Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/344

Rh considered. The Telephone of May 13 carried a story relating that former Lafayette man was coming back to sell his holdings, now that the county seat was lost. His property, half a block from the court-house, consisted of half a block of land improved with a two-story, ten-roomed house, large and commodious barn, fruit trees, etc., all for $375.

The issue of July 29, 1887, carried, under the heading "Dead—But Arisen in its Place a Live Democratic Paper," the announcement that the semi-weekly was suspended, to be replaced by the Weekly West Side Telephone. "The paper," the announcement said, "is Democratic from principle, and we ask the hearty support of the Democratic party of Yamhill county. Come and subscribe for the first issue of the weekly, only $1.50 a year.

". . . There are four papers in the county—the independent Herald (Dayton), the Republican Reporter, the Democratic Register, which has a strong tendency toward prohibition; last and greatest in the interest of the Democratic party is the Weekly Telephone."

Consolidation of the Telephone and the Register, both Democratic, under the name Telephone Register, was effected February 1, 1889, with F. S. Harding of the Register and H. L. Heath of the Telephone, editors and publishers. In 1894 Mr. Heath, who had been the editor with Mr. Harding in charge of the mechanical end, bought out his partner and remained until he went to the Philippine Islands in 1898 as captain of Company, Oregon National Guard. Mr. Heath remained in the Philippines after the war, made money in the hemp and flax business, became president of the Manila chamber of commerce. A few years ago he returned to Oregon and died in 1937.

Mr. Harding conducted the paper until 1903 (104), when George E. Martin, with William Hagerty as a partner, purchased it. A year of ownership by H. L. McCann was followed by the return of Mr. Martin to the paper. Mr. Martin as publisher hired D. I. Asbury, former owner, as editor, and in that capacity he served for several years. In 191 1 W. D. Williams, from Tennessee, purchased the paper, selling in 1913 to James A. Clarke. John G. Eckman edited the paper for Mr. Clarke, who was directing the Pacific Baptist at the time. The paper now drifted away from the Democratic party, becoming independent politically. A Tuesday-Friday semi-weekly was issued in 1912 and 1913 but was dropped for the weekly, and with occasional forays into the semi-weekly field the paper has remained a weekly ever since. After Mr. Clarke's death in 1920 his widow assumed control, keeping Mr. Eckman as editor.

Mrs. Clarke sold the paper February 1, 1921, to George E. Martin, Lynn C. Burch, and Irl S. McSherry, with Mr. Martin as business manager, in which position he had been serving much of the time since he first came to the paper in 1908; Mr. Burch as head of the mechanical department, in which branch of the paper he had been