Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah November 1, 2020

In the thriving little town of Manning, where since the year 1882 the German Shooting Association had been in existence, there appeared a German theatrical troupe under the management of the highly endowed director, Berthold Kraus. This was in the winter of 1893. Mr. Kraus, seeing a good opportunity to settle down to quiet and peaceful married life among his countrymen, determined to establish a Germany newspaper and, setting himself to this task, at once made arrangements to secure a plant. On the 2d of February, 1894, therefore, there appeared the first edition of Der Manning Herold, which has been successfully published continuously since in its usual form and style save for one week in February, 1894, when a disastrous fire destroyed the plant, leaving only a few type, just sufficient to set up one page about nine by sixteen inches. Mr. Kraus was an active and ambitious man and this incident did not discourage him. More energetically than before did he take up the work of building up the business and Der Manning Herold continued growing in circulation and is today the most popular German newspaper in the state of Iowa, while its plant is one of the best equipped. German and English job work is a specialty of the office and reasonable prices are charged for all work, which is also guaranteed to be satisfactory.

The first proprietor, Berthold Kraus, was born January 4, 1865, in the city of Prague, Austria, and after his graduation from the home school his parents, notwithstanding somewhat limited financial resources, sent him to the gymnasium in Saaz. He possessed a studious nature and scholarly tastes, and was a great lover of the works of Schiller and Goethe and of other literary writings. It was his interest in these perhaps that led him later to enter the histrionic profession. In 1883 he crossed the ocean, arriving in America as a penniless young man. Going to Cleveland, Ohio, he was there employed in a store for six months, while subsequently he engaged in farm work and was also employed for a time as a section hand. Eventually he reached Chicago and there began his connection with the stage. From 1890 until 1894 he was director of his own theatrical troupe. At length, as previously stated, he arrived in Manning and, notwithstanding many difficulties which he had to encounter and overcome, he established the German paper, which he continued to publish until his death. Just in his prime, when he had overcome the financial difficulties and placed his business upon a paying basis, he was called to a high sphere. This man of poetic and scholarly tastes and artistic ability, who had established himself as a successful and progressive journalist, passed away on the 15th of June, 1907.

Among his many friends and admirers who so deeply mourned his loss was a young German farmer by the name of Peter Rix, who regarded it as his duty to care for the business that had been built up by Mr. Kraus. For the sake of his deceased friend, who had so faithfully labored for the interests of the Herold and for the welfare of his country people, prompted thereto by a desire to benefit the German citizens and also prompted thereto by his love of his mother tongue, Mr. Rix took up the work of publishing the paper when it seemed to him that its welfare was becoming dubious. He took charge of the business on the 1st of September, 1907, and managed the paper successfully until the 1st of September, 1910, when he sold out to Paul F. Werner, who had been associated with him on the paper for almost three years, and Carl Hasselman, of Davenport. These two gentlemen are the present owners. Mr. Rix conducted the Herold on the same basis as his predecessor had done and in certain ways improved the whole plant. It was his purpose to find the right men for conducting the business and he feels at present that he has succeeded in this. Der Manning Herold is regarded by its readers today as good a German newspaper as it was under the original ownership and its policy is also indorsed by its patrons. In politics it has independent democratic tendencies, such having been its political attitude from the beginning. A liberal patronage is today accorded it and the paper reflects credit upon those who have had to do with its conduct, its many patrons and the community at large.

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