Navarro County Texas Archives News.....Blooming Grove Times - 50th Anniversary 1940
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Virginia Crilley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000642 November 11, 2009, 11:01 am

The Blooming Groves Times 1940
The Blooming Groves Times
Vol XLIX No 52
June 28, 1940


50th Anniversary of the Blooming Grove Times 1890-1940

This anniversary edition would be almost a misnomer without a rehearsal of the
checkered career of The Times and a little sketch of R.W. George.

Long about the first months of the momentous year of 1890 came to Blooming Grove
a man of small stature by the name of Gower. Gower came from Marshall, Mo and
seeing untouched possibilities said, "Here I shall plant a newspaper and call it
The Rustler".  At first the paper was printing in Hillsboro, then an old
Washington hand press the Ben Franklin kind was secured, a few fonts of type
moved in and from that time the papers was recognized as a home product.  Soon
Gower began to pine for the snow clad mountains of his native state, and shaking
the Blooming Grove dust from his sandals, he bad The Rustler adieu.  But The
Rustler by this time had become a vigorous youngster.  Unlike the human babes of
today it was able to stand flat-footed, without being stimulated by cod liver
oil. The paper learned in early life that "He that tooteth not his own horn, the
same shall not be tooted".  The business men gave ear to the clarion call, saw
the need of a newsaper in the town and gave it support.

It was in the early fall of 1895 that a beardless youth came along. His name was
R.W. (Dick) George.  He was a native of Alabama, the Yellowhammer State. He was
turned somewhat to letters, but we venture to say, being from the Yellowhammer
country, had not had too much chance to become lettered. Old Dick walked
aimlessly into the newspaper office that afternoon reciting a little rhyme from
Edgar Guest which ran something like this:

Gold, scarlet, tan
Purple and gray
What's lovelier than
An autumn day?

Ben Hodges was printer-foreman and he said, "You'll make an editor". The answer
was "All right; what will you take for this outfit? I'm pretty short on money,
but awfully long on things like long drawn out due bills".  The next week the
paper came out, R.W. George, half owner.  Ben Hodges went away and Frazier
Nelson came in.  R.W. bought it all over and Nelson stayed with the paper six
years until the paper began to be recognized by the business men as a real asset
to the town. Those, I guess, were the halcyon days, but as sure as you live, no
newspaper is without a checkered career. The Rustler saw plenty of high water
when swimming was at a premium and then in turn witnessed dust storms pile dust
banks high in the middle of the road.

R.W. George learned soon to be what we call a practical printer-editor. He used
always local help like Frazier Nelson, Ed Butcher, Claude Peters, Mike Campbell,
and others. He shall never be forgotten by the newspaper fraternity about here
that when Mike Campbell came along to handle the silent messengers of thought
the terse remark he made by way of explaining his way of running a newspaper.
"Put the fodder down where the calves can reach it."  And that's the way too.
The Rustler printers were not too well rubbed up on printing and editing, but
they never saw a job of printing too big for them to bid on nor a pubic question
so intricate but that something might be said of it, though it may be only a
line and a half comment.  One thing we think may be truly said of George's way
of running a newspaper and that was to steer away from personalities, sarcasm
and try always to have his newspaper crry the attitude of seeing the silver
lining regardless.

Clarence Smith, a Baylor University product, came up from Waco after George had
been in newspaper harness about 20 years and Smith bargained for The Rustler and
changed the name to Blooming Grove Times. Old standby like Lee Ramsey, W.B.
Rutherford, Mrs. Mit Allen, Med Deason and others di not much like the change in
name. But we have learned to rather prefer the name of Times. The name Times for
a newspaper falls gently upon the ears, carrying a musical flavor, and that's
what we all prefer. Clarence Smith didn't like a country town much, so he shook
the Blooming Grove dust from his sandals and R.W. George was happy again in the
ownership.

We cannont complete this little write-up of the newspaper without mentioning
P.O. Jones. P.O. Jones was a regular contributor to the paper from the
beginning. He had a style peculiar to himself and it was his contributions that
won much support to the paper.

The newspaper still in the hands of R.W. George ran along smoothly without a
break until long about 1926 when Dudley George graduated from Baylor University
and came to try his hand in the career of journalism. The Georges, father and
son, conducted the paper on the oil boom in East Texas that broke out like wild
fire That was June 1, 1932 and they sold the paper, lock, stock and barrel to
W.A. Crawford. This issue rounds out a half century and there are not too many
institutions in Texas dating back fifty years that are still strong, vigorous
and growing year by year in the affections of the folks women they serve.


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