NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPERMEN
 1860-1900



Copyright © 1997 by Judith Weeks Ancell. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  

 

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GREATER COLDWATER CENTENNIAL, Souvenir Historical Program
 Greater Coldwater Centennial 1961

Pages 79-70:
	NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPERMEN
 1860-1900
By Glen Hughes

"The first number of The Republican was published in 1866, Major D. E. 
Easton, editor and owner.  The next year Easton was joined by Dr. P. P. 
Nichols.  The paper changed owners several times in the next few years, but 
in 1873 it came into the capable hands of Abram J. Aldrich who remained 
editor and owner down to 1893.  Mr. Aldrich, grandson of the Abram Aldrich 
who owned the first mill at Hodunk, and grandfather of Dr. Napier S. Aldrich 
of this city, made the Republican one of the best newspapers in Coldwater 
history.
	In 1897 the Republican was consolidated with The Courier, which had 
been started in 1885 by William G. Moore and Dr. P. P. Nichols.  The paper 
had several changes in ownership down to the time of its consolidation under
the management of C. C. Newell and Major George H. Turner, when the paper 
became the Courier and Republican.
	Another paper, a short-lived one, was the Union Sentinel owned by 
Franklin V. Smith and William Moore.  This paper, discontinued in 1870, and 
was Democratic like its predecessor, the Sentinel, but the word "Union" was 
used to imply that it supported the war.
	The Daily Reporter was established in 1895, the first daily paper in
the city.  Simon B. Kitchel, the founder, had enjoyed a varied and successful
career.  Coming to Coldwater after the Civil War, he practiced law and 
served the county as prosecutor and the city as mayor.
	Kitchel compounded and sold the famous "Kitchel's Liniment"  --- 
"Good for man or beast" --- that became a household word throughout the 
country, and it might be said that this business was an important factor in 
the establishment of the Reporter.  Mr. Kitchel had acquired a considerable 
amount of printing equipment to handle the labels and advertising for his 
product, and he conceived the idea that a newspaper was the answer to the 
problem of seasonal shut-downs.
	Once in the field of journalism he made the Reporter one of the 
outstanding papers of Southern Michigan, employing the best in editors, 
among whom were A. J. Aldrich and W. C. Bailey.  Although Kitchel was a 
robust Republican and his paper frankly partisan, he waged a battle against 
"bossism" and was one of the leaders in the in the fight against the party 
caucus and for the establishment of direct primaries in Michigan.  
	One other paper should be mentioned.  In 1881 the Coldwater Sun was 
established.  This passed into the hands of Willis Bailey.  In 1891 Gen. J. 
G. Parkhurst, Judge John B. Shipman, E. E. Barlow and the Rev. Henry Hughes
came into the company, and an attempt was made to establish once more a 
strong Democratic paper.  The project was not successful, and right after 
the turn of the century, one of the most colorful figures of local 
journalism, John S. Evans, combined it with his Star, making it the  Sun and 
Star.  Evans battled for lost causes for many years.  His editorials were 
widely read, and more widely disagreed with.  He was an ardent Prohibitionist
and so astute a politician that in 1896 he engineered a coalition of 
minority parties to elect a Prohibitionist to Congress in the strongly 
Republican Third District.
	Through the 19th century Coldwater did not lack for editorial 
writers --- Major George T. Turner, J. S. Evans, Henry and Willis Bailey, 
Charles Newell and S. B. Kitchel ranking with the best in the state --- but 
the dean of them all was Abram J. Aldrich who best expressed the necessity 
of independence in Journalism:
	"At this time in our political history we are attaining the point 
where but two parties exist.  While the editor must choose the fold to which 
he shall belong, it is not his duty to blindly accept the following of any 
person who may for the nonce be the recognized party leader."









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