178 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) CHAPTER XIV. THE PRESS OF ERIE COUNTY. EDUCATION is the great civilizer, and printing its greatest auxiliary. Were it not for the aid furnished by the press the great mass of the people would still be groping in the darkness of the middle ages, and knowledge would still remain confined within the limits of the cloister. It is surprising, when searching our libraries, to discover how little has been written of the "Art preservative of all Arts," and the educator of all educators. While printing has been the chronicler of all arts, professions and learning, it has recorded so little of its own history and progress as to leave even the story of its first invention and application wrapped in mystery and doubt. We only know that from the old Ramage press which Faust and Franklin used, capable of producing a hundred impressions per hour, we have now the ponderous machine which turns out one thousand copies per minute. In glancing over the pages of history, we discover the gradual develop- THE ERIE COUNTY PRESS - 179 ments in the arts and sciences. We notice that they go hand in hand—one discovery points to another, one improvement in the arts leads to others continually, and the results of the last few centuries show that observations of no apparent use led to the most important discoveries and developments. The falling of an apple led Newton to unfold the theory of gravitation and its relations to the solar system ; the discovery of the polarity of the loadstone led to the construction of the mariner's compass ; the observation of the muscular contraction of a frog led to the numerous applications of galvanic electricity ; the observation of the expansive force of steam led to the construction and application of the steam engine ; the observation of the influence of light on the chloride of silver led to the art of photography ; the observation of the communication of sound by the connected rails of a railroad led to the invention of the telephone ; the impressions taken from letters cut in the smooth bark of the beech tree led to the art of printing—the art which transmits to posterity a record of all which is valuable to the world. Thus is progress discernible in every successive generation of man. Gradually has he advanced from a state of rude barbarism and total ignorance td a degree of perfection which gives him almost absolute dominion over all elements, and in the pride of glorious and enlightened manhood he can exclaim with Cowper : " I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute ; From the center all 'round to the sea I am lord of the fowl and the brute! " So long as mind shall occupy its seat, so long will progress be the watchword of man, and onward and upward will be his march to an endless and limitless ascent—where all the hidden and occult secrets of creation will unfold their mysteries to his comprehension and crown him master of them all. The printing office has well been called the " Poor Boy's College," and has proven a better school to many ; has graduated more intellect and turned it into useful, practical channels ; awakened more aotive, devoted thought, than any alma neater on the earth. Many a dunce has passed through the universities with no tangible proof of fitness other than his insensible piece of parchment— himself more sheepish, if possible, than his "sheep-skin." There is something in the very atmosphere of a printing office calculated to awaken the mind to activity and inspire a thirst for knowledge. Franklin, Stanhope, Beranger, Thiers, Greeley, Taylor, and a host of other names, illustrious in the world of letters and science, have been gems in the diadem of typography, and owe their success to the influence of a printing office. The newspaper has become one of the chief indexes of the intelligence, civilization and progress of the community in which it is published, and its files are the footprints of the advancement and refinement of the period of its 180 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. publication ; and the printing office is now deemed as essential as the schoolhouse or church. It has taken the place of the rostrum and the professor's chair, and, become the great teacher. No party, organization, enterprise or calling is considered perfect without its " organ " — the newspaper — as a mouth-piece. Turning from this comment upon the art of journalism, let us see what Erie county has done in the way of newspaper publications. THE SANDUSKY REGISTER. The journal now known as the Sandusky Register was founded in the year 1822 by David Campbell, a New England printer. An effort was made, however, in the year 1821, by this same person, associated with Adonijah Champlin, to establish a paper in Sandusky, to be known as the Ohio Illuminator, but from lack of that substantial support so essential to the successful conduct of a newspaper, or any other enterprise, the Illuminator never sent forth its rays of light upon the people of the county. The Sandusky Clarion, a weekly publication, succeeded the Illuminator project, and made its first appearance on the 22d of April, 1822, David Campbell acknowledging its paternity and assuming its maintenance. It was a four-page sheet, four columns to the page, printed on what would now be called coarse paper, and the advertisements and reading matter appeared in much the same size and style of type. Under the name of the Clarion the paper was continued until 1843, when Mr. Campbell issued a daily edition, which he called the Daily Sanduskian. After continuing for some years longer the proprietor sold the entire plant to Earl Bill and Clark Waggoner. The former of these persons was afterward chosen clerk of the United States District Court for the district of Northern Ohio, while the latter became editor of the Toledo Blade. Still later he was on the editorial staff of the Toledo Commercial, but at a quite recent day embarked in the limitless field of history. Messrs. Bill and Waggoner subsequently sold an interest in the paper to Henry D. Cooke, and the firm style was thereupon changed to H. D. Cooke & Co. Upon taking formal possession of the office this firm dropped the old name and called the paper, in all its editions, The Commercial Register, three editions, daily, tri-weekly and weekly, being printed. H. D. Cooke & Co. continued the Register publications for some twelve years, when Mr. Cooke retired to become the editor of the State Journal, Mr. Waggoner to accept a position on the Toledo Blade, whereupon the paper passed into the hands of Bill & Johnson. The Commercial Register changed hands three or four times between 1855 and 1869. In the last named year Isaac F. Mack purchased a half interest, and in 1870 the other half. He dropped the first part of the name, and since THE ERIE COUNTY PRESS - 181 that time the paper has been called The Register. In 1874 John T. Mack became a part owner, and for fourteen years the paper has been published under the firm name of I. F. Mack & Bro. In 1882 a Sunday edition was started, and since that date has been published every morning in the year. In 1869, when the present editor took charge, the Register was an evening daily, but he changed it to a morning paper in May, 1869. The Register, from the time of its establishment to the death of that party, was an ardent advocate of Whig principles. It became Republican in 1856, and has so since remained, being all these years the recognized organ of that party in this county, From the office of the Register are now issued four separate editions — daily, Sunday, tri-weekly and weekly. The business department is in charge of John T. Mack ; Isaac F. Mack is editor-in-chief; C. P. Caldwell has the charge of the Sunday edition, and Charles Kline is in charge of the city department of the Daily Register. THE MILAN FREE PRESS. Second in the order of founding in the county was the newspaper carrying the above head line. The paper was established at Milan in February, 1830, under the editorial management and proprietorship of Warren Jenkins. Its publication continued at that place for a single year only, after which the proprietor moved to the county seat for the purpose of starting an anti-Masonic paper. As to what end this last venture finally came we have no reliable information, but it seems to have failed of its main purpose in extinguishing Free Masonry, judging from the present popularity of that order throughout the county. THE REPUBLICAN STANDARD. The Standard came into existence as a weekly publication at Sandusky in the year 1832 through the efforts of E. and J. H. Brown, and was intended to be the " organ " of the Jacksonian Democracy, and especially to advocate the cause of "Old Hickory." But the Standard proved to be a short-lived journal, and was soon discontinued. THE HURON COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. On the 17th of January, 1837, the first number of the Advertiser made its appearance, issuing from an office at Huron, and from the editorial management of H. C. Gray. During the succeeding year the office was destroyed by fire, but in March, 1839, the paper again appeared and was published regularly until the year 1842, at which time the office was moved to Sandusky and a new weekly paper issued under the heading of the Commercial Advertiser, the publishers being M. H. Snyder & Co. Sandusky seems to have been, at that period at least, a no more profitable field for journalism thin was Huron, 182 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. for in the fall of the year of its removal to that place the Advertiser became numbered among the 'evanescent journals of the county. In the office of the paper while at Huron it seems that use was made of the material of the Milan Times, a paper published at Milan, but of the precise time of its birth or death, as a journal, no reliable information is obtainable. George M. Swan is said to have been at one time connected with the paper, and that he was, " perhaps," one of the original proprietors in connection with Mr. Gray. THE DEMOCRATIC MIRROR. In December, 1842, William S. Mills and Sylvester Ross purchased the material of the defunct Commercial Advertiser and issued the first number of the Democratic Mirror, a weekly paper of Sandusky. These proprietors continued its publication with varying success until the year 1847, when John Mackey, then recently admitted to the bar, but not yet in practice, became a part owner in the office, and the firm was changed to Mills, Ross & Mackey. Under the management of these gentlemen a daily was started, and in connection with the weekly edition was continued for about two years, or until May, 1849, when Mr. Mackey retired from the firm to practice law, and J. W. Taylor, better known as " Signal Taylor," took his place in the firm. During the fall of this same year Mr. Ross was attacked with cholera and died. Mills & Taylor continued the publication until 1852, when the latter retired,. leaving Mr. Mills sole editor and proprietor. In the fall of 1853 the paper was sold to Joseph and Fielding Cable, father and son, under whose control the name of both daily and weekly was changed to the Bay City Mirror. The Cables published the Mirror but a short time and then sold out to Asa Dimmock, and he soon afterwards to Ray Haddock. About this time the daily edition was discontinued. Charles Orton, formerly connected with the Norwalk Experiment, became the owner and proprietor of the paper in May, 1856, but after two years' experience in its publication disposed of it to his son, T. S. Orton, but one year later its publication was suspended. THE MILAN TRIBUNE. In the year 1843, the Tribune as a newspaper of Erie county first saw the light of day. It was founded by Clark Waggoner, who brought to Milan for the purposes of the publication the materials formerly used by him in the pub lication of the Lower Sandusky Whig. After publishing the Tribune, a weekly paper, at Milan for ',something like eight years, Mr. Waggoner discontinued operations at that place and became interested in the Sandusky Clarion, and moved his stock to the building in which the Clarion was published in Sandusky. Thus ended the life of the Milan Tribune. Mr. Waggoner subsequently severed his connection with the Clarion to assume an editorial position THE ERIE COUNTY PRESS - 183 on the Toledo Blade, but at a still later day became connected with the Toledo Commercial. THE INTELLIGENTE BLATT (GERMAN). This paper was established in the year 1851, by Augustus Reimmele and Herman Ruess, and was the first German paper of the county. Mr. Ruess was the editor, and his partner had charge of the business and mechanical department. The latter was killed by an accident on the old Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, near Castalia, in September, 1857. The paper was continued by Mr. Ruess, and Frederick Kelley until 1859, when it passed by sale into the hands of Jacob Neuert, H. Hamelstein and Charles Bachy. J. Lippart was the editor. In November of the same year, 1859, the paper was sold to Engle & Co., under whose ownership it was edited by A. Thieme and Frederick Reidding. In May, 1861, the latter became sole editor and proprietor. Until 1854 the Intelligente Blatt pinned its faith to the Democratic party, but in the year named it became Republican in politics. About the time of the war the publication of the paper was suspended. THE BEACON. This weekly paper made its first appearance at Huron in the year 1853, under the proprietorship of Mr. Haddock ; but it seems to have been the more remarkable for the short term of its existence, as it " passed away" in the next year, 1854. THE BAYSTADT DEMOKRAT (GERMAN). The Demokrat, the outgrowth of which is the present Sandusky Demokrat, was established at the county seat in 1856 by Louis Traub, and edited by H. Raw. In the fall of the same year the paper was sold to Frederick Hertel, who thereupon became editor and publisher. It advocated the cause of the Democracy. In 1873 the property passed into the editorial control of William Senn, and appeared under the name of the Sandusky Demokrat, by which it has ever since been known. Two issues of the Demokrat are published each week—a semiweekly and weekly. It enjoys a very extensive circulation among the German element of this county, and in Ottawa, Sandusky, Huron and Lorain as well. THE SANDUSKY JOURNAL AND LOCAL. The Sandusky Journal was first established as a weekly newspaper in the year 1866, in a job printing office conducted by Addison Kinney and Frank B. Colver. This office was located in rooms over where Melville Bro.'s drug-store is at present situated, on the northeast corner of Columbia avenue and Market street. In the month of August of that year Messrs. Kinney and Colver were joined by John C. Kinney, a brother of the former, and the first number of the Jour- 184 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. nal was issued on August 16, 1866. The new paper was an eight column folio, very neatly printed for the times, and was edited by John C. Kinney with vigor and ability. At the end of six months Mr. Colver retired from the firm, and the paper was conducted by Kinney Brothers until the 1st of January, 1868, when M. F. McKelvey became associated in the firm, and a daily and tri-weekly edition of the Journal, were established as an experiment. These editions were continued with varying success until Mr. McKelvey went out of the firm in September of the same year, when they were suspended. The Weekly Journal was not affected by this event, however, but kept up its issues regularly as an independent publication until the nomination of Horace Greeley for president in 1872. It then espoused his cause, and became the exponent of Democratic principles, which it always afterwards advocated. In the year 1879, John C. Kinney, who had been its editor, felt compelled by failing health to retire from active business, and at the close of that year the Journal was sold to Frank and Charles A. Layman, who, on the 8th of January, 1880, issued the paper under the firm name of Layman Bros. After his retirement from active business John C. Kinney acted as stenographer in the Court of Common Pleas, but later his failing health confined him to home, and in a little over eight years after relinquishing control of the paper of which he was one of the founders, he died at his residence in Sandusky, on February 1., 1888, at the age of fifty-eight years. Layman Brothers, who were journalists from Columbus, concluded to reissue a daily edition of the Journal, which they did in the form of a six-column folio, on January 1,.1885, since which time it has continued with only a brief interruption. In 1882 the office of publication was moved from 212 Columbus avenue to the Ramsey block on Market street, in rooms formerly occupied by the Sandusky Tribune and Sandusky Independent, the former paper having been published a few years as a daily and weekly, and the latter only about three months as a weekly. The Layman Brothers sold out the establishment on March 1, 1886, to Frank Stible and Felix Breen, who published the journal, daily and weekly, for six weeks under the firm name of Stible & Breen. At the expiration of that time Mr. Stible purchased the interest of Mr. Breen, and continued to publish both editions, employing E. P. Moore as editorial writer. Some time later, in the year 1886, a Sunday edition was added, which appeared regularly several months, when it ceased for want of adequate support. In January, 1887, the Journal office met with a disaster by fire, which necessitated the suspension of the paper's issue for some weeks, after which the publication of the daily edition was resumed by Mr. Stible, and continued until March 3, 1887, when the whole establishment passed by sale into the possession of A. E. Merrill and C. C. Bittner, and was consolidated with the Sandusky Local, a daily and weekly newspaper which had been in existence as an opposition Democratic publication for several years. THE ERIE COUNTY PRESS. The Sandusky Local was founded as a weekly newspaper by Ernest King, jr., of Middletown, Conn., who at that time was one of the proprietors of the Middletown Sentinel and Witness, one of the oldest publications in that State. The first number of the Local was issued November 18, 1882, as an independent weekly newspaper politically. It was a six-column quarto, with publication office in the third story of No. 212 Columbus avenue, in rooms formerly occupied by the Sandusky Journal. The weekly issue of the Local met with such continued success that a daily was projected and successfully published by its proprietor, beginning on the 2d of April, 1883, as a six-column folio. The publication of the paper in these two editions was continued independent in politics until November, 1884, when the paper espoused the cause of Democracy, that party at the time having no daily paper to champion its principles. In April, 1885, Mr. King finding that the newspaper property in which he had an equal interest with his father in Middletown, Conn., demanded his personal attention, sold out the paper to F. P. Lyman and F. W. Stevens, the latter having been an attachee of the office since the paper was first issued. The first paper appearing under the proprietorship of the new firm was dated April 27, 1885. In March, 1886, O. P. Wharton, a veteran Democratic editor of Youngstown, O., was engaged as editorial writer and continued in such capacity during the proprietorship of Lyman & Stevens. In July, 1886, Mr. King having sold his interest in his eastern paper, and desiring to again enter the business in Sandusky, bought out the interest of Lyman & Stevens, the services of Messrs. Wharton and Stevens being retained by Mr. King. The paper continued under the proprietorship of Mr. King until March 3, 1887, when he received an advantageous offer from A. E. Merrill and C. C. Bittner, who were desirous of uniting the two factions of the party by consolidating the two opposing Democratic organs, and the consolidation was therefore effected by the sale of the Local to these parties on the above date. This purchase finished the publication of the Local, as it did also that of the Journal as a separate concern, the consolidated paper appearing on March 3, 1887, as the Sandusky Daily Journal and Local, and the weekly edition on March 5, as the Weekly Journal and Local, under the firm name of Merrill & Bittner. At the time this co-partnership was formed, A. E. Merrill was filling the offices of probate judge of the county and president of the Citizens' National Bank, so that the entire management of the paper devolved upon Mr. Bittner, a lawyer by profession, and who had previously held the position of justice of the peace, and member of the board of education, and, at this time, was one of the recognized leaders of the Democracy of the county. O. P. Wharton was retained by the new firm as editorial writer, as were also several of the attachees of both offices. The consolidated paper first appeared as a six-column folio, but the demands for advertising space was such that the new proprietor found 186 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. it necessary to enlarge ; therefore, in April the paper was issued as a seven column folio. On June 23, Judge Merrill feeling convinced that the consolidation of the two papers had accomplished a much desired end—the harmony and good will of the two opposing factions of the party—sold out his interest to the active partner of the establishment, Mr. Bittner, who continued as the sole proprietor of the paper until November 14, 1887, when F, W. Stevens, who had been connected with the office since the consolidation, and who at one time was one of the proprietors of the Sandusky Local, formed a co-partnership with Mr. Bittner by the purchase of an interest in the paper, which appeared on the above date, under the proprietorship of Bittner & Stevens, and has so since continued. THE MILAN ADVERTISER. From the statistical information furnished by Rowell's Directory of Ohio newspapers, it is learned that the Advertiser is a weekly paper, issued each Saturday in size 3o by 44, and having a circulation of over five hundred. It appears as a fact, but not upon the above quoted authority, that the Milan Advertiser is issued only in this county, the type and press-work being performed at Tiffin. W. B. Starbird, an attorney of Milan, is the resident editor. A paper of this same name was founded in the year 1869, and was issued through that part of the county as an advertising sheet, and without expense to its readers. In the year following it became a subscription paper at one dollar per annum, but subsequently the price was raised to a dollar and fifty cents. Several changes and enlargements were made in the size of the paper to keep step with its increasing circulation. Of this newspaper the present Advertiser is the outgrowth. THE HURON REPORTER. In the year 1879 the Reporter made its first appearance. At the present day it appears as a weekly (Thursday) publication, 30 by 44 in size, with a circulation of something over five hundred copies, and under the management of D. H. Clock as editor and publisher. THE SANDUSKY TRIBUNE. On the 30th of April, 1879, the first issue of the Daily. Tribune made its appearance in Sandusky, under the editorial control of C. M. Brown & Co. Some six weeks later from the same office there came a weekly edition, and, added to that, after an interval of about two months, a tri-weekly was issued. But the enterprise proved unsuccessful from a business point of view. The daily was continued for about a year, and suspended in February, 1880. The weekly and tri-weekly editions were maintained until the year 1881, when they dis appeared from the sight of the reading public. Brown sold the enterprise to Howe & Rutledge, and it was under the latter -management that publication was suspended. THE BENCH AND BAR - 187 THE INDEPENDENT. The Independent succeeded the Tribune, and was published in the rooms occupied by its predecessor. Its first number appeared in April, 1881, and its last in July of the same year. It was edited by G. W. Rutlege, one of the proprietors of the defunct Tribune. The Independent was a weekly publication. THE SATURDAY GAZETTE. The Saturday Gazette is the youngest occupant of the journalistic field in Erie county. It was established in Sandusky county, in October, 1886, by C. C. Hand and W. I. Jackson, but the latter on January 1, 1887, became sole editor and owner. It was the aim of the founders to establish a paper that should be free from political bias, and become useful especially as a clean family paper. Among the special features of the Gazette one entire page is devoted to musical, dramatic, and athletic news ; another to humorous sketches and choice clippings from the spicy and popular writers of the day. The Gazette seems to be established on a sound basis and determined " to stay," notwithstanding the misfortunes that have overtaken previously founded weekly journals in the county. In connection with the press, in general, of the county, it may be well enough to mention the Mercury, a Sunday paper published for a very brief time in Sandusky by J. L. Sweeny. It was started in 1879, but did not long continue—long enough, however. And in this same connection there may be made- mention of the several publications of the socialists of Berlin township, but, fortunately, their end was timely, as they were conducive of no good results, nor are we aware that, during their brief but eventful career, they did any special injury to the good people of that locality. The socialistic publications were the Age of Freedom, the Social Revolutionist, the Good Time Coming, the New Republic, The Optimist, and Kingdom of Heaven, The Principia, or Personality, the New Campaign, and the Toledo Sun, the last named having been removed to this locality in 1875.