000, in 2,000 shares of $3 each. The incorporators were J. R. Tallmadge, E. A. Toubell. J. L. Colman, L. F. Stowe, J. O. Barrett, I. R. Sanford, A. Moody, F. E. Iloyt, E. Hoyt and Fred Gesswein. These were all residents of the city of Fond du Lac, except J. O. Barrett, of Glenbeulah, Wis., who was editor in chief of the paper, and I. R. Sanford, business manager, who came from M. M. Pomeroy's paper at Chicago. The initial number of the Champion appeared September 12, and was printed by the Star Printing Company. the type being owned by the publishers. The paper was a six-column quarto with but very little advertising patronage, and was the organ of the Greenback party. Although by vigorous can- vassing a list of more than two thousand subscribers was secured, the paper continuously lost money, and several times made suspensions of a few weeks. At the close of 1878, the incor- porators gave the good will and material of the entire establishment to I. R. Sanford-J. O. Barrett having made satisfactory arrangements to withdraw-who published the paper with a "patentinside " for a time, finally reducing it one-half in size. At the beginning of 1879, E. B.

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Bolens (now publishing the Ozaukee Star) entered into partnership with Mr. Sanford, bringing with him a large power press and other material on which the Madison Star had been published. The Champion office was then removed from the Star Printing Company's office to the Patty House Block, and did its own press work. There were two mortgages on the material ; the one held by Dr. C. W. Barnes being foreclosed, the outfit was sold by the Sheriff to John W. Lockin, of the " Globe Printing Office," except that portion of the type that belonged to Mr. Sanford which was moved by him to Appleton in October, where the Champion was again published.

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 67

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1082

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082