Wyandot County, Ohio - Chapter 9: The Pkess, 1884

The Wyandott Telegraph - Extracts from its Columns - The Pioneer- Various Comments and Extracts - The Tribune - The Vindicator - The Herald - The Pioneer Changed to the Republican - The Chief - Biographical - Sketches of William T. Giles, Robert D. Dumm, Louis A Brunner, Pif.tro Cuneo, Henry A. Tracht, Frank T. Tripp - Carey Publications - The Nevada Enterprise - The Sycamore News.

THE following historical account of the newspapers of Upper Sandusky to 1871, are copied almost verbatim from a series of articles which, prepared by Hon. John D. Sears, of Upper Sandusky, were published in The Wyandot Democratic Union during the spring of the year above indicated:

It is not designed to make an apology for the order or want of order in these notes; yet, if an excuse is needed for giving precedence to the subject of this chapter, it may be found in the well-known fact that one of the principal objects of the division of the State into counties is to afford an adequate supply of county printing. Our laws have in effect taken care that there shall be no county without its newspaper.

The Act creating the county of Wyandot was passed February 3, 1815, and within two weeks thereafter the Wyandott Telegraph, our first newspaper, was established at Upper Sandusky, the new county seat. The date of its hrst issue is not known to the writer, as his earliest copy is No. 4, Vol. I, dated March 8, 1845. The editor and proprietor was John Shrenk, who had previously published a paper at Bucyrus, and more recently at Kenton, from which latter place he removed to Upper Sandusky.

The politics of this first publication were Whig. " Terms of subscription, one dollar and fifty cents per annum, if paid in four weeks from the time of subscription; otherwise, two dollars will be charged." "Advertisements will be inserted at the following rates: One dollar for three insertions of each square, of twelve lines or less, and twenty-five cents for each subsequent insertion." It was a five-column folio, size, 20|x27| inches, and pretty well printed.

Our earliest number of the Telegraph contains the proceedings of the first Whig county convention, held at Upper Sandusky on the 5th of March, 1845, and a call signed "Many Democrats," for a meeting of the Democracy on the 15th of March, to make nominations for county officers. There was also an announcement of Maj. Anthony Bowsher as an Independent candidate for Sheriff, and a communication from "A True Democrat," with some unfavorable criticisms of the Major's qualifications for the office, in the course of which the indignant writer says: " When such persons become fit for office, we may look for the end of time." Doubtless we may look for it, but we have elected many worse men, and still Gabriel forbears to blow.

In the editorial columns appeared the following: "We have just received the important news from Washington that Congress has passed a law making a donation of town lots to the county of Wyandot. * * * * Jt donates one third of the iulots and one-third of the outlots to the county of Wyandot, provided the county seat is established here, for the purpose of putting up public buildings, and improving the streets, public squares and public grounds. * * * * The donation is a noble one, and, if rightly managed and justly appropriated, our citizens will never be subjected to an onerous tax for public buildings. Few new counties have been so highly favored as Wyandot, and we predict for her an unexampled tide of prosperity. * * * * The number of lots which the county will get by the provisions of this law will be 126 inlots and 72 outlots. The outlots contain two acres each. * * * "

The only thing in this number of the Telegraph which looks like a local item, is a line at the foot of a column in which it is said. " The Sandusky River is still raising" - and that was not true according to our recollection.

The advertising portion fills a little more than half a column, and is made up of a notice by Moses Dudley & William W^. Norton, warning the public against purchasing certain notes made by them, payable to Thomas C. Theaker, and which they say they are determined never to pay, as they were obtained by deception and fraud; the professional card of Benjamin M. Penn, attorney at law, Kenton, Ohio; M. H. Kirby, attorney at law, Upper Sandusky, Ohio: Chester R. Mott, attorney at law, Upper Sandusky, Ohio; J. Lawrence & William K. Wear, attorneys at law, Kenton and Upper Sandusky; Scott (Josiah) & Sears (John D.), attorneys at law, Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky, and Thomas Spybey's advertisement of "Tailoring at Kirby's Hotel, shop upstairs." There were, besides, several prospectuses and a complimentary notice of Wistar's Balsam of Wild Cherry, which in the dearth of other matter, was duplicated and appears on both outside and inside of the paper.

Among the news is an abstract of legislative proceedings as late as March 1, and a statement of the manner in which the new cabinet was to be composed, information of which was said to have been received by the Baltimore American, through the magnetic telegraph.

Thei-e is also the following credited to the Urbana Citizen: "The way hungry expectants are crowding into Washington is a caution to honest people. On Wednesday morning last, sixteen stages, averaging nine passengers each, left Wheeling for the East, and the Times says that the number leaving daily for some time past, has varied from live to fifteen, all bound for Washington to see Polk inaugurated and gather up the crumbs that fall from his table."

That would not be thought much of a shower in these modern days, when our great railroad facilities are scarce sufficient to accommodate the crusade of patriots seeking to serve the country for pay.

The Telegraph was published in the Indian Council House until that building was taken possession of for county purposes, at which time Shrenk moved to the lot now occupied by the Methodist Church, and while his new office was getting ready for occupation worked off one number of his paper in the open air under an apple tree.

Besides the number already described, our files contain No. 11, for May 10, No. 12, May 17, No. 16, June 14, No. 28, August 9, and No. 29, for October 10, 1845. The missing numbers will probably never be found.

Numbers 11 and 16 do not contain a paragraph of local news or a scrap of editorial. There is very little original matter in either of the other numbei-s; the last being pretty well filled with that choice literature supposed to be so effective upon a pending election, and which is intended to remedy all deficiencies in the voter's qualifications to exercise the elective franchise. No. 23 contains an original poem, written for the Telegraph, by A. W. B. However, excepting of course the poetry, the most interesting and valuable portions of these old papers are the advertising columns.

On the 10th of May, there are two road notices, an admiuisti-ator's notice, a Sheriflf's sale, on an execution from Marion County. Harvey & Fouke's advertisement of wool-caz*ding at Little Sandusky, the card of David "Watson, physician and surgeon, and timely warning by Samuel M. Worth, Auditor, of the action taken by the County Commissioners in reference to the act to improve the breed of sheep. On the 17th of May, there is a notice in chancery, by Robert McKelly, solicitor for the petitioner. On the 14th of June, Alexander Valentine calls attention to his new establishment for the manufacture of coffins and other cabinet ware; Joseph McCutchen announces that his new store is now opening in Upper Sandusky; Dr. A. W. Munson gives notice of his permanent location at Wyandot, for the purpose of attending all calls in the line of his profession; and Rowe & Tyler (Peter A.) attorneys at law. Marion and McCutchenvillt), advertise their readiness to attend to business iu Wyandot and surrounding counties.

On the 9th of August, John Rummell advertises his fulling mill, in Tymochtee Township, operated by steam and water power. There is an estray notice from the estray book of Abraham Myers, J. P. of Crawford Township; an attachment notice from Richland Township; a tax notice by Abner Jurey, County Treasurer, giving the levy for 1845, in which the highest rate in any township is 19 mills on the dollar valuation, and a special notice in reference to road taxes, from Samuel M. Worth, County Auditor. This number of the Telegraph also contains a notice by Stephen Fowler, W^illiam Griffith and Ethan Terry, County Commissioners, of a public sale of town lots at Upper Sandusky, on the 20th, 21st and 22d days of August, 1845, at which time they will oflfer the in and outlots in said town, vested in the said Commissioners by Act of Congress approved February 26, 1845, being every third of the in and outlots selected by alternate and progressive numbers, amounting to 126 inlots, and 72 outlots. Terms of sale, one-fourth of the purchase money required in hand, the balance in three annual installments, secu.red by notes bearing interest. Daniel Walker also announces to the public that he has commenced the tailoring business in Upper Sandusky, at the hotel of Col. A. McElvain.

The last number of the Telegraph contains another Sheriff's sale; the Sheriff's proclamation of the forthcoming election; J. Duly's oflfer of 23 cents, and no thanks, for the return of a runaway apprentice; a notice signed "Many Carpenters," requesting the carpenters and joiners of Upper Sandusky and vicinity to meet at the court house, to consult on matters of importance to the trade, and a notice from Samuel M. Worth, Auditor, that sealed proposals will be received until the 30th of October, for the erection of a jail in Upper Sandusky. The latter announcement affi)rd8 indisputable evidence of our rapid advance and great progress in civilization.

We linger lovingly over this number, and part from it with regret, for it was the last issue of the Wyandott Telegraph which ever saw the light. Without warning, it was cut off in the flower of its youth. The Whigs didn't rally strong enough; the Democrats elected their entire county ticket, except one County Commissionei-, in the autumn of 1845, and there was no hope of sustenance from the county printing. These misfortunes and the effort of spelling Wyandot with two t's were too much for it, and it went out.

Shrenk, the publisher and editor, was au industrious, energetic man, who did most of his own work. The mental labor, however, of getting up the paper was not excessive.

In the Democratic Pioneer of November 7, 1845, we find this paragraph, which, with a courtesy belonging to the country editor of the old school, refers to its lately defunct contemporary, and which we insert as the obituary notice and epitaph of the Wyandott Telegraph:

"The thing that decamped from this place, and took up his abode in Napoleon, Henry County, and is issuing a little filthy sheet, is said to be doing great service to the Democracy of that county, and the Democrats are returning their thanks to him. Good. We hope our friends in those regions will give him plenty of rope, and the consequence will be seen."

The successful rival of the Telegraph was the Democratic Pioneer, the publication of which was commenced by William T. Giles on the 29th of August, 1815. This was a six-column folio, substantially of the same size as the Telegraph, but with narrower columns and less margin, printed an type that had seen much service, and edited by its publisher, a journeyman printer recently out of his apprinticeship. Giles was a young man of excellent habits, industrious, persevering and frugal; in fact, very much like the late Benjamin Franklin, who made himself famous a hundred years ago by the exercise of qualities which, however common they have since become, were then something of a rarity.

In mechanical execution the Pioneer suffered by contrast with its predecessor, and in literary excellence it had nothing to boast of; yet its editorial columns, filled with awkward English and bad grammar, were launched against the enormities of Whiggery with the courage if not the skill of veterans. There was, withal, a spice of independence of party dictation, as well as the rules of grammar, both of which find illustration in a single paragraph which we quote literally from the prospectus for the Pioneer :

"It is the intention of the editor to be perfectly free and uncontrolled by any man or set of men, and always willing to receive the counsel of such as are desirous of promoting the good cause, for which it is published to vindicate, as the advice of many is likely to be more correct than the few."

We wish also to copy another short article which is not only a fair specimen of the editorial style of the early Pioneer, but will recall to our older readex's a state of things verv characteristic of Upper Sandusky in the fall of 1845.

" While our office is rolling along the streets in Upper Sandusky to its future place of destination, we are sticking up these lines. Hereafter we may be found a little west of Mr. McCutchen's store, occupying a spot in the orchard, where at all times we will be happy to see and accommodate our friends. Our situation will be on the Wyandot avenue, in our opinion a very beautiful spot.

" We can, with much truth, say Democracy is progressing, for we are now progressing up street at a pretty fair rate. We would be glad to have all the coons in Christendom here who deny that Democracy is progressing, for certainly when they would see us progressing they would have to admit the fact."

In the first number of the Pioneer, Robert McKelly announces himself as an attorney at law and solicitor in chancery, and D. Ayres&Co. advertise their new store, new goods and new prices, and inform the public that "their store may be found obliquely opposite Mr. Kirby's hotel." On the

12th of September, John Sell notifies the public of his location in Upper Sandusky, where he will hereafter practice as an attorney at law and solicitor in chancery, and J. & J. Myers announce the opening of a new grocery and bakery.

The Pioneer continued under the management of its original proprietor until February, 1849. On the 16th of that month, the publisher announced the prospective winding up of his connection with the paper, and on the 23d he published his valedictory, and announced the sale of the establishment to Josiah Smith and Elijah Giles. William T. Giles soon afterward started for California, and the Pioneer was conducted by the new publishers, under the name of J. Smith & E. Giles, and with no other very obvious change. Some time in 1850, Mr. Smith withdi-ew from the editorial chair, and the paper remained under the sole control of Elijah Giles, until the return of William T. Giles from California in 1853.

It was during the eventful railroad campaign in the fall of 1850 that the memorable attack upon the liberty of the press in the person of the then editor of the Pioneer occurred. This event, though discreditable to the county, ought to be held in remembrance as a warning to all who may be disposed to imitate the outrage. For that purpose we reproduce, from perhaps the only copy in existence, Mr. Giles' own account of the transaction:

" On the second Tuesday of October, - that ever-memorable day. when Ohioans exercise the rights of suffrage - -the first and best of all blessings that freemen are endowed with - gained and given to us b} our worthy and patriotic forefathers, whose names have been signed to the Declaration of Independence - thus preserving to us our liberties and the privileges that the God of Nature intended for us. On this great day, many of our fellow - citizens went to the different polls in the county ; and we among the rest, not dreaming that our country was infested with a cowardly mob of villains, went to Jackson Township. While there, six or seven bullies from Marseilles came for the purpose above named. One of them was sent into the house to meet and greet us as a friend, while the others were kept out, fearing mistrust of what was going on; and he had the audacity to carry it out with the impudence of old Satan. He approached us and spoke in the most friendly terms - 'How do you do, friend Giles?' We spoke in return. He then said he wanted Lo talk privately, and asked us to walk out with him, which we unhesitatingly did.

" Before getting off the porch, he said he had ' a crow to pick with us, to walk some distance with him;' all understood by his companions, that after getting us out from the house, they would surround us, so that we could not get to the house in such an emergency as this. When we -were led to the spot selected - distant from the house, so that our friends could not hear us in the hour of disti'ess, or come to our relief - they all jumped around us, as if to say - ' W^e've got you now.'

" Their countenances boi'e the most corrupt design; their fiendish eyes gave expression that led us to believe that their hearts were so tickled with the ' old boy ' as to place our life in their brutal hands. At this moment our heart was full of agony, and almost bleeding to think there were men in the country who would thus take a lone stranger, and use him thus barbai'ously.

" Directly after we were surrounded, the big little bully, McGavern, threw off his coat and declared he would whip us. What a great little brave fel- low he was, when he had live or six bullies to back him - swearing they would have a kick at us as we would fall! McGavern struck us several blows in the breast, swearing by all that was good and bad we had weapons, for he was told so at Brownstown. Did he suppose, if we had, that we would have stood and let such insults be heaped upon us? If we would have had weapons he would not have struck us so often, for if we ever in our life could have been or was aggravated to use anything of the kind, it was at that time.

" While we were in this position, asking for quarter, one of our very special friends in the house heard us, and ran to our rescue. When he found we were being abused, he stepped between us and the man that was striking us, and told us to go to the house. When we started, up stepped Mr. Lewis Merriman (a man of notoriety, by the way), begging of our friend to let us be whipped, as, he said, we so richly deserved it. But our friend, a true-hearted man, would not swerve from the integrity and friendship existing between us, but said: 'Never- shall he be hurt as long as I am here.' A true friend in the time of need is really a true one; and his name and the names of those that befriended us in that houi' shall be sacred in our bosom the longest day we live.

'' Had we been surrounded by Indians of the most savage character, and made the appeals that we did to those white savages, they would have shrunk from the scene, and not treated us half so bad. Could we tell our feelings, or describe the scene as it actually took place, it would be as an imaginary picture, untold of in the history of mankind.

-'It is not necessary for us to make a long preface to this story at this time, as we expect co be called upon to notice it again, and make the names and characters of the individuals conspicuous."

It need not be said that the sympathies of the entire pi'ess of the country were aroused concerning this outrage, or that the expression of them was loud, frequent, and finally overpowering.

In the spring of 1858, William T. Giles, having returned from California, resumed the control of the Democratic Pioneer, and soon after changed its name to the Wyandot Pioneer.

Having thus hastily sketched the fortunes of the Democratic Pioneer, until the return of its founder and its change of name, we must now retrace our steps to notice other luminaries which from time to time arose and shone and went out.

On the 18th of July, 1848, at Upper Sandusky, James S. Fouke & Co.* issued the first number of the Wyandot Tribune, a sheet of the same size as that on which the Pioneer was printed, but with only five columns to the page. The Tribune was like all other tribunes in those days - a Whig paper. It was well printed, was conducted with moderate ability, and assisted materially in the election of Taylor and Fillmore.

However-, on the 17th of February, 1849, Fouke published his valedictory, in which, while declining to enumerate the reasons for his withdrawal, he gives one which is tolerably satisfactory, for he says: "The patronage of the office is not sufficient to meet our engagements, and hence the necessity of our leaving." At the same time, he announces the transfer of the paper to Mr. A. C. Hulburd, who is introduced as " a young man deserving the encouragement and patronage of the Whig party. "

Gould, and the Tribune was thenceforward conducted by Hulburd & Gould, until January 25, 1851, when it had reached the twenty-eighth number of the second volume. At the date last named, the publishers announced that they had found it necessary to suspend the publication of their paper for a time, in order to collect their outstanding accounts. As might have been inferred, this was the last appearance of the Wyandot Tribune.

As before stated, William T. Giles, having assumed the publication of the Democraiic Pioneer, changed its name to the Wijayidot Pioneer, which was issued on the 23d of June, 1853, on an enlarged sheet, as a seven-column, paper, and printed on new type. With his increased experience, Giles produced a paper which, held a very respectable rank among the country press, and which, although Democratic, was at the same time liberal and conciliatory. He continued to publish it until September 2, 1854, when he sold out the establishment to one William Appleton, who ran it about a year. Under Appleton's management the paper was frequently referred to as a Know-Nothing organ.

In January, 1855, Giles brought suit for an unpaid balance of the purchase money due for the newspaper, and swore out an attachment against Appleton as a non-resident. The press, types and fixtures were attached and appraised at $800. Shoi'tly afterward, some gentlemen of this place (Upper Sandusky) paid off Giles' judgment, and the Pioneer passed under the editorial control of Col. William T. Wilson, and became an exponent of the principles of the then new Republican party.

The next change was in Jtily, 1856, when the Pioneer was sold to George W. Keen and Horatio N. Lewis,* who, the next year, July 2, 1857, transferred the establishment to Charles G. Mugg, who, to use the language of his salutatory in the number for July 9, 1857, thenceforth became " editor, publisher and proprietor in his propria persona. "

On the 29th of October, 1857, Mugg reduced the size of the Pioneer, making it once more a six-column paper, and on the 11th of February, 1858, having sold out to Col. Wilson, he retired from the "tripod" with something of a flourish. It may be said that nothing in his editorial career became him like the leaving it, as witness this specimen brick from his valedictory :

" Since we have been in the business, we have filled all sorts of positions - we have at the same time been editor, foreman, pressman, jour, and devil (by the way, the devilship suited tolerably well, as we were somewhat devilishly inclined before we went into the business), and have been compelled to labor day and night to get out our paper, and if any of our patrons think they could have done better than we have done, just let them invest $800 in a ' one-horse ' printing ofi&ce, and try the experiment. There are various reasons why we have not succeeded any better as a newspaper political editor; we were too honest to be a politician - too poor to be independent - too proud to beg - worth too much property to get our work done for nothing - drank too much lager for a temperance man - too little ' rotgut' for the 'rummies' - too much of a moral man for the b'hoys - too much of a rowdy for the pharisaical part of the community - in tine, we had all the disadvantages, and but few of the advantages of oui' exalted position."

N. Lewis, then twenty-five years of age, died at Chicago, III , in September, 1857, from in juries received on the care of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, near Alliance, Ohio, in July 1857.

By the transfer of the Pioneer to William Appleton in 1854, the Democratic party was left without an organ, a tolerable state of affairs, though not to be of long continuance, for on the 3d of November, 1854, Robert D. Dumm commenced the publication of the Democratic Vindicator, a handsomely printed seven-column folio, of the same sized sheet then used by the Pioneer. About the close of the first volume, the new paper passed under the editorial control of N. W. Dennison, who conducted it until July 3, 1857, at which date he bade the public farewell, and informed them that he was about to pitch his tent in the West. He soon after went to Boonsboro, Iowa, taking press and types with him, and thus did the Vindicator cease to vindicate.

The gap was soon filled, however, for there was no lack of valiant men ready to spread buckets full of printer's ink on the least provocation or smallest chances of remuneration, and on the 20th of August, 1857, Nathan Jones and J. W. Wheaton issued the first number of the Democratic Union. As early as December 24, following, Mr. Jones had become sole editor and publisher, and on the 18th of February, 1858, he published to the world his farewell address, and Robert D. Dumm took control of the Union. As first issued by Jones & Wheaton it was a six-column folio. The office was partially destroyed by fire just before it passed into the hands of Jones.

When Col. Wilson took charge of the Pioneer the second time, it was conducted for awhile as a neutral paper. It soon manifested Republican proclivities, and erelong became a decided political and party organ.

Note. - With the most scrupulous investigation into the lives and deaths of the ephemeral newspapers of Wyandot County, we have omitted in its proper place to mention the short-lived Wyandot Herald. This paper was started after Elijah Giles had ceased to publish the Pioneer. It was conducted by "Charles Warner, editor and publisher," and its first number was issued April 19, 3853. It survived long enough to reach its sixth number, when it passed into the hands of W^illiam T. Giles, and No. 7 was issued by him on the 23d of June, 1853, as the Wyandot Pioneer. It was Democratic in politics, and not otherwise remarkable.

The Democratic Union, under the control of Robert D. Dumm,* and the Wyandot Pioneer, in charge of Col. William T. Wilson, were respectively the organs of the Democratic and Republican parties for a number of years, following the party banners and playing the party tunes with a faithfulness and devotion which, however undesirable in a newspaper, are indispensable qualifications for a party organ.

On the 3d of May, 1861, Colonel, then Capt. AVilliam T. Wilson, left for the seat of war in Western Virginia, in command of a company of Wyandot County volunteers, then known as the "Wyandot Guards," and his estimable wife, INTrs. L. A. Wilson, was left in charge of the Pioneer. The newly-installed lady editor published three numbers, which were fully equal to those which preceeded and followed them uncler other management. The Pioneer then passed into the hands of Louis A. Brunner, a former resident of Maryland. On the 16th of September, 1864, Otho J. Powell became a joint proprietor of the paper, and the Pioneer was published by Brunner & Powell until August 23, 1865, when Mr. Brunner again became sole proprietor. A few months later, however, or on the 31st of January, 1866, the Pioneer again passed under the control of Col. Wilson, who on the 27th of September, 1866, was succeeded by Pietro Cuneo,

* In 1865, Mr Dumm introduced the first cylinder press run in this part of Ohio; several years, indeed, before such a press was used in Titlin, Lima or Mansfield.

1869, Mr. Cuneo changed the name of the Wyandot Pioneer, which since that time has been known as the " Wyandot County Rejmblicany He was the first Upper Sandusky publisher to introduce steam power.

1870, was in turn succeeded by Louis A. Brunner. The latter continued as sole editor and proprietor of the paper until during the month of August, 1873, when Mr. Dumm (who, as the senior member of the lirm of R. D. Dumm & Co., had been editing and publishing the Ft. Wayne, Ind., Sentinel, a daily and weekly newspaper, from November, 1868). returned and purchased a one-half interest in the Union. The firm of Dumm & Brunner then continued until October, 1874, when they sold out to Charles L. Zahm. The last named individual continued in control until about the 1st of November, 1877, when he transferred his interests to D. J. Stalter and R. D. Webster. The firm of Stalter & Webster only continued some six or eight months, when the junior member retired, leaving Mr. Stalter in sole control until November 27, 1879, when the Union again passed into the hands of Messrs. Dumm & Brunner, its present editors and proprietors, who erected for it the building on the corner of Main and Railroad streets, and put in steam power to run its presses.

The old, and it may be added trite saying, that "tall oaks from little acorns grow," is quite applicable when reference is made to The Weekly Chief, Upper Sandusky's latest acquisition in the journalistic field. It appears that in August, 1876, H. A. Tracht, then a youth of but fourteen years of age, purchased $6 worth of material and began printing cards. As his business increased he added more stock to his oSice, which was then located in the back part of his father's shoe store, and in May, 1878, began the publication of a small monthly sheet, styled the Wyandot Chief, which was continued for one year. After the discontinuance of this paper, the youthful editor again increased his facilities for doing job work and secured the assistance of practical mechanics.

On the 16th of August, 1879, he issued the first number of The Weekly Chief, which in size was a folio of 13x20 inches. In January, 1880, it was made a six-column folio. Prosperity rendered another enlargement necessary, and on the 21st of May, 1881, it appeared as a seven - column folio, and io April, 1882, as an eight-column folio. In September, 1883, it was changed to its present dimensions and style - a well-printed six-column quarto.