Early Days in Fort Worth, Much of Which I saw and Part of Which I Was

by B. B. Paddock

NEWSPAPERS.

“’Twere long to tell what steeds gave o’er,

As swept the hunt through Campus-more.”

It would be an almost endless task and one the writer will not essay to tell the history of the newspapers of this city. It has been the graveyard of the hopes and aspirations of ambitious men, who without capital, and oft times without experience, have undertaken the work of furnishing an unappreciative public with a newspaper in Fort Worth.

It was on March 7th, 1860, that Fort Worth had its first paper. It was started by a man by the name of Cleveland and was called the Enterprise. How long it continued, and what became of it the writer has been unable the ascertain.

The second attempt was made in October, 1871, when Maj. K. M. VanZandt, John Hanna, W. H. Overton, Capt. Sam Evans and Junius W. Smith bought from Maj. J. J. Jarvis the press and material of a paper at Quitman in Wood county and moved here and started the Fort Worth Democrat. In October, 1872, they sold it to Capt. B. B. Paddock, who assumed management and direction of the paper on the 1st day of January, 1873. He continued the publication until June 30th, 1882, when it was merged with the Live Stock Journal, owned by George B. Loving, and changed to the Fort Worth Gazette, which during its continuance was confessedly the best paper ever printed in this State.

On July 4th, 1876, the Democrat started the first daily paper, coming out as a morning paper on the morning of the Centennial year, unannounced and unheralded, without a single subscriber or a line of advertising. The audacity of the enterprise made a favorable impression on the public-spirited and generous people of the city and they rallied to its support with enthusiasm. But there was neither room nor patronage for a daily morning paper in a city of three thousand people and the patronage, however liberal, would not furnish it with the necessary nourishment and it was a failure financially from start to finish. It was a wide awake and enterprising little sheet, advocating with zeal and enthusiasm every measure that its owner considered for the upbuilding of the city.

In 1873 the Fort Worth Standard made its bow to the public. It was owned and managed by Mr. J. K. Millican who is still a resident of the city. It was followed during the same summer by the Epitomist, established by Will H. Lawrence, who came from Kansas. The panic of 1873 sent it to the happy hunting grounds. On its demise the associate editor, L. R. Brown, better known at that time as “High-toned Brown” leased the material and started The Post, which lasted about three weeks. The public realized that there was not room for two papers, much less three, and failed to accord it any patronage.

The Standard lasted for several years. Soon after the Democrat started its daily, the Standard essayed the same, publishing an evening paper. But it could not find the necessary support and finally succumbed to the inevitable.

The Journal, Mirror, Star, Mail, Tribune, News and many other papers came and went down in the years that followed with rapid succession. The experience of one seemed to have no effect on the ambitions of the men who knew how to run a paper.

In the Spring of 1884 Capt. Paddock sold his interest in the Gazette to Mr. Loving and retired from active newspaper work, although he was interested several times in the property in a financial way.

In 1885 the Gazette was purchased by a stock company organized for that purpose by Maj. VanZandt, Walter Huffman, Morgan Jones, W. G. Turner, W. L. Malone, B. B. Paddock and others who wanted to have a good morning paper in the city. The ownership finally passed into the hands of Mr. W. A. Huffman, who during his lifetime kept it up at great financial sacrifice and loss. But its high standard never faltered. It was a good paper published every day in the week. After the lamentable death of Mr. Huffman, his widow essayed to continue the publication of the paper. It was still conducted at great financial loss. After the panic of 1893, Mrs. Huffman realized that she could no longer stand the strain incident to its publication and she sold the paper to Capt. B. B. Paddock. He had neither desire nor ambition to continue in the business and was only actuated by a wish that the paper should not suspend. He proceeded to organize a stock company to take over the property. He associated Mr. W. L. Malone, then out of business, Mr. E. G. Senter, who was publishing an afternoon paper called the Mail, Hon. Barnett Gibbs, Mr. Sawnee Robinson, Mr. O. B. Colquitt and some others and turned the plant over to them. It proved not to be a very happy family. With the most harmonious effort its success was not a certainty; with discord in the management, it was doomed to disaster. Mr. Paddock transferred his interest to Mr. Malone in order to give him control, hoping thereby to bring about a solution of the trouble. Soon thereafter Mr. Malone died and with his death the paper was doomed. Mr. Senter had associated with him his cousin Selden Williams, who came from Tennessee, to engage in the business. They could not make it a success. In the late summer of 1897 they sold the Associated Press franchise and the subscription list to the Dallas News and suspended publication without a word of warning to the people of the city. It was the most dastardly piece of disloyalty to a town ever perpetrated.

For a long time thereafter Fort Worth was without an organ or an advocate in the way of a daily newspaper. It felt the loss keenly, but there was no one to step into the breach and assume the responsibility of the publication of a paper. There had been such a fatality attending every effort that men hesitated to put their money into another venture. A man by the name of King finally came along and proposed on certain conditions to start a morning paper. The people wanted a paper so much that the conditions were eagerly accepted and Mr. King started the Herald. It lasted about a month. The promoter pocketed the money that had been advanced him and hied himself to new and fresher pastures. Thus the second time the public were betrayed.

When the Gazette was sold to the News it left a large number of men out of employment. They proceeded to organize a co-operative company and publish the Register. They got what business they could at whatever price they could obtain and on Saturday night divided the proceeds among the working force. Among these interested were A. J. Sandegard, J. A. McAllister and Clarence Lee who are still among the honored citizens of the city. The Register grew rapidly in business and favor. The public applauded the nerve of the promoters and gave it such liberal patronage that it had money in the bank—the first time such a thing had happened to a Fort Worth paper. It was finally merged into the Fort Worth Record, which has also been a paying enterprise.

The history of the Star-Telegram, another successful newspaper venture is too recent and too well known to require extended notice in this paper.