Biographical Newspaper clippings, 1861-1930, Vol. 1

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on the state ticket, they wanted Mr. Breeae for state treasurer, and like the Cornish boys in Sir John Trelawney's time, if they didn't get him,"they would know the reason why." But the Ger¬ mans were too strong for them and the convention nominated a German, I think it was CaptairL Henry Baetz of Manitowoc. Spencer   an  Independent   Candidate.
Mr.  Breese was no sooner announced \ as the candidate for secretary of state than  Spencer issued a proclamation to the  people, of  Wisconsin   declaring  his innocence, denouncing the work of "the i miachine,"  and declared himself an  in- l dependent candidate for the place.    He | made a  desperate effort to  be elected, i circulated his tickets all over the state but  ¦^\'hen the  votes  were  canvassed  I think  Spencer  was  found  to  have  re¬ ceived something like 2,500 votes in the whole state.    Mr. Breese took the office and served acceptably during the term and was renominated and elected for a .second term.   After the election in 1869, General Allen was  "o^it of a job." Mr. Breese  kindly  offered him  temporarily the place of assistant secretary, the po¬ sition lately held by Mr.   Spencer, and Allen   accepted   It.     No   one   felt   very sorry  for    Spencer's    defeat,     for    his treatment of Allen was considered most despicable.
Tlie   Northwestern   In   1870.
At this time and for several years be¬ fore. The Northwestern at Oshkosli was published by Finney and Davis. Major Charles G. Finney, Jr., was the son of Prteident Finney of Oberlin college, one of the ablest and most eloquent preach¬ ers of his time. Mr. B. F. Davis was a printer who had been well known in Oshkosh for ten or twelve years. In March, 1869, General Grant, in organ¬ izing his first cabinet appointed as sec¬ retary of the interior, ex-Governor J. D. Cox of Ohio, who had married a sis¬ ter of Major Finney and a daughter of the famous president of Oberlin. Ma¬ jor Finney at once hied himself to Washington where he was goon active¬ ly engaged as a member of the "kitchen cabinet." I was doing the editorial work on The Northwestern which was then a : small paper with no telegraphic news and limited circulation. Mr. Davis had lost his wife and wae anxious to remove to California, while Major Finney had a better tiling in Washington, so they both wanted to sell out.
He Conies to Oshkosh.
The Northwestern office at that time was in the second story of a ware house on Division street In the rear of the Kennedy & Viall grocery on Main street, with a business office and sta¬ tionery store in front. One day Mr. Davis brought up stairs and hung on the "copy hook" an advertisement of¬ fering for sale The Northwestern. As soon as I saw it I told him I thought I could arrange to buy It and requested him to withhold the advertisement un¬ til I could make the effort. He con¬ sented and I started immediately for Madison to see General Allen. He had spoken to me several -sveeks before about buying The Northwestern and had said,  "I can swing one-half of it
If you can the  other."  He manifested I his wllh'np'"g^« ^¦'* "fo infi^ *i>c. ao»-—-v„i<,- I and soon after he came to Oshkosh and ; we talked It over.    The general was at that time a tall, handsome man with a pronounced military bearing, and wore a full dark beard slightly streaked with gray.    In  pereonal  appearance,   except ithat he was taller,  he resembled Rev. F. R. HafC of Oshkosh.    The next day after I had an Interview with him In the business office a gentleman whom I met In the street remarked,  "Well, I Saw you had a long    talk with    Eld^jc, Haff last night." %
Firm of Allen & Hicks. ''M,
The result of our consultation was that we bought the newspaper, I taking the half Interest of Major Finney and Allen buying Davis' half, and on Octo¬ ber 26, 1870, the new firm of Allen & HIcka took possession. I was an un¬ sophisticated young man, aged twenty- three, with very little money. I made a small cash pa-yment, and gave my notes for the balance, secured by a chattel mortgage on my Interest. Allen was able to pay cash for his half. I had been connected with the paper for more than two years and I was ambi¬ tious and "chock full of day's works." I had a great love for the work and my severe labor for the next five years laid the foundation for subsequent years of poor health. I .generally reached the office at a few minutes after seven in the morning, took twenty minutes for my dinner and half an hour for my supper, and then remained In the store until nine or ten in the evening. Gen¬ eral Allen was then about fifty years old, with the prestige of a fine military record, two terms as secretary of state and a wide acqnaint.^nce all over the .state. .   — . _
His Work as an £Mitor.
It had been tacitly understood that he was to take the business manage¬ ment and I was to continue the edi¬ torial work. His experience in public.^ life, I supposed had fitted him for busi- \ ness duties, and naturally I looked for- \ ward to a successful future. But I was grievously mistaken. Somehow he had not the slightest capacity for the details of an active business. He was theoretical, not practical. He was re¬ lated to the Allen family, of Newton, Mass., a family distinguished as teach¬ ers for many generations. Prof. W. F. Allen, of the Wisconsin university, au¬ thor  of  a  Latin    gramrna*s—a:as Jiia..
cousin, and it always seemed that the general's mind was that of a school teacher rather than a business man. It followed after an experience of a few years that he gravitated into the edi¬ torial work. A mistake there was not so expensive as in business mat¬ ters and writing seemed more to his taste than the routine of the business office.
"Genial Tom Allen."
Yet his editorial work was not pur¬ sued without some drawbacks. When the editor of a newspaper will stand talking politics -nith a friend on the sidewalk holding in his hand the "proof"  of  an  edltarlal for which the