Barber County Kansas
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Barber County Kansas |
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Excerpts from Biographical History of Kansas (Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1894), p. 1527.
Notwithstanding the great advances made in the matter of issuing the great metropolitan daily papers and facilitating their distribution into all sections, there yet remains a distinct province and field of power and usefulness for the purely local papers,__the country press, as it is most frequently designated. While the province is, in a sense, more circumscribed than in the earlier days when the city papers did not cover so wide a realm in their newsgathering and were delivered to distant subscribers or readers only after the lapse of greater or less intervals of time, still the potency of the country paper has not been lessened, for here, too, have been brought to bear modern methods in all departments of the enterprise and the influence of these local vehicles of news and information is far-reaching to an extent not superficially evident. A good newspaper is the index of the character of any town, denoting most clearly the status of its business men and showing clearly whether the locality is one of progressive tendencies or of torpid apathy. Within the Sunflower state are found many vital and ably conducted newspapers, and the commonwealth may well point with pride to the character and achievements of its press.
In Barber county is published a paper which has contributed in a marked degree to the progress of this favored section, by a proper and timely exploitation of its resources and interests, and which stands as an able exponent of local affairs, as every such publication must do it successful. We refer to the Barber County Index, which is published weekly at Medicine Lodge by the firm whose name initiates this sketch, the interested principals being Messrs. Charles C. Painter and Uriah C. Herr. The Index dates its inception back to the year 1880, when it was here established by M.L. and J.M. Sherpy, the initial edition being issued on the 10th of June of that year. On the 17th of the following October the last mentioned gentleman retired from the firm, and Mr. M. L. Sherpy continued as sole proprietor until July 7, 1882, when he sold the plant and business to the Index Publishing Company, of which E.W. Payne became president and manager, while on the 9th of the following February he became the sole proprietor. Mr. Payne was also the president of the Medicine Valley Bank, and in the memorable and historic bank robbery of April 30, 1884, he was shot while at his desk in the bank office, his death occurring twenty hours later. He was but thirty-seven years of age when his useful career was thus summarily cut short. His widow, Susan A. Payne, remained in control of the Index until July 1, 1884, when E. P. Caruthers became publisher and editor. He h held a salaried position as editor of the paper from the time when Mr. Payne assumed the chief executive office in the bank and had thus been associated with the enterprise for two years prior to taking individual control of the same. On the 16th of April, 1886, he disposed of a half interest to W.G. Musgrove, of Lexington, Missouri, and the two continued to carry on the business until August, 1890, when it was sold to a stock company, comprised of members of the Farmers' Alliance, Mr. Musgrove being retained as editor and business manager. Up to this time the Index had been Democratic in its political proclivities and policy, but it now passed into a new regime as a representative of the principles and interests of the Populist party, to whose cause it has ever since continued to ably champion. Mr. Musgrove retired in the summer of 1892, whereupon Leon E. Beals became editor, retaining this incumbency until the fall of the following year, when he resigned the office to enter upon his duties as county attorney, being succeeded by Clark C. Hudson, formerly with the Kiowa Review. Mr. Hudson conducted the paper until April 11, 1894, and the company then secured the services of the present owners, Messrs. Herr and Painter, to edit and publish the Index. In the fall of 1898 Mr. Herr purchased the plant from the several members of the stock company and forthwith entered into a partnership with Mr. Painter, to whom he sold a half interest, and they have since continued as owners and publishers of the paper, which they have brought up to a high standard, both in the matter of editorial prestige and in that of letter-press, the paper's standing being creditable not only to the publishers but also to the city and county. The Index was started as a seven-column folio, was enlarged to an eight-column folio, then to a six-column quarto, while again it was changed in form, being reduced to a seven-column folio, while in January, 1901, it was enlarged to its present convenient and attractive form as a five-column quarto. The plant is well equipped and the job department is one capable of handling all classes of work demanded, while the firm takes marked pride in turning out the best and most artistic productions, selecting choice modern fonts of display type from time to time and thus keeping their facilites[sic] up to date. The Index is issued weekly, and is a welcome visitor in the majority of the homes in this section, while the success which has attended the enterprise under the present regime bespeaks the technical and executive ability which has been brought to bear by the interested principles,[sic] both of whom are progressive and popular young business men commandng [sic] uniform confidence and esteem in the community.
Uriah C. Herr is a native of the old Keystone state, having been born at Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of November, 1873. In 1886 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Kansas, where they made their advent on the 12th of March and thereafter he was employed on a farm two miles west of Kiowa, this county, until April 11, 1894, when he came to Medicine Lodge to assume the editorial management of the Barber County Index, as has already been noted. Previously to this, in the winter of 1892-3, Mr. Herr had served for six months in the dgnified [sic] and responsible position of "devil" in the Index office, and thus he doubtless gained his predilection for the "art preservative of all arts," but after the incumbency noted he returned to his mother's farm, where he remained until called to the editorial supervision of the paper. His father died tow months after coming to Kansas, and our subject and his younger brother thereafter conducted their mother's farm during the greater portion of the time until the spring of 1894, when they gave inception to their independent business careers.
Under the provisions of the special law in force in Barber county, Mr. Herr was elected to the office of county printer in the fall of 1901, having the distinction of receiving the largest majority ever secured by any candidate in the county, carrying every precinct in the county and being elected by a majority of three hundred and eighty out of a total vote of thirteen hundred and four. His opponent, the editor of the Medicine Lodge Cresset, was the candidate on the Republican ticket, while our subject was elected on an independent ticket.
On the 14th of January, 1897, Mr. Herr was united in marriage to Miss Lillian V. Painter, and they became the parents of two children,__Opal Angeline and Rolland B., the latter of whom died at the age of one year and five months.
Charles C. Painter claims the state of Indiana, as the place of his nativity, having been born at Petersburg, Pike county, on the 13th of August, 1869. He received his early educational discipline in his native state and was in his fifteenth year when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Kansas, in the spring of 1884. The family located in Newton, Harvey county, where they remained two years, at the expiration of which they came to Barber county, where they took up a pre-emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres in the western part of the county. There Charles C. assisted in the work and management of the homestead place for a few years and then came to Medicine Lodge where he learned the printer's trade, becoming a skilled artisan in this line, to which he has consecutively devoted his attention to the present time. He became an attache of the Index office in 1888, and his ability and fidelity led to his engagement by the stock company as one of the editors and managers of the paper, while he eventually became associated with Mr. Herr in the ownership, as has been duly noted.
In October, 1893, Mr. Painter was united in marriage to Miss Clara B. Minnick, and they are the parents of four children,__Harry, Mary, Howard and Eugene.
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Thanks to Marilou West Ficklin for contributing the above genealogical information and image to this web site!
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