Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 74: Newspapers and Newspaper Men of Waseca County, Past and Present. News, Radical, Journal-Radical -, 1905

Chapter 74: Newspapers and Newspaper Men of Waseca County, Past and Present. News, Radical, Journal-Radical -

The present newspapers in the county of Waseca are the Journal-Radical and the Waseca County Herald, of Waseca, the Argus, of Janesville, and the North Star of New Richland.

The Journal-Radical is the lineal descendant of the Home Views, which first made its appearance at Wilton as far back as March 13, 1860. That was sometime ago. It was edited by J. W. Crawford, at one time register of deeds of this county, and printed at the office of A. B. Cornell, in Owatonna. About the 1st of March, 1861, Alex. Johnston and S. J. Willis took the paper in hand, called it The Waseca Home Views, and printed it at Wilton on their own press and type. They published it in Wilton until the fall of 1861, when Johnston bought the Willis interest and removed the material to Faribault, changed it to a democratic paper, still continuing to publish a Wilton edition with Buel Welsh, Esq., as local scribe at Wilton. In the fall of 1863, Hon. H. D. Baldwin, who had a lien upon the material, brought it back to Wilton. James Mowatt was employed as printer, and James E. Child served as editor. The first issue of The Wilton Weekly News made its appearance December 8, 1863. It was a six column folio, all home print, and Eepublican in politics. At the close of the first year of the paper, Mr. Child bought the outfit and assumed control of the paper. March 8, 1866, the paper was made one column larger, and in this form it continued for a number of years. In October, 1867, Mr. Child removed the material to the then new village of Waseca and changed the name to Waseca News. In November, 1868, Wm. J. Graham became half owner of the News, and tried to edit it for some time. He remained with the paper until May 31, 1871, when Mr. Child again took entire charge of the office.

On the 1st of August, 1871, Jlr. John F. Murphy,, now of the Herald, became a partner in the management of the News and continued as such until May 29, 1872, when he retired.

July 15, 1874, the form of the paper was changed to a sixcolumn quarto. It was then the largest paper published in Southern ilinnesota west of Winona.

Jan. 6, 1875, the name of the paper was changed to the Minnesota Radical. In May, 1878, Walter Child, son of James E., became part owner of the paper and took charge of the mechanical department. In October of the same year the ^Messrs. Chid bought a portion of the material of the Liberty Blade, of ]\Imneapolis, and took over the subscription list of that paper, calling the consolidated papers the Radical and Liberty Blade. It was known as an advocate of the temperance and anti-monopoly interests. Incessant toil as attorney and editor for years hid impaired the health of the elder i\Ir. Child, and he reluctantly sold his interest in the paper to Hon. W. G. Ward, in July, 18S0, who was then a candidate for congress. Mr. Ward restored the heading, ^Minnesota Radical, and employed Hon. E. B. Collester as editor, although Senator Ward himself wrote the "savage political articles." In August, 1881, ]\Ir. Ward, having tired of the "luxury," transferred it to C. B. Graham. This gentleman continued the paper until the last of December, 1901,, when he sold material and good will to a company consisting of Dr. F. A. Swartwood, P. C. Bailey, E. B. Collester, L. Bliss, R. P Ward, C. A. Smith, and W. A. Clement. These men at the same time became the owners of the Waseca Journal, a paper theretofore published by J. T. Heck, who came here from Washington. Recently Mr. W. A. Clement, who had been business manager from the beginning of the consolidation of the two papers, has bought the other interests, and is now sole proprietor. The Journal-Radical is now somewhat like the boy's jackknife. He first broke the blade and had a new one put in. Then he broke the back and had it replaced. Lastly the handle came off and he got a new one; and yet it was the same good, old jackknife.

The Waseca Courier

This paper was published by Mrs. A. B. Cornell, of Owatonna, in 1862-3. It was a five column quarto, the local editor being Col. J. C. Ide of Wilton. It never had the hearty support of the people of the county, and ceased to exist in the fall of 1863.

Wilton Courant

Early in the winter of 1867, after the News had been removed to Waseca, A. J. Clark and W. D. Palmer, of Winona, were induced to start a paper at Wilton, and they called it the Courant. Mr. Clark was "great" on securing bonuses and managed to get a number of pledges from citizens of Wilton and from some of the county officers. His bills for the printing of county blanks were enormous, far exceeding any ever allowed before or since, but the people did not, as a rule, take kindly to the new paper, and about August 17, 1869, Mr. Clark, having secured a bonus from a town in Sherburne county, gathered his material together and removed thither. He was a man of considerable ability, genial, and kind in disposition, but strong drink had so debased his manhood and destroyed his business ability that he died a financial and physical wreck a number of years ago in the South.

Janesvillb Argus

The next successful paper to be established in the county was the Argus. In the spring of 1873, John L. (not "Billy") Barlow prevailed upon the people of Janesville to purchase press and material for a newspaper and turn the same over to him, taking a chattel mortgage back. Mr. Barlow seemed to be a failure from the start, as a newspaper man, and those who had their money invested foreclosed the mortgage within three months after he started, and the paper was suspended.

In the fall, of 1873, the Janesville proprietors of the material prevailed upon C. E. Graham, of Freedom, to accept the same and start a newspaper. The first number appeared November 2,

1873. It was a five-column quarto and bristled with odd, quaint sayings, and with witticisms fresh and stale presented in an original manner. Mr. Graham continued to publish the paper until August, 1881, when he sold it to Mr. John A. Henry and bought the Waseca Radical. Mr. Henry has had command of the Argus continuously ever since, although he was ably assisted by I\Ir. C. W. Brown, as a partner, from the fall of 1900 to about June 15, 1903.

The Record

Messrs. W. J. Graham and A. H. Carman, in October, 1873, started a small, three-column folio, called The Record. It suspended the next spring.

Waseca Leader

This was a weekly paper instituted in Waseca, by T. F. Hollister, from Wisconsin, in the spring of 1876. Jlr. Hollister struggled hard to maintain the publication, but with three papers in the village at that time, he found it impossible. On the 7th of May, 1880, he sold his outfit to jMessrs. G. W. Morse and A. F. Booth, who consolidated it with the Herald, then owned by Messrs. Morse & Booth.

Lem Reeves and A. J. Fullerton came to Waseca from Mc- Gregor, Iowa, and commenced the publication of a seven-column folio, the first number of bore date October 5, 1877, and announced itself as "straight Republican." Oct. 4. 1878, it was changed in form to an eight-column folio with "patent inside." That fall ]\Ir. Fullerton retired, ilr. Reeves continued the publication of the paper until j\]ay 2, 1879, when he disposed of the outfit to A. F. Booth. July 1, following, H. F. Pond, of Trempealeau, Wis., bought a half interest in the paper, and the firm name became Booth & Pond. They published the paper until April 23, 1880, when ]Mr. Pond retired. On the 7th of May following, as before stated, Mv. Booth "absorbed" the Leader, at the same time forming a copartnership with Mr. G. W. Morse. The next week Mr. Booth sold his interest to Mr. S. IM. Rose, and on ]\Iay 14, 1880, the Herald was issued by the new firm of Rose & ]\Iorse. Under the able management of these two men, the paper became firmly established. Mr. Rose died about March 13, 1883, and his widow continued her interest in the paper until Dec. 1883, when she sold to Mr. J. F. Murphy her half interest and the business was thenceforth conducted in the name of Morse & Murphy, until Oct. 15, 1885, when Mr. ]\Iorse sold his half interest to James E. Child. The firm name of Child & Murphy was used until about the first of April, 1890, when the name of the firm was changed to J. P. Murphy & Co. This name has been continued to the present time. At the beginning of volume XXL, Sept. 21, 1900, the form of the Herald was changed from an eight-column folio to a six-column quarto.

The North Star

R. P. Child made the first venture in newspaper work at New Richland, in the fall of 1878. About six months' experience closed the deal. Sept. 24, 1884, Morse & Murphy, of the "Waseca Herald, commenced the publication of a paper called the New Richland Review, with L. M. Paschall as local editor. It was ably edited by that gentleman, but it did not pay and was discontinued Oct. 7, 1885. The next venture was the North Star, which made its first appearance Feb. 4, 1886, S. K. Gregg and M. E. Goodwin publishers. Mr. Goodwin retired April 15, 1886, leaving Mr. Gregg sole owner. The latter part of August, 1887, Bronson & Holland bought the paper, 0. H. Bronson becoming editor. Their first paper was dated Sept. 5, 1887. Mr. Holland soon after retired, leaving Mr. Bronson in sole command. Along in the nineties, Mr. Bronson sold the outfit to B. "W. Graham, nephew of C. E. Graham, "on time." After about a year Mr. Bronson again took charge of the office. He was a very competent, bright editor. He continued with the Star until June 15, 1903, when he sold the whole plant to Mr. C. W. Brown, who has continued it with marked business ability ever since.

Town Talk

A three-column folio paper made its appearance Oct. 9, 1879, and was exactly what its name implied. At least, for the time being it was the talk of the town. It bore the name of T. White, editor, although T. "White probably never wrote a word of it. The second number, dated Oct. 23, 1879, was decidedly personal,

The Clipper

Oct. 4, 1901, Thos. J. Kelley, from Jordan, Minn., started a paper called the Clipper, in Waseca. He issued six numbers and then threw up the enterprise. No doubt he was deceived by representations made by Waseca men that knew nothing of the newspaper business.