Wyoming Telescope. Colonel Irish then bought a press from Dr. G. C. Monell of Omaha, and took it to Nebraska City. This press was afterward taken to Lincoln, and on it was printed the first number of the Commonwealth.
   In June, 1860, Colonel Irish sold the paper to Alfred Matthias and Joseph E. La Master, and in 1861 William H. H. Waters and Royal Buck bought it. Under the management of Buck and Waters the name was changed to Press and Herald. Mr. Buck withdrew in 1862, and Herald was dropped from the name. January 31, 1860, the Press was changed to a semi-weekly, and the office boasted a power press with a capacity of 800 to 1,000 impressions an hour. In 1863 the publication of the Daily Press was begun, but it was a financial failure, and soon a semiweekly was issued instead. During the winter of 1864-1865 Dwight J. McCann and others bought the plant and organized the Press Printing Company. In 1865 William H. Miller took charge of the paper as editor and publisher for the company, and conducted it until October, 1866, when it again passed into the hands of Colonel Irish. In the winter of 1866-1867 the name was changed to Nebraska City Press. In August, 1868, Colonel Irish sold an interest to S. B. Price and William H. Miller, and in the November following Colonel Irish withdrew, and Thomas McCullough became a partner, under the name of Price, Miller & Co. In June, 1869, McCullough withdrew, followed by Price in October. Mr. Miller continued the paper until the summer of 1870, when it was temporarily suspended, for financial reasons. In the spring of 1872 its publication was resumed by John Roberts and John Reed. The latter failed in business in 1873, and Roberts sold his interest to William A. Brown, who had bought the Chronicle from W. H. H. Waters on May 1, 1872. Mr. Brown consolidated both papers in 1874 under the name of Press and Chronicle. Later the paper was again changed to the Press, and the publisher, William A. Brown, was soon succeeded by William A. Brown & Sons, and the firm became Brown Bros. April 1, 1881. The Chronicle had been established by W. H. H. Waters as a morning daily in 1868, and aft a spirited contest with three other dailies was left the sole occupant of the field in 1870. The material used in the publication of the Chronicle was sold to James Thorne and by him taken to Laramie, Wyoming, where it was disposed of in 1876.
   The Wyoming (Otoe county) Telescope was established by Jacob Dawson in October, 1856. Later, S. N. Jackson became associated with him, and the firm continued as Dawson & Jackson until the latter's withdrawal, July 30, 1859. In his valedictory Mr. Jackson says: "No time, since the first settlement of this Territory, have the different presses had more trouble to keep up than for the last year, as may be seen from the fact that out of fourteen different papers in the territory, only seven are now in existence, and we doubt if many pay their way. Of these there are two north of the Platte, and five south." Later H. A. Houston appears as publisher of the Telescope, with Jacob Dawson, editor. The entire equipment of the Telescope office was sold to the Nebraska City News in the summer of 1860.
   In April, 1861, Dr. Fred. Renner, a pioneer republican and an abolitionist, began the publication of the Nebraska Deutsche Zeitung, "in the interest of the threatened Union cause, and for the promotion of immigration." In 1867 the name was changed to Staats Zeitung. In November, 1868, Mr, John A. Henzel became part owner, the style of the firm being Henzel & Renner, with Dr. Renner as editor. In 1871 Mr. Henzel withdrew, and Dr. Renner removed a part of the office to Lincoln, where he published the Staats Zeitung for two years In 1873 he returned to Nebraska City with his printing material and resumed the publication of the Zeitting, which he continued until 1876. The Zeitung had a large circulation, at least 100 copies going to Germany, and it is largely due to its influence that large a number of substantial Germans settled in southeastern Nebraska. In July, 1879, W. A. Brown & Sons of the Daily Press commenced the publication of another German paper which they called the Staats Zeitung, and two years later sold the office to Young

& Beutler. While Charles Young has been employed in the government printing office at Washington for a number of years, Mr. Jacob Beutler, assisted by his brother Christian, is still conducting the publication at Nebraska City as an "Independent" in politics.
   In the year of 1859 O. G. Nickerson of New York started a small paper in Otoe City, now Minersville, bringing the material from New York. This paper was called the Spirit of the West. It only continued a few weeks, when the material was sold to the News and removed to Nebraska City.
   The first number of the Omaha Nebraskian, the democratic organ of the capital city and the first newspaper actually published there, was issued January 17, 1855. Bird B. Chapman, the second delegate to Congress from the territory, was the principal founder and brought the printing material used in its publication from Ohio. The Nebraska Palladium of January 17, 1855, states that the Nebraskian is to be started that day by "the partially defunct combination established in Ohio some months since to govern Nebraska and take her spoils," meaning Bird B. Chapman, the second delegate to Congress from the territory, and his political coterie. John H. Sherman, J. B. Strickland, and A. W. Babbitt were all connected with the Nebraskian, August 29, 1855. John H. Sherman was the first editor of the Nebraskian and was succeeded by G. W. Hepburn, May 21, 1856, who was followed by Theodore H. Robertson in 1857. Merrill H. Clark and Milton W. Reynolds were editors from 1859 to 1863, and Alfred H. Jackson from that time until June 15, 1865, when the paper was discontinued and the Herald took its place as the democratic organ, The Nebraskian was first published as a daily in September, 1860, but suspended two months later after "a pecuniary loss to ourselves of two hundred dollars."
   The Nebraska News of April 9, 1859, notes the recent consolidation of the Nebraskian and the Times on the 29th of March of that year under the management of Messrs. Clark & Robertson. Mr. Merrill H. Clark "is a young gentleman just from northern Michigan, of considerable means." Robertson sold his entire interest in the paper in February, 1861, to Mr. Clark. The Nebraskian of December 18, 1863, contains a statement that Merrill H. Clark and Milton W. Reynolds have sold out the daily and weekly to Alfred H. Jackson of Dakota City, and that Mr. Clark* had been connected with the paper for five years and Mr. Reynolds had been in the newspaper business in Nebraska for six years. After Mr. Jackson assumed control of the Nebraskian it became negative and halting. In one issue two literally heavy editorials were printed side by side, one under the ponderous caption, "The Rebellion -- shall it be suppressed?" and the other headed, "The negro -- What is to be his destiny?" The editorial leader of February 26, 1864, about the necessity of restoring the Union under the constitution, occupied five columns in minion type. This, doubtless, had an important connection with the final suspension of the paper the following October.
   The first number of the Omaha City Times was issued June 11, 1857, by William W. Wyman. A few months later the word "City" was dropped from the name. About six months after the Times was started George W. Hepburn became editor and proprietor and James Stewart associate editor, but this arrangement lasted only a few months, when Mr. Wyman again became its publisher, September 9, 1858, John W. Pattison and William W. Wyman editors. Mr. Pattison was one of the editors of the Arrow, the first Omaha paper. The Times was established to oppose the political faction led by Bird B. Chapman, but his defeat by Judge Fenner Ferguson as a candidate for the office of delegate to Congress in 1857 and the subsequent bitter but unsuccessful contest for the seat by Mr. Chapman in the House of Representatives undermined his political footing in the territory, and in 1859 the Times and the Nebraskian, Mr. Chapman's former organ, were consolidated. While the Times was not wanting in ability, it lacked the aggressivness (sic) but also the scurrility of its principal contemporaries, and its columns were usually distinguished by dignity and decorum.
   A month before he began to publish the Times, Mr. Wyman had been removed from

the office of postmaster at Omaha by the Chapman influence, and Theodore H. Robertson, editor of the Nebraskian, was appointed in his place; but early in July Mr. Wyman was reinstated. Though he specifically stated in the initial number of the Times that its politics was to be democratic and of the Buchanan brand, yet this statement was no doubt partly perfunctory and strategic; and no doubt, like many other democrats of that time, his sympathy already leaned away from the strong pro-slavery attitude of the Buchanan faction of the Democratic party, and this inclination soon led him, with countless other democrats, across the republican line. And so in this postoffice controversy the discomfited editor of the Nebraskian attacked Mr. Wyman as a "black republican in whose veins not a single drop of democratic blood ever coursed, and whose whole life has been devoted to the service of our enemies." That the delegate to Congress was not able to control the appointment of the postmaster of his home city to the extent of displacing an alleged party recreant makes the weakness of his own influence so prominent as to obscure the charge against the incumbent which, if true, should have been quite sufficient in that heyday of the spoils system.
   The daily Telegraph was established at Omaha by Major Henry Z. Curtis. Its first appearance was on the morning of December 11, 1860, from the office of the Nebraskian. Major Curtis was both publisher and editor, but associated with him was W. H. Kinsman as assistant. The Telegraph was first published as a single page paper of eight columns, largely devoted to advertising. It was later increased in size to a folio, and on November 9th published the first telegraphic news given to the public in Nebraska territory. Although a circulation of 500 copies was claimed, the paper did not pay, and was reduced in size June 11, 1861, and August 10th following, Major Curtis disposed of the paper to Merrill H. Clark of the Nebraskian. The type on this paper was set by the late Charles S. Goodrich and Charles W. Sherman, the latter now a resident of Dairy, Oregon.
   Republican party sentiment became appreciable in Nebraska in 1858, and in that year the first steps were taken toward formal party organization, and a party organ was established for the first time in the two leading towns -- Nebraska City and Omaha.
   The Nebraska Republican was first issued May 5, 1858, as a weekly by Edward F. Schneider and Harrison J. Brown. It was published on Thursdays, and was distinctively republican in politics. It was bought by Dr. Gilbert C. Monell during the same year, and he sold it to Edward D. Webster who assumed control August 15, 1859, and changed the name to the Omaha Republican. Webster was a protége` of Thurlow Weed, and a politician of considerable ability. He subsequently became secretary to William H. Seward, secretary of state. September 26, 1861, Mr. Webster sold the paper to Edward B. Taylor, then register of the land office at Omaha, and his brother-in-law, Ezkiel A. McClure, both of whom had come from Ohio. Soon after the paper was reduced in size to a folio of twenty columns, and published tri-weekly; in May, 1863, it was enlarged one column to the page, and after Thursday, January 7, 1864, was published daily, except Monday. The triweekly was discontinued January 28, 1864, and the issue limited to a regular daily and weekly. October 13, 1865, Edward B. Taylor and John Taffe, as editors, gave way to General Harry H. Heath, who supported the policy of President Andrew Johnson. The firm name of the publishers was changed from Taylor & McClure to Heath, Taylor & Company, which continued until February, 1866, when Heath retired, and the name of the paper was changed to Omaha Daily Republican. April 13, 1866, Major St. A. D. Balcombe bought a half interest in the Republican and became business manager. The new firm name was Taylor, McClure & Balcombe. In July, 1866, the style of the firm was again changed to Balcombe & Company, and the issue of July 20, 1866, announced that Mr. Taylor had sold his interest to St. A. D. Balcombe, who thenceforth was editor, publisher, and sole proprietor. From April 9, 1867, the Republican was issued as a morning paper. In May, 1869, Edward B. Taylor became associate editor, and

remained practically in charge of the editorial department until he was succeeded by John Teasdale, July 10, 1870. January 21, 1871, Major Balcombe sold a half interest in the Republican to Waldo M. Potter, who succeeded Teasdale as editor-in-chief. Teasdale had won his spurs as editor of the Ohio State Journal in 1843, and had established the Iowa State Register at Des Moines in 1858. He was elected state printer of Iowa and was postmaster at Des Moines. In 1871 the Republican and the Tribune, which had been established a year before on account of the senatorial contest between Thayer and Saunders "and succeeded in killing them both," were consolidated under the name of Tribune and Republican. Mr. Potter was succeeded as editor by Charles B. Thomas, formerly editor of the Tribune, while Balcombe became business manager, this arrangement taking effect June 11, 1871. In January, 1873, Tribune was dropped from the name. John Taffe succeeded Mr. Thomas as editor in July, 1873, and was followed by George W. Frost, who later gave place to Chauncey Wiltse. In May, 1875, a stock company was organized, which took over the Republican, and St. A. D. Balcombe was succeeded, August 18th, by Ben H. Barrows who had served as consul to Dublin. Casper E. Yost became business manager, Isaac W. Miner secretary, and September 28th of that year John Taffe became editor. He was succeeded May 18, 1876, by D. C. Brooks as managing editor, with Alfred Sorenson as city editor, assisted by Frederick Nye. In 1881 the paper was bought by Yost and Nye, who in turn sold their interest in the fall of 1886 to Sterling P. Rounds, Sr., late public printer at Washington, and Cadet Taylor for a consideration of $105,000. Rounds and Taylor organized a stock company, with S. P. Rounds, president, Cadet Taylor, treasurer, and O. H. Rothacker as editor. December 15, 1888, Mr. Yost was appointed as receiver of the business in the interests of the stockholders. Early in 1889 Frederick Nye and Frank B. Johnson obtained control of the Republican, and the following October it was sold to Major Jeremiah C. Wilcox, of the Evening Dispatch, the job department being retained by Nye & Johnson. But Mr. Wilcox saw and acknowledged that the culmination of the struggle for the survival of the fittest was at hand, and he suspended publication of the daily Republican, July 29, 1890, but continued to publish the weekly until the growing strength of the Bee during the latter years of the life of the Republican clearly indicated that one or the other of these journals must succumb, as there was not room for two organs of the same party in their field. They naturally became differentiated, the Republican following in the old course of the thick-and-thin party organ and corporation apologist, while the shrewder manager of the Bee saw and assiduously cultivated the now far more promising independent and anti-corporation field, While there were able men, of whom Mr. Yost was conspicuous, among the changing managers of the Republican in its declining years, yet the Bee had the great advantage of a continuous manager of remarkable tenacity of purpose and journalistic ability in the person of its founder, Edward Rosewater. The first home of the Republican was on the third floor of the Pioneer block, where it remained until its removal into a brick building on the corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets in the latter part of November, 1876, the building being the same one which had been the home of the Herald in its early years. February 18, 1867, the Republican announced that it had that day connected its caloric engine with its presses -- "the first and only office in Nebraska where presses were run other than by hand." This acquisition was for some time the subject of very frequent self-felicitation by the Republican and of just as frequent sarcastic gibes by the unappreciative and irreverent Herald.
   In the latter part of 1858 Hadley D. Johnson began the publication of the Nebraska Democrat at Omaha, but he discontinued it after a short time.
   The Florence Courier was first issued in December, 1856. James C. Mitchell, notorious as capital commissioner of the first territorial legislature, was publisher and L. H. Lathrop editor. John M. Mentzer was for a time editor of the Courier. Recognizing that

Florence had lost all chances of becoming the capital of the territory, the Courier switched its hope to the favorable crossing at that place for the coming railroads, and its optimistic motto was: "We would rather be in the right place on 'Rock Bottom' than have the capital of the territory." But Florence, like Bellevue, was to learn in the dear school of experience that under the new railway dispensation capitals and crossings were to be made by men, with little regard for the preparation of Mother Nature. Florence still has her rock bottom, but Omaha, without that firm foundation, has the great railroad crossing, and by a like manipulation the capital was carried to an unprepared and most unlikely spot in the interior wilderness. Another paper known as Rock Bottom is said to have been published at Florence as early as 1854 by W. C. Jones. It was printed at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
   The Nebraska Daily Statesman first appeared at Omaha, Sunday morning, July 17, 1864, as a democratic paper, W. H. Jones and Henry L. Harvey publishers; but only a few numbers were ever issued. The professed object of the publishers was threefold: First, "the procuring of bread and butter for their wives and babies, the ultimate provision for a . . . daily and financial independence"; second, "to furnish the people with an expositor of democratic truth"; third, "to sustain the Union, the constitution and the laws."
   An effort was made by the Harvey brothers to revive the Statesman at Nebraska City in the spring of 1866, but it proved but little more successful than the former attempt at Omaha.
   The Republican of August 7, 1867, notes that "Augustus F. Harvey will soon begin the publication of the Nebraska Statesman, the good-will of which has been purchased. It will sustain the action of the administration."
   The Statesman was revived at Lincoln the first week of July, 1868, with Augustus F. Harvey as editor and Henry L. Harvey as publisher. During the Civil war Mr. Harvey had been characterized by his new party companions as a consummate copperhead; but the war was over, and in the business of moving the capital and surveying and manipulating its new site, in which Mr. Harvey took an active part, party animosities were easily forgotten in the common cause of prospective profit. Still, the partnership could not be lasting, and its incongruity foretold the short life of the Statesman. In January, 1870, Augustus F. Harvey went to St. Louis to engage in the life insurance business, which he followed at that place until his death. In the early part of March, 1871, the Statesman was published as a daily, its primary object being to oppose the impeachment of Governor Butler. About June 1, 1873, it was merged into the State Register, with N. W. Smails as editor.
   The Omaha Daily Herald was established by Dr. George L. Miller and Daniel W. Carpenter, under the firm name of Miller & Carpenter, and its first issue was dated October 2, 1865. The Herald was at first a six-column folio, and was published in a building at the corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets. it started out with only fifty-three actual subscribers, and the office was equipped with a small hand press and a few cases of type. Lyman Richardson and John S. Briggs succeeded Miller & Carpenter as proprietors August 5, 1868, but Dr. Miller still continued as editor; and February 11, 1869, he bought the interest of Mr. Briggs, the style of the firm being changed to Miller & Richardson, which continued until March, 1888. One of the last editors of the old Herald was Frank Morrissey, a native of Iowa of Irish descent, who died in Omaha a few years ago. He had been associate editor and became editor when the paper was sold to John A. McShane in 1888. He was succeeded by Edward L. Merritt as editor, and it was published for one year by McShane, and then passed into the control of R. A. Craig. In March, 1889, the Herald was bought by Gilbert M. Hitchcock, who, associated with Frank J. Burkley, Alfred Millard, William F. Gurley, and W. V. Rooker, began the publication of the Evening World in August, 1885. Mr. Hitchcock was editor-in-chief, Mr. Burkley business manager, and Mr. Rooker managing editor. After the consolidation of the Evening World and the Herald under the name of the World-Herald, Mr. Hitchcock continued as editor and principal owner, with Mr. Burkley as busi-

ness manager. Mr. Hitchcock is still (1917) owner and editor of the World-Herald, which ever since the consolidation has been the leading democratic paper of Nebraska.
   The first number of the Nebraska Advertiser was issued at Brownville June 7, 1856, and, though Dr. John McPherson of that place furnished the press and other printing material, the paper was published by Robert W. Furnas. Dr. McPherson had come to Brownville in the fall of 1855, and with the purpose of establishing a newspaper there he removed the material from Tippecanoe, Ohio. Robert W. Furnas, editor, and John L. Colhapp and Chester S. Langdon, printers, arrived at Brownville with the outfit April 9, 1856. An item in the first number of the paper complains that its issue had been delayed by the detention of a part of the press "an unreasonable length of time between Cincinnati and this point." Dr. McPherson sold to Robert W. Furnas a half interest in the proposed paper for Brownville townsite lots on condition that Mr. Furnas should publish it weekly at least one year, and soon after Dr. McPherson gave the other half interest in the Advertiser to Mr. Furnas, stipulating that it should be non-partisan and independent. This stipulation was carried out with as much consistency as is usually observed by professedly independent journals, that is, it afforded the editor a better opportunity to regard personal and local interests than if it had been restrained by the bonds of party loyalty. For example, in 1860 while the democratic party was dominant in the country, the Advertiser could warmly advocate the nomination of Douglas, its great western leader, for president, and at the same time support Daily, the republican candidate for delegate to Congress. By virtue of its democratic environment the Advertiser was democratic until the democratic party went to pieces and Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president, in 1860, when it became a republican organ and remained so for several years. October 29, 1857, Chester S. Langdon, "who has been foreman of our office since its commencement," became associated with Mr. Furnas in the publication of the Advertiser for the reason that the attention which the latter had given "to both the mechanical and editorial departments" had overtaxed his time and talents. This partnership was dissolved April 30, 1858, Mr. Furnas becoming again sole publisher and editor. L. E. Lyanna was a co-publisher with Mr. Furnas from November 24, 1859, to November 28, 1861, when the Advertiser and the Union, which had been started at Aspinwall by Dr. Andrew S. Holladay and John H. Maun, in May, 1861, were consolidated and Thomas R. Fisher added to the partnership of Furnas & Lyanna, May 8, 1862, Mr. Fisher formed a partnership with T. C. Hacker, and they became publishers of the Advertiser, Furnas & Fisher remaining owners. Fisher was now editor in place of Furnas, who, was in the federal army. This arrangement continued until December 6, 1862, when Mr. Fisher became sole publisher and editor, and July 16, 1863, the names of Furnas & Fisher as proprietors were dropped from the paper. In the fall of 1863 John L. Colhapp became co-publisher and co-editor with Fisher, and they were succeeded by William H. Miller, September 8, 1864. December 22, 1864, George W. Hill & Company became publishers and John L. Colhapp editor. July 18, 1867, Robert V. Muir became a member of the firm, but Mr. Colhapp continued to be editor. November 17 of the same year Jarvis S. Church bought the interest of Hill and Muir, and the firm name of the publishers became Church & Colhapp. January 23, 1868, T. C. Hacker became junior partner in the firm and business manager. January 6, 1870, the original publisher, Robert W. Furnas, bought out Church, and the firm became Furnas, Colhapp & Company, Mr. Furnas being editor. January 5, 1871, Church and Hacker became the publishers, Mr. Furnas retiring from the paper, and in July of the same year Church sold his interest to Major Caffrey, and the firm became Caffrey & Hacker. January 22, 1874, Major Caffrey sold out to George W. Fairbrother, and the firm of Fairbrother & Hacker continued until December, 1881, when Fairbrother became sole proprietor. In March, 1882, the material was removed to Calvert, now Auburn, where the paper continued to be published by G. W. Fairbrother & Company.