Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 9: The Newspapers of Delaware County, 1924

Chapter 9: The Newspapers of Delaware County

As will be noted in the review of David Gharky's diary, presented elsewhere in this work, Gharky came to Muncietown in the spring of 1830, bought land along the river at the edge of the townsite and engaged unsuccessfully in sawmilling. A notation in this diary for 1836 says: "I went back to Portsmouth (Ohio) in the fall, sold to Lord my 3114 acres of Scioto bottom land, for $35 per acre, and bought A. J. Bingham's printing establishment. In May, 1837, John White printed three numbers of The Muncietonian."

The next and only further reference to this venture on Gharky's part into the publishing business is contained in a running narrative that in "May, 1842, I came to Muncie; I sold my printing establishment to Jones for $450 and in September went to Portsmouth." An older chronicle is authority for the statement that Jones, whose first name does not appear in this connection but who is supposed to have been Joseph G. Jones and concerning whom further mention will be made presently, was a man "small of stature, but an excellent writer and quite popular." Jones moved the Gharky plant from the old double log building put up by Gharky to a room in a frame building on the north side of Main street, east of Walnut, and continued in business there until the plant was destroyed by fire in the following November (1842).

Happily, there is preserved in the Muncie public library one copy of Gharky's paper, The Muncietonian, one of Indiana newspaperdom's valued relics. The Gharky and White experiment in village journalism carried through three issues. The copy of the paper in hand is No. 2, "printed and published" by D. Gharky and J. White, and is dated . '"Muncietown, Delaware County, Indiana, Thursday, June 15, 1837." The paper's motto, run as a half-title, is a quotation from Junius - "Not to instruct the learned, but simply to inform the body of the people." The paper is a four-page, six-column print, the first page beginning with a bit of poetry, "Trust in Heaven," credited to the

New York Knickerbocker, followed by a department of "Miscellaneous," this latter including articles on "The Tomb of Juliet," "Emmet and His Intended Bride," "Matrimonial Engagement," "The Rights of Man" and "Perseverance," which take up the remainder of the first page. The second page is filled with excerpts from the Philadelphia and Cincinnati papers. The third page opens with an '"Announcement to the Public" and also carries a prospectus of the paper's plans and position on public questions, obviously carried forward from the initial issue. The terms of subscription are given as $2 in advance, $2.50 in six months, or $3 at the end of the year. '"Advertisements will be inserted at the usual rates. As the usual rates, however, are various and are shortly to be regulated by the craft in general convention at the capital of the state, we cannot at present fix our prices, intending to abide by the decision of the convention."

Arrival And Departure Of The Mails

In this old newspaper was carried the proclamation of President Martin VanBuren convening the Congress in special session on the first Monday in September for the consideration of "great and weighty matters." The arrival and departure of the mails were scheduled in the paper as follows: '"'The Richmond mail arrives Sundays and Thursdays at 7 o'clock, a. m., and departs on Mondays and Thursdays at 3 p.m. The Peru mail arrives on Sundays and Thursdays at 3 p. m. and departs Mondays and Thursdays at 7 a.m. The Indianapolis mail arrives on Friday at 7 a. m. and departs on Thursday at6 a.m. The Winchester mail arrives on Saturday at 6 o'clock p. m. and departs on Friday at 6 p.m. The Connersville mail arrives on Wednesday at 5 p. m. and departs on Monday at 7 p. m." This was followed by a picture of a four-horse post coach and the announcement that "the postmasters at Indianapolis and Winchester, Indiana, and Greenville, Ohio, are authorized to contract for the running of a four-horse post coach semi-weekly between Indianapolis and Greenville, Ohio, via Noblesville, Andersontown, Muncietown and Winchester. Jeremiah Smith, Esq., postmaster at Winchester, is - now ready to receive proposals for any and all who may feel disposed to enter the staging business. We hope some enterprising person will engage in this business. We have no doubt but that it may be made lucrative to the proprietor, while it will be a public accommodation much needed at this time."

This was in the days before the newspapers began the publication of local news and the only two items in this paper that might be regarded as coming under the head of news of local importance were the following:

The leading advertisement in this paper was that of Dr. Samuel P. Anthony, "drugs and medicines," who carried a catalog in alphabetical form of his stock in trade, the same covering more than a column of space. Thomas C. Anthony, Joseph Anthony, W. G. Renner and Andrew Kennedy offered their services to the public as attorneys and counsellors at law. Besides Doctor Anthony, three other physicians, G. W. Garst, W. C. Willard and John A. Clark offered. their professional services to the public. C. F. Willard, "at the brick store, corner of Main and Walnut streets, opposite the public square," advertised a general stock and announced that he "wanted 10,000 deer and fur skins, for which cash or goods will be given." Two hotels were advertised, the Exchange Hotel, Main street, A. Cubberly, proprietor, and the Green Tree House, William Gilbert, proprietor, the former of which was "the house lately occupied by Patrick Justice." Concerning the Green Tree House, corner of Gilbert and High streets, the public was informed that "'its history being coeval with the settlement of the town, it is unnecessary to say more than that the usual hospitalities of the proprietor and his family will be continued toward his friends who may favor him with a call, and the way-worn traveler will find as comfortable repose and cheerful fare as the place affords."

Other advertisements in this rare copy of The Muncietonian were those of Eli Green, brickmaker; William Scott, tanner; John Smith, chair and spinning-wheel manufacturer, corner of Jackson and Liberty streets; Mrs. Ellen O. Minshall and Miss Louvina Long, millinery; Edward S. Keasbey, hat manufacturer; Anderson Carter, tailor, who "will receive the Philadelphia fashions quarterly and execute his work accordingly; Davis Williams, tailor; Stephen Cox, grocer; James Hodge, cabinet maker; Walton & Harlan, saddlers; Watton & Cummerford, chair factory; Edward Benbow, wagon and plow making; Asahel Spencer, gunsmith; Benbow & Spencer, black- smiths; Israel Shoemaker, boots and shoes; Minus Turner, grocer; Matthew Orrell, blacksmith; James O. Leas, general goods; Bloomfield & Jack, dry goods and hardware; Joseph Lefavour, groceries and liquors, and The Muncietonian's personal advertisement, "Printing of every description neatly and promptly executed at this office.' From the typographer's point of view the paper was all that could have been desired for the time and place and the printers apparently were well qualified to carry out the terms of their advertisement.

Gharky Was Anxious To Unload

Under the head of "Valuable Property for Sale,' David Gharky, the promoter of The Muncietonian, advertised for sale in this issue of his paper "a valuable tract of land containing upwards of 380 acres, adjoining Muncietown." This advertisement pointed out that "the many advantages combined in this tract renders it an object well worthy the attention of the enterprising capitalist. Exclusive of the richness of its soil and its admirable adaptation to the purposes of tillage and meadow, it contains two millsites on White river, one of which has nine feet independent fall. Its contiguity to the town, the extensive supply of timber on the grounds and the present and increasing demand for lumber in this neighborhood make it one of the best sites for a saw mill that this or any other country can possibly afford. On either of these sites there is an abundance of water power for any kind of machinery, however extensive.

"On the tract there are numerous never-failing springs of most excellent water. There are also two beautiful mounds, one of which is about 55 feet elevation above the surrounding level, from the summit of which a prospect is presented beautiful beyond description, including a full view of the town, with the meanderings of White river winding away through the fertile prairies till lost in the dimmer distance. A more beautiful site for a gentleman's country seat could not be found. There is on the tract, near one of the mounds, a mineral spring strongly impregnated with medical properties. Although its waters have not yet been submitted to the test of analysis, they have proved highly beneficial in cases of dyspepsia, etc. To enhance the value of the above tract, the projected canal will pass immediately along a portion of its boundary line and directly through other parts of the same." 4 charm is easily recalled by many still living and a spring of medicinal quality, it becomes a matter of regret to many that provision was not made long ago to preserve that site as a park. But the mounds long since were hauled away, the gravel they contained being used in street improvements, and the sweet-water spring is a memory to but few now living, while the site covered by the mounds is built over, a thriving section of a busy city, and Mound street and Gharky street alone keep them in remembrance.

Other Newspapers Of The Early Days

In the bound collection of fragmentary files of the old newspapers of this community treasured in the Muncie public library there are broken files of several other papers that were published at Muncie during the '40s, these including copies of The Telegraph, The Village Herald, The Yeoman and the Delaware County Democrat. It is in this latter paper, the Democrat, that the name Muncietown ceases to be used in the date line and the name Muncie substituted. In its issue of May 17, 1845, the Democrat carries the accustomed Muncietown in the date line. In the succeeding issue, May 24, the change to Muncie is noted, and Muncie it ever since has been.

In this collection is a file of the Muncietown Telegraph for a full year (fifty-two issues), beginning on Monday, March 15, 1841, and continuing on until March 19, 1842. This paper was edited and pub- © lished by J. S. Garver, who in No. 52 of Vol. I, the number closing the file, announces the disposition of his interest in the paper for one year to J. G. Jones, of Greenville, Ohio. Jones evidently did not approve the name Telegraph, for a broken file of the continuation of the local newspaper, beginning June 4, 1842, and closing November 5 of the same year, bears the name Village Herald, this file beginning with No. 6 of Vol. I of the same and closing with No. 23. It is apparent that between The Muncietonian and the Telegraph there had been other attempts to start a newspaper at Muncietown, for in the initial number of his Telegraph Garver sets out that "we regret to hear so many objections made to subscribing to the Telegraph on account of so many former impositions having been practiced upon the citizens of the county by individuals making great. pretensions toward the establishment of a press. Many with whom we have conversed on the subject say they will not subscribe until they are convinced of the success of the enterprise. Now, to satisfy the doubts of individuals who have formed such resolutions, we are happy to have it to say that ample arrangements are made to ensure the regular and prompt publication of our paper; none, therefore, need have any fears of losing anything by subscribing and even paying in advance for their paper." Advertisers apparently, however, were not inclined to encourage the project, for there is very little commercial advertising appearing in the paper at any time. The Telegraph for Saturday, April 17, 1841, appeared in mourning border - inverted column rules - carrying the announcement of the death of President Harrison on Sunday, the 4th inst., the news from Washington apparently not having reached Muncietown in time for the issue of the preceding Saturday.

April 3, 1841, the campaign then being under way for the coming (August) election, Samuel W. Harlan was a candidate for the nomination for clerk of the court. It is apparent that he found it necessary to set the community right on his views regarding the question that even then was becoming a paramount one in the political field in Indiana. Under the head 'Abolition,' Harlan "cards" the public through the columns of the Telegraph as follows: "I am informed that reports are in circulation in which I am charged with being an abolitionist. I take this method to say it is not true. I am opposed to slavery, but I do not believe in the doctrine advanced by the Abolitionists. I am not a member of the Abolition society, nor have I ever been. Any person wishing further satisfaction on the above charge, or any other, will please call on me in Muncietown, upstairs in the court house, where I can be found most generally between 8 o'clock in the morning and 4 in the evening."

The county seminary proposition then was an important subject of local discussion and comment and in the Telegraph during May, 1841, the county seminary trustees, B. F. Haycock, 8S. G. Campbell and John Jack, were advertising for "sealed proposals for building a county seminary at Muncietown, on the first Saturday of June next." In his reminiscences (1913) the late Nathaniel Fuller Ethell, who in his generation was for years one of the best known newspaper men in eastern Indiana, recalls that Garver's newspaper "was for a while issued from the lower west room of our house in West Main street. In this lies the fact that I was started on the way to typesetting and printing."

A Word Concerning The Pioneer Editor

The Village Herald ran as a half-title the quotation "I come, the herald of a noisy world; news from all nations lumbering at my back," and Joseph G. Jones, the editor and proprietor, used as his motto: "The People's Friend - the Tyrant's Foe." It is a curious literary coincidence that the Signal, which came along some years later, used the same half-title as the above with the change of one word, making it read "the signal of a noisy world' instead of the herald of the same. Half-titles and mottoes were regarded as indispensable features of newspapers in those days and the precious files of old Indiana newspapers reveal some quaint examples of this somewhat flamboyant form of editorial expression. But that was an era of flamboyancy of expression both in speech and on the printed page. Public men took themselves seriously and an illiterate and uninformed public accepted their pretensions. This was the date (the early '40s of the past century) which Logan Esarey in his "History of Indiana" says "perhaps marked the lowest level of general intelligence ever reached in the state." The newspapers were not educators in any sense of the term, nor even purveyors of news. They were simply mediums of personal expression, designed to carry the opinions of the editor with relation to the public questions of the day and these opinions more often than not were neither intelligible nor reliable.

No wonder the newspaper of pioneer days had a hard row to hoe. Old files reveal many a plaintive call on delinquent subscribers to 'pay up," and other plaintive calls on subscribers to bring in farm produce or other merchantable commodities to apply on their accounts. Of course, money was scarce hereabout in those days and barter and trade were common, but some real money was essential to the production of a newspaper and the troubles of the pioneer editor must have been many and bitter. As an offset, nature being: both provident and prodigal in compensatory adjustments, no one but a man of those peculiar temperamental qualifications which marked the editor in the days before newspapers lost their individuality and became sound commercial propositions would have tackled the job. of getting out a newspaper in a half wilderness, and so the pioneer newspaper man probably accepted his fate, was willing to live slipshod "for the good of the cause" and just "took things as they came," hanging on until literally starved out and then pass his little outfit on to some other ambitious would-be molder of public opinion of simi- lar temperamental qualification, who would find in turn that the world cared too little for mere opinions to be willing to pay for them in printed form, and he would starve out and move on, the process being repeated until the Civil war period, when the value of news began to be appreciated, and newspapers became what their name implied instead of mere mediums of personal expression. It then was found that people would pay for news and the day of the commercial success of the real newspaper had dawned.

The Muncietown Yeoman, Levi L. Hunter and Obadiah Coffeen, publishers, had a brief existence of ten weeks, beginning on August 5, 1843, and closing on October 7 of the same year. In a lengthy salutatory the publishers announced their position on public questions "on the side of the Whigs," closing as follows: "We ask for a generous support from our fellow citizens, and will endeavor to give them their money's worth of reading matter. We launch our boat upon the tide of public favor and whether there come 'breeze or gale, storm or tempest dark heaving' we won't give up the ship - provided, always, ~ that our customers pay up their subscriptions." Evidently the publishers expected too much. Ten weeks later they print their valedictory under the head "Good Bye," announcing that the Yeoman's "brief existence is now at an end. With a clear conscience and an independent soul it folds itself to sink into oblivion without a groan or sigh or even a conscientious scruple, except it be for committing suicide. Having engaged, as we did, independently in the business of newspaper printing, we quit independently; no excuse to make. Judging with the success we have met with in the business thus far the future is ominous of penury, and having a very favorable opportunity to dispose of our entire printing establishment we had no hesitation in so doing."

Three days later, October 10, 1843, appeared the Delaware County Democrat with Isaac C. Norris "at the helm" of a well printed, fivecolumn, wide measure, four-page newspaper. Mr. Norris's salutatory is after the manner of the period, almost as long as was that of the Yeoman's editor, concluding thus: ''Having launched our barque on the ocean of public favor, with the star-spangled banner of Democracy waving at its head, and having trimmed our sails well to the breeze, notwithstanding the headwinds we have to encounter, the character of our craft is such that by having a good name and a regular built old Tar at the helm, she will weather any storm and finally arrive safe at the port for which she was bound, and whether the passage be long or short, boisterous or pleasant, we say in good earnest that we will not give up the ship while there remains one sound timber in her."

Brave words, but no more effectual than were those of the several preceding skippers of the various "sound crafts" that had been launched on the rolling waves of Muncietown journalism, for about a year later Skipper Norris gave up the ship and the name of Joseph S. Buckles appears as that of the editor and publisher of the Democrat. It was on November 30, 1844, that Buckles took charge and his name was at the masthead when Vol. II of the Democrat closed with No. 52 of that volume on Saturday, December 29, 1845, the editor in that issue announcing that he found it necessary to discontinue on account of limited patronage, and that "we therefore retire from the sanctum to the practice of our profession."" Buckles was a lawyer, a son of the pioneer Baptist minister, the Rev. Abraham Buckles, who came over here from Ohio and in the fall of 1833 organized the Baptist church at Muncietown. It has been written of this pioneer minister of the gospel that "he achieved the remarkable record of serving over forty-five years as pastor, without receiving any salary for his services." The son apparently was dealing with the same sort of a public, but he wisely decided that working a little more than a year for nothing was enough for him and he gave up the "labor of love" line, at least so far as it applied to the newspaper business. Joseph S. Buckles was one of the best known lawyers of his generation in Delaware county. Not long after giving up the newspaper business he was elected prosecuting attorney. For four years (1849-53) he represented this district in the state Senate. In 1859 he was elected circuit judge and served for two terms, later resuming his practice at Muncie. He died in April, 1897, aged seventy-eight years.

Another Earnest Bid For Public Favor

With the retirement of Buckles from the editorial tripod came the passing of the Democrat for that series. Then within less than two weeks, on January 10, 1846, appeared the Muncie Journal, "printed and published every Saturday" by Warren H. Withers. It will be recalled that it was in the year prior to this the name of Muncietown was by legislative enactment and by postoffice regulation simplified to mere Muncie. In his salutatory Withers made an earnest bid for public favor, announced his support of the Whig party and then asked "Can you conscientiously give us your support? A number of papers _ have been established here, but they have all been short lived - some have lived a year, others not so long - the secret cause of their death we cannot divine - it is enough for us to know that we are now in the stream ourself, and if the fates decree that we shall be wrecked for want of support, we will be compelled to submit to it as best we can. Give us that remuneration that our labors and our exertions deserve and we are Satisfied - it is all we ask." The fragmentary file of the Journal carried in the library collection runs to May 22, 1847, No. 12 of Vol. II, with the name of Withers still at the masthead. Withers later went to Ft. Wayne and there became the editor of the Times. He was a lawyer and for some years served as judge of the circuit court at Ft. Wayne. He died in 1882.

In the last number of the Muncie Journal on file appears the news of "Another Glorious Victory! Battle of Cerro Gordo! Santa Anna Again Defeated in Pitched Battle by Gen. Scott - Six Thousand Mexicans Taken Prisoners - 500 Americans Killed and Wounded - Gen. La Vega Taken Prisoner," followed by a story from the Cincinnati Commercial, credited to the Louisville Courier, which had it from a New Orleans Picayune of April 30, giving a brief account of the battle of Cerro Gordo, March 18, brought by steamer which left Vera Cruz on the 20th following. Nearly two months from Mexico to Muncie!

Among the advertisers in this issue of the Journal was the Delaware County Seminary, the trustees of which, James L. Russey, Thomas Barnes, Isaac Norris and Moses Neely, by John Brady, president, and Warren Stewart, clerk, "are happy to announce to the inhabitants of this county and vicinity that this institution is now in successful operation, and under the management of the present teacher, Mr. James 8. Ferris, they confidently believe the school will continue to flourish, and that full satisfaction will be given to all who may wish to avail themselves of the opportunity now offered for instruction." The curriculum announced included orthography, reading, writing, mental arithmetic, arithmetic, geography, history, English grammar, composition and rhetoric, algebra, geometry, mensuration, trigonometry, natural philosophy, botany, chemistry, minerology, astronomy, physiology, stenography, surveying, Latin, civil engineering and architectural and topographical drawing. According to the courses selected, terms of tuition ranged from $3.50 to $9 the session (two sessions of five months each in the year) and board in private families was promised at from $1 to $1.25 a week.

Railroad Prospects Make Good News

The prospect of the coming of the railroad then was an important subject of comment and the leading editorial in this issue of the Journal urged the necessity of rail connection with Cincinnati, concluding with the query "Will some one suggest a time for holding a public meeting for taking the preparatory steps in this matter?"

The next paper in this fragmentary file is the Indiana Signal, published at Muncie, John C. Osburn, editor and proprietor, the first preserved issue of which is No. 6 of Vol. I, April 22, 1848. First page position was given in this paper to a clipping from the Indiana State Sentinel, calling attention to the fact that a subscription book to the stock of the proposed Indianapolis and Bellefontaine railroad would be opened "on the first Monday in May next." Pendleton, Andersontown, Muncie and Winchester are made points on this proposed road, and prospective stock subscribers are advised concerning conditions to be met.

The Signal carried on under the Osburn direction until January 2, 1850 (No. 40 of Vol. II), when the editor announced that "the Signal has completed its career' and then in nearly two columns of farewell announced the sale or disposition of the paper to Estabrook & Jones, who on the following February 2 issued the first number of The Muncietonian (redivivus), thus restoring the name of the old David Gharky paper, the first newspaper published in the town. A. F. Estabrook was editor of this new Muncietonian and his motto was "By pleasing ourselves we hope to please others." The copies of The Muncietonian preserved in the library run to No. 45 of Vol. I, December 21, 1850. In this issue the editor makes congratulatory comment on the manner in which the railroad work is being pushed, his story having it that 'already is the heavy grading done in this place (Muncie). By next spring the embankments will be settled and the ground ready for the superstructure to Muncie. The grading is progressing east, in this county, to the Randolph county line and preparations are being made, we understand, to push things through Randolph the coming season. The prospect certainly is good for the early completion of the road. The portion from Indianapolis to Pendleton, already completed, is doing a good business, particularly in the transportation of flour, hogs, etc." ger (No. 4 of Vol. 4) of date Saturday, May 24, 1856. James H. Birt was the publisher and proprietor of this paper, which was a seven-column folio and whose motto was "Independent in all things; neutral in nothing." In this same collection of fragments is a copy of the second issue of the Delaware County Times, N. F. Ethel, editor, dated January 3, 1861, and quite a number of other copies of the Times, not of consecutive dates, running through the '60s.

Recalling The Old Jo Davis House

According to the "masthead" of this now interesting relic of the 'b0s, the Messenger was "'printed and published every Saturday in the Messenger building, on High street, west side of the public square." The advertisement in this paper of the Davis House, southeast corner of Main and Walnut streets (present site of the Patterson block) had it that "stages leave this house for Marion, Wabash and Hartford on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. A livery stable is connected with the hotel." In this same issue it is announced that Phil Davis, 'the hitherto popular landlord of the Davis House (he has retired from the hotel)" had bought the Cory livery stable and that "Jo Davis - everybody knows Jo - the old prince of landlords, has succeeded him in the hotel." This is an interesting bit of definite first-hand information regarding the old Jo Davis House, which for many years was the central rallying place for this community and a good picture of which is presented in this work, an invaluable souvenir of other days hereabout.

Then there is an apparently complete file of The Republican, a campaign sheet which was published at Muncie during the fall campaign of 1870 by Sam Watson & Co., editors and proprietors, Vol. I, No. 1 of this publication setting out that it was "published every Thursday during the campaign for the sum of 10 cents in advance." Watson's half-title, or motto, was "It is better to begin like David than to end like Goliah." There are seven copies of this paper on file, a vigorous and outspoken campaign sheet, three columns, four pages, the chief object of which appeared to have been a succession of personal attacks on John W. Burson, then candidate for state senator and whose election to that office later was contested with the result that Burson's seat was declared vacant by the Senate. Burson then was a member of the Republican state central committee, but it would appear that not all was smooth political sailing at home, for among the headlines to the attacks made on him by The Republican were such as "Bursonian Usurpation," "John, the Sneaking Bolter;" "John, the Arrogant Banker;" "John, the Selfish Lobby Member;" "John, the Falsifier," and the like. Watson & Co. certainly did not hesitate to express their opinions. Burson died two years later.

Newspapers Of The Civil War Period

Perhaps the most valuable of all these fragmentary files of the old newspapers is that of the Delaware County Free Press, which was being published during the period of the Civil war by Joseph F. Duckwall, who was elected first city clerk upon the change from the old town board form of government in 1865. From the serial numbers of these fragments on file the Free Press apparently was started in 1857 and by the time the war came on was a well established newspaper, running well alongside Nathaniel Ethell's Times. The fragments of this paper on file cover in broken fashion the period from the spring of 1861 to late in 1866 and so far as they go offer an invaluable source of information regarding local conditions during the stirring times of the rebellion. These fragments of his cherished old files were turned over to the library by Mr. Duckwall just a short time before his death and are now among that institution's most precious possessions.

Duckwall and Ethell were two strong forces in the community in their generation. In the relations between their two papers they generally maintained a sort of jocular attitude toward each other's efforts and their columns contain a good deal of friendly raillery. For example, the Times opened its columns at the beginning to the pen of Dwight Dalrymple, who contributed a couple of stories of the pioneer period, the first of which was "Adam Strong, the Hunter of White River; a Tale of the War of 1812," an original tale of the Munsee Town region and of the old "torture post," which serial was _ followed by its sequel, "Jabe Small, or the Trials of a Borderer; a Tale of Pioneer Life," taking up the same characters here in this region twelve years later (in 1835). Not to be outdone by Ethell in running original stories, Duckwall ran a sort of a travesty on the Dalrymple stories as a serial in his Free Press under the title of "John Dobbinger ; or the Gallinippers Foiled, an Original Story Written Expressly for the Delaware County Free Press by Bright Galwymple." There was a good deal of "give and take" in the newspapers of an older day.

Joseph F. Duckwall was an Ohioan, born in Clermont county in 1834, and was well reared. He completed his schooling in Ohio Wesleyan University, taught school a while and then in 1857 came to Muncie and took over the publication of the Messenger. In the summer of the next year he moved the plant of this paper to Anderson and started the Madison County Repudlican, a venture which was so coldly received that he abandoned it in the following spring and returned to Muncie, where in June of that year (1859) he married Addie Jones, daughter of William F. Jones, and in that same year was appointed principal of the Muncie public schools. In the summer of 1860 Judge Walter March aided him to the purchase of the Courant, the name of which he changed to the Free Press, and he was thus engaged in the newspaper business here until in the fall of 1867, when he sold the Free Press to Alfred Kilgore and not long afterward went to Greenfield, Mo., where he engaged in the practice of law and where he remained until his return to Muncie in the late "70s. Upon his return here he took up the practice of law and here he spent the remainder of his life, being past eighty years of age at the time of his death.

The Local Advertisers In 1865

In 1862 the office of the Free Press was on Main street, "over William's shoe store." The newspaper called particular attention to its job-printing department, announcing that "we are prepared to execute all kinds of job printing in the latest, best and most fashionable styles," and that "we now have a first class 'Wells Jobber,' with cylinder attachment which dazzles the eye with its lightning rapidity of movement, giving us every facility for doing good work. We have, also, a large and choice selection of all kinds of wood and metal type and defy competition in style and price west of New York city." In 1865 the Free Press was being published from its new "office in the new Masonic building, west room, up stairs." Among the advertisers in the newspaper in March of this latter year were A. M. Klein, jeweler, "one door east of Neely's store;" Craig & Co., drugs, No. 6 Commercial Row; Miss Mary J. Ellis, sewing machines; J. H. Clark & Co., dry goods, East Main street; Lem. King, wool, new Masonic building; Cal Wachtel, "'city billiard saloon," Putnam building; Hummell & Muller, grocers and bakers; T. S. Walterhouse, insurance; George L. Elliott, jewelry, "opposite the Davis House;' Thomas J. Sample, collector of military claims, 'on Main street, over Brady's shop;" A. & D. M. Yingling, Yorktown woolen factory; Ellis House, corner of Main and Jefferson streets, C. A. Ellis, proprietor; S. O. Budd, dentist, north side of Washington street, opposite court house; Dr. Bort, "celebrated eye, ear and lung physician and surgeon," Jo Davis House; Miss Little, millinery; Ludlow & Bro., cabinet shop, on Walnut street, "nearly opposite Davis' livery stable; Ross & Dynes, drugs; Rothschild & Bamberger, men's clothing; Kuechman & Lynn, musical merchandise, ''office back of Neely's daguerrean room;' Kline & Riley, grocers; Little & Sons, dry goods; Charley Sawyer, barber; March & Mellett, lawyers. The Cincinnati markets quoted in the paper had wheat at $1.78, for red; corn, $1, for shelled, and "flour in fair demand at $8.75 for superfine and $9.30 for extra."

Gradual Development Of The Modern Newspaper

The Messenger, above referred to as having been published at Muncie during the middle '50s by James H. Birt, a son of the Rev. J. B. Birt, was sold in the fall of 1856 to J. R.S. Bond, who had been publishing a paper at Batavia, in Clermont county, Ohio, and who in June, 1857, sold the paper to Joseph F. Duckwall, his associate, also of Clermont county, who thus entered upon a career in Muncie journalism that was to extend over many years. Mr. Duckwall's first venture, the purchase of the Messenger, was not as successful as he had anticipated, for in 1858 James H. Birt, with substantial local backing, including the active association of H. H. Wachtell and Enoch Davis, renewed his interest in the local newspaper field by starting the Free Press, which proved too strong a competitor for the Messenger and Duckwall moved his plant over to the neighboring county town of Anderson, as narrated above. In 1860 Birt and his associates sold the Free Press to C. B. Smith and John Q. Thompson, who changed the name of the paper to the Kastern Indiana Courant. In the fall of that same year Duckwall returned to Muncie and bought Thompson's interest in the Courant, restored the former name of the Free Press, and took editorial charge of the paper, presently also buying the Smith interest and thus was in full control of the paper during the period of the Civil war. In 1867 Duckwall sold the Free Press to Alfred Kilgore, who changed the name to Guardian of Liberty and made it a Democratic organ which did not long' survive.

In the meantime, as set out above, Nathaniel Fuller Ethell in January, 1860, had entered the field with his Times, which properly may be regarded as having been the real forerunner of the "modern" press in Delaware county. Ethell had grown up in Muncie, had learned the trade of printing here and knew the town and its people. He brought back with him from Chicago and Indianapolis practical experience in newspaper work and from the beginning was able to make his paper a real force in the community, a real "tower of strength" during the Civil war time. In 1869 Gen. Thomas J. Brady bought the Times and installed a power press in the plant, doing away with the old Washington hand press. In the next year (1870) A. C. Mellette, his law partner, became associated with Brady in the publication of the Times, which association continued until Mellette's retirement in 1878. He went West, engaged in practice in the Dakotas and became first Governor of South Dakota upon the erection of that state. Brady continued his ownership of the paper, erected a building in which to house his plant and retained his influence in the management of the paper until his death, although not an active participant in the publication from the time of his call to Washington during the Grant administration. Under compulsion of "modern" demands the Times in good time was made a daily publication and so continued, under one and another management (for years controlled by Major John F. Wildman and Capt. James McClung), until its merger about twenty years ago, it then being under the ownership of George F. McCulloch, with the Herald (of which more anon) to 'create the present H'vening Press, which was established in March, 1905, and which since has occupied the evening field here.

No. 1 of Vol. I of the Daily Times, Wildman & Ferrier proprietors, made its appearance on May 28, 1887. Though it is probable the publishers were actuated by the "boom" idea then developing in consequence of the opening of the natural gas field here, they were modest enough to admit in their salutatory that "we do not know that any 'long felt want' exists that this paper has come to fill, but we hope to create for it a want by publishing a paper that will be abreast with the industrial and intellectual status and advancement of the city."

Nathaniel Fuller Ethell got back into the local newspaper field in 1873 when he bought up the plant of the Liberal, a successor to the Republican, a campaign sheet which had been started at Muncie for its effect in the campaign of 1870 and which at the end of the campaign had been taken over by Hamilton & Kingsberry, who had given it the name of the Liberal. This name Ethell changed to the News, which for many years continued a strong local influence, and which, on May 20, 1878, became a daily newspaper. In the fall of 1885 Ethell sold the paper to Charles F. W. Neely, who installed A. H. Harryman as editor. When the gas "boom" came on the paper was changed, in 1891, from an evening to a morning edition and not long afterward was sold to Perry and Cyrus Heath and Frank J. Claypool. In 1901 the Heaths sold their interest and the paper continued somewhat uncertainly and with varied fortunes until it finally was absorbed by the Star, which was established in 1899 and which has since been occupying the morning field at Muncie.

Struggles Of The Minority Party Newspaper

In the meantime, back in the '70s, the minority party in Delaware county began to have newspaper representation, this beginning in 1870, when Samuel Shafer started the Democrat. He had overestimated the demand for a minority paper and in the next year went back to Ohio, his plant being stored by the Democratic central committee for possible further need. In December, 1873, Col. J. D. Williams, a Tennesseean, bought the outfit and in January, 1874, began the publication of a new Democrat. This paper survived and in 1877 Walter L. Davis, city editor of the paper, became a partner of Williams. In 1879 Davis retired and Charles Alf Williams, son of the Colonel, took his place. Not long afterward Colonel Williams retired and L. A. Kirkwood, who had been editing a small paper called the Observer, assumed editorial charge. A few months later, however, he retired and Walter L. Davis and Charles Alf Williams took charge under the firm name of Davis & Williams. In February, 1881, Kirkwood bought the struggling paper and merged it with his Observer, changed the name of the latter to the Democrat and carried on the publication until in the summer of 1885, when he gave up.

In the next spring, March 15, 1886, Davis, who meanwhile had been working on the News, formed a combination with Thomas Mc- Killip, who in 1885 had bought the plant of the Newcastle Mercury and moved it to Muncie, where on October 2, 1885, he issued the first number of the Muncie Daily Herald, and the two papers, the Democrat and the Herald, were merged under the name of the Democrat- Herald. In the summer of 1889 Davis retired from the firm and the paper thereafter was known simply as the Herald, Hilligoss & Mc- Killip publishers. In 1891 the late Frank D. Haimbaugh, former superintendent of schools of Fulton county, who had been engaged in newspaper work at Peru, sold his interest in the Peru Sentinel and bought a half interest in the Muncie Herald, he and Thomas McKillip thus becoming partners in the publication of that paper, an association which was continued until Mr. McKillip's retirement.

It was thus that through the 90s Muncie had three daily newspapers and this was the situation when in the spring of 1899 the Muncie Morning Star was "launched." Wilbur E. Sutton, as editor, and Charles K. Mavity, as business manager, then were in charge of the Times, the old morning paper, and the competition became acute. They tried to tide the situation over by placing the Times in the hands of a company, and on July 1, 1901, The Times Company filed articles of association as a $20,000 corporation, Charles K. Mavity, Wilbur E. Sutton and John McMillan directors. The articles of association of the Star Publishing Company had been filed for record on May 6, 1899, the capital stock of this company being set at $25,000 and the initial board of directors of the company being Olin W. Kennedy, Lane L. Ballinger and Charles C. Winningham.

George F. McCulloch, who then was busily engaged in promoting his electric traction interests, presently became the chief stockholder in the Star Publishing Company and virtual owner of the paper and a few years later also established the Indianapolis Star and the Terre Haute Star as mediums for the promotion of his growing interests. The Star absorbed the News, as above set out, and was setting a pace that made the situation hopeless for both the Herald and the Times. The latter paper presently gave up the struggle, the company which had hoped to revive its drooping fortunes selling out to McCulloch. About this time the Herald came into Mr. Haimbaugh's sole ownership and was with difficulty meeting the new competition. It was recognized that the field would not support three papers. Two evening papers in a circumscribed field was economically bad. This fact was recognized by Mr. Haimbaugh and after careful consideration the question of merging the Times with the Herald was broached to Mr. McCulloch, owner of the former. After several months of consultation a joint stock company was organized, under the name of the Press Publishing Company, the two plants were merged and the publication of the Muncie Evening Press was begun in March, 1905.

The records reveal that the Press Publishing Company was organized on February 25, 1905, and was incorporated with capital stock of $40,000, with the following five directors: Frank D. Haimbaugh,

George F. McCulloch, William E. Hitchcock, Charles B. Fudge and John L. McPherson. Haimbaugh, of the Herald, became business manager of the new paper, the Press, and Sutton, of the Times, editor, the former retaining that position for four years and then for a year longer as editor. McCulloch presently disposed of his stock in the company to William M. Butler, an experienced newspaper man, but after a few months he found the labor too strenuous and he left the burden to Haimbaugh. In a review of the history of the Press written by Mr. Haimbaugh in 1917, that veteran of the Muncie newspaper field set out that following this climax 'for some months the paper weathered the adverse storm of the newspaper sea, but was finally forced to ask that a receiver be appointed to take charge of the affairs of the paper. In 1909 the plant was sold at a receiver's sale and was purchased by James Burke, of Anderson, who published it for a few months and then sold it to John Clarey, of Massachusetts. Mr. Clary eventually passed it on to the hands that eventually terminated in the present management." George B. Lockwood, formerly of the Marion Chronicle, whose newspaper training was received in the office of the Peru Republican, for many years published by his father, and who now is the editor of the National Republican, Washington, D. C., and secretary of the Republican national committee, is editor and general manager of the Press; Walter S. Steele, business manager, and Wilbur E. Sutton, editor. The paper still is published by the Press Publishing Company, George B. Lockwood, president; Frank P. Litschert, vice president, and Scott A. Shesler, secretary and treasurer. The Star also passed through changes of management after the disposition of the McCulloch interest, Frank C. Ball for some time holding the controlling interest, and was finally taken over by the present owner, John C. Shaffer, of Chicago, who also owns the other Indiana Star papers established by George F. McCulloch and papers at Chicago, Louisville and Denver. Frank B. Harrold is the present managing editor and Harry F. Guthrie is the business manager. There is still a considerable continuing Ball interest in the Star Publishing Company.

The latest application for favor in the Muncie newspaper field is the Delaware County Democrat, an old and once familiar name hereabout, which on September 14, 1923, was revived by Hubert L. Parkinson, local newspaper man, who issued the paper as being "endorsed and authorized as the official Democratic newspaper of Delaware county by the Delaware county central committee," and plainly made a bid for the essential public advertising which had been going to the old weekly Post-Democrat, as the Democratic organ. The Democrat, a six-column, four-page weekly, carried in its initial issue the declaration that it was being started "at this time in response to the desires of a great majority of Democrats for a newspaper that. will reflect the aims and policies of the Democratic party." Its first issue carried more than a page of legal advertising, this being the publication of the new Muncie zoning ordinance.

Mention has been made above of the career in Muncie journalism of Charles Alf Williams, in connection with the publication of the old Democrat, back in the '70s. For some time during that period Williams also published the Muncie Mule, a "spicy" sheet which came out on Saturdays and which attracted considerable local attention during the six months or more of its existence. Kirkwood's Observer also referred to above was retained intermittently as the name of a weekly paper in Muncie for years, having been revived in 1902 by R. T. Winters, who carried on with it for about five years. Of late years George R. Dale has been publishing the Observer, the name of which in 1921 he changed to the Post-Democrat.

In 1870 S. W. Swiggett started the Telegraph, a weekly paper, which he sold in the next year and which had two or three owners before it finally expired in 1873, William Chandler, J. W. Perkins and A. J. Wells being recalled as having been connected with the enter- 'prise. In 1880 A. C. Stouder started the Advertiser, which had a struggling existence for about two years before the experiment was given up. Stouder, who for years was connected with the old News, later started The School and Home, which did not last long, closing in 1889. In January, 1882, John C. Hiler, whose term as postmaster was then about closing, started the Sunday Morning Times, but it did not last long. The Tribune, started by a man of the name of Spronge, who apparently did not greatly impress himself upon the community, was published for a few months during the early '90s. A preacher of the name of Sly also for some months published the Bimetallist, but found no profitable call for it.

During the time of the gas boom back in the early '90s a newspaper for a time was published at Yorktown, promoted by the projectors of "West Muncie." C. L. Lockhart and T. L. Martin, beginning in the summer of 1896, also for a while published a paper at Albany and for some years, beginning in 1897, C. W. McIntosh & Son published the Gazette at Gaston, but with the decline of the natural gas interests these ventures in village journalism were abandoned... In © 1903 the newspaper at Albany was revived and has since been published as the Albany Chronicle. William H. Smith is the proprietor of the paper and Bessie H. Smith the editor. The newspaper at Gaston also was revived some years ago and is now published as the Gaston News, the Gaston News Printing Company being the publishers and Ernest G. Giggy the editor.

Following the discovery of natural gas at Eaton M. A. Fisher started a paper in that village, the Gas Light, which later came into the hands of Charles Jester, later became the property of J. W. Mc- Carty and after the decline of the gas industry was changed in name to the Press, which is now edited and managed by Frank A. Parratt, proprietor of the Enterprise Press, a job-printing establishment which has been doing business there for years, and which also publishes the District Duroc Bulletin. The Enterprise Press Company of Eaton recently was incorporated with a capitalization of $10,000, Fred A. Dawson, James G. Murphy and Frank A. Parratt being the directors. During the days of the activity of the old Farmers Mutual Benefit Association back in the 790s Frank J. Claypool, state secretary and afterward national secretary of that association, for some time published the Farmers Record at Muncie. During the height of the Grange movement back in the '70s, N. F. Ethell, proprietor of the Muncie News, also published The Hoosier Patron, a journal devoted to the interest of the Grange, which gained a considerable circulation for the same. Several well conducted periodicals, trade journals of one sort and another, lodge bulletins and the like, are printed at Muncie and the Chamber of Commerce issues periodically its attractive Dynamo. Muncie is widely recognized as "a good printing town" and there are numerous well equipped job-printing establishments in the town.

Some Who Have Sought Wider Fields

The newspaper offices of Muncie have served as training schools for quite a number of newspaper men who upon "graduating" from the local field have found something more than merely local reputations in wider fields. Mention elsewhere has been made of Perry S. Heath's "day of small things" on the old Muncie News and of his present connection with the newspaper field in Washington, as well as of A. C. Mellette's rise to gubernatorial station in South Dakota. Thomas J. Brady's conspicuous rise to political position back in the "70s also has been mentioned. Judge Joseph S. Buckles once "ran" a newspaper in Muncie. James A. Stuart and Ernest Mcllvain, editorin-chief and managing editor, respectively, of the Indianapolis Star, had their newspaper training in Muncie. The Carmichael brothers, Otto and Jesse, natives of Delaware county, both of whom gained wide reputation as Washington correspondents and the former of whom is now in New York, had their newspaper beginnings in Muncie. When Jesse Carmichael died in Washington in April, 1913, at the age of thirty-seven, a Washington friend wrote concerning him: "Kindly, smiling, brave, a living charity, he, in his lifetime, was a Greatheart, and in his long sleep adorns his profession - adorns it 'with such beauty that, being gone, he remains with it and of it like the fragrance of a rose." Another friend and fellow-worker of the National Press Club concluded a similar sympathetic appreciation with the thought the ''the sod will lie lightly above the manly heart of Jesse Carmichael."

Though Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, writer and lecturer of national reputation, now living in New Work, was born in Brookville, Ind., Muncie also lays some measure of claim to her, for she spent her youth here and was graduated from the Muncie high school. At the age of eighteen she was made principal of the high school at Peru. Later she became connected with newspaper work and was thus engaged for twelve years or more at Terre Haute, going thence to the Indianapolis News as an editorial writer and from there to the New York Sun and has since, for many years, lived in New York. In 1893 she wrote a monograph on "Organized Work of Indiana Women" for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago; in 1898, "Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony ;" 1908, "History of Woman Suffrage," etc. Her later years have chiefly been given up to lecturing and editorial work in behalf of feminist movements and she long has been regarded as an authority along those lines. Mrs. Harper's daughter, Mrs. Winnifred Harper Cooley, also is widely known as a writer, feminist and lecturer.

Another Muncie "celebrity" is Orville Harrold, a singer of note, who grew up in Muncie and was working in a grocery store here when definite attention became attracted to his voice and about ten years ago he was admitted to the ranks of the Metropolitan Opera

Company. His daughter Patti also has attained considerable fame as a singer. C. E. Scoggins is adding to Muncie's literary fame as a writer of short stories which have been well received. Chic Jackson, of Indianapolis, creator of the "Roger Bean' comic "art" strip, is a Delaware county product and had his newspaper training in Muncie.

The Value Of Directory Publications

Charles Emerson's '""Muncie Directory and Gazetteer of Delaware County," issued biennially, has come through the passing of the years to possess a historical value that now places the files of this invaluable publication as among the most precious possessions of the public library, ranking with the newspaper files. Mr. Emerson also fortunately has preserved a complete file of his directories and has made arrangements for their continued preservation in the permanent archives of the county when his long and untiring service in behalf of the people shall have ceased, so that there definitely shall be preserved this accurate "story" of the gradual development of the county's population since the days when he undertook the useful task to which for so many years he has devoted himself. The gradually increasing bulk of these directories through the years is the best possible commentary upon the growth of the county and its interests and here the student of local history in the next generation will find his most accurate "'source material." The current (1923-24) directory is a volume of more than 1,200 pages and is a most valuable compendium of local conditions, an index to the residents of the city of Muncie and a general gazetteer of Delaware county.

In a newspaper interview following the publication of the 1923-24 directory Mr. Emerson said: "It has been my privilege to watch the growth of Muncie for many years, and I have noted that the merchants and factories that really have added to the city are the ones who come here and stay. We have had, of course, a few 'fly-by-night' concerns that have located here and have in a short time moved away, 'but we are better off for their having moved. There is no reason why Muncie cannot be a city of 75,000 inhabitants by 1930." [Mr. Emerson died on February 4, 1924.]

The first edition of the Emerson directory and gazetteer was published in 1876 and five years later the second edition was issued for the years 1881-82, since which time there has been an unbroken succession of biennial editions. It now, for instance, is worth while to note through these files that when Muncie entered upon the decade of the '80s, ten years before a new impetus was given to local development by the coming of the gas "boom," that the Emerson "Complete Index to the Entire Business of Muncie, Alphabetically Arranged," reveals the presence in Muncie at that time of one abstracter, 7 dealers in agricultural implements, 1 architect, 20 attorneys, 5 bakers and confectioners, 3 banks, 6 barber shops, 1 bath house, 6 billiard rooms, 11 blacksmith shops, 9 boarding houses, 3 book sellers; boots and shoes, 7; boot and shoemakers, 11; brick and tile, 1; burls and veneers, 1; carpenters and builders, 11; carriage, buggy and spring wagon manufacturers, 4; china, glass and queensware, 3; cigars and tobacco, 2; clothing (men's), 7; coal and wood, 4; cooper shops, 3; dentists, 4; dress and cloak makers, 8; drugs, 6; dry goods, 10; express offices, 2; feather duster manufacturer, 1; feed stables, 4; feed stores, 5; flax mill, 1; flour mills, 2; foundries and machine shops, 2; fruits and confectionery, 5; fruits and vegetables, 5; furniture manufacturers and dealers, 3; gas works, 1; gate manufacturer, 1; grain dealers, 5; greenhouses, 2; groceries (wholesale), 1; groceries and provisions, 21; gun and locksmiths, 1; hair works (human), 2; handle factories, 2; hardware, 3; harness and saddles, 2; hat store, 1; heading and stave factories, 2; hotels, 4 (Abbott, Haines, Kirby and Tremont) ; hub and spoke factories, 2; ice dealers, 2; insurance agents, 15; junk dealers, 1; lime kiln, 1; livery, feed and sale stables, 3; loan office, 1; lumber dealers, 4; marble works, 3; meat markets, 4; millinery and fancy goods, 6; money, note and bond brokers, 2; music and musical instruments, 1; news depot, 1; newspapers, 4 (Democrat, L. A. Kirkwood, editor; News, N. F. Ethell; Times, John C. Hiler, and Advertiser, A. C. Stouder) ; novelty works, 1; opera house, 1 (Wysor) ; organ manufacturers, 2; painters, 5; photographers, 3; physicians, 21; planing mills, 2; plow factory, 1; portrait painter, 1; printers (job), 1; produce dealers, 2; pump factory, 1; real estate agents, 5; restaurants, 11; roller skate factories, 2; saloons, 11; saw mills, 4; sewing machine dealers, 4; shooting galleries, 2; solicitors of patents, 2; stoves and tinware, 5; tailors, 4; tan yard, 1; telegraph office, 1; telephone exchange, 1 (Muncie Bell Telephone Company;) ten pins, 1; tile factory, 1; undertakers, 2; variety store, 1; veterinary surgeon, 1; wagon factories, 5; washing machine factory, 1; watches, clocks and jewelry, 2; wines and liquors (wholesale), 3; wool dealers, 3.

Also from time to time there have been published informative little "boom" books designed to present before the world the advantages of Muncie as a commercial and industrial point. Mention elsewhere has been made of one of the earliest of these, a booklet got out during the early days of the gas "boom" in which some quite extravagant claims were made concerning the probable scope and duration of the gas field here. In 1897 an attractive little booklet was got out by the Commercial Publishing Company, under the title "Muncie Illustrated," printed by the Neely Printing Company. This book of 32 pages is now valuable for its pictorial presentation of the Muncie of that day and copies that have been preserved are now coming to be valued highly. The illustrations in this booklet carry views of commercial and industrial concerns as well as views of public buildings, churches and schools, thus preserving interesting views of the chief points of interest in the city at that time.

A brief review of conditions carried in this commercial prospectus gave the population of Muncie, according to a local census, as 22,285 and the statement that "all the streets in the center of the city are paved with asphalt," and that among other points of end-of-the-century improvements were "a complete sewerage system costing $285,- 000, a modern and complete fire department, an electric street car line reaching out in every direction; churches, schools, public library, banks, hospital, opera house, three daily papers, waterworks, electric light plant, all modern and on a scale that indicates a progressive spirit." Attention also was called to railroad service and then it is pointed out that "Muncie's pride is her large and diversified factory interest. Iron and steel mills, malleable casting works, fruit jar, bottle and window glass factories, carriage factories, stove works, shoe factory, bridge building company, wheel factory, farm implements factory, pulp mill, straw board works, bending wood factory, casket factory, shovel handle factory, heading factory, hub and spoke factory, washing machine factories, silverware factory, roofing works, hominy mill, canning factory, cigar factories, flour mills, saw mills, planing mills, foundries, brick factories and numerous other industries are successfully operated."" Muncie apparently then was in a position to enter upon the new century with high hopes.. Of course, nothing in the above list of industries relating to the automobile industry which then was beginning to attract speculative attention. and which now forms so important a part of Muncie's industrial life.

This review further pointed out that the weekly wages paid factory employes amounted to $57,000 and that the annual sales of these factories were estimated at $85,000,000, and that 27,000 cars of freight were being shipped annually as factory products. These products (annually) aggregated - tons of iron and steel, 83,000; number of bolts, 40,000,000; feet of lumber used, 32,000,000; number of buggy wheels made, 30,000; washing machines, 10,000; tons pulp, 10,000; shovel handles, 69,000; tons straw board, 7,000; boxes window glass, 320,000; bottles, 32,000,000; fruit jars, 45,000,000; burial caskets, 4,800; pair shoes, 150,000.

Another publication, "The Magic City" (without date, but apparently about 1908), was put out with the compliments of the Ball Bros. Glass Manufacturing Company with the evident sanction of the Muncie Commercial Club, of which Theodore F. Rose then was president and Frank D. Haimbaugh secretary, a note stating that it was compiled and published by the press and printing committee of the club and designed and printed by the Central Printing Company This was a souvenir booklet of Muncie, "containing pictorial views of representative buildings, factories, schools, churches, homes, business centers, hotels and other points of interest." The pictorial features of this booklet of 40 pages will have much value for historical purposes in coming years.

The same may be said of a similar though somewhat more pretentious booklet of something more than 100 pages got out in 1914 and printed by the Scott-Pierce Company (Muncie) "with the approval of the Muncie Commercial Club," the president of which at that time was Harry L. Kitselman and the secretary Frank J. Claypool. The pictorial features of this publication have preserved pictures that in coming years will be valued highly. The title of this booklet is "Souvenir of Muncie, Indiana," and its sub-title sets out that it is in illustration of '"'some of its industries, public buildings, churches, schools, parks, public utilities, retail houses, financial institutions, homes and its exceptional interurban and railway facilities." The frontispiece of this booklet is a fine full-page picture of the Commercial Club building and the portraits of the officers and directors of the Commercial Club of that time also make a valuable feature. Though this booklet is chiefly pictorial in character there are a few pages of text setting out Muncie's advantages, the conclusion there being reached that 'Muncie is among the foremost cities of the Middle West, and for a city of its size has no superior."

In 1912 Post R (Muncie) of the Travelers Protective Association entertained the Indiana division of that organization and as a souvenir of the event published a handsomely illustrated book of more than 200 pages carrying much interesting information regarding commercial conditions in Indiana. The story relating to Muncie in this work (33 pages, profusely illustrated) was written by the late Frank D. Haimbaugh, a veteran newspaper man and then president of the Commercial Club, who concluded his informative narrative with the declaration that "there are many reasons why Muncie is a good place in which to reside or where business can be advantageously prosecuted, among which may be named: Because it is a place of home owners; because its people are generous and hospitable; because it is inspired with the 20th century enterprise, which means progress along all lines of human endeavor; because it has a school system second to none; because its churches are numerous and well attended; because it has\ satisfactory shipping facilities; because it has excellent passenger service of both steam and interurban lines; because it has a good system of sewerage; because it has an abundant supply of water; because it is supplied with both natural and artificial gas, for home consumption and factory purposes; because it is within easy reach of a rich agricultural country; because its banks, loan and trust companies are substantial ; because it has many industries where employment can be secured; because it has a commercial club with a progressive spirit; because it has clean, wide-awake newspapers; because its taxes are reasonable; because it has a healthful climate and a low death rate; because it is a place of civic pride; because it has no excessively rich or extremely poor, and because Muncie will never be content to rest with well-won laurels, but will ever keep in the forefront of enlightened progress and will continue to strive for all that makes for material welfare and human happiness."

In the spring of 1923 when Muncie entertained the forty-fourth annual encampment of the Department of Indiana, Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Haimbaugh also was called on to write a bit of text for the souvenir program issued for the occasion and this he presented in five pages of "History of Muncie," in which he epitomized the advantages offered by the city as a place of residence, declaring that 'Muncie is a delightful residence city, made such by the fact that the city is essentially one of homes," and pointed out that "the manufacturing industries of the city, both big and little, comprise a list of more than 300. In these various factories are produced more than: 130 different articles, from automobiles to zinc caps. The largest manufactory of fruit jars in the world is located at Muncie. Some of the leading articles produced are automobiles, auto parts, steam boilers, brass castings, bedsteads, bottles, juvenile vehicles, canned goods, electrical supplies, gas engines, fruit jars, fireless cookers, furnace pots, wire fence, silverware, lawn mowers, wheels, structural steel, office and school furniture," and that "two national and one state bank, each with a substantial capitalization and deposits. reaching into the millions, attest a degree of financial solidity that is not affected by the ordinary business depressions."

"Based on what has been done," concluded Mr. Haimbaugh's review, "it needs not the stimulating influences of a vivid imagination to foretell what there is for Muncie in the years unborn, years that are filled with the richest possibilities for the city that has been doing things in the past. Muncie is ever awake to the demands of enlightened progress, is ever ready at all times to meet new conditions and is thoroughly capable of solving the most perplexing' problems that may call for expert knowledge and mature experience. In Muncie is found the conservatism that analyzes with logical exactness and, at the same time, that spirit of enterprise which has builded and made the West the marvel of the ages and the wonder of mankind."

Supplemental to all this and a valuable continuing review of the progress of Muncie and of Delaware county the files of "Dynamo," the official periodical of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce, serve as a growing depository of much informative matter relating to local conditions and these will have their special value in after years. For instance, a recent issue of this periodical epitomized under the head of "Facts About Muncie" a mass of information in brief which carried all essential details regarding the town's present status, pointing out, among other items, that the tax rate (for all purposes) was but 2.66; number of railroads, 6; interurban lines, 5; playgrounds, 12; parks, 4; acreage of parks, 165; hospitals, 2; hotels, 8, with an aggregate of 604 rooms; banks, 5, with resources aggregating nearly $18,- 000,000; building and loan societies, 5; manufacturing plants, 77; area in square miles, 7.15; miles of sewers, 44.5; acres in city, 4,596; altitude, 954 feet; miles of streets, 141.66; miles of paved streets, 92.7; assessed value of city property, $54,808,995; home owners - -per cent of population, 53; annual freight, outbound (tons), 441,275; inbound, 643,400; daily water consumption, gallons, 3,000,000; birth rate, per 1,000, 21.62; death rate, 11.

rial" as this, but with the approach of the county's centennial a new interest is being aroused along this line and it is said a county historical society soon may be organized. As Harlow Lindley, former secretary of the Indiana Historical Commission and present director of that body, says: "Historical societies should be organized in every county in the state. These societies should see to it that present-day history is taken care of in such manner as to be of the greatest benefit to future generations. They should see to it that past history should be recalled by the placing of markers at historical spots. * * * They should establish permanent museums, thus gathering together and preserving many splendid historical relics which might thus be saved to the county and state. Such local societies may become the most important local centers of historical interest and activity in the state, and indeed only by some such means can the local history be preserved. |

"The aims and purposes of county historical societies might be summarized as follows: To collect and preserve the materials of local history; to secure and publish the recollections and reminiscences of those who have taken part in or who have been witnesses of the growth of local communities; to see that the public archives of the counties, towns and villages are properly cared for; to ascertain and mark historic sites and places, and to kindle and keep alive an interest in state and local history."