Spirit10

THE WAUPACA REPUBLICAN

March 13, 1903

A SCRAP OF HISTORY

C. G. Dreutzer of the Riverside Printing Company, Milwaukee,

Tells of His Early Career on the Waupaca Spirit, Etc.

Some Interesting Reminiscences.

B. R. Howard in Milwaukee Sunday Sentinel.

“When I was a boy in the old country,” said C. G. Dreutzer, the president of the Riverside Printing company “my people used to get out the map of the United States and study it with a great deal of interest. To them all, the dots on the map represented large cities. Although I was but 15 years of age I had sailed the salt, salt seas for two years, and there was a charm about a journey to the new world that was not to be resisted.

“After a family consultation, or many of them, I finally obtained the parental consent to come to America. It was my ambition to become a civil engineer. I shipped on an emigrant vessel as second steward, there being 200 passengers on board, headed for this country in search of homes.

“The dot upon the map that had attracted the attention of the old people carried the name of Waupaca, Wis., and as I had an uncle living there, O. E. Dreutzer, Waupaca assumed magnificent proportions, and it was for this place and my uncle’s home that I was destined.

Mr. Dreutzer was a lawyer by profession, one of the first Scandinavian lawyers in Wisconsin, and, of course, sizing him up proportionately with the lawyers of the old country, his powers were almost unbounded as a man of influence in the community in the opinions of the ‘old folks at home.’

“When I arrived at Waupaca my uncle asked me:

“’Well, Gus, what do you want to do?’

“’I want to be a civil engineer.’ I replied.

“’Well, there are just two places open for you. One is with a shoemaker, who wants a boy to learn a trade; the other the position of devil in a printing office.

“This was a bitter disappointment to me. The dot on the map representing the large city of Waupaca in my imagination had shriveled up to a few scattered houses, a half dozen stores, a blacksmith shop, and one or two minor industries. I made choice of the position of printer’s devil, and was duly installed as an apprentice in the office of the Waupaca Spirit, published by the Redfield brothers. Charles Redfield was one of the fastest typesetters in the country, and worked on the case setting up the paper. Luke was the job printer, and Joseph, who had been in the regular army, was the general utility man, setting type and doing odd jobs.

THE SPIRIT’S GREAT SCOOP.

“In 1861 there were no railroads in Wisconsin north of Oshkosh, that city being the terminus of the Chicago and North Western railroad. The mail in the winter was carried by stages from Oshkosh up to Stevens Point adjacent territory via Gills Landing on the Wolf River and Waupaca. Those times were exciting. A newspaper would be handed out to some good reader in the different post offices, who would read the news to the surrounding multitude. President Lincoln’s message to the assembling congress was looked for anxiously, and it occurred to the Redfield brothers of the Waupaca Spirit that it would be a glorious scoop on the other weeklies in the north part of the state to have that message published in the edition about to be printed that week. Money in the printers’ hands those days were scarcer than hen’s teeth; to hire a rig was above the limit. So “Joe” having had a great deal of tramping while in the regular army volunteered to walk to Oshkosh and back again. This arrangement was carried out. “Joe” started for Oshkosh a day a head; was at the railroad depot and secured three or four copies of The Sentinel extra, which had the message in full, and started for Waupaca about 5 p.m. In the meantime the balance of the force had all cases distributed and full, and were kept in the office – some lying on grain bags, other setting around the stove – waiting for “Joe”. At about midnight “Joe” got there very tired – almost used up – but delivered The Sentinels, and went home to bed where he stayed for the balance of the week. In the office “takes” were given out, the whole message set up, forms made up and on the press by 10 o’clock the next morning and the paper issued containing Lincoln’s message just one week ahead of all the competitors at Plover, Stevens Point, Waushara, and all around. Charley Redfield, being the editor, set up his own editorial comment on the message with out any copy, which was terse, brisk, and up to the notch of political opinions of the day. This scoop was the talk of the upper state for a long while.

“In neglected to mention that it was in July, 1860, that I arrived in the country and began work in the printing office. I lived with my uncle for two years, when he was appointed consul to Norway and moved with his family to that country. This left me without a home. The war was on, and Joseph Redfield raised a company for the Eighth Wisconsin regiment. I enlisted in his company, but was thrown out on the ground that I was too young and too small. This was, of course, a great disappointment to me as I could not see much in the printing business that was attractive at that time in the little office in Waupaca.

“I went to Fond du Lac, and in January, 1962, visited the camp of the Fourteenth Wisconsin there at the time, and succeeded in enlisting with Capt. F.H. Magdeburg. We were soon ordered forward to Benton Barracks, Mo., where we remained two weeks, and then went south and joined Gen. Grant’s army. We went into camp at Savanna, on the Tennessee river, remained there two weeks, and were then hurried forward and went into the fight at Pittsburg Landing Monday morning, April 6, 1862. That was our ‘baptism of fire’. We captured two guns of the New Orleans battery, one of which was presented to the regiment by Gen. Grant and properly inscribed is at present in the Capitol park in Madison.

“After the battle our regiment acted as provost guard at the landing during the first siege of Corinth. We participated in the battle of Corinth Oct. 3, 1862, and were in advance of the army in a constant skirmish, all the way from Chewalla into the city. It was during this skirmish that I was wounded in the left arm, and my career as a soldier came to a sudden close. After being several weeks in the hospital, I was sent home on a sick furlough for thirty days. I spent the time in Waupaca, and then started for Madison to get my transportation south to rejoin the regiment. At Milton Junction I met Surgeon General E. B. Wolcott, who insisted on making an examination of my wound. The surgeon general wrote a letter to the military commander at Madison, Maj. Howard Stansbury, directing him to issue my discharge. This was a sad blow to me. I had no home, nowhere to go, and was incapacitated from all kinds of work. Capt. Magdeburg had written me to the effect that he would place the sergeant’s stripes upon me the first time he met me in the company’s street, and I was anxious to get back among my friends. It was no use, however, Maj. Stansbury had his orders to issue my discharge and that was the end of it.

“Disheartened and discouraged, I returned to Waupaca. I met Luke Redfield, who encouraged me as best he could.

“’Cheer up, my boy,’ he said. ‘As long as I have a home you shall share it until you get well and can return to your job in the printing office.’

“I hired out to a cooper to pile staves with my arm in a sling, making about 50 cents a day. While I was thus engaged I attracted the attention of the Episcopal clergy-man, the Rev. Martin Sorenson, who was the county clerk. He took me to his office and set me at work writing up the tax sales. I boarded with him sharing his eldest son’s bed, cleaning his horse, and making myself generally useful as far as I was able with one arm in a sling. The Rev. Mr. Sorenson was engaged in building an Episcopal church, and I stained and varnished every seat in the auditorium and had it ready for dedication in March, 1863. The church is still standing there today.

“The Rev. Mr. Sorenson sent a magnificent team of white horses and a carriage over to Berlin after Bishop Kemper to perform the dedicatory ceremonies. Calling me to him before sending for the bishop, Mr. Sorenson said:

“’My boy, you ought to get to some place where there is a better opportunity for you than is offered in Waupaca. You go with the carriage to Berlin and then try your chances in Milwaukee. I will write to some friends there and tell them you are coming, you can be independent there.’

“I had $2.50, Mr. Sorenson’s son loaning me $5 more and with this fortune of $7.50 I started. The driver paid for my lodging in Berlin that night, and the next day I landed at the old Milwaukee station on Third street near Chestnut street. I was delighted to get into a city where there was some life and animation, but I was somewhat confused, I was assailed on all sides with cries of:

“’Hack, sir!’

“’Carriage, sir! Take you to any part of the city, sir.’

“This last invitation woke me up to the fact that I did not know anything about the city, and did not know where I wanted to go. I finally engaged a hackman to take me to the business center for 50 cents. He opened the door of his vehicle when he reached Spring Street bridge, now Grand Avenue, and poling his head in, remarked:

“’This is as far as I can afford to haul you for that money, sir.’

“I climbed out of the vehicle, looked about me and read the sign on the back end of a building on the east side of the river.

“’Milwaukee Daily Sentinel.’

“I went into the office, introduced myself, and asked for work. The paper was published by Jermine & Brightman, and the latter, looking to me for all the world like the picture of the Apostle Paul I had seen in the books, asked me a few questions, learned the story of my having been a soldier, and then sent for the foreman of the office and said to him:

“’Here Hamilton, is a soldier who has been wounded. He has worked at printing. Do something for him.’

“I was taken to the composing room and placed at work setting the type on a report that was being issued by Gen. Pope. It was small pica and reprint copy and I could set it all right, but my arm was still in bad shape. After working a short time, Foreman Hamilton came to me and said:

“’My boy, I will give you a dollar a day.’

“Those words thrilled me through and through. It seemed to m e like a fortune. I worked on the report until it was finished, and then went on the newspaper.

“Later there was a strike among the printers on the Chicago Times, and a lot of us were sent down there to help the publishers out. When we arrived we were met at the boat landing by Milwaukee printers, and the result was that the whole lot of us joined the Printers’ union and came back to Milwaukee. I then went to work in a job office at $6 a week, and later went to Winona, Minn., remained there about a year, when I returned and took charge of Elisha Starr’s job printing office. There I remained until May, 1869, when I bought an interest in the Riverside office, which at the time employed five or six people, and had two platen and an old Adam’s press. The city had 45,000 inhabitants at that time; there were nothing but farms west of Tenth Street. The Riverside has kept pace with the growth of the city, that is all. We now employ 125 men and send out work to all parts of the country.

“I think life has been worth the living,” said Mr. Dreutzer in conclusion. “I have enjoyed it, on the whole. Of course, there have been some difficult places to get over, but the compensation of having overcome them has been sufficient reward. I was married in Minnesota in 1869, to Miss Alice Harriet Whitridge, and have a family of three daughters. One is the directress of the kindergarten on Twenty-seventh Street; another is married and lives in Oak Park, Ill., and the third is living at home with us in Wauwatosa.”