of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 392-393
MR. MAHIN TAKES SOLE CHARGE. Logan, Mahin & McGill conducted the paper until August, 1857, when for the first time Mr. Mahin became sole owner and proprietor. He continued to manage it alone through the succeeding nine years, during the stirring war times, and until in 1866, when he sold a half interest to L. D. Ingersoll, who took the editorial chair. Of the men who were associated with the paper during this period of rapid changes Mr. Wilson, as has been stated, lives at Washington. Logan died at Waterloo. Early returned to his home in Pennsylvania after his brief association with the Journal and McGill went to Kansas.
The times during the Civil war were exciting ones for the editor of the Journal and his staff, as well as for the readers of the paper and the citizens of the community. The war made a vast difference in the community from the standpoint of the newspaper. The great struggle taught the public to read newspapers as it had never done before. Under these changed conditions and due to the exciting news which almost every day came from the seat of war, the Journal greatly expanded its field. Extra editions were common in those days. On many a night Mr. Mahin recalls he was routed out of bed and brought to the office to supervise the issuance of an extra edition which told the anxious reader of severe fighting, of victory or of defeat, and which perhaps carried in the lists of the dead or the wounded, sorrow or increased anxiety and agitation to the hearts of those who waited at home.
THE FIRST "POWER" PRESS. About the time that Mr. Mahin became sole manager of the paper, the first so-called "power" press was purchased. This press was a Guernsey. It was bought second hand at Rock Island from a man named Connelly. The price of the new press was $700 and was paid for with three notes to come due three months apart, the notes being for $250 each.
Mr. Mahin is not certain that Connelly got his money on the first note. Those were the days of wildcat currency. There was no United States currency then but state banks everywhere issued their own paper money. Some of it was good, worth par. Some of it was not good. Banks and merchants had their list in which they listed the names of the banks, the currency of which they would accept. Greene & Stone, the Muscatine bankers, through whom the notes in payment for the press were to be paid, had a very short list. Mr. Mahin had to "shin" around, as it was termed, for several days before he secured the required kind of bills.
Sometime afterward, he received a letter from Connelly asking him in what kind of currency he had paid the note. He went to the bank about it but was told, "It's nothing to you, that's between us and Connelly."
This press was called a power press but it was operated neither by steam or electricity. In fact the name of the power which operated this particular press was Billy Conway. Billy was some power, according to the traditions that have come down, and he held this position for twenty years. The same press did not last as long as Billy, being replaced by a new one, but one requiring the same brand of power. In 1878 steam power was introduced and Billy's days of usefulness in this office, much to his sorrow, were ended. The issue of April 21st was printed by steam and was the first paper so printed in the city of Muscatine.
MAHIN BROTHERS CONDUCT PAPER. L. D. Ingersoll, who in 1866 became editor and part owner of the Journal, was a trenchant and brilliant writer, and afterward as an editorial writer in Chicago became widely known. He died a number of years ago. His connection with the paper lasted just two years, when James Mahin took a proprietary interest with his brother John and the name of the firm was changed to Mahin Brothers. This management continued until the death of James Mahin, Decem- ber 9, 1877. He was born in Cedar county, Iowa, near Rochester, February 25, 1846. At quite an early age he began to work in the office of the Journal, first as a carrier boy, then as a typesetter, becoming a reporter before he was twenty years of age. Later, as has been outlined, he was associate editor of the paper until the time of his death.
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