Obrien County IA Archives History - Books .....Chapter XX The Press 1914
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Book Title: Past And Present Of O'Brien And Osceola Counties, Iowa
CHAPTER XX.
THE PRESS.
In the educational chapter we named and gave the ten newspapers in our
several towns a place among the educational features of the county. We sometimes
smile at the country newspaper as if a sort of a little upstart, an amateur
attempt to be a paper, and joke about its patent insides, as a product of a
Sears, Roebuck & Company machine set of brains. But we will not retract our
first measure. They have played a part in all the main historic incidents herein
recorded. They are like matches and salt cellars, found in every home. They are
a necessity.
How often, when absent from home, do we wait the mail with a longing thought
of home and of neighborhood incidents going on. When the paper arrives it
becomes a combination news-letter, of all the doings of the whole towrn and
county, with a hundred items the folks at home have failed to tell. These county
newspapers become gladsome and joyous, to the ears and to the eyes. Like the
Stars and Stripes, they float, they stir up your loyalty to wife, children,
home, town and county.
Perhaps they state that Mary has arrived home from Grinnell or Drake
University and your vanity is tickled. "Little Johnnie spoke a piece in the
school program." Your family letter had not thought it of sufficient importance
or had not thought of it at all, but such an item is not thought too small by
the patient news-gathering editor or the typesetter. A local man starts up as a
candidate. You read it and ache to get home to help him or lick him out. Your
wife is elected president of the Priscilla or Ladies Aid Society, or a daughter
appears in the League and your mind thinks "some pumpkins." Your daughter is
married and the time-honored list of silver pickle dishes and spoons is
published. Your own getting on the train to make the present trip is noted, and
you feel two inches taller. Your baby wins a prize in the baby show, and you
jump three jumps twenty feet to show: it to somebody. When thus away from home,
you even find yourself reading the advertisements, the executor's notices and
bridge lettings. You read perhaps that your own town bank has two hundred and
eighty thousand dollars on deposits according to their advertisement; that your
neighbor sold three carloads of steers, or that the machine dealer sold twenty
manure spreaders that season. You read the markets, even if you are not in
business on those lines. They link you up, these county papers do, to "Home
Sweet Home," and perhaps your throat begins to choke. The local doings, even if
you are at home, are there condensed, in a way you never would have had time to
run around and find out yourself, and saves you being called a gossip, hunting
around for news. Careful notation of the "haps" and pointers and
"squiblets,"
small per item, but you read them quickly. When mother is dead the obituary is
carefully written up, and the tear drops fall as you read the notice over and
over, in the years to, come. All the hallowed items, including all the joyous
sentiments, revolve around mother, home and heaven, with love floating as a
banner; that word, the purest and holiest word in the English language, all
bubbling up through the human heart and soul Godward.
The daily Chicago papers could not supply the place. Some pungent editor
sticks you righteously between the ribs and you get wrathy when it hits you and
roll all over with laughter when it hits the other fellow. When done, the paper
is laid down, and then picked up again to read them oxer, and then still over
again; you have secured a fund of information and knowledge of home and family
and town and county and business, of dollars in value, as likewise showing up
the joys and wits of local interest, and you must at last conclude rightly that
the ten papers in O'Brien county are in fact real sources of information and
education.
It is believed by many that the press is an educator which is only surpassed
by the public school and if it is true that truth and its dissemination is
better than falsehood-if refined and elevating thought is better than groveling
and bestial longings-then the country newspaper has a mission, and it is not
without its responsibilities.
Again, the country editor occupies another peculiar place. In the affections
of the people he is a public benefactor. He is generally poor because the spirit
within him compels him to do the unremunerative work of the community. His
talents are not always those of the financier. A part of the talent of the
financier is to do the thing that pays-pays' money. .If there be needful things
to do which have no profit, let others do them. All honor to the man whose life
has been an industrious and helpful one and who has done the gratuities of the
world and who comes down to the grave with an empty purse. Such a life dignifies
privation and poverty above the dignity of kings, and is the growing sentiment
of the world.
The first newspaper circulated in this county was established in Old O'Brien
in 1871 by John R. Pumphrey. B. F. McCormack, that ubiquitous and eccentrically
talented individual who for nearly forty years was more or less connected with
the business life of the county, was its first editor. It was denominated the
O'Brien Pioneer, printed in Cherokee county by Robert Buchanan and thus
continued until the spring of 1872, when Col. L. B. Raymond, then publishing a
paper at Cherokee, as part of a general plan for profitable establishment of
newspapers in counties newly organized, to get the valuable county printing,
opened a printing office at Old O'Brien and on May 24, 1872, he published the
first paper printed in the county, continuing the former publication as the
O'Brien Pioneer. Without interruption that paper has continued, published by
varying printers and editors, awhile at Primghar and later at Sanborn. It is now
known as the Sanborn Pioneer. In November, 1872, A. H. Willits purchased the
paper and continued the publication at Primghar the following spring, when the
county seat was removed to the center of the county in compliance with the
election of 1872. In 1873 Major C. W. Inman purchased a half interest, but he
was soon displaced by J. R. Pumphrey, the banker of the county seat, who sold to
A. G. Willits in April, 1875. The latter was a son of A. H. Willits. The latter
was thus identified with the paper for some seven years. And during most of that
time, by virtue of his office as clerk of the courts, he was able to throw much
of the patronage in way of legal notices to his paper. In January. 1879, he
retired from the clerk's office and nominally from the paper, but still loaned
some of his energy to editorial work. July 1, 1879, Warren Walker, an attorney
of Primghar, purchased an interest and he and A. G. Willits continued its
publication until 1880, when the plant was moved from Primghar to Sanborn. In
1881 the name was changed to Sanborn Pioneer, A. G. Willits being then sole
owner. A. H. Willits was a forceful character in the conduct of his paper,
vigorous in his style and ready to defend his rights, his town and his paper.
During his life of action in the county and while publishing the paper, there
cropped out the first of that rivalry that has to a greater or less degree
existed between Primghar and Sheldon. This jealously and strife frequently took
the form of personal attacks on the characters of the editors in the respective
papers, and if half of the charges made in the pages of the Pioneer and Mail
during those years are true, both Willits and Piper should have been occupants
of a state criminal institution. But as time flies swiftly by, it softens the
asperities of life, and, reading the story from a distance, forgetting the
highly charged atmosphere and aroma of passion and antagonism, we can see much
good in both of these men. Their troubles first arose over the conflict as to
the final location of the McGregor railroad, afterwards the Chicago, Milwaukee &
St. Paul. It was attempting to change its direction and, passing through
Primghar, strike the Sioux City St. Paul Railroad at a point between Alton and
Hospers, thus giving it better selection of lands under its land grant. Primghar
encouraged this, as it would bring the track to the county seat and for the same
reasons Sheldon wanted it to run farther north. as it in fact later did. A
county seat fight or two and other contentions caused periodical renewal of the
"warfare."
J. H. Wolf, a veteran of the Civil War, who had arrived in the county in the
fall of 1872, to "spy out the land," moved his family to Franklin township in
the spring of 1873. He had always taken a keen interest in county affairs, was a
frequent contributor to the columns of the county papers and served as
supervisor from 1879 to 1881. In December, 1883, he purchased the Sanborn
Pioneer from A. G. Willits and began a newspaper career that has continued to
the present time, leaving him the Nestor of the newspaper fraternity of the
county. As an editor J. H. Wolf has always stood for righteousness and honesty.
Frequently his positions have been subject to criticism by some of his patrons,
as happens to every newspaper man, but none have ever doubted his sincerity and
honesty of purpose. While conducting the O'Brien County Bell at Primghar, he had
occasion to attack what he considered the extravagances of the board of
supervisors, criticising especially their expenditures for county bridges. The
attack brought many new subscribers, made him some friends, but antagonized the
members of the board and the paper suffered great financial loss in county
printing. With the passing of the board that had been attacked, the Bell
regained its patronage and its campaign eventually won it friends who have
increased and multiplied many fold.
In succession, the Pioneer passed for a few months under lease to S. L.
Sage, who was an experienced newspaper man and who had been engaged in newspaper
work for fifty years, mostly in Iowa. Next Will F. Wolf, now publisher of the
Hawarden Chronicle, had charge of the paper until it was sold to H. E. Wolf,
another son of the veteran newspaper man. Later George J. Clark, W. S. Johnson,
C. E. Foley and Richard Closson owned and conducted the paper, the latter being
present editor and proprietor.
After a short experience as publisher of the Cherokee Free Press, F. M.
McCormack, familiarly known as "Pomp" McCormack, came to the county in 1878,
establishing his home in Sheldon. He was an actor of no mean ability and
employed in various home talent dramatic companies during his many years
residence in the county, beginning his first labors in Sheldon in such an
enterprise. He was an original, unique character in the pioneer days. First
employed as a printer at Sheldon, assisting his brother, B. F. McCormack, in the
establishment of the Sheldon News in 1879, he continued employment on Sheldon
newspapers until 1885, when he began the publication of the O'Brien County Bell.
The first issues were printed at Sheldon although the paper was published at
Primghar. Later the plant was transferred to the county seat, which at that time
had no newspaper. Primghar was then in a gloomy and depressed condition, through
the removal of many of its citizens to Sanborn and other adjoining towns. Pomp
had an old-fashioned Washington hand press. The Bell office was in a small
building, twelve by eighteen feet in size, the same that is now used as a shoe
shop near the southeast corner of the court house square. There was scarcely
room to move around, set type and make up his paper. It was the home of the Bell
for two years. The editor was dubbed the "crank that rings the Bell" It was
prior to the building of a railroad into Primghar and a very unpromising field
for newspaper enterprise. A few years previously there had been an exodus of
people and buildings from Primghar to Sanborn, the new town on the Milwaukee
Railroad eight miles north. Many buildings were vacant and even residents
thought the town had gone "flunk." For several years the building deals had
consisted of the tearing down and moving of structures to Sanborn. It had been
an age of demolition instead of construction. The Bell was thus started and
indeed established as a permanent paper under these most discouraging
circumstances. Be it said that no town in the county, or the county itself, ever
had in an editor more of a booster-each day inside the town, each week in his
paper. Pomp could make a boost out of an apparent failure or a joke. He
understood the pioneer and early times, and, though often magnifying trifles, he
did much in putting heart into the hard situations by his newspaper boosting and
humor. For instance, in 1887 Herbert E. Thayer built what is now the pool hall
at the southeast corner of the square for an abstract of title and land office.
In fact it had been the first building venture since the "exodus." Each week
Pomp had a write up, of how Primghar was building up again, one week writing it
up as the "building at the southeast corner of the square," the next week as
the
"building on Main street" and so on from week to week during its building until
a casual reader would conclude that the town was rushing in its construction work.
The engraved head, suggestive of a birdseye view of the county, with the
name O'Brien County Bell in large letters across its top border, so familiar to
the readers of the Bell, illustrates Pomp's original booster cleverness. The
whiskered man in the lower right hand corner is a very good picture of old Adam
Towberman, who was one of the oldest settlers, among the homestead crowd of the
early seventies and who built the bridges (not the .early fraudulent ones) for
fifteen years of the genuine early bridge building of the county. A familiar
figure in the county, he brought in nearly if not quite all the early trees
first planted and which comprise what are now the groves. It was "Old Towb"
that
Pomp was putting in that head plate. Each town of the county is intended to be
shown in the picture, with the enterprising telephone lines bringing in the news
to the paper. It was in June, 1886, that Pomp brought to the senior editor of
this history his sketch of the proposed heading. His idea was that that bell
there ringing and suspended over "Primghar, the Capitol of O'Brien County,
Iowa," sounded forth Primghar and the county with a boost and placed them "on
the map." This heading would "dress the stage" of the county, as he put it.
The
O'Brien County Bell has now for twenty-eight years handed down an eccentric and
indeed a practical heading with an idea of its enterprise for all time to that
paper. At one time Pomp got his old Washington hand press out of his office, set
it up on a wagon, attached behind several large farm machines, including a
threshing separator, hitched four horses to the outfit, got all the cow bells
and tin pans and noisy articles in town and with the frisky boys all ringing
them went round and round the court house square, with one big bell over the
press on the wagon. The "Crank of the Bell" was ringing the bell.
McCormack had many streaks of eccentricity and triviality which neutralized
his fine boosting qualities and left him anything but a financial success. He
could entertain a crowd of twenty sidewalk listeners and keep them roaring with
laughter, but with the final remark, "what was it all about anyway?"
Nevertheless he established firmly one of the substantial newspapers of the
county now for so many years under the management of Jacob H. Wolf, assisted by
his two sons, Bert and Fred. Pomp was an inveterate practical joker, wit, and
humorist. On one occasion he ran in the canvass for county recorder, but was
defeated. Called on for a speech, he nobly rose to the occasion and made one of
the wittiest ever heard in the county. It could not be pictured in print. It was
distinctly "Pomp" in its originality and good humor, given at a time when
bitterness of defeat might have soured the ordinary speaker. His career as an
actor was always manifest in his every action; he never was caught off his guard
and always-studied the effect of his speech and action. For many years he joined
the business of auctioneer with his newspaper activities.
It has been said of "Pomp" that he "runs a paper in just that way and
manner
which commends itself to the editor." He was certainly original, if not erratic
in his methods. He delighted in extravagant statement and the unusual method of
presenting his news. Never a financial success, he worked hard for the best
interests of his community and continually made -sacrifices therefor. While his
methods did not always bring the result intended, no one ever doubted his
loyalty to his home town. After disposing of his paper in 1894 to Wolf &
Gravenor, he established a paper in Prim-ghar in competition, but the project
received but little support and quickly perished. Later he was for a short time
in the newspaper business at Hartley, publishing the Hartley Journal. Later he
conducted a paper at Clare-mont, Minnesota, and afterwards removed to Wyoming,
where he now resides.
Under the management of Wolf & Gravenor, the Bell assumed a standing in the
community it never before had. Its new proprietors were experienced business
men, Mr. Wolf having been a printer in his early life in Pennsylvania and later
conducting the newspaper at Sanborn and having been well known in the county
through his newspaper work and political activities. Mr. Gravenor was not long
actively connected with the business, his interests being represented by his
son, and he soon disposed of his share to H. E. Wolf, a son of J. H. J. H. Wolf
& Son continued the publication of the Bell and the Sanborn Pioneer for some two
years, when the Pioneer was sold to George J. Clark and H. E. Wolf withdrew from
the control of the Bell and his father, in a sole ownership, assisted by his
sons Fred B. and Bert Wolf, has continued the publication.
For nearly thirty years, the Bell has been an active factor in politics and
a leading paper in the county. Located at the county seat, it has had a prestige
and chance to secure the news that especially interests the taxpayer of the
county and it has always been keen to secure that news and disseminate to its
readers the actual condition and conduct of the administration of county
business as well as chronicle the news of the community. Its criticisms of
public officials and wrong doers has caused it to form some enemies and
temporarily, at least, to suffer some financial loss, but it long ago earned the
reputation for honesty and fearless publication of the news that has earned it
hosts of friends.
In December, 1879, the O'Brien Pioneer, at Primghar, met its first close
competition. Cleveland J. Reynolds arrived and established the Primghar Tribune,
a seven-column folio. The paper was loudly heralded as an advocate for the
correction of evils in the conduct of county business, announced reform with a
big "R" and began an expose of the crookedness and rascality of the early
county
officials. In its first issues it began publishing an abstract of the
proceedings of the county supervisors, exposing the iniquitous contracts and
devious methods that had been used in filching money from the county treasury.
In April, 1880, the paper was turned over to Caleb G. Bundy, a versatile writer
and experienced newspaper man, who ably conducted the paper until 1882. The
policy of the paper was soon shown to be vigorously in favor of objection to the
county indebtedness that had been saddled on the actual settlers by the grafting
bogus settlers who had organized the county. We believe that this is the only
paper in the county outside of the Sheldon Eagle that openly advocated the
defeat of the debt. In 1881 the county refunded its indebtedness and Bundy's
policy was defeated and the paper passed out of existence. Bundy, however,
immediately commenced the publication and printing of a newspaper entitled the
Primghar Times. This was not properly supported, however, and on September 28,
1882, the paper was moved to Paullina, giving the town its first paper, under
the title of Paullina Times. For a time Bundy & Thomas published it and Oscar D.
Hamstreet, a lawyer and graduate of the State University, who had grown tired of
illy paid practice of law, secured control of the paper in September, 1883. He
continued its publication for about ten years, being succeeded by Frank M.
Bethel and later by the present owner, A. W. McBride. Mr. Hamstreet conducted a
good paper and was a thorough newspaper man. Mr. Bethel, who succeeded him, was
a practical printer, a forceful writer, honest and blunt in his opinions and not
always possessed of that tact in expression of opinion that might bring greater
revenue to the paper. In August, 1909, he removed to Oregon, where he is engaged
in newspaper work. Mr. McBride, the present owner and editor, is fearless in the
discharge of his duty, rather pen and plain in the expression of his opinions,
making some enemies by so doing. He has a fine literary style, witty in his
comments and has good talent. Under his management the Times stands for
everything clean and uplifting and for good morals, good citizenship. The
experiment of starting an opposition paper in Paullina was tried by R. Jeff
Taylor in 1912. His paper, the Paullina Star, proved a failure and was soon
abandoned.
In 1893 M. H. Galer, an unsuccessful exponent of religious preaching, proved
his incompetence in another line by attempting to publish a paper known as the
Primghar Republican. It was quickly sold to E. R. Little, the compositor
employed by Galer, and the new publisher gave up the effort before the end of
the year.
The Democrat, established in Primghar by H. B. Waite in 1896, has been able
to maintain a varied existence. Waite had formerly been a school teacher, had
considerable ability as a writer, but very little business judgment, and had a
propensity for extravagant statement. His business life in Primghar was strewn
with frequent personal encounters, bitterness and bickerings and he finally
moved to Seattle, where he now resides. During his conduct of the Democrat he
engaged in a newspaper contest with the Sheldon Mail, in which he filed a larger
list of subscribers than the Mail. The contest was before the county supervisors
and was held to determine the right to publish official board proceedings and
receive pay for the county printing. The Mail was unable to prove the Democrat
list fraudulent and the Democrat won the contest, at a great expense to both
parties. Later J. A. Graham, F. A. Vaughan and Ira Borland were successively
connected with the paper. Mr. Borland, the present editor and publisher, is a
good mechanic, was a resident of the county some twenty years ago and has
returned to show his ability. He is publishing a good clean paper,
typographically well printed and with a good strong editorial policy and keen
eye for news. He will no doubt do much to make the Democrat a paper with a
strong subscription list and of influence in the community.
The Mail was established in Sheldon by Col. L. B. Raymond, of Cherokee, in
January, 1873, six months after the establishment of the village at that place
and at a time, when, as its editor later stated, "Sheldon's inhabitants might be
enumerated by counting your fingers." This was Colonel Raymond's second
newspaper venture in the county, his previous experience having been in
connection with the Pioneer at Old O'Brien. The paper at Sheldon was soon sold
to D. A. W. Perkins, the pioneer attorney of the county, who later took in a
partner. In September, 1874, it was sold to Frank T. Piper and in three months
he sold to J. F. Glover. Glover had changed the name of the publication in
January, 1875, to that of Sheldon Republic. In March it was published by Glover
and a partner by name of W. B. Reed and so continued till August, 1875, when F.
T. Piper regained ownership, restored the paper to its original name and
continued the publication as the Sheldon Mail until his death in 1902.
Frank T. Piper was a thoroughly practical newspaper man, well versed in the
technical art of printing, a good mechanic, an excellent business man and
financier, a vigorous editorial writer and energetic news gatherer. In the
county there have been more polished writers, deeper thinkers, men with more
loveable dispositions, and many who in various single details excelled Frank
Piper in their newspaper work, but during the entire history of the county there
have been none who can show such a long period of continued newspaper success
and so great financial returns for their efforts as this man. Active in
politics, influential in the councils of his chosen political party-the
Republican-he was a man to be reckoned with in every political contest and
feared and loved as the life of the aspirant for political honors measured up to
the Mail's standard of honesty. He was certainly in his element as a newspaper
man and made the Mail a success in every way from the start. He wielded a wide
influence in politics and made money. His reputation as a newspaper man was
state wide, the Mail ranking with the best weekly newspapers in the state. Mr.
Piper's aggressive combativeness made him a good many enemies, but these, with
his many friends, will think rather of his ability and merits. He was prominent
in county politics -his support being sought after and his opposition feared. He
held many offices, among them mayor of Sheldon and postmaster at the same place.
He was at one time candidate for state senator and his county loyally supported
him, but he failed to secure the nomination. He was many times a delegate to
legislative, senatorial, congressional and state conventions of the Republican
party. His ability to attract business to his paper was phenomenal. While his
paper was published he never lacked advertising patronage. His methods of
securing business were sure and effectual. His columns were always well
patronized and his subscription lists grew. Never while he published the Mail
did any paper in the county exceed it in its list of subscribers. At all times
he had the best equipped printing office in the county. Prior to 1878 advertised
lists of lands in this county to be sold for taxes had been set up in Des Moines
or Sioux City, printed as a supplement and included in the regular editions of
the paper. Clouds of doubt as to validity of these tax sales had been cast by
such methods, as it was uncertain whether it was a legitimate publication under
the provisions of the law, but the entire matter, seven columns in length, was
set up in the Mail office and printed in the regular edition of the Mail for
that year. By 1880 he had a one-thousand-two-hundred-dollar power printing press
and that was considered a marvel of mechanics in those days. In 1887, during the
continued hard winter, when for weeks at a time the railroads were blockaded and
when the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul did not run a train into Sheldon for
nearly three months, the paper suffered for "print" paper to get out its
edition. Telegrams sent to Sioux City brought reply from Perkins Brothers:
"Haven't a bundle of print in the house. God help us." St. Paul telegraphed
that
no express company would accept shipments for the snow bound district and in
March, 1881, the paper was compelled to issue to its' subscribers two editions
of limited size, printed on brown paper. In January, 1898, to relieve himself of
some of the burden of printing office work, Mr. Piper took into the business C.
P. Miller and Win S. Ayers, who had been associated with him in the mechanical
department of the paper, and the business was incorporated under the name of
Piper, Miller & Avers. Later, after the death of Mr. Piper, the business was
continued by his son, R. B. Piper, with whom was associated J. E. Wyckoff and
conducted under the corporate name of Mail Printing Company. Enlargements of the
mechanical department and addition of expensive equipment did not prove a
profitable investment and the business was finally disposed of to C. M. Stearns.
Later it was transferred to C. O. Button and W. A. Eddington, the former having
active charge of the conduct of the paper. By special campaigns he greatly
increased the subscription list and sold the paper in 1913 to Paul C. Woods, who
is its present publisher.
The Sanborn Journal was conducted by Warren Walker and R. F. Hiler from 1886
to 1889. Mr. Walker, referred to in the chapter on the legal profession, was a
hard worker and gave some attention to the editorial conduct of the paper, but
the mechanical work was under the supervision of Mr. Hiler. The paper showed
considerable enterprise and at one time published an elaborate sketch of the
business interest of and exploited the advantages of O'Brien county, fully
illustrating the edition with cuts of the court house, pictures of the county
officials, etc.
B. F. McCormack, the versatile founder of the Sanborn Sun and original
editor of the O'Brien Pioneer, who had been an active participant in the conduct
of county business for many years during its early struggle for existence and
shared with the early pioneers in the sorrows and joys and profits and losses of
that early experience, made his second newspaper venture in Sheldon in 1879. He
had been immediately prior to that date conducting a hardware store in Sheldon
and the new paper, denominated the News, was first published in the second story
of the building occupied by his hardware store. His brother, F. M. McCormack,
and Gus Satterlee, a former employe of the Sheldon Mail, assisted in the conduct
of the paper, which was sold soon afterward to J. F. Ford, an experienced
newspaper man who came from Spencer, Iowa. Later Lon F. Chapin secured an
interest and he and Ford continued the conduct of the paper until 1885. Ford was
a good newspaper man and Chapin a perfect gentleman, a polished writer and
successful publisher. Later he was connected with a newspaper at Sibley, at Rock
Rapids, and Pasadena, California, finally retiring and engaging in the raising
of oranges in the Golden state.
The Sheldon Eagle, established by Creglow & Reynolds in 1889, has had
several pwners. B. H. Perkins was connected with the paper from 1891 to 1894 and
again in 1896. George L. Nelson was in charge in 1894. Later the Eagle was owned
by J. H. Oates. Col. M. B. Darnell, probably the most talented, educated and
finished writer ever living in the county, was a frequent contributor and
editorial writer. Colonel Darnell was later connected with the Sheldon Sun. He
was a surviving soldier of the Civil War, had rendered valiant service in the
Union army and was a resident of the county since 1883. His editorial writings
raised the newspaper to its highest level of literary worth in the history of
the county and when he dropped the editorial pen the county lost one of its best
writers. He was a man of broad knowledge, high ideals and a command of language
and literary style that attracted attention to his paper among the newspapers of
the state.
The Sheldon Gazette was established by W. H. Noyes in 1895. Noyes had
formerly been in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company
at Sheldon, and left there to hold the office of recorder of the county at
Primghar residing there for ten years. After leaving the recorder's office he
conducted a store at Primghar and was later elected sheriff, holding that office
four years. The Sheldon Gazette venture did not long endure and Noyes took the
plant to Pine county, Minnesota, where he conducted a newspaper, was elected a
member of the state Legislature, and later established a paper at Birchwood,
Wisconsin. He is now in the newspaper business at Winter, Wisconsin, his son
"Tommy" being his business partner.
The Sanborn Sun, the third paper established in the county by B. F.
McCormack, first saw the light of day at Sanborn. As usual with the McCormack
papers, it was erratic, caustic and sensational. McCormack had his own way of
entertaining his readers each week and was not dependent upon news items to
furnish entertainment. The paper was finally moved to Sheldon, its subscription
price raised from ten cents a year to fifty cents per annum and later to
standard newspaper price. The paper met with varying success under the
management of H. A. Carson, J. H. Oates, H. K. Fortuin, passing through a
receivership conducted by A. J. Walsmith, the Sheldon attorney, and was sold May
1, 1907, to Hamilton & Bartz. It had been published part of the time as a daily
and Hamilton & Bartz conducted it so for about six months, when it was returned
to a weekly edition and has proven a great financial success, taking a leading
position among the papers of the county. Bert Hamilton, the senior partner, is
an experienced newspaper man, having been engaged in newspaper work in this
county and at Northwood, Iowa, for thirty years. Under his wise policy and
careful management the paper has been established where its power as
representing the broadest and best policy of a Republican newspaper is fully
established. Mr. Bartz, who was associated with Mr. Hamilton for some six years,
retired in 1913 and the paper is now owned by Hamilton & Son.
John Whiting for a time conducted a newspaper at Sheldon, which was later
transformed into a farm journal, but, proving a financial failure, it soon
succumbed to the inevitable.
An old newspaper plant owned at one time by Ira Brasheers and used for the
conduct of a paper at Sanborn, was purchased at mortgage sale and later used for
publication of the Cycle, by "Quad Line" Kernan. Kernan was formerly of the
Okalona, Mississippi, Southern States, the famous mouthpiece of the Southern
Confederacy. The Cycle contained a noisy political department and achieved a
reputation for dissension and strife, but had an ephemeral existence. Kernan is
said to have recently died in Kansas in a county poor house. He was brilliant in
his talents, but misdirected their application.
The first newspaper at Hartley, the Record, began publication in June, 1884,
with T. E. Cole as editor. He was a good printer and a bright editor. After
about a year the paper was leased to Allen Crossan, who had previously been
employed as teacher in the public schools there. He conducted the paper for a
year, purchased it and continued it for three years more and re-sold it to Mr.
Cole. Will Dunn later secured a half interest in it and in 1891 C. H. Crawford,
who had closed a two-year service as county superintendent of schools, took
charge of the paper. In 1894 he sold to Claude Charles. The latter changed its
name to the Hartley Journal. Later the paper was sold to F. M. McCormack, then
leased to Ray Gleason, formerly of the Sutherland Republican, then sold to
Irving A. Dove, who conducted it till 1910 when it was sold to its present
owner, Eugene B. Peck.
A second paper in Hartley, the News, established by G. R. Gregg in 1895,
lasted just ninety days and perished. The printing material used in its
publication was purchased in July, 1896, by Allen Crossan, who sold it to George
F. Robb.
C. A. Charles returned to Hartley in 1912 and began publication of the
Sentinel.
Harvey Hand, the first newspaper publisher in Sutherland, commenced
publication of the Courier in 1882, quickly sold to C. H. Brintnall in November,
1882. Brintnall conducted the paper till the spring of 1884, when he sold to
Bert Hamilton, who had been living at Sutherland for some time previously and
connected with the paper. Hamilton was an expert printer and newspaper man and
wielded a large influence in county politics, proving a forceful writer and
active Republican. For many years he has been actively connected with the
Republican county organization. In September, 1893, he sold the paper to W. H.
Bloom. The latter was a fine writer, a gentleman and profound thinker, but a
poor business man. His health failed and he died in 1904. His wife continued the
conduct of the paper with marked ability until the end of 1905, when the plant
was sold to A. G. Warren. Warren conducted it for three years and it was
successively sold to Mort E Nicol, G. H. Vos, Joe A. Moore and finally, in
March, 1910, to Sam S. Sherman. The latter was a man who immediately made his
impress on the political complexion of the county. Stubborn and persistent and
positive in his opinions, he brooked no deviation from his expressed
determinations and many are the newspaper controversies stirred up by him. A
bright writer, and finally a true blue "Bull Mooser" in his political
affiliations, he retired in November, 1913, leaving a fame that will not soon die.
J. N. Slick, for thirty years a merchant in Sutherland, and his son-in-law,
McFarland, succeeded to the paper and are now publishing a clean sheet, all home
print and full of local news.
The Review, and later the Republican, were other Sutherland papers of
ephemeral exstence. Ray Gleason, Fred Pratt and G. E. Hirleman were connected
with these publications.
In 1906 D. H. Murphy established the Calumet Clipper, which was of short
life. The Independent, established by Lloyd Harris in 1912, was sold to M. M.
Magner in 1913 and is now conducted by M. B. Royer.
The Woman's Standard, published in the interest of the political rights of
women, was conducted by Roma W. Woods at Sutherland during the years 1897 and
1898. Mrs. Woods has been a frequent contributor to the county papers, active in
the organization of woman's clubs and assisting in the conduct thereof. She is
highly educated, talented, a ready writer and attractive in her newspaper style.
Under her conduct the Standard attracted considerable attention and was a strong
force in establishing recognition of the cause it espoused. The paper was the
official organ of the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association.
On this March 10, 1914, just as this history is ready to go to press, the
first number of a daily newspaper named the Daily Sheldon Record is issued and
published by the Sheldon Printing and Publishing Company and conducted by Bruce
A. Truman as editor. It is Democratic in politics. It is an eight-page
seven-column paper, all in ample proportions. This is not, however, the first
attempt at a daily paper in the county. B. F. McCormack issued the Sheldon Sun
for a short time as a daily. While it had eight pages, it was but a small folder
of three columns per page. Mr. McCormack himself humorously referred to it as
his "Daily Postage Stamp."
Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
PAST AND PRESENT OF
O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa
BY
HON. J. L. E. PECK and HON. O. H. MONTZHEIMER
For O'Brien County
AND
HON. WILLIAM J. MILLER
For Osceola County
VOL. I
ILLUSTRATED
1914
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana
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