5/19/2010 – Editorials
By Richard Peterson
Mike Connor of Starkweather was cleaning out some boxes of old items his mother, Kathleen Baker Connor (1900-1983) had saved and came across several old newspapers, including the Devils Lake Inter-Ocean (1896), the Devils Lake News (1900) and The Free Press (DL — 1895 & 1900).
He also found several copies of the Churchs Ferry Sun from 1912. G.G.
Chambers was editor and publisher and the newspaper was published every Saturday at Churchs Ferry. The subscription price was $1.50 per year (about three cents a week, by second class mail!). The May 12, 1912 issue had six pages.
Ads included the Churchs Ferry Spare Bank, E. Lysne, president; the First National Bank of Churchs Ferry; Engelhorn & Moe featured a horse clipping machine — "any boy can turn the crank, the machine does the rest!"; City Meat Market, Bennes & Haggerty, Prop’rs; Miss Lottie Riley Millinery; C.T. Studness "Sophomore Perfect Clothes for young men and older ones prefer because they are different and dignified"; Churchs Ferry Dray Line, J.W. Cavers, Prop.; The McGurren Pharmacy, T.F.
McGurren & S.E. Pixley, Registered Pharmacists; St. Anthony & Dakota Lumber Yard, Joseph Hanson, Agent; G.M. Steig Merchantile Co., "Lanpher
– The popular three dollar hat, it assures satisfaction or a new hat free"; Penn State Bank, P.L. Klyver, Pres., A.J. Mitchell, V Pres., C.R.
Kirkeide, Cashier; a 1/3 page auction sale ad featured the stock of the Anderson Mercantile Company — "You Cannot get Stung Here!"; C.J. Kelly (the father of Harold Kelly who owned Kellys Store "Between the Shows"
in Devils Lake and the grandfather of Dan Kelly and his wife, the current owners.
There was a series of notices announcing candidates for political office in the Ramsey County Primary, June 12, 1912 including: District Judge, C.W. Buttz, Minnewaukan; Ramsey County Judge, H.J. Hinck and George Juergens; Ramsey County Treasurer, Earl L. Duel, Frank Moylan and Alois Walters; Ramsey County Sheriff, David Denoyer (Graham’s Island), Daniel Farley, John McLean and Robert Wallace (believed to be from the Starkweather area); State’s Attorney, Laureas J. Wehe, F.T. Cuthbert and E.H. Griffin; Register of Deeds, George Elmslie; State Legislature, Homer Resler (Starkweather), Victor Wardrope, Norman Morrison, S.L.
Wineman, Bernt Anderson and M.D. Butler (Brocket).
The front page was pretty well devoted to the passing of Mrs. John McCormick (Cynthia Ann Carmony). "Deceased had been in ill health for a long time, but since her last serious attack of throat trouble she had been steadily improving and it was thought and hoped she would fully recover, but hemmorhage (sic) of the brain followed a severe coughing attack and she passed to her reward."
The funeral service was held at the family residence on Orvis Avenue and then the article states ". . . the Order (Eastern Star) preceded the hearse to the depot where they boarded Train No.6 for Devils Lake. Here they were met by a delegation of the Eastern Star of that city and by the pupils of Miss Ada McCormick, who led the funeral procession in their march to the cemetery where the last sad rites of the church and the Eastern Star were performed."
The other news item on the front page was "School Notes" announcing eighth grade graduation on May 29 including an address by John A. Haig, County Supt. of Schools. ". . . a charge of 25 cents will be made to all not attending school."
Connor has given all the newspapers to the Lake Region Heritage Center (Old Post Office) in Devils Lake and they can be seen there.
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We’ve run this one before, but it’s been long enough ago that readers have likely forgotten it:
The Demographics of American Newspapers
The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country, but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could find the time, and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.
The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.
The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated, and who like their news as pictures and/or cartoons.
The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.
The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.
The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.