THE DAWN OF NEWSPAPERDOM-- THE PRAIRIE CHIEFTAIN— PRESERVING NEWSPAPER FILES— END OF THE CHIEFTAIN— THE WHITE COUNTY REGISTER— THREE OBSCURE NEWSPAPERS— WHITE COUNTY JACKSONIAN— WHITE COUNTY DEMOCRAT— MONTICELLO DEMOCRAT— DEMOCRAT-JOURNAL-OBSERVER COMPANY— MONTICELLO SPECTATOR— MONTICELLO HERALD—THE NATIONAL— MONTICELLO TIMES—MONTICELLO WEEKLY PRESS— THE DAILY JOURNAL— WHITE COUNTY REPUBLICAN--WHITE COUNTY CITIZEN— OTHER MONTICELLO PUBLICATIONS— EARLY NEWSPAPER FIELD AT REYNOLDS— THE WHITE COUNTY BANNER-- THE REYNOLDS BROOM AND SUN— THE REYNOLDS JOURNAL— [DAVID S. FRENCH AND CHESTER C. FRENCH]-- THE BROOKSTON REPORTER— OTHER BROOKSTON ITEMS— IDAVILLE OBSERVER—THE MONON DISPATCH— MONON NEWS-- W. J. HUFF—THE WOLCOTT ENTERPRISE— [CHALMERS LEDGER]--CHALMERS DESPATCH— BURNETTSVILLE ENTERPRISE-- BURNETTSVILLE DISPATCH— BURNETTSVILLE NEWS—GENERAL PROGRESS.
By J. B. VanBuskirk
Formerly editor of the Monticello Herald
The early newspaper history of White County is largely traditional. No files of the early newspapers were preserved, and it would be hard to establish the the [sic] existence of some of them but for an occasional mention of their names in the court records. Up to the year 1850 the publicity required by law in certain legal proceedings was secured either by posting notices in public places or by publication in newspapers of adjoining counties. In this way the names of the LaFayette Journal, the LaFayette Courier, the Logansport Journal, the Delphi Times, the Carroll Express and other papers outside of White County are enshrined in the old records of the clerk's office as recognized "newspapers of general circulation" in those early days before White County had a newspaper.
That era of darkness came to an end in 1850, sixteen years after White County was born. The harbingers of the dawn were two men who came from other states and combining their money, their credit and their muscle, dispersed the gloom by founding the Prairie Chieftain. These men were Abram V. Reed, a brother of the late Judge Alfred Reed, and John K. Lovejoy. The former came from Urbana, Ohio, where he had been publishing a democratic paper under such disadvantages that it had finally suspended. He was postmaster at Monticello under President Fierce's administration and died here during his term of office in June, 1856. His brother, Col. Alfred Reed, was the administrator of his estate, and it required almost nine years to get it out of court, the record showing the administrator was not discharged until May 11, 1865. The printing office of the decedent was inventoried at $500 and was sold to James E. Robison, who gave his note with M. M. Sill and R. W. Sill as sureties. There is no evidence that Mr. Robison ever became an editor, but on the settlement of the Reed estate two judgments against him were listed as assets. John K. Lovejoy, who came from Illinois was a brother of Halsey Lovejoy, a merchant here who was one of Monticello's bulwarks of integrity and sobriety. Lovejoy, the printer, was of a different temperament and less inclined to take life seriously. He soon retired from the Chieftain and moved West. He afterward engaged in the newspaper business at Downieville, Nevada, and died in that state in 1877. During his residence in Nevada he won some newspaper notoriety by betting a coffin with a neighbor that he would live a year. He won the bet and on receiving the coffin remarked, "It was a good bet. I shall want the wooden overcoat before long, and it will be handy to have around."
It is common tradition that the Chieftain was published in the old courthouse, a frame building which stood on the present site of Mrs. S. P. Cowger's residence, 209 South Main Street, and so it was, at least during a part of its existence, but it probably first saw the light elsewhere, for at the time of its birth the old courthouse was still occupied as a county building, its successor not being completed until 1851. Its crowded condition, which occasioned the building of a new courthouse, would hardly have permitted the use of any part of it for a printing office before that time. Just where the squeak and rumble of the Chieftain's old handpress first broke upon Monticello's expectant ear is now unknown and will likely remain so forever.* But it was migratory, and according to a statement from Mr. James Spencer of Buffalo, who was once the "devil" of the office, the last days of the Chieftain were spent in a building on the northwest corner of Illinois and Washington streets.
In former sketches of White County's newspaper history the date of the Prairie Chieftain's first issue has been assigned to 1849, but from the court records and from the serial number of the paper as shown in a facsimile copy still extant, it appears that the publication must have begun in July, 1850.
The Prairie Chieftain and its early successors were not bad-looking specimens of the printer's art. They were printed on "all-rag" paper, which cost 25 cents per pound. It was before the era of straw and wood pulp, which has so cheapened the production of paper that publishers now think the times are out of joint if they have to pay more than two or three cents per pound. It was also before the days of stereotype plate matter and ready-print sheets, so that the early country newspaper was an exclusively home production. It was limited to four pages, and an advertisement once set remained the same yesterday, today and forever. Though all the matter was home-set, there was a sad dearth of home news in the columns of these old newspapers. Practically all the reading matter was select miscellany from current magazines, speeches from the Congressional Globe, and news clippings from far-away weekly newspapers. The metropolitan daily was of no use to the Monticello editor in those days, when mails arrived only once a week, and even the weeklies were several days old hefore reaching here. Under such circumstances, it seems strange that the local newspaper did not resort more largely to local news, but it must be remembered that local happenings were few in such a sparse population, and that the editor from necessity was also foreman, compositor, pressman and sometimes "devil," leaving him little time for news gathering or editorial writing. Yet it must be recorded that the first murder trial in White County received a treatment in the Prairie Chieftain which would do credit to some of its present-day successors. Its issue of November 4, 1850, contained a nine-column report of the trial of Cantwell and Dayton for the murder of David Jones, ineluding all the testimony, the judge's charge to thc jury, the names of the jurors, their verdict, the overruling of the motion for a new trial, and the sentencing for life. It was a piece of newspaper enterprise which caused that issue of the Chieftain to be in great demand, and copies of it were preserved for many years even in adjoining counties. Yet at the present writing not even a single copy of this historic issue can be found, though the late Milton M. Sill, in his unpublished and uncompleted "History of White County," mentions a copy which belonged to the late Dr. R. J. Clark, who had secured it from a Mr. Harvey, a relative in Tippecanoe County.
All hail to the man who never throws anything away, be its current value much or little! He is as rare as copies of the Prairie Chieftain itself. A veteran printer of this city might now be the owner of untold literary wealth if he had not hung James Whitcomb Riley's autograph poems on the dead hook like common copy, as he set them day after day in a country print shop many years ago.
*An inspection of the court records since the above was written shows that for several months prior to the advent of the Chieftain the sessions of the Circuit Court were held in the New School Presbyterian Church. It is possible therefore, that the ambition of White County for a newspaper led the fathers to vacate the courtroom to give it an abiding place.
The idea of preserving files of local newspapers had not taken root with our county fathers at that early day, though as early as 1853 the Indiana Legislature enacted a law authorizing county commissioners to subscribe for local newspapers and keep them on file in the county recorder's office at their option. This procedure appears to have been adopted in White County as early as 1857 or 1858, but not very faithfully executed. The papers were carried off or mutilated, and up to 1883 the files kept in the recorder's office were very scattering, and no attempt had been made to preserve them in bound form. During the term of Mr. James P. Simons as recorder he suggested to the board the advisability of binding their newspaper files, and upon the order of the board he gathered up and arranged the accumulations of past years and had them decently bound. Since that time this precedent has been followed at intervals of one or two years, and now a more or less complete file of the county seat papers may be found in the recorder's office, extendihg back as far as 1858, though very fragmentary as to the earlier years of this period.
After the departure of John K. Lovejoy for the West his partner, Mr. Reed, continued the publication of the Chieftain alone until the summer of 1854, when he was joined by Mr. John Carothers, who also came from Urbana, Ohio. Mr. Carothers severed his connection with the paper in the fall of the same year, but continued his journalistic career elsewhere. During the Civil war he was publisher of the Champaign County Union at Urbana, Illinois. Latcr he returned to Urbana, Ohio, and was living there in 1896, at which time he wrote a letter to the Herald recalling his newspaper days in Monticello. He was moved to write the letter by receiving a copy of the Herald containing a facsimile of the first page of the Prairie Chieftain as it appeared during his connection with the paper.
The existence of the Prairie Chieftain came to an end some time in 1854 or 1855, but the manner of its taking off is veiled in obscurity. There is reason to believe that it "struck the rocks" on account of hard times, its death being hastened, perhaps, by the appearance of another paper in a field barely large enough for the support of one. The Chieftain was a democratic paper, and the county was democratic, but the issues which led up to the Civil war a few years later were already coming to the front, and even in White County the discussion of these issues was waxing hot. Though the impression has prevailed that only one paper at a time existed in White County up to 1859, it is certain that the Chieftain had a contemporary in its last days, for in its issue of August 17, 1854, appears an account of a meeting held in Prairie Township at which a series of resolutions condemning the Nebraska Bill was adopted and ordered published "in the two papers of the county."
The other paper is said to have been the White County Register, a paper bearing the name of Richard T. Parker as publisher and Benjamin F. Tilden as editor, the latter being an attorney from Starke County, Ohio. Mr. Tilden died in the fall of 1854, and the Register apparently died with him. Its press and materials were sold by Rowland Hughes, his executor, upon an order of the Common Pleas Court, and Mr. Tilden's estate was settled as insolvent after long litigation. Richard T. Parker and Leonard H. Miller, two printers who had been connected with the office, each claimed a one-third interest in the equipment, and objected to the order of sale. Their objection was overruled, and they prayed an appeal to the Circuit Court, but their appeal was denied and the sale was made. The press was sold for $225 to James P. Luse, of LaFayette, who had previously held a lien of $167 on it, probably for purchase money.
In the meantime there appeared and disappeared three other papers, whose origin and history it is impossible to trace accurately. Nobody now living remembers them by name, and their existence seems like "the baseless fabric of a vision." Yet the court records show that in 1855 and 1856 the Monticello Tribune, the Monticello Republican and the Monticello Union were legally recognized as newspapers of general circulation. Whether they represented three separate efforts of three venturesome men to fill a long-felt want or were only the afterglow of some vanished luminary which had preceded them, can only be surmised. The Tribune appeared early in 1855, but no copy of it survives, and even the name of its editor is unknown. A little later in the same year the Monticello Republican is mentioned frequently in the records as the vehicle for legal notices, and early in 1856 the Union comes upon the field in the same capacity.
Whether these three papers were contemporaneous or successive, what party, element or interest they represented, how much "velvet" was accumulated by them or hard earnings sunk in them, what was their ancestry or what their progeny, are questions akin to "Who were the mound builders?" or "What became of the lost tribes of Israel?" The voice of history is silent, and to all our inquiries we hear only the raven echo, "Nevermore!" As if to tantalize the historian and make it impossible to dismiss these three old papers as a myth, one solitary copy of the Monticello Republican is now on file at the public library, It is dated "Sept. 22, 1855. Volume 1, number 21." It bears the name of Thomas T. Scott as editor and the motto, "Liberty and union now and forever, one and inseparable!" Its name hints that the political party which afterward became such an important factor in history was then struggling into existence in White County, but its editorial columns give no hint of its political bias. They only convey a hint of the paper's approaching dissolution. The editor says:
"Two of our hands went fishing a few days since and on their return stated that they could hang their hats on the ague fumes they saw while absent. Today the 'ague fumes' have hung them on their beds and set them to shaking teeth for a livelihood. * * * It will be impossible for us to publish a paper on our next publication day. Ague, the flustrating [sic] 'yaller feller,' has got us down, clear down."
This was probably the swan song of the Monticello Republican. Its editor is said to have died here, but he left no estate, and his name does not appear on the public records. His paper contained a number of Crawfordsville advertisements, from which it is inferred that he came from that city.
After the Republican had passed away the Union seems to have run a similar brief course. In a proof of publication dated September 2, 1856, Henry C. Kirk makes affidavit that "the publisher has departed this life and no copy of his paper containing said notice is within reach of the affiant." The publisher's name is not stated, but it appears from an action brought by the administrator of A. V. Reed's estate to collect a note that it was none other than A. V. Reed himself, the former editor of the Prairie Chieftain. The defendants in the suit were James E. Robison, Robert W. Sill and Milton M. Sill, who, it was alleged in the complaint, were partners in the publication of a paper called the Political Frame at the time the note was given, July 24, 1856, and that they had purchased therewith the press and other material of the Union to be used in the publication of their oddly named paper. For more than a year the Frame was apparently the sole occupant of the newspaper field in White County. For the first few months it was under the management of Robert W. Sill, but in March, 1857, the name of H. C. Kirk, then sheriff of the county, appeared at the masthead. Though the name of the paper smacked strongly of politics, it had no avowed political allegiance, so far as can be discovered. Mr. Kirk, its last editor, said in his salutatory: "Politically, the Frame shall remain as heretofore, 'independent in all things, neutral in nothing.' It shall be devoted to the best interests of the people upon all local and national questions." Whether the Political Frame died or was translated or passed by transmigration into the Jacksonian, is not certain, but it ceased to appear in the year 1857. Both its editors closed their newspaper career in good health and lived for many years afterward.
Early in November, 1857, John H. Scott, of Logansport, came here and issued the first number of the White County Jacksonian, having purchased the press and material of the Political Frame. The word "Democratic" appeared in large type just below the heading on the first page and there was no question about its politics. Mr. Scott was regarded as a good newspaper man, and his paper gave promise of great success, but consumption claimed him and he died about one year after launching his enterprise here. His widow became the wife of the late Andrew Trook, whose perseverance and devotion as a fisherman are still remembered by many of the older generation.
having now reached the end of what may be called the antebellum period we may treat with ess detail the remaining newspaper history of Monticello, as the newspapers of the later era have been more generally preserved and are accessible to the public to speak for themselves.In the spring of 1859 James W. McEwen came here from Pennsylvania and bought the plant of the Jacksonian. Mr. Scott before his death had changed the name of his paper to the White County Democrat, and Mr. McEwen continued it under the same name. For a time his office was located upstairs in the north end of the Commercial Block, but in later years it occupied the old Presbyterian church on Court Street, which gave him the advantage of a ground floor office and plenty of room. In 1866 he was joined by Mr. N. C. A. Rayhouser, and under this partnership the name of the paper was changed to the Constitutionalist. Mr. Rayhouser retired from the firm after a few months, and in 1870 Artemus P. Kerr bought an interest, which he retained until August, 1873. On his retirement Mr. McEwen continued to publish the Constitutionalist until January, 1877, when he sold his plant here to A. J. Kitt and D. A. Fawcett and moved to Rensselaer.
The new firm took possession January 26, 1877, and moved the office to rooms in the Reynolds block upstairs. They changed the name of the paper to the Monticello Democrat and its first issue appeared February 3, 1877. In the following April Mr. Kitt bought Mr. Fawcett's interest and changed the form of the paper to a five-column quarto. Fawcett went to Delphi and started a paper called the News. After six months as sole proprietor, during which time the Democrat showed the same ability and spiciness that have always marked Mr. Kitt's newspaper ventures, he sold the office to Will B. Hoover, a young man who had been doing reportorial work for the Logansport Journal, and whose father, Dr. R. B. Hoover, was engaged in medical practice at Burnettsville. He took possession October 30, 1877. He was ambitious and enthusiastic in his work, but his health failed and he died at the home of his father in Burnettsville, September 21, 1870 [sic]. He was succeeded in the newspaper business by Jasper H. Keyes, who took charge of the Democrat September 26, 1879. On March 20, 1881, his office was wrecked by a fire, and for several months White County was without a democratic paper.
In the following July a man named Cleveland J. Reynolds, of unknown antecedents, appeared on the scene and started a democratic paper called the Times. He proved to be a brazen pretender and early in January, 1882, he absconded after borrowing various amounts ranging from $25 to $150 from prominent supporters of his paper. He was never seen here again, and following his departure there was another interval of darkness for the democratic party of White County.
But on June 16, 1882, appeared the first issue of the White County Democrat, which has continued without a suspension or change of name to this day. It was published by Harry P. Owens and Wm. E. Uhl, both of whom were lawyers and members of the White County bar. The subsequent history of the Democrat is thus related by Mr. James P. Simons, who for nearly twenty years graced the editorial tripod of that paper and by his long tenure and able editorial management gave to the Democrat a statewide influence: "In January, 1883, Mr. Uhl sold his intetest to his partner, who a few months later sold a half interest to Mr. A. B. Clarke, of Remington, who was a practical printer, and who has continued with the paper almost continuously since that time, even down to the present day. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Owens sold his remaining interest to another young lawyer, Mr. Walter S. Hartman, who later, in 1884, sold his interest to his brother. Mr. A. D. Hartman, the firm name continuing Clarke & Hartman until 1886, when the Hartman interest was sold to John A. Rothrock. In 1889 Mr. Clarke removed to Colorado and Mr. A. B. Crampton, of Delphi, bought his interest and the publishers were Crampton & Rothrock, continuing thus until Mr. Rothrock purchased the Crampton interest, continuing the publication alone until December, 1894, when he sold the entire plant to Messrs. J. P. Simons and A. B. Clarke, the latter having returned from Colorado some time previously. These gentlemen assumed charge under the firm name of Clarke & Simons. The senior member, being a practical printer, took charge of the mechanical end of the work while Mr. Simons assumed charge of the news and editorial departments, and this arrangement continued for almost twenty years—until May, 1914, when Mr. Simons sold his interest to Mr. Charles L. Foster of Idaville."
Mr. Foster's connection with the paper began in December, 1912, at which time the Democrat, the Idaville Observer, the Reynolds Jour~nal and the Evening Journal (Monticello's only daily paper) were incorporated under one management known as the Democrat-Journal-Observer Company. The Reynolds Journal was soon afterward discontinued, but the other publications have continued up to the present time under the same corporate management, from which, however, Mr. Simons has withdrawn. The present officers are A. B. Clarke, president; Joshua D. Foster (father of Chas. L. Foster), vice president, and Chas. L. Foster, secretary-treasurer.
By 1859 the republican party had grown strong enough to create a field for a republican newspaper in White County, and the want was supplied by the brothers James and Benjamin Spencer, who started the Monticello Spectator, a sprightly six-column folio. Its first issue appeared May 12, 1859. The press and type were brought from Rensselaer, where they had been used in the publication of the Gazette, a paper on which one or both the brothers had formerly been employed as printers. Some of the cases and stands thus imported are still in use in the present office of the Monticello Herald, which is a lineal descendant of the Spectator.
The Spectator was a typographical beauty and reflected great credit on the printers who produced it. It was all home print and showed more than ordinary editorial ability. It was not long in getting embroiled with its neighbor the Democrat on political issues, and from first to last it was engaged in a sturdy game of "give and take" on the questions of state rights, abolition of slavery, "nigger supremacy," free soil and other issues which divided the political parties of that day. The Spencer brothers had not reached the days of voting contests, and they were opposed to betting, but in the summer of 1860 they offered to send the Spectator "to all responsible Douglasites of White, Pulaski and Benton counties, payable when Lincoln carries Indiana." It is not recorded that they swelled their subscription list perceptibly by the offer or lined their coffers with Douglas gold, though Lincoln did carry Indiana at the November election. Early in September of 1860 Benjamin Spencer retired from the firm on account of failing health, and his brother James conducted the paper alone until it was transferred to Milton M. Sill early in 1862, after which he donned the blue and went to the front.
Mr. Sill changed the name of the paper to the Monticello Herald, which it still bears. Its first issue under the new name was February 14, 1862. Of this venture Mr. Sill himself says in his uncompleted history of White County: "The proprietor within a month learned that he had purchased one of the very largest and sleekest white elephants. The expense of publication so far exceeded the income that at the end of the first year he found his balance sheet showed a deficit of more than twelve hundred dollars. He still continued the publication, however, watching for an opportunity to let go, until in the fall of 1863 he accepted a position in the War Office at Washington and placed the paper in charge of James G. Staley, who continued its publication until January, 1864, sold the plant to A. H. Harritt, raised a company of volunteers for the 128th regiment, went to the front and was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. What became of the proceeds of the sale of the Herald office the owner never learned and did not care to inquire. He found on his return in the summer of 1864 seventy-five dollars in the hands of the Auditor for the publication of the delinquent list in his absence, which he promptly accepted in full of all claims and was heartily grateful to the purchaser, Mr. Harritt, for stepping in as editor and proprietor of the Herald in his stead."
Mr. Harritt had been principal of the schools here and he took two of his pupils into the office with him as "printer's devils." Under his kindly tolerance they were permitted to issue a little paper of their own which they called The Junior, and which cannot be omitted in a veracious history of the newspapers of the county. It was about 9 by 12 inches in size and bore the names of A. P. Kerr and J. B. VanBuskirk as editors and publishers. It lasted until it began to consume more time than even the most indulgent of employers could afford to grant, and then the Junior's wind was gently shut off. Both of these juvenile publishers afterward drifted into the real thing—one as a publisher of the Constitutionalist and the other of the Herald.
Mr. Harritt was a vigorous and aggressive editor and the Herald under his management was an important factor in the republican victory of 1864 in White County. In February, 1865, he sold a half interest to Wm. H. Dague of Logansport, and six months later Mr. Dague became sole owner. He continued to publish the Herald until 1869, when he sold the plant to Mr. S. P. Conner and entered the practice of law here. In 1870 Mr. Conner sold a half interest to W. J. Huff, son of Judge Samuel A. Huff of LaFayette. After the election in the fall of 1870 Mr. Conner became dissatisfied with the political outlook and sold his interest to Mr. Huff, who remained sole proprietor until November, 1874, when he sold a half interest to J. B. VanBuskirk. In the meantime the fashion of country journalism had changed. A firm named Kellogg had devised the plan of furnishing country publishers their papers ready printed on one side at only a trifle more than the cost of blank paper. The Herald had adopted the ready-print plan, had enlarged to an eight-column folio and was devoting more space than formerly to local news. In 1877 the office was moved from a tumble-down shack a few doors south of the court house on Main Street to the Kendall Building on the present site of the O'Connor block. In 1879 it exchanged its old hand press for a Potter cylinder and soon afterward added a steam engine. No firm of country printers ever worked harder or more assiduously to build up a business than the firm of Huff & VanBuskirk. In 1884 they built the present Herald Building on Broadway and moved into it on the Fourth of July. In 1885 the paper was changed to the six-column quarto form which it still retains, Mr. Huff on account of eye trouble decided early in 1888 to move to California and sold his interest to his partner, who continued the business alone. During a period of four years (1900-1903) the Herald was published by Mr. Ed F. Newton, under lease. In January, 1904, the management was resumed by the owner, who continued as editor and publisher until January, 1915, when he sold the office entire to the Monticello Herald Company, headed by Mr. Charles S. Preston, clerk of the Circuit Court, under whose management it still continues.
The National, a weekly paper, was established here in 1878 by Jacob Clay Smith as the organ of the greenback party, which was then causing quite a political stir in White County. The party soon died, but, except for an interval of about four years, the National continued to be published until 1905, when it was compelled to suspend by the sickness and death of its owner. He died August 4th of that year. In 1892 it passed for a time into the hands of W. I. Harbert, who continued its publication a few months under the name of the People's Advocate, representing the interests of the populist movement. The first issue of the Advocate appeared July 9, 1892, but in the fall of that year Harbert moved the plant to Reynolds and in partnership with W. D. Wattles launched the Broom, a short-lived publication similar to the Advocate. Mr. Smith, who in the meantime had been employed as a printer in the Democrat office, revived the National in 1896, and though in its later years it had no local organization to represent, he kept it alive until his health failed nine years later. The plant was sold piecemeal by his widow, the press being bought by the Democrat and used as a proof press.
During the stirring local discussion in 1892 which preceded the building of the present courthouse, Isaac Parsons, then editor of the Monon News, established a paper here called the Monticello Times. Its plant was located in an old building on the present site of the Baker-Uhl Building, and its first issue appeared September 16th. The editor said in his salutatory: "The Times will be thoroughly Democratic and free from all local dissensions. Its aim and purpose will be to harmonize and solidify the party." Notwithstanding this programme of peace, harmony and solidarity, the real purpose of the new paper was to provide a vehicle for certain legal advertising which the acerbities of the courthouse campaign had loosened from its accustomed moorings. Having reaped its harvest, and the animosities of the courthouse war having abated to some extent, the Times withdrew from the field early in the following year.
For about a year the Herald and Democrat again occupied the field alone, "scrapping" continuously, as had been their custom for several years~-a custom which prevailed almost up to the closing of the grave upon one of the contending editors. It was a barbaric mode of journalism, apparently necessitated by force of circumstances in those days. It was afterward moderated to a more civilized plane of warfare, and for many years the journalism of the county seat of White County has been a model to the newspaper world.
The Monticello Weekly Press was the name of a paper launched by Cary M. Reynolds and Harry T. Bott in April, 1894. It was a five-column quarto and independent in polities. Its plant was located in an upstairs room on North Main Street. Mr. Bott soon retired from the firm, and about February 1, 1895, Mr. Reynolds sold the entire outfit to W. J. Huff, who was then in the grocery business here. Mr. Huff moved the plant to the Woltz Building on Washington Street, enlarged the paper to a aix-column quarto and in August, 1895, added a daily edition. Later he abandoned the independent field and made the Press a republican paper, but in spite of his long experience and the excellent character of his paper it proved a losing venture, and in September, 1897, the Press, both weekly and daily, suspended, and the unexpired subscriptions of the weekly were completed by the Herald and Democrat.
In the meantime another daily paper called the Daily Journal had been launched by the original founders of the Press, Messrs. Reynolds and Bott, and though it had a struggle for existence it weathered every storm, and after a checkered career of nearly twenty years seems now to be a permanent fixture among the newspapers of the city. It made its first appearance March 7, 1896, as a morning paper but was soon changed to an evening edition and has so remained to this day. Mr. Bott was succeeded in the firm by Fred A. Clarke, who ultimately became sole proprietor, his partner going to Indianapolis, where he is now employed as a linotype operator on the News. In the fall of 1903, Mr. Clarke sold the plant to Ed F. and Chas. E. Newton and migrated to New York City, where he has taken high rank as a job printer, and is now a proofreader for the Kellogg Publishing Company. The Journal office was at that time located opposite the Forbis Hotel on Main Street, on the ground floor of what is still known as the Journal Building. Its publication was continued by Newton Bros. until December, 1912, when it was merged with the Democrat, the Idaville Observer and the Reynolds Journal, and is still published by the Democrat-Observer-Journal Company. Both the Newton brothers followed the Journal into its new environment. Until the spring of 1915 Charles E. Newton was retained as its editor, while his brother Ed for a time was in charge of the Idaville Observer, later being assigned to the Reynolds Journal and performing various other functions for the company. Since April, 1915, Mr. Ed N. Thacker has been editor of the Journal.
In December, 1899, a paper called the White County Republican was started in Monticello by Ashbel P. Reynolds, who installed a second-hand printing plant at his residence on Water Street, whence the paper was issued, with D. A. Reynolds as publisher and Milton M. Sill as editor. It represented the views of a limited element who were opposed to the Herald's attitude on certain questions of that day, and for a time waged an animated campaign against what it regarded as factionism in the republican party. Not finding sufficient support, it suspended publication within a year, and the plant was again on the market. It passed into the hands of Messrs. Hanna & Chilcott, and was used in the publication of a paper called the Independent, and later for a paper called the Socialist. Both of these ventures were short-lived, and the plant was finally dismembered, part of it being removed to Burnettsville and part to Brookston.
In the spring of 1914 a weekly paper called the White County Citizen was launched at Monticello as the organ of the progressive party by Mr. W. L. Murlin, who came here from Grant County, bringing a printing plant with him. His office was at first located in the south end of the Forbis hotel Building on the ground floor. The first issue of the Citizen appeared May 29th as a six-column quarto. After the November election it was reduced to a seven-column folio and changed to a semi-weekly. Later Mr. Murlin tried the experiment of a daily edition, but the response was not encouraging, and the daily was limited to three issues, which appeared December 17th, 18th and 19th. The semi-weekly continued until the first day of January, when it too suspended. At the time of the Citizen's demise its office was located in a room on North Main Street.
In addition to the publications above mentioned there have been several church and school periodicals which have found a field of usefulness and run a more or less successful course in Monticello. The Gleaner was the name of a bright church quarterly published here during the pastorate of Rev. S. C. Dickey of the Presbyterian Church during the latter '80s. A similar periodical called the Methodist Quarterly was published by Rev. W. B. Slutz during his two years pastorate of the M. E. Church, from the fall of 1887 to the fall of 1889. These quarterlies were in magazine form and represented the activities of their respective churches at one of the happiest periods of their history. A publication called the Bulletin, on a somewhat different plan, was issued in 1892-93 by Elder P. M. Fishburn, pastor of the Christian Church.
At one time the high school maintained a periodical called the Bee, and of late years the Armiger has become a household word as the annual publication of the senior class. It is a work of art rivaling many college annuals.
Mention must be made of one more periodical which was issued for a short time from the Journal press about 1907. It was the Soapmaw Journal, a freak conceived by a printer named Barney Fretz. He was an erratic genius with an artistic temperament which shone forth occasionally in music, poetry and the drama. At one time during his stay here he engaged in a public debate at the opera house with an alleged clergyman imported for the occasion, on the subject of the personality of the devil. Barney took the orthodox side of the question and vanquished the dominie, but the gate receipts hardly paid the hall rent. The name of his publication was composed of the initials indicating the name of his cult, viz: "Society of America's Progressive Men and Women." Unfortunately it was mistaken abroad for an organ of the soap industry, and mail continued to arrive here for it from makers of soap and other toilet articles long after the Soapmaw Journal had ceased to exist.
Outside of Monticello, Reynolds was, in years past, considered the best newspaper point in White County. It is nearer the center than any other large town, and until it definitely abandoned its aspirations for the county seat, a possible future of large growth beckoned not a few to the place. Monticello held the newspaper field for more than twenty-one years, during which period, as we have seen, the Prairie Chieftain, the Tribune, the Republican, the Union, the Register, the Political Frame, the White County Jacksonian, the White County Democrat, the Spectator, the Herald, and the Constitutionalist, all successively or contemporaneously held the stage at the county seat, from 1850 to 1871, before Reynolds ventured into newspaperdom.
On February 24, 1871, appeared at Reynolds the first issue of the White County Banner, with the Reynolds Publishing Company as publishers and Kleist & Wood as editors, according to the heading on the first page. On the second page the name of Rudolph Kleist appeared as editor. It was a five-column folio, 20 by 26 inches in size, and its name is said to have been suggested by Abram VanVoorst, an old settler of the locality and father of Henry VanVoorst, afterward county auditor. In 1872 J. E. Dunham, a young lawyer and ex-superintendent of the Reynolds schools, purchased the paper and managed it for a year. He changed its name to the Central Clarion, which in 1876 became the White County Register. Under that name it suspended in 1878—in after years Mr. Dunham explained why: "The cause of its suspension was a chhnge in the law governing the publication of sheriff's sales. The original law directed that they be published in the newspaper nearest the land to be sold, which law was changed to permit them to be published in any paper in the county of general circulation. When this patronage was withheld from the paper it could fight the battle no longer." Evidently, the Banner should not have depended upon one solitary source of supply to keep it floating on the breeze.
Another eccentric Reynolds newspaper enterprise was represented in the Broom, which had its origin in the National established at Monticello by the greenback party in the spring of 1878.
The plant was bought by W. I. Harbert in 1892 and moved to Reynolds, where the Broom was started in the interests of the people's party. Associated with Harbert in its publication was W. D. Wattles, a man of considerable ability, who afterward gained some distinction as a socialistic writer. The Broom barely outlived the campaign which called it into existence.
The Reynolds Sun, established by L. M. Crom in 1899, had a similar brief career.
Reynolds' last newspaper was the Journal, which issued its last number October 24, 1913, after having been in operation about three years. It was issued under the same management as the Idaville Observer and was taken over with that paper by the new corporation formed at Monticello in 1912 and known as the Democrat- Journal-Observer Company, a full account of which is given in the history of the press at the county seat. Irvine Gardner, Margaret P. Snyder and Ed Heimlich were at different times resident editors of the Journal, but toward the close of its career it was edited by Ed P. Newton, who visited the town once or twice a week from the county scat.
The second newspaper to be established outside the county seat was the Brookston Reporter, and it is still in the swim. It was founded April 3, 1873, by M. H. Ingram, and in August of the following year was purchased by David S. and Chester C. French, father and son. Originally, the Reporter was a six-column folio, but was later doubled in size. It has always been independent in politics.
The elder French was an Ohio man, who entered the ministry of the Baptist Church and held several charges in Illinois, as well as public office, before he moved his family to Brookston in 1868. In 1874 when, in partnership with his son, he purchased the Reporter, the younger man, Chester C., had secured a liberal education in Chicago and made some progress in medicine under Dr. John Medaris. Father and son continued in partnership until 1880, when the latter (C. C. French) became sole proprietor of the Reporter, Rev. David S. French having died on November 6th of the year named.
Besides his connection with the Brookston Reporter for about thirty years, Chester C. French attained prominence in the county as a public speaker and held such offices as census enumerator and town clerk. In July, 1905, he sold the newspaper to John A. Metzger, an experienced newspaper man, who still conducts it.
The Reporter was leased to D. A. Fawcett for about six months in 1878, and to George H. Healey for a year or more in 1897-98. Healey afterward started a paper called the Brookston Gazette, which was afterwards published by Wesley Taylor and finally absorbed by the Reporter.
A paper called the Brookston Magnet was started in that town by S. M. Burns in November, 1887, but the plant was sold and moved to Sheldon, Illinois, in September, 1888.
The Academy Student was the name of a school journal published at Brookston in 1872 by Prof. Thomas VanScoy, principal of the Brookston Academy.
Idaville made her first venture in journalism in the early '80s through George W. Lucy and Mell F. Pilling, who started the Independent. Within the following two years Mr. Pilling assumed the ownership and, in the spring of 1886, passed the plant along to Al. Good. Next the Independent was bought by Rev. Gilbert Small, who purchased a new press and printing outfit. He enlisted his sons Bert and Will in the enterprise and in June, 1886, appeared the first number of the Idaville Observer, under the auspices of Small Brothers.
It was the beginning of a typographical career for both these brothers, Bert being now connected with the American Press Association, and Will a successful traveling salesman for the Barnhart Bros. Type Foundry. The Observer has since passed through many hands. Among its owners and editors in after years were Wm. H. Heiny, Frank Downs, John L. Moorman, Byron McCall, Sanderson brothers (Harry and Bert), H. E. McCulley, R. M. Isherwood and Charles L. Foster. Mr. Foster took charge in 1904, and under his management it is said to have become an actual money-maker as well as an ideal country newspaper. In 1912 it became a part of the Democrat-Journal-Observer syndicate of Monticello, but still retains its local identity by means of a resident manager.
Monon's first paper was the Dispatch, which made its first appearance in September, 1884, with Stokes & Martin as publishers. A. K. Sills, J. H. Turpie and Charles Downing were early financial backers of the enterprise, and Downing afterward became the sole owner. Later it drifted into the hands of a man named Fawcett, and ultimately was succeeded by the Monon Leader, which made its first appearance early in January, 1887, with Charles Cook as "editor and proprietor" and Dr. J. T. Reed as associate editor. After various vicissitudes the plant was sold and removed to Ladoga in January, 1889.
John M. Winkley, who had lately been postmaster of Monon, then established a paper called the Times, which after about two years was succeeded by the Monon News. The latter, which has survived to this day, was published by Isaac Parsons, formerly a lawyer at LaFayette. He had two or three sons who were associated with him in the business. During the Parsons regime another paper, called the Review, was started at Monon by a man named Moore, but it withdrew from the field after a few months, and its subscription list was transferred to the Monticello Press. In November, 1897, Parsons sold the plant to W. D. Harlow, a hotel manager at Monticello, who had formerly been connected with the Crawfordsville Star. He found the newspaper path at Monon not a smooth one, and after a year or two he disposed of it to R. M. Streeter, of Winamac. Later it fell into the hands of a Mr. Jones, who soon afterward took French leave. He was succeeded by a man named Weeks, who died in 1905, leaving the plant to his sister, Mrs. J. L. Peetz. Mr. C. A. McAllister, still a resident of Monon, was also publisher of the News for a time.
The News gained a state-wide celebrity under the management of Mrs. Peetz by its enthusiastic support of her husband for state statistician, to whom she always referred editorially as "our husband." Mr. Peetz was elected, and in December, 1908, the paper was sold to W. J. Huff, a veteran printer and journalist, who, with his sons, Edgar J. and Walter S., have since conducted the business.
The senior proprietor learned the printer's trade in his native town of LaFayette. There Mr. Huff published the Liliputian for about a year and a half and in 1870 moved to Monticello, where he became part owner of the Herald; six months later he was sole proprietor and in 1874 went into partnership with J. B. VanBuskirk. In 1871 he was also appointed postmaster and held that office until October, 1885.
Mr. Huff has been handicapped in his career by an affliction of the eyes, and in 1888 he gave up the newspaper business on that account and removed to California. He soon returned, however, and re-entered the newspaper field. Prior to locating at Monon he was engaged in journalism at Valparaiso, Monticello, Greenwood, Spencer, Kirklin and New Richmond. Though he is now practically blind, the News has developed wonderfully under his management and is now equipped with a linotype and other modern machinery, placing it in the front rank of White County newspapers.
Mr. Huff is the son of the well known Judge Samuel A. Huff, who was a printer at Indianapolis in his earlier years and spent the bulk of his manhood as a citizen of LaFayette, engaged in legal practice, and in judicial and political activities.
The Wolcott Enterprise was founded by Everett A. Walker on the 1st of April, 1892. Mr. Walker continued to edit and publish it until September, 1907, when the paper was sold to Edward N. Thacker, and in May, 1908, Mr. Thacker was succeeded by the present editor and proprietor, L. M. Kean. The Enterprise was the first paper in White County to install a typesetting machine.
The first paper published at Chalmers was the Ledger. It made its appearance in November, 1893, with a Mr. Patterson as editor and publisher, though a man named Clark from Battle Ground had done the preliminary prospecting and installed the plant. Wilbur Walts was its publisher at two different periods in its career, the last in 1899, under lease from L. M. Crom, who had become its owner. In the spring of 1900 the Ledger was sold to George H. Healey, who published it for several months in connection with his other paper, the Brookston Gazette.
The Chalmers Despatch was founded in April, 1900, by Wilbur A. Walts. Mr. Walts was succeeded as publisher of the Despatch by Grant Mullendore about 1902, and he in turn by Francis M. Smith about a year later. Since May 3, 1909, Arthur F. Knepp has been owner, editor and publisher. During the campaign of 1912 a paper called the Progressive was issued from the Despatch office, but it suspended soon after the election.
Burnettsville's first paper was the Enterprise, established in 1888 by J. E. Sutton, who printed it at Logansport in connection with the Logansport Reporter. Benton Rizer was the local manager. He was succeeded about 1891 by Randolph J. Million, who continued in charge for some time after he had moved to Monticello to practice law, but in 1894 it suspended for lack of a local manager.
The Burnettsville Dispatch was founded about 1900 by Sylvester W. Rizer, being financed largely by J. C. Duffey. After a few months Mr. Rizer was succeeded by Guy Hanna and Charles Chilcott, who later turned it over to Frank Stuart, who assumed the financial obligations of the paper. He sold it after a year or so to Harriett Fuller, and shortly afterward it ceased to exist.
The Burnettsville News, the first paper actually printed in Burnettsville, was established by J. Rolland Doan, November 21, 1907. He was a practical printer and also a successful manager. When he married a Delphi girl soon after his debut as a publisher he raised the subscription price of his paper accordingly and averted a deficit. He sold the News February 23, 1915, to A. O. Townsley and Frank Beshoar, who have since continued its publication under the firm name of Frank Beshoar & Co.
It is safe to say that no county in Indiana has more newspapers in proportion to its population than White County. At the time the present writer entered the newspaper business here in 1874 there was only one paper outside of the county seat—the Brookston Reporter. In the early days the old Washington hand press was the stock in trade of the country newspaper. An expert, with a faithful roller boy to ink the forms, could work off a "token," or 240 papers, in an hour with it. The first cylinder press in the county was a second-hand Campbell, introduced by James W. McEwen when he moved the Democrat office to the old Presbyterian Church. In 1879 the Herald exchanged its hand press for a new Potter cylinder, and of late years the old hand press has disappeared. even from the humblest printing office in the county. The old process of setting type by hand is also becoming obsolete, and now four of the printing offices in the county are equipped with linotypes—the Herald and Democrat at Monticello, the News at Monon, and the Enterprise at Wolcott.