It is not unusual for people to stop by the News-Banner office with some old newspapers they’d found. “Would we be interested in them?” they inquire.
There were a few instances back in the days when I was the inquiried (a sort-of invented word) in which there was a hope that we might pay the inquirer something. “Sorry,” I would tell them, “while they are quite interesting to look through, there’s really no market for old newspapers unless you found a very rare original of an historic event.” Besides, I would add, we don’t have room to properly store such fragile items.
Nine times out of 10, people just want somewhere for these artifacts to land. Like us, they don’t want to throw them away. We’ve always found leafing through them interesting and enlightening but ultimately, a reluctant decision is made to dispose of them.
So why, I have to ask myself, do I have a box of old newspapers at home that I apparently believe might be worth something to someone someday? While looking for some older photos of our grandchildren this week, my wife pulled out the final print edition of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. I had squirreled away an unread, “virgin” copy of the multi-section special edition and of course, completely forgotten about it. Would you believe that’s been six years ago already?
I still couldn’t get myself to throw it out. Maybe, just maybe, someone will be glad I didn’t. It was re-filed in the box with other old papers in a corner of the basement. More “stuff.”
That’s a lengthy introduction to a small stack of brittle newsprint that greeted me when I returned to the office shortly after Labor Day from a week or so away. Someone had dropped them off and the gals at the front counter figured the old guy would be interested. Of course he is.
There are three fairly intact editions: Oct. 24, 1914 of the “Evening Banner” (then a weekly); Nov. 18, 1939 of the daily “Evening News-Banner;” and a March 4, 1993 “Bluffton News-Banner.” There are also several clippings or parcels of other editions from 1939 and 1940. It is not clear why any of them were saved except for a tattered single page from the Nov. 15, 1939 Evening News-Banner edition which featured a photo of the Thearle Music Festival in San Diego, Cal. It seems that 50 Estey pianos manufactured in Bluffton had been used simultaneously on stage at the festival.
What I found most interesting in this batch was the opportunity to lay the three front pages side-by-side.
The 1914 edition has no photographs. It is seven columns wide and all stories are one-column. There are 23 stories on the front page plus a couple small local briefs — more “filler” than news item. Fifteen of the 23 are local stories but several of those are mundane notices such as a death, an operation or a minor farm injury.
Two era-defining news items:
• “Chauncey Fluke Makes Escape — Chauncey H. Fluke, Union Township man, who has been confined in the Easthaven asylum for several months, made his escape from the institution last night …” He was not thought to be dangerous. The story concluded that local officers will “keep a lookout for him. It is thought he will return here in a few days.”
• “Have Big Scare for Hoboes — A resolution allowing the police to work tramps on the streets of the city will come before the next meeting of the city council.” The idea was to force any apparently homeless people found wandering Bluffton’s streets to do some public service work. “Marshal Fritz thinks that a few days work on a stone pile will rid the city of hoboes for a long time to come, as the word quickly passes out among the knights of the road.”
The 1939 edition had two photos (neither local) on the eight-column front page layout which featured an amazing total of 18 stories and 14 local briefs. That’s a lot of news. We must remember that Wells-ites (another made-up word), along with everyone else, were still almost totally dependent on their local newspaper for all of their national and state news. Eight of the stories are local, but again are dominated by items we would not put on the front page these days: “Miss Betty Garrett Will Become Bride;” “Mrs. Ray Booth Granted Divorce.” And this kicker: a story in bold-face type of a local man who quietly hanged himself in his barn.
The 1993 edition looks much more familiar. The six-column format includes some familiar names in its much-more local selection of stories. (Only one of the eight stories or photos is not local.) Jim Barbieri, Eugene McCord, Paul Beitler, Glen Werling, Joe Smekens and Robin Minniear all contributed. The deaths and engagements and — notably — hospital admissions and dismissals were on page three.
A couple observations:
• Perhaps my favorite headline: “Mrs. Olive Bowman Answers Summons.” This 1940 item was not court news. It was a death notice.
• Both the 1914 and the 1939 editions had front-page stories about German aggression. In 1914, the early months of World War I, they were claiming at least of portion of Belgium to be theirs. They would, of course, eventually try to conquer it all. Twice. In 1939, Nazi troops were taking over Prague — executing nine protesting students in the process — in the aftermath of the 1938 Munich Agreement that was supposed to appease Hitler and guarantee peace.
The Munich lesson is apparently being forgotten by more and more people as support for assisting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion seems to be flagging. I would advocate for more aid, not less. But I digress.
Have an interest in history? Like to peruse old stuff? Feel free to stop by. But that’s a limited time offer. This brittle, musty stack will have to find a different home at some point.
miller@news-banner.com
