ARKANSAS
CITY TRAVELER.
C.
M. Scott. Editor of Arkansas City Traveler.
Little is known of Scott’s early education.
He worked as a cub reporter and typographer for the Cadiz Republican. In
May 12, 1867, Scott, now 19, left Cadiz to seek his fortune. He worked for a
short time in September 1869 for a Topeka newspaper office.
He left several weeks later for Emporia,
where he soon got a job setting type for Mr. M. G. Mains, who had just started
the Emporia Tribune. Mains had a partner: Mr. Nixon. Scott noted in his
diary that he was 21 years old on November 16, 1869.
On the following month the Norton brothers
headed up a group, principally from Emporia, who were interested in creating a
railroad terminus at a city initially called “Delphi,” by a railroad charter.
The land they were interested in was owned by the Osage Indians. It would
become Cowley County in the latter part of 1870.
C. M. Scott was recognized as the local
editor of the Arkansas City Traveler, published by Mains. At first H. B.
Norton was the editor. On December 15, 1870, L. B. Kellogg succeeded Mains in
the proprietorship and became the editor, with Norton serving as special
contributor and Scott still in the capacity of local editor.
Scott succeeded in getting the first number
of The Arkansas City Traveler printed August 24, 1870, and issued the
following day. He began to observe Osage and Kickapoo Indians as well as
soldiers in Arkansas City.
On September 14, 1870, Scott noted that there
were 34 buildings up in Arkansas City and that the basement of the new hotel
had been completed. The hotel (the Woolsey House) was enclosed on September 21st,
at which time there were 231 people settled in Arkansas City. A week later he
noted that there were now 54 houses and flour was selling for $4.50.
It began to turn cold, so on Monday, October
17, 1870, he bought a stove and put it up. He also purchased a pair of boots.
He needed both badly. The newspaper office had no floor and an indifferent
roof. A tent had to be stretched overhead inside the building to keep the staff
and material dry in wet weather. In fair weather equipment was moved out into
the open air. A sudden rain storm would send the Traveler staff to work
with straws to rid water from the newspaper “boxes.” The stove he purchased was
the only means of heat in the winter. Everyone had to sleep rolled up together
in blankets.
Indians were plenty—outnumbering the whites
ten to one.
There was no Summit Street! There was only a
narrow path through grass three feet high.
A humorous story is told on Page 42 of the
INDIANS about the early beginnings of the newspaper that Scott handled.
[Story
referred to above.]
Historical.
Arkansas City Traveler, October 1, 1884.
C. M. Scott is credited with being the first
man who had the nerve to start a paper in the Arkansas valley. Atchison
Champion.
The above is true in a certain extent. Mr. M.
G. Mains, of Emporia, owned the material for the first paper in the Arkansas
valley—The TRAVELER—and his name appeared as publisher, though C. M. Scott, as
local editor, was editor, manager, foreman, and compositor.
We doubt if any paper in Kansas was started under
greater difficulties than was the TRAVELER. The first number was issued August
25, 1870, since which time but two issues have been missed, and these in early
days when high water cut off communication with the outside world, and the
stock of paper had given out.
Everything came by stage from Emporia, 150 miles
distant, and many times when the swollen streams made it impossible to come by
way of Winfield, the plucky stage driver, interested in the dissemination of
knowledge, would take the TRAVELER’s paper on a buckboard and come jogging down
on the east side of the Walnut to Harmon’s ford, where he was met by the office
boys in a boat, who took charge of the paper and carried it on their backs to
town.
The office stood on the same corner it now does, and
consisted of the sides and rafters of a building with no floor and but an
indifferent roof. A tent was stretched overhead inside the building to keep the
boys and material dry in wet weather, but in fair weather the cases were moved
out into the open air. More than once a sudden dash of rain would fill the
“boxes” with water, which of course could not be emptied out, and so the boys
had recourse to straws, through which they sucked the superfluous fluid.
(Whether this was the only manner in which the old TRAVELER force imbibed
water, Capt. Scott fails to say.) During that long and cold winter of 1870-71
the boys slept in the well ventilated office, all rolled up together in
blankets, while the beautiful snow silently and softly covered their slumbering
frames with a mantle white and pure as were the fancies flitting through their
dreaming brains; covered press, type cases and stones; wood box, saw-buck, and
ax. In addition to this the boys “kept bachelors’ hall,” and cheerfully boiled
beans and roller composition on top of a rickety stove, and baked bread on the
hot coals. True, there was a hotel. Uncle Dick Woolsey presided over what is
now known as the Central Avenue; but provender was an uncertain quantity in
those days. Sometimes the beans were short, then it was the corn-bread; and
again Uncle Dick would become so engrossed in descanting to a stranger upon the
wonderful possibilities of Southern Kansas as to entirely forget to order more
bacon. So the boys “bached,” and reveled in the luxury of Sunday hotel dinners.
Indians were plenty—outnumbering the whites ten to
one. What is now our well graded Summit Street, with its twelve-foot stone
sidewalks, was then a narrow path through grass three feet high; and for a few
months an Indian’s right to this path was not questioned by white intruders.
One day a TRAVELER “head rule” was missing, and the
most careful search failing to bring it to light, for three weeks the paper was
issued without this desirable adjunct to its neat appearance, when a swarthy
son of the forest was seen with the long brass ornament dangling from his neck,
and was persuaded to give up his trophy.
Many such instances might be cited; many stories told
that would sound strange and curious in the light of our present advancement
and civilization; but the foregoing gives a fair idea of the experiences in
those days, not only of the TRAVELER, but of the handful of businessmen who
laid the foundation for this prosperous city. Thanks to the men “who had the
nerve to start the first paper in the Arkansas valley,” and to those who have
so liberally patronized it from the beginning, the TRAVELER is now well on in
its fifteenth year, more prosperous than ever, and Arkansas City is truly queen
of the border—a city of education, refinement, and enterprise, and growing
faster than any two cities in Southern Kansas.
Note: The above story was written by
Standley, who was editor of the Traveler in 1884.
Editors
after C. M. Scott.
Scott noted in his diary that his last day at
the Arkansas City Traveler occurred October 31, 1878.
On that same day the Traveler printed
an ad by him.
“PONY FOR SALE CHEAP. I have an old Indian
pony, gentle as a dog, well suited to carry some little boy or girl to school,
that I will sell for $10. Reason for selling—got tired of carrying water for
it.”
On November 6, 1878, Scott announced in the
paper that he had resigned, turning over the newspaper to Nathan Hughes.
“For more than eight years we have published
the TRAVELER, encountering every trial and adversity, and sharing alike the
enjoyments and hardships attending the settling of a new country.
“We began young, very young for the position,
and it was not attended without mistakes. We have said things that we regretted
sorely, and should have given expression probably when we did not. But with all
we flatter ourselves that the TRAVELER is a success, and a recognized journal
among the many.
“Other matters of more profit and less labor
have invited us.
“We shall always make Arkansas City and
Cowley County our home, although the greater portion of our time for a year or
more will be elsewhere.”
After
Scott: Nathan Hughes.
In the November 20, 1878, issue of the Traveler,
the new editor, Nathan Hughes, commented: “Scott is breaking Texas ponies.
There is one in sight of the office now that is well broke; in fact, if it were
broke a little more, it would be dead broke.”
[VALEDICTORY: NATHAN HUGHES, PUBLISHER.]
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, April 21, 1880.
VALEDICTORY.
The TRAVELER will hereafter appear under the
auspices of other parties, having this day sold the same. During the period
that I have published the TRAVELER it has been the means of bringing a good
immigration into the town and country while it has received the benefit of a
good circulation. All debts due the TRAVELER on subscription to the amount of
one dollar and over are due and payable to me, while amounts for subscription
less than one dollar will be due my successor. NATHAN HUGHES.
After
Nathan Hughes: Standley & Gray.
NEW PUBLISHERS —
STANDLEY & GRAY. H. P. STANDLEY - E. G. GRAY.
STARTING WITH WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1880,
ISSUE OF TRAVELER.
[EDITORIAL PAGE.]
THE TRAVELER, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1880
STANDLEY & GRAY, PUBLISHERS.
SALUTATORY.
As stated last week, this issue of the
TRAVELER appears under new management, and in this connection a few remarks
with reference to the causes which led to this change will not be out of place.
At the request of a large number of the citizens of Arkansas City, we had
resolved to commence the publication of a new paper, to be called the Arkansas
City Republican, and for that purpose purchased and set up a press and
other material in the room now occupied by the TRAVELER.
The late publisher of the TRAVELER having
signified his willingness to dispose of that property, and we, from our
old-time connection therewith, deeming that as publishers of the TRAVELER we
could do better and more work, both for our patrons and ourselves, than by
commencing the publication of a third paper in the city, entertained his
proposition and negotiations were commenced which resulted in our giving up the
Republican enterprise and purchasing the Arkansas City TRAVELER, which
will hereafter be published by us at the old office in the basement of Newman’s
brick.
The politics of the paper will remain, as
ever, staunch Republican, while editorially it will be our aim and constant
endeavor to render its columns spicy and entertaining, replete with the latest
local and foreign news, and ever to work for the welfare of our patrons,
Arkansas City and vicinity in particular, and Cowley county in general.
In this course we hope to merit a continuance
of the patronage now enjoyed by the TRAVELER; and to so largely increase the
same that we may be enabled ere long to enlarge to an eight-column paper, which
we think the present size and importance of our town and the excellent and
populous country contiguous thereto will fully warrant. Asking our many friends
to extend us their patronage and assist us in placing the TRAVELER upon its old
footing in the county, we respectfully subscribe ourselves. STANDLEY &
GRAY.
Arkansas City Traveler, May 5, 1880.
TO OUR PATRONS. All subscriptions to the
TRAVELER which, up to April 21, 1880, would amount to $1 or more, are due the
late publisher, and should be paid up to that date, while subscriptions dating
since August 21, 1880, are due and payable to us.
STANDLEY
& GRAY.
Arkansas City Traveler, May 19, 1880.
The Arkansas City TRAVELER appears under the
firm name of Standley & Gray—Hughes having sold out to them. The new firm
had made arrangements to establish a new paper at the City, but Nathan didn’t
like so much competition, hence sold to the boys.
The TRAVELER is already greatly improved, and
we hope it will continue in its upward flight towards prosperity and
perfection. Reflex.
After
Standley & Gray: H. P. Standley.
[STANDLEY & GRAY SEVER PARTNERSHIP...H.
P. STANDLEY RUNS PAPER.]
Arkansas City Traveler, March 30, 1881. Editorial Page.
With this issue Mr. Gray severs his
connection with the TRAVELER, which will hereafter be published by H. P.
Standley.
After
H. P. Standley: Frederic Lockley.
H.
P. STANDLEY, Editor and Proprietor until April 8, 1885.
[FREDERIC
LOCKLEY, EDITOR & PUBLISHER, STARTING APRIL 8, 1885.]
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, April 8, 1885.
Editorial
Change.
With this issue I close my proprietary
connection with the TRAVELER. During a period of five years, I have owned and
edited this paper, and have spared no effort to promote the growing interests
of the people of Arkansas City and Cowley County. That my labors have been
acceptable is evidenced by the prosperous condition of my business, and the
good will manifested towards the TRAVELER by all our citizens. But the time has
now come when more labor must be devoted to the editorial care of the journal
than I have been able to bestow, and accordingly I resign that duty to Mr.
Frederic Lockley, an experienced journalist, whose past labors in this state
and the western Territories are a guaranty of his fitness for the position he
now assumes. That gentleman has purchased my entire interest in the TRAVELER
and I cheerfully commend him to the confidences of many patrons. In retiring
from the control of these columns, I desire to return my sincere thanks for the
friendly support that has been extended to me. H. P. STANDLEY.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, April 8, 1885.
The announcement made above renders incumbent
on me the statement that I enter upon the duties of editor and publisher of the
TRAVELER with the feelings of an old Kansan, as I have never lost my residence
in this state, although I have spent the last twelve years in the Territories.
Kansas has tripled in population since I wielded the pen redactorial [?] in its
principle city, and this southern portion of the state has grown from a
sparsely settled frontier region, to a prosperous and well settled country,
distinguished for the enterprise and intelligence of its citizens, and their
devotion to law and morality.
My predecessor, in retiring from the
proprietary control of the TRAVELER, will still be retained as business agent.
The patrons of this journal will thus have dealings with one whose methods have
won their approval, and this division of labor will admit of more care and
labor being bestowed upon the preparation of the paper, and the endeavor will
be made to furnish its readers a weekly journal which shall be surpassed by
none other in Cowley County. FREDERIC LOCKLEY.
Comments by MAW:
During the time Lockley was running the Traveler
into the ground, another newspaper was started...
ARKANSAS
CITY REPUBLICAN.
[From
Saturday, February 16, 1884, though April 12, 1884.]
STARTED
OUT WITH COOMBS, CLARK & ATKINSON, Proprietors.
[CHANGED
TO CLARK & ATKINSON, Proprietors.]
Arkansas City Republican, February 16, 1884.
Professor Atkinson, of the Arkansas City
Schools, in connection with C. W. Coombs and J. J. Clark, will begin the
publication of a paper at that place soon. This will give the city by the canal
three papers. We suppose the new one will be a patent outside, following suit
with the other two. If the new proprietors are wise, they will put out an all
home print, full of live, bright, newsy matter, if it’s only four columns to
the page. That city is a good field for such a paper. Another patent wouldn’t
live six months. Winfield Courier.
The suggestion of the Courier was
acted upon before it was received. THE REPUBLICAN, as can be discerned by an
experienced eye, is “an all home print.” As for the printed matter, it appears
for itself.
[Note:
Third paper referred to above was the Democrat by McIntire.]
Arkansas City Republican, March 29, 1884.
EDITORIAL
PAGE: C. T. ATKINSON, EDITOR.
Arkansas City Republican, March 29, 1884.
A change in ownership of THE REPUBLICAN has
taken place since our last issue. Much job work required the attention of Mr.
C. W. Coombs, and he offered his one-third interest to either of his partners,
for a sum commensurate with his exertions expended upon the newspaper. His
interest was purchased by C. T. Atkinson. As a job printer Mr. Coombs has no
superior, and hereafter he will devote his entire time to his special work.
LATER. Yesterday evening C. T. Atkinson
purchased C. W. Coombs’ interest in THE REPUBLICAN job office.
[SO: EFFECTIVE WITH MARCH 29 ISSUE COOMBS IS
OUT/HOWARD HAS BEEN HIRED AS FOREMAN/ATKINSON IS NOW MAJOR OWNER OF PAPER.]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, April 5, 1884.
CLARK
& ATKINSON, PROPRIETORS.
Arkansas City Republican, April 5, 1884.
After consideration last Saturday, C. W.
Coombs decided to retain his interest in THE REPUBLICAN job office. The
newspaper is now owned by John J. Clark, one-third interest, and C. T.
Atkinson, two-thirds interest. It is the determination of the proprietors to
make THE REPUBLICAN the best weekly in southern Kansas. In order to do this,
they would ask the friends of the enterprise to send us the names of their
friends and acquaintances, that samples may be mailed to them.
ARKANSAS
CITY REPUBLICAN.
[From
Saturday, April 19, 1884, through June 7, 1884.]
CLARK
& ATKINSON, Proprietors.
ARKANSAS
CITY, KANSAS, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1894.
OUR
PLATFORM—PRINCIPLES EVER, POLICY NEVER..
Arkansas City Republican, June 28, 1884.
A
Change.
The world goes on, and so do we. Since our
last issue a change has been made in the proprietorship of THE REPUBLICAN. Mr.
Coombs wished to retire, and Messrs. Clark & Atkinson purchased his share,
and then so equalized their shares in both newspaper and job printing office,
that the two latter gentlemen are equal partners in both departments. The
change is important, as it adds much strength to the firm, simply because it
will now be one firm instead of two, and in unity there is strength. We claim
to have the finest job office in southern Kansas, and our foreman, R. C.
Howard, is the acknowledged peer of any printer in the state. Our efforts in
the past have been met with a success surprising even ourselves. We sincerely
thank our friends for their cordial aid, and desire that they may patronize us
in our new branch of the business.
ARKANSAS
CITY REPUBLICAN.
[From
Saturday, August 2, 1884, through September 20, 1884.]
STARTS
OUT WITH CLARK & ATKINSON, Proprietors.
[CHANGES
TO WAGNER & HOWARD, EDITORS AND PUBLISHERS.]
OUR
PLATFORM—PRINCIPLES EVER, POLICY, NEVER.
CHANGE IN EDITORS...
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 30, 1884.
WAGNER
& HOWARD, EDITORS AND PUBLISHERS.
OUR
PLATFORM—PRINCIPLES EVER, POLICY NEVER.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 30, 1884.
The Arkansas City REPUBLICAN changed hands
last Saturday, Atkinson & Clark selling to Howard & Wagner. The new
proprietors are thorough printers, and are in every way worthy of success. We
extend to them the right hand of fellowship and assure them of our good wishes.
Traveler.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 30, 1884.
The Arkansas City REPUBLICAN has again
changed hands. Last Saturday Atkinson & Clark stepped down and out. Wagner
& Howard took their place as publishers of the paper. Messrs. Wagner &
Howard are both practical printers, and will no doubt make THE REPUBLICAN a
success. Here’s our [ILLUSTRATION OF HAND], boys, shake.
Democrat.
WAGNER & HOWARD HEARD FROM...
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 30, 1884.
EDITORIAL
PAGE: ARTICLE ENTITLED “OUR DEBUT.”
With this week’s issue of THE REPUBLICAN, new
proprietors assume control. As announced last week, owing to the
dissatisfaction existing between its former proprietors, they concluded to
dispose of their interests to third parties, instead of resorting to legal proceedings,
in order that peace and harmony might prevail. Accordingly, purchasers were
found in the persons of the undersigned, and THE REPUBLICAN continues to
flourish.
As our predecessors have often stated why the
paper was established, we need not repeat, but simply say that a continuance of
its primitive principles will be advocated in the future.
Republicanism, temperance, and morality will
be our battle-cry. Believing them to be righteous causes, we shall always try
to be found in the front ranks fighting our opponents with untiring zeal and
renewed vigor.
The establishment of THE REPUBLICAN is now a
fixed fact beyond any doubt. Owing to the never-ceasing efforts of its
ex-editors, the paper has been placed on a good paying basis; yet its present
editors, either from modesty or newness of position, enter the journalistic
field in southern Cowley with some trepidation. We are strangers in a strange
land, and should we for a time fail to a slight extent in giving the local
news, we hope our readers will bear with us until we become acquainted.
We lay no pretensions to journalistic
ability; our writings won’t be mistaken for those of Whitelaw Reid or Horace
Greeley, but what we may have to say upon the issues of the day, will be set
forth in plain and ungarnished words of truth, without hope of reward or fear
of punishment.
Now comes the finis. Our honest endeavor
shall be to conduct a NEWS PAPER. How well we shall carry out that intention,
the future will tell. But why waste time in words, rather let us to work and
thus prove our good intentions. Hoping to meet you one and all, and gain your
friendship, we remain
Most Respectfully Your Friends, WAGNER &
HOWARD.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 6, 1884.
Wagner & Howard became proprietors and
editors of the Arkansas City REPUBLICAN, an excellent paper, with its issue of
August 30. Emporia Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, September 13, 1884.
Wm. Wagner, of Tiffin, Ohio, arrived in
Arkansas City last Saturday evening. He is a brother of the senior editor of
THE REPUBLICAN and expects to teach school this winter.
[NOTE: THIS IS THE FIRST REFERENCE TO
WAGNER...SENIOR EDITOR?]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, May 29, 1886. From Monday’s Daily.
The Arkansas City Daily Republican, a neat
and newsy six column folio, is the latest visitor to this shop. It has all the
vim and enterprise Messrs. Howard & Wagner have always put into their
weekly. It is a pica daily in an agate town, but starts off with a good
patronage. Dick Howard can make the daily Republican a success, if a daily can
be maintained in such a town. The daily business in small towns is not the
maker of bonanza kings.
Winfield Courier.
The above is a fact, and that is why the
REPUBLICAN has always advised the Courier to stop its daily. No; a daily
paper cannot exist in a small town.
ARKANSAS
CITY REPUBLICAN.
[From
Saturday, March 5, 1887, through April 2, 1887.]
B.
A. & G. WAGNER, Proprietors.
[NOTE: Above were designated proprietors.
Editorial page showed the following: “WAGNER & HOWARD, Editors.” I
considered the situation confusing. MAW]
It was at this point in 1887 that my late
husband, Richard Kay Wortman, made me stop going to microfilm to get old
newspapers and told me that we had to print Book No. 1 of Cowley County
History. He told me that it was at this point that the Traveler run by Editor
Lockley ceased and that the Republican changed into the Arkansas City
Traveler, which I believe was run by Wagner and Howard until Howard took
charge.
RKW had a file on Howard...
Richard
(“Dick”) Clinton Howard.
Richard (Dick) Clinton Howard[1]
was born in Greencastle, Indiana, February 23, 1863. His parents were Richard
T. Howard (died in 1866) and Julia A. Duty (died in Arkansas City in 1905).[2]
He was the youngest of six children in the family.
R. C. Howard attended public school in
Greencastle, Indiana, until the age of 14 when he began a nine year career in
the printing business.
Arkansas City Republican, March 29, 1884.
R. C. Howard, originally of Greencastle,
Indiana, but who for some months past has been local editor and foreman of the Fredonia
Democrat, has this week accepted the position of foreman of THE REPUBLICAN
office. Mr. Howard is industrious and attentive to business, and thoroughly
understands the newspaper work. THE REPUBLICAN congratulates itself upon
acquiring the services of so competent a person.
He came to Kansas in 1883 and worked for a
year and a half on the newspaper in Fredonia. He came to Arkansas City in
March, 1884. He worked as a printer for several years on the Arkansas Valley
Democrat, which was later the Arkansas City Republican and still later the
Daily Traveler.
Arkansas City Republican, June 21, 1884.
R. C. Howard, foreman of THE REPUBLICAN
office, went to Fredonia, last Saturday, to look after his prospective
matrimonial interests.
Arkansas City Republican, July 12, 1884.
Mrs. J. A. Howard, the mother of J. L. and R.
C. Howard, arrived in the city Thursday and will make this her permanent home.
Arkansas City Republican, November 15, 1884.
MARRIED. Married last Monday evening at the
residence of the bride’s parents, in Fredonia, Kansas, R. C. Howard and Miss
Fannie Defever. They arrived in Arkansas City on the noon train Wednesday.
[Comments from RKW]...
In 1886 R. C. (“Dick”) Howard bought a half
interest in the Weekly Republican with B. A. Wagner as his partner. They
started the first daily, calling it the Arkansas City Daily Republican. In 1889
Mr. Howard sold his interest in the Daily Republican and acquired a half
interest in the Daily Traveler, with T. W. Eckert as his business associate.
Howard was appointed postmaster in 1898 and
served four years. He was compelled to dispose of his newspaper interests at
that time as the government did not allow postmasters to operate personal
businesses while holding office. At that time he sold his interests to Mr.
Eckert.
In 1903 R. C. Howard repurchased a half
interest in the Traveler, with W. G. Anderson as his partner. They were in
business together for about four years until he bought W. G. Anderson’s
interest. W. G. Anderson then bought the Winfield Free Press and moved to
Winfield. Anderson later acquired the Winfield Daily Courier.
He served in the Kansas house of
representatives in 1918-1919 and as a state senator from 1920 to 1924. He was
mayor of Arkansas City from 1926 to 1928
In March 1923, Mr. Howard sold the Traveler
to Oscar S. Stauffer. On leaving the newspaper field Mr. Howard became
interested in the Howard-Ralston Investment Company. He built the Rex Theatre
Building at Arkansas City, which was at the time of its erection the finest
theatre in Kansas.
In 1929 he acquired the weekly Tribune and
with his two sons, Forrest and Harry, operated it.
Mr. Howard was twice married. His first wife
was Fannie De Fever ( of Fredonia, Ks.) whom he married November 10, 1884, at
Fredonia. She was the mother of his two sons, Forrest R. and Harry D. Howard.
She died in 1892.[3] His
second wife, Mrs. Rhoda Martin Coulter Howard, died in 1924. By her first marriage,
she had a son, J. Max Coulter.
The older son, Richard Forrest Howard,
graduated from Arkansas City High School and attended Kansas University two
years. He married Miss Helen Newton and they had four children: Richard Newton,
Helen Harriet, Richard Forest, and Billie.
The second son, Harry DeFevre Howard, was educated
in the Arkansas City schools and began delivering newspapers at the age of 11.
He married Dorothy Ralston and they had one son, Richard Angus Howard.
* * * *
*
Arkansas City Traveler, Tuesday, November 12, 1918.
Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Howard have moved from
their former home over the Traveler office to 104 North B street, which has
recently been remodeled and made into a modern residence.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, February 19, 1918.
OLIVE
BRANCH IN HIS HAND.
Rep.
Howard is “Writ” up by the Topeka Daily Capital.
A
Biographical Sketch of the Editor of the Traveler
Appears
in the Monday Issue of That Newspaper.
In the Topeka Capital Monday morning,
appears a write-up of Representative R. C. Howard, editor of the Traveler,
accompanied by a caricature of him holding an olive branch, as a result of his
having assumed the role of peacemaker between D. A. R. and their opponents in
picking the design for the state flag. The article is reproduced in the Traveler
because it gives some interesting “dope” on his advent into Kansas thirty-six
years ago. Following is the clipping from the Capital:
“The flip of a penny decided the first town
that Representative ‘Dick’ Howard located in when he came to Kansas. The flip
of a dollar decided him in becoming a candidate for his first elective office.
Beyond the two incidents mentioned, the gentleman from Cowley county has never
been known to take a chance.
“Hating the Germans as he does, the gentleman
from Cowley never dreamed that in the legislature he would take the role of
peacemaker. Yet he has. As a member of the committee on state affairs he has
for days been attempting to arrange an armistice between the Daughters of the
American Revolution and their opponents in their bitter contest over the choice
of a state flag. With his winning smile he has been offering the olive branch
to the ‘wimmin folks’ and a truce may be declared.
“Known
Everywhere as ‘Dick.’
“Upon his marriage license and other
important documents, the name of the gentleman from Cowley is R. C. Howard.
Elsewhere he is known as ‘Dick’ Howard. Thirty-six years ago Dick Howard and
his brother drove to Kansas in a buggy. At the fork of a certain road they
paused to select a city in which to locate. One road led to a city of the same
name as the two young men who sat in the buggy (Howard) and the other road led
to Fredonia. With the customary proclivity brothers have for disagreeing, one
of the Howard boys desired to go to Fredonia and the other selected Howard.
‘Dick’ Howard had exactly 4 cents in his pocket. He flipped one of them. Heads
up, they went to Howard; tails they went to Fredonia. ‘Dick’ Howard lost, and
from that date until the summer of 1918 he never took another chance. In
Fredonia Mr. Howard found employment on the old Fredonia Times. The
vicissitudes of a country printer need not be recounted. In a couple of years
he went to Arkansas City, where he procured a job at five-per-week plus board
and permission to sleep on a buffalo robe in the back shop. Six months later
he had given his note for half interest in the paper he was employed on. In
1886 he started the first daily newspaper in Arkansas City and still has his
original first subscriber.
“Boom times came and he suffered with the
others, but hung on. Gradually Arkansas City came back to its own, and so did
Howard. The little country paper he had struggled so hard to hold for more than
thirty years has been a daily; now, as the Arkansas City Traveler, it
has a full leased wire report and is one of the widely known smaller daily newspapers
of the state. Its editor owns real estate and bank stock.
“Last summer Representative Howard was asked
to become a candidate for representative. He demurred, hesitated, took a
chance, and lost. Tails up he would agree to run; heads up he would not. He
flipped a coin—this time a dollar. He lost and had to run. At the election he
had to run against a Democratic farmer. The farmer carried the city and the
editor carried all the rural districts and was elected.
Representative Howard’s greatest ambition in
the legislature is to get ‘good roads and better bridges for Cowley County.’”
RKW never had time to do further research on
Howard, Traveler, etc.
As you are probably aware by this time, I am
still trying to get more old newspapers from microfilm to computer age, and at
the same time as Dr. Bottorff and others request it, I am trying to make
articles out of newspaper files. The work never stops except when the
“doggoned” microfilm reader gets hot and I have to turn it off to cool and then
work on other things. Bulbs are now $19, and it is getting mighty expensive to
run microfilm reader I have for any length of time.
I gather from my late husband’s notes that
Stauffer took over from Howard; as a result, I think you can trace the complete
history of the Arkansas City Traveler. I hope that is the case.
I hope this additional material I am sending
will help you to complete the history of the city newspaper.