Hancock County, Illinois - Chapter 9: Hancock Newspapers, 1880

If any county in Illinois can count a larger list of unfortunate newspaper enterprises than Hancock, we pity the people thereof and shed tears in behalf of the projectors and publishers.

In June, 1836, now 44 years ago, the writer of this printed at Carthage the first newspaper ever issued in the county. It was called The Carthagenian, and was owned by a company of citizens. After a precarious existence of less than a year, it was purchased by Dr. Isaac Galland, one of the proprietors, and removed to Fort Des Moines, Wisconsin Territory, now Montrose, Iowa, its editor-printer going with it. There the new paper was called the Western Adventurer.

A short sketch of the newspaper press at that day will not be out of place here. The whole vast region north of Palmyra, Mo., and reaching to the Pacific ocean, was without a newspaper, with the exception of one at Dubuque and one just commenced at Burlington. At St. Louis, Chambers & Knapp published the Missouri HepuWcan, with Nathaniel Paschal for its editor, then the leading Whig paper west of the Ohio. There was also the St. Louis Argus, a Democratic paper. Elijah P. Lovejoy about that time began the Ohserver, a religious and anti-slavery paper, and for which he was killed by a ra©b at Alton, having rem^ed his press to that city.

Pev. John M. Peck, a stalwart Bi^ptst minister, well known in that day as a pioneer and historian, was publishing at Rock Spring in this State, and afterward at St. Louis, the Western Watchman. At Springfield, Simeon Francis was conducting the Sangamo Journal,' and at Jacksonville was the Illinois Patriot, by James G. Edwards, and the Illinois Spectator, by Mr. Brooks, father of the late Austin Brooks, of the Qmncy Herald, and John P. Brooks, one of our former State Superintendents of Public Instruction. These were soon discontinued or changed. Mr. Brooks removed elsewhere, and Mr. Edwards emigrated to Iowa, took the press of the Adventurer, and established the Fort Madison Patriot, which he afterward transferred to Burlington and named the Hawkeye.

About the same date Samuel H. Davis, of the Wheeling (Va.) Gazette, came to Peoria and established The Register, which he conducted with ability and success until liis death. " Long John " Wentworth had a year or two before located at Chicago and issued The Democrat, though two or three other papers had previously (386) been published in that embryo city. At Quincy, Judge Kichard M. Young had published the Bounty Land Register, which was about that date suspended or merged into the Quincy Argus, by John H. Petit. Near the same date was also commenced the Quincy Whig, by Mr. S. M. Bartlett, or Bartlett & Sullivan.

There were papers at Vandalia, then the State capital, at Shawneetown, and a few other points in the south end of the State. One at Alton was begun by Judge Baillhache, formerly of Columbus, Ohio, called the Alton Telegraph, and was long a leading "Whig paper in that section. Rushville, being an old town, may have had a paper, but its title, if so, is not recollected.

The old city of Galena must not be forgotten - that capital of the lead mine region - so long on the confines of civilization. Of course it had one, if not two papers anterior to the Black Hawk war. James G. Clark, Secretary and afterward Governor of Iowa Territory, commenced the Wisconsin Territorial Gazette, at Belmont, on the east side of the river; and on tiie division of the Territory, removed it down to Burlington, and named it Iowa Territorial Gazette.

Keokuk was then but just named, still widely known as " The Point," and had no paper for years afterward. Des Moines, Iowa City, Omaha, Kansas City, Council Bluffs, and all that string of cities to the Pacific, wei-e nowhere. San Francisco, at the Golden Gate, from whose port the auriferous stream has of later years been pouring to enrich the world, was but an unknown Mexican town.

From a list of the newspapers in Illinois, compiled from the Alton Telegraph in 1857, we find that the number was just twentyseven, all told.

Previous to 1836 the people of the county were chiefly snpplied with newspapers by the jrw50'M»'4i?ej9'MJZicwn, the Sangamo joxirnal, the Bounty Land Register, and the St. Louis Argus, to which may be added the WatohTnan, which was received in a good many Baptist families.

After the suspension of The Carthagenian the county was without a paper until the fall of 1839, when the Mormons settled in it, and the Times and Seasons was issued at Nauvoo, by Ebenezer -Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, the youngest brother of the prophet. Its first issue was dated Nov., 1839. It was a small sixteen-page monthly, and was designed for the organ of the Mormon Church: terms $1.00 per annum. This paper continued to be published (semi-monthly, at $2.00 after the first year) during the stay of that people in the county, under several editors and publishers, among \\'hom are remembered, besides its originators, the prophet himself, Frederic G. Williams, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, W. W. Phelps, and others. The circulation of this paper is unknown, but being a Church organ, it is supposed to have gone into the thousands.

and continued i\ for some months, when itwas merged into a larger and more respectable paper, entitled the Nauvoo Neicjhhor. This was conducted, we believe, through the whole period of its existence, in whole or in part, by John Taylor, one of the Twelve. It was the secular organ of the Mormon body, and was continued till about the time of the exodus to the far West. These three were the only Mormon publications issued in the county. They were conducted with a great deal of zeal, but carried the marks of incompetency and illiteracy on every page.

In the spring of 1840, Daniel IST. White, editor and publisher of the Pittsburg Gazette, at the instance of his brother-iu-law, Daniel S. Witter, of the Warsaw steam flouring mill, was induced to bring a press there and commence the publication of a paper, which he called the Western World. It was a six-column weekly, at $2.00 per year. At the end of six months he retired, selling his establishment to Thomas C. Sharp, Esq., and James Gamble, a journeyman printer. These gentlemen at the end of the iirst year chauged its title to Warsaw Signal, a name which continued in Warsaw through vai'ious tribulations and changes, with short intervals of rest, for a period of about thirteen years.

In 1S43 the office came into the hands of Messrs. Gregg & Patch, (Th. Gregg, Wm. T. Patch) wiio for a year or so issued the Warsaw Message, a Whig, paper. Again, in February, 1844, the office reverted to Mr. Sharp, who, sometimes alone and sometimes with a partner, continued to publish it until the close of the Mormon war in 1847, which terminated his connection with the Signal. It then passed over to Gregg & Miller, and continued in their hands till 1850, when it was sold to James McKee, of the Nauvoo Patriot, wlio established the Warsaw Commercial Journal, a Democratic paper. Mr. Gregg afterwards procured an old press aud material and revived the Signal in Aug., 1851, there being then for a time two papers in Warsaw.

In the fall of 1853, Mr. Sharp again decided to enter the editorial field; the Signal office aud jjatronage were transferred to him, and with a new press and types he began the Warsaw Express, which he issued with fair success, for about fifteen months, and then sold to Mr. G. G. Galloway, Mr. S. continuing to conduct it to the close of the year. Soon after the issue of the Express, Mr. McKee also sold out his Commercial Journal concevn to Dr. Kankin, who rfmoved it to La Harpe; aud thus originated the first newspaper in that ambitious town. Tlie name of this paper was the Hancock Democrat. Just how long the enterprise lasted we cannot say; but only a few months, when Wesley H. Manier, Esq., of Carthage, purchased the materials, and in conjunction with Mr. Thaddeus Clarke, issued the Ca.rtha.ge liepublican, Jan., 1854. These gentlemen continued it till October of the same vear; it being an "independent" paper, price $2.00 per annum. Then it passed into the hands of G. M. Child, Esq., by whom it

McClaughry, Esq., fresh from Monmouth College, witli his brother-in-law. Dr. A. J. Griffith, purcliased the Republican and changed its character, supporting ardently the measures of the Government in pulling down the llebellion.

In Aug., 1862, Mr. McClaughry enlisted in the army and Dr. G. sold the Republican to J. M. Davidson, Esq., who, on Oct. Sth, 1863, issued his initial number, and has since continued as owner and editor to supply articles for every issue, with the exception perhaps of one or two numbers. Mr. D. is a native of Illinois; was born May 22, 1828, near Edwardsville, in Madison county. In 18'15-6, in company with Charles McDowell, he published the Fulton Gazette at Lewistown; in 1855 established the Fulton Democrat at Lewistown, running it until 1858; then sold it to his brother, Wm. T. Davidson. In 1859-60-61, he published the Squatter Sovereign at Havana, in Mason county. During the session of the Legislature of 1858-9, Mr. D. was Legislative correspondent of the St. Louis Republican and Chicago Times.

During his more than sixteen years' continuous labor on the Republican (Democratic paper) Mr. D. has been faithfully devoted to his party and unremitting in efforts to advance its interests; has been energetic and zealous in building up his business; a hard worker, a ready writer; and has succeeded in making the Republican one of the best Democratic journals in the Military Tract.

But we can not follow these many newspaper enterprises and changes in the order of their dates; so we fall back upon Mr. Sharp, he being the oldest editor and publisher now in the county.

During the dark days of the Rebellion, in the winter of 1863-4, the several Union Leagues in the county, feeling the necessity of maintaining a firm Union paper in their midst, induced Mr. Sharp to undertake the enterprise. He accordingly purchased back the Expi'eis office of Mr. McKee (the paper having been discontinued and materials sold to him), and issued the Hancock New Era in 'April, 1864, which he continued for fifteen months, till after the close of the war. Having been elected County Judge in November, 1865, he removed to Carthage, where, after his four years' term expired, he obtained the Gazette., which with one year's exception has been under his management, as a Republican paper.

Mr. Sharp's editorial career has extended over a period of more than twenty years in all, since he assumed the management of the Western World\ and his labors have covei-ed not only the most exciting and perilous times in the county's history, but also periods most difficult and disastrous to newspaper enterprises.

"Without instituting comparisons, it is no injustice to others to say that Mr. Sharp and Mr. Davidson are the strongest and most forcible writers of Hancock's editorial fraternity. Occupying as they do responsible positions at the county-seat, their papers have become the acknowledged organs of their respective parties, and their influence is felt accordingly. They may be set down as the veterans of the press in Hancock. May they acquire a competence from their arduous labors, and live long to enjoy it!

We turn to Nauvoo again: Early in 1846, while the Mormons were preparing for their journey into the wilderness, the Hancock Eagle, a Democratic paper, \Vas established there in the interest of the Mormons and their adherents. It was conducted by Dr. William E. Matlack, a Phiiadelpliian. Dr. M. was a well educated, classical scholar, a graduate of Princeton, had traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and had been editorially engaged with Horace Greeley on the New Yorker. This information is obtained from an editorial notice of his death in The Eigle, which occurred July 28, 1846, in the 34th year of his age. The Eagle was now offered for sale, and fell into the hands of Samuel Slocum, and a paper entitled the New Citizen was the result. During the winter of 1846-7, Mr. S. employed Dr. Isaac Galland as its editor. The Citizen was Anti-Mormonish, and, as its name imjjlied, was devoted to the interests of the new citizens who were taking the place of the emigrating Mormons. As the Doctor had been one of the prophet's baptized adherents and liis private secretary and agent, it was thought he needed a little watching on the part of Slocum and his friends. So, one day, an editorial article appeared in proof sheet, which was of such a character as to " bounce " the Doctor from his tripod. The paper was then for a period conducted by the foreman, John S. Winter, Esq., for several years since manager and editor of the Knoxville Journal, and present County Clerk of Knox county, 111. We know nothing of the circulation of the Citizen - it could not have been large - but we are informed that its exchange list was immense for a country paper, amounting to several hundreds.

In the fall of 1847, James McKee published in that city the Nauvoo Patriot, a Democratic paper. In 1850, he removed to Warsaw, and it is believed the Patriot oflice went into tiie hands of the Icariau Community. About the beginning of 1851, that colon}' began the issue of the Icarian Peview, printed half in English and half in French. It was under the editorial charge of M. Etienne Oabet, their venerable and talented leader. They also published the Popular Tribune, under another editor whose name is not now remembered. The Community broke up and the paper was discontinued.

July 24, 1858, two young men, Gregg & Lambert, started the Nauvoo Democratic Press. It remained in their hands but a few months, when Messrs. Yates, Chapman, Bauer & Swartz took the concern. Finally Mr. Yates took it and employed Mr. Grove, a school-teacher, to conduct it. After Mr. G., it was conducted by Mr. Abraham Yates, son of the proprietor, until his death in 1860.

Thomas began the publication of the Nauvoo Independent. It remained in their hands but 44 weeks, wlien it was purchased by Hamilton & jSTelson (Dr. JR. B. Hamilton and Joseph Nelson), in whose hands it remained one year, when Dr. H. retired, and Mr. Nelson remained its sole proprietor. It is now in its seventh year and still under his care, with a fair prospect of continuance, a useful ''independent," two dollars, 8-column folio.

Star of Dallas, was the first newspaper in Dallas City, by Francis Ashton, in the spring of 1859. In the fall it was removed to La Harpe and back again in two weeks. In the summer of 1860 it passed into the hands of Mr. Trueblood, who advocated the election of Judge Douglas to the Presidency. It died May, 1861.

December, 1869, G. M. Child, of the Hancock Democrat, at Carthage, removed his paper to Dallas, where he continued to issue it until his death in 1872. It was a 7-column folio, at Sl-50 per year. At his death it was discontinued for a time, but revived in the winter of 1872-3, by Mr. J. F. Taylor, his son-in-law, but it was not long lived. Attempts were made to re-establish it; and we find that in the winter of 1875-6, Messrs. Mason & Murphy were printing a paper there - the Advocate - which in June, 1876, passed into the hands of Mr. Walter B. Loring, who had been an apprentice and journeyman with Mr. Child. At a subsequent date, Mr. Penu Harris, of Chicago, opened out in Dallas City with an S-page 64- coluran sheet; but it proved to be too big a boom, and was suspended after two numbers. It was called the Sucker State, date not remembered. W. C. Brown issued for a few months the Dallas City Monitor, whicli, we believe, was the latest eflbrt until April 6, 1878, Mr. E. H. Thomas, formerly of the Nauvoo Independent, started the Dallas City JVetos, a 7-column folio. It is still published under the same management, a live paper, and independent as to politics, and seems to be enjoying a fair patronage, likely to maintain a longer and more prosperous career than most of its predecessors.

Augusta has not been without its several newspaper enterprises. The first venture of the kind there was made in the summer of 1856, by L. S. Grove & Son. Mr. G. had been a school-teacher in various places in the county, and striking Augusta, concluded to try his hand on a newspaper. It was called the Augusta Weekly Times. It ran about one year.

The Augusta Home Banner was started about Dec. 1, 1864, by W. P. Campbell, editor and proprietor. He was succeeded in about a year by "W". R. Carr, who continued the Banner about two years probably. Mr Carr is now a Methodist preacher at Rushville, 111.

The Augusta Herald was begun Aug. 2, 1S78, by Mr. Henry E. Allen, who emigrated from Knox Co., 111., where he liad been conducting the Abingdon Knoxonian. The Herald was a good local paper, and seemed to be managed with considerable tact and skill; yet Mr. Allen left it in about a year, transferring it to Mr. Silas Eobinson, by whom it was continued till early in 1880.

In March, 1880, Mr. R. removed his press to Warsaw, where he began and is now publishing the Warsaw Democrat, an S-page Democratic slieet (as its title indicates) at 82 per year. Mr. R. also published, for a month in Warsaw, a little daily, called the Independent. The Augusta Mail is just started by Mr. Garrison. From Augusta to Plymouth is but five miles by rail, up the C, B. & Q. " If Augusta can start a paper and fail, why can not we also start one and succeed?" thought the citizens of the rival town. So, one day in the springof 1857, tlie writer of this, then at Warsaw, was invited to come to r. and take an interest in, and charge of, a paper they were going to issue there. He declined, but oiiered to conduct it for a salary. His offer was accepted, a company formed, press purchased, and the Plymouth Locomotive was put upon the road. He published it till November, then begged to be released, when it passed to other parties, and finally gave up the ghost the next year. The press and materials were sold to a publisher at Carthage.

Plymouth then remained without a newspaper for about eighteen years, when in Jan., 1877, Mr. E. A. Hail, of Macomb, brought a press there and issued the Plvmouth Advocate. He continued it till Aug. 30, 1878, when he sold to Post & Bell (W. A. Post, Jesse W. Bell, Jr.). By these gentlemen - Post succeeded by W. S. Hendricks, as editor - the Advocate was continued until April 24, 1879, when it was stopped, and the press ti-ansferred to Clayton, 111. Again, June 26, 1S79, Mr. Charles K. Bassett, of the Abingdon Register, brought another press to Plymouth and began the publication of the Plymouth Phonograph. It began as a Democratic paper, but has changed to neutrality. Mr. B. is the youngest editor in the county, having just now reached his majority. Should he be able to sustain a paper in Plymouth, which he seems likely to do, it can hardly be ascribed to his youth and inexperience.

Returning again to Warsaw: During the summer of 1844, a small paper, called the Hancoch Democrat, was printed at the Signal oflace for Mr. E. A. Bedell. Its purpose was to advocate the claims of Jacob C. Davis for Congress; but he failing of a nomination, the paper was discontinued after four issues.

In 1853-4 a strong temperance wave swept over Illinois and the county of Hancock, and in Jan., 1854, a small montlilv sheet was begun at the Express office by Mr. Gregg, called the Temperance Crusader. In a few mouths this paper reached a circulation of 1,790 copies, mainly through the agency of the Sons of Temperance. But it came to an untimely end. In an evil hour, an offer to merge with a similar sheet in Chicago was accepted, the united paper to be issued from that city. The Crusader subscription list was sent on; but for a j-ear nothing could be heard from the paper or its publisher, when it was learned that he had goue East and abandoned the enterprise. The list was gone, and the paper could not be revived.

About 1856 or '7, "W". K. Davison, a phenomenal printer, havi?ig money, struck AVarsaw in liis wanderinj^s, and concluded to settle. The Warsaw _Bulle/in was the result. Mr. D. was not a literary man, but he was an industrious editor and possessed energy and business tact, and he made the Jjidletin pay better than any paper yet published in the county. He conducted it with good success till the second or third year of the war, a portion of the time issuing a small daily, when he went into the arm}', leaving the paper in the care of Mr. John F. Howe, who allowed it to run down. Mr. Davison was mustered into the 118th 111. Inf , as Quarter- Master, and served till the regiment was mustered out, Oct., 1865. But he was taken sick and died, after his dischai'ge, before reaching home.

After the demise of the New Era, a printer named Lick issued for a time in Warsaw the Public Record. He was succeeded in 1867 by Mr. Dallam, father of the present editor of the Bulletin. Mr. D. was an able and vigorous writer. His ready and sharp wit made him a formidable antagonist to those brethren of the quill who belonged to the other side in politics. The following notice of him we cut from the Bulletin announcing his death, which occurred quite suddenly, on March 16, 1868, in Warsaw:

" Francis Asbury Dallam was born in Butler county, Kentucky, September, 1821. Whilst he was still a child, his father removed to the city of St. Louis, Mo., where he was educated and soon became a practical printer. He soon took a high rank in his profession, and in 1846 became the editor of a newspaper, establishing the Miner's Prospect at Potosi, in Missouri, and editing it in connection with Mr. Philip Ferguson. At St. Louis he was married to Miss Anna McKee, of that city. In 1852 he established at Oquawka, in this State, the Oquawka Plaindealer, which soon became extensively known as one of the ablest advocates of the principles of the old Whig party. This paper was a very successful enterprise, and the reputation which he here acquired procured him an invitation to Quincy, where, in 1856, he edited the Repid)- lican in connection with Mr. H. V. Sullivan, and in the course of a few months united this paper with the Whig, in which he was associated with Mr. John T. Morton. But in 1859 he returned again to Oquawka, and resumed the editorship of the Plaindealer. He was, of course, a very decided advocate of Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency, and received from him the appointment of Postmaster of Oquawka. But at the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was the first man in the place of his residence to volunteer in the army, where he became Captain of Company D, of the Tenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with Morgan as its Colonel. Re-enlisting at the close of tlie three months' service, he was appointed Major of the same (Tenth) Regiment in which he made the Kentucky campaign with General McClernand. In May, 1862, he became an Adjutant-General upon the staif of General Ross, but was soon after compelled to resign on account of the state of his health, remaining as an invalid for some months at his home in Oquawka. In 1863 he made au excursion to California, and 1864 found him in Nevada, where, besides editing a paper, the Carson Independent, he became a member of the Convention which formed the Constitution of that State. The year 1866 found him again in Quincy, in this State, as editor of the Whig and Hepuhlican, and in the following year he removed to this place and bought the Record, the title of which he soon changed to that of the Warsaw Bulletin, which he continued to edit until the time of his death."

At Mr. Dallam's death the paper was left in the hands of his widow and young sons. These - first Frank M., and latterly " Phil," - have conducted the Bxdletin ever since with good success. It now stands in the front rank among the country papers ; in size, excellence of workmanship, and character of its editorials, second to but few of them. The Bxdletin is a pronounced Kepublican, 9-column folio, at $2.00 a year.

About the beginning of 1877, Mr. J. M. Faris came to Warsaw from Pike county, and established a Democratic paper, to which he gave the old name oi Mancoch Democrat.

Mr. Faris was in bad health the whole period of his stay in the county, and he was compelled to give up the business. His establishment was purchased by George P. Walker and Cortez Maxwell, Esqs., and continued (Mr. Walker retiring after a few months) till the fall of 1879, when it was discontinued. The Democrat was an 8-column folio sheet, neatly printed, at $2.00 per annum.

At La Harpe, after the demise of Dr. Kankin's Democrat, Mr. Henry King, a young son of J. AY. King, Esq., with Frank Nash, published the Star of the West. This was about 1858 or 1859; and afterward, in 1866 or 1867, James L. King published the Rome News. How long these papers continued we are not advised, but only for short periods. In November, 1871, Mr. H. G. Eising began to issue the La Harpe Leader, and before the close of a volume left it in the hands of L. S. Cogswell, Esq., who changed it to the La Harper in October, 1875. In his hands it continued over two years, when he transferred it to J. C. Coulson, Esq., who issued his first number dated April 5, 1878. Mr. C. is a son of Dr. Coulson, an early settler, and we believe is a native of the county. He is still at the helm of the La Harper, industriously devoting himself to the interests of his pleasant little city, and has succeeded in building up a fair jmtronage. His paper seems to be popular with the people; it is decidedly a local journal, and is now in its fifth volume. It is a 5-column quarto.

In the spring of 1858, after leaving the Plymouth Locomotive, Mr. Gregg established, at Hamilton, the Hamilton Bepresentative, a 6-column folio. This continued two or three years, till it succumbed to the hard times of the war. Again, in May, 1873, he published the Dollar Monthly, changed to Bural Messenger, Jan-

This brings us back to the county-seat, where we began, and where the first news sheet was floated upon the prairie breezes of Hancock county, 4i years ago. The summer it was issued the grass was knee high over the public square, with paths here and there across to the few business houses. The wild deer sniffed the morning air in the suburbs, and the bowlings and barkings of the little prairie coyotes awoke the echoes of the night. The town had perhaps 100 inhabitants, all told; the county, say, 3,000.

After the suspension of the Carthagenian, the place was without a paper for ten or twelve j'ears, or more. But to omit none, we should mention that in the fall of 1836, a small campaign sheet was issued from the office of the Carthagenian, called The Echo, under the management of Walter Bagley, Esq., intended to advocate the election of Gen. Harrison to the Presidency. Only a few numbers were issued.

The next venture there, we believe, was made by Mr. Thaddeus Clarke, of Macomb; but the date is not recollected, neither cau we recall the name of the paper, but believe it was News-Letter. This must have been a few years before his connection with Mr. Manier on the Republican.

In the spring of 1860 Mr. James K. Magie, from the Oquawka Plaindealer, came to Carthage and established the Carthage Transcrij)t. How long this paper continued we have not at hand the means of knowing, but it was succeeded by the Carthage Gazette, in the hands of Mr. Fowler, afterward associated with Mr. Noble L. Prentis, and by them conducted with spirit and tact till about 1869 or '70, when it passed to its present proprietor. The Gazette is now in its 15th year.

We must not leave out of the list the little college monthly, named the Carthaginian (with an i instead of an e in its third syllable, which its erudite editors claim is the correct orthography). It is a handsome octavo, issued from the office of the Repuhlican, scholarly, spicy, under the management of the Faculty and literary societies of Carthage College.

We have now gone through the list as well as the means at hand will permit, but very probably not without some errors. To enumerate: At Carthage we have had the Carthagenian. Echo, News- JLetter{?), Transcript, Bepublican, Democrat, Gazette, Carthaginian - 8.

At -Nauvoo^TiOTe* and Seasons, Wasp, Expositor, Neighbor, Eagle, New Citizen, Icarian Review, Popular Trihune, Democratic Press, Independent - 10.

At Warsaw - Western World, Signal, Message, Commercial Journal, Democrat, Express, Crusader, New Era, Bulletin, Public Record, Democrat 2d, Warsaw Democrat and Independent - 13.

Over half a hundred; one for every year of the county's existence. To enumerate the fortunes made in these enterprises would be an easy task. To count the absolute and the partial failures would be a little more difficult. There have been reasons for these failures, chief of which has been ambition - ambition of individuals to be at the head of a press, and ambition of rising villages to sport a newspaper. JSTone of these first publications but were begun too soon, before there was sufficient population and business to sustain them. And j'et, having induced men to embark in these enterprises, it was the duty and the interest of the towns to sustain them. A newspaper failure in a rising village is a disaster not only to the person managing it, but also to the community.

It has taken a long chapter to tell the story of these newspaper ventures, - the births, growths, suspensions, resurrections, failures and tinal flickerings of newspaper life in Hancock during its first half century. The budding hopes blasted, the air-castles overturned, little fortunes consumed, debts incurred, mortgages foreclosed and Sheriff's writs executed, nobody may know, and nobody cares.

The career of that Cincinnati Franklin Press, the first one brought to TV n-saw, was a remarkable one, and of itself tells a story of newspaper adventure and failure. It has truh' been on all sides in politics. It first served the Whigs with White and the World; next iS^eutrality with Sharp and the Signal; theu agai;i a Whig under Gregg & Patch in the Message; then it breathed fire and Anti-Mormonism with Sharp again in the Signal; then with Gregg & Miller a Neutral; then with McKee a Democratic organ in the CommercialJoiirnal; then with Kankin atLaHarpe,a Democrat; then to Maniei; & Co. at Carthage, an Independent; then to Child, a Democrat and an opposer of tlie war; then to Griffith & McCiaughy, a War Democrat; and finally, it rests from its wanderings and political labors in a quiet nook in the Republican office, a doer of all work, after iO years of active service; and in all this time it has not been out of the county. It ma^' truly be called a Hancock institution.