The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-06-13


When the first number of THE Precursor
was published under Mr.. Goss' proprietor
ship does not conclusively appear. M. d.
Gilman, Esq. of Montpelier is the possessor
of copy of the issue of Friday, July
Oath, 1907, volume one, number thirty-six,
which bears the name of Samuel Goss,
publisher. 1t is stained and time-worn
folio, with four column pages eleven
inches wide by seventeen in length, and
type of the style of the olden days. Its
columns contain some foreign news, the
interesting and exciting character of
which in those times was impaired by the
wars of Napoleon. 1t has news of ma
tional affairs. OF state news there is
none, and the advertisements are the only
local feature of interest. The editorial !"
is in relation to the British attack upon
the United States frigate, Chesapeake.
From the fact that no mention is made
in this number of the change in proprietor
ship, it is reasonable to suppose that Mr..
Goss' purchase was previous to this issue.
Some time after the date of this number,
probably about December l, 1907, Mr..
Goss changed the name to THE WATCH
MAN and increased the size of the pages
to twelve inches by eighteen inches. The
Oldest known copy of the paper after its
re-christening, dated December Is, 1907,
Volume two, Number fifty-seven, is in pos
session of the Vermont Historical Society.
Its contents are of the same general char
acter as the issue of The Precursor
Just described. In 1910 Mr.. Goss sold to
Ezekiel p. Walton and Mark Goss, who
published the paper under the firm name
of Walton & Goss till 1916 or 1917, when
Mr.. Walton became sole proprietor. In
1929, he increased the size of the pages to
fourteen inches by twenty-one inches.
Only an occasional copy of these early
numbers is in existence. The Vermont
Historical Society has copy of the issue
of November 81, 1915, of August 10, 1917
and of October 16, 1921. In the latter,
under a cut of load of hay, appears the
germ of an agricultural department. The
burthen of its discourse is an exhortation
to thrift in farming and timely direc-
tons for purifying musty cider barrels.
The much mooted questions of butter
globules and deep setting, silos and ensi-
lage, phosphates and kindred matters, had
not become disturbing elements in the
peaceful course of agriculture in those
days. Or, if they had, the purity of the
cider barrel was the leading issue. Either
in spirit of rivalry or possessed of no.
ton that the consequence of newspaper
was determined by its length of title, in
June 1926 the proprietor gave the paper a
third christening under the formidable ap-
pellation of the VERMONT WATCHMAN AND
STATE GAZETTE. The appendage, State
| Gazette, seems to have been new crea-
tion, and not title gained by conquest or
absorption. In 1886 an anti-mason paper
called The State Journal, established in
Montpelier in 1881, was absorbed by the
THE WATcHMAN. The paper then re-
ceived its fourth christening and was
thenceforth known as the VERMONT
| WATCHMAN AND STATE JOURNAL. Ella.
kim p. Walton, a son of the proprietor,
became associated in the ownership of the
consolidated papers, and in 1858 he be-
came sole proprietor. January l, 1868,
j. &. j. M. Poland succeeded Mr.. Walton,
and January l, 1880, Joseph Poland was
sole owner. The present proprietor fol-
lowed Mr.. Poland, and took possession
April l, 1882. The paper retained the folio
form and was enlarged from time to time
till its pages, previous to this issue, reached
the sizs of twenty-one inches by thirty
inches. 1t now undergoes the most radi.
cal change it has ever experienced. 1t
takes on the eight page quarto form, its
pages are pasted and trimmed, and the
paper folded by special machinery. The
greatly enlarged space will admit of many
desirable changes and many much needed
improvements, OF which the paper from
week to week will be its own best expon.
ent. The records show that THE WATCH
MAN is the true patronymic of the paper
VERMONT is its essential prenomen, and as
THE VERMONT WATCHMAN it will here
after be distinguished. In practice, the lat.
ter half of its late cumbersome appellatiou
has long been ignored, and, in adopting
simply its historic and time-honored name
sanction is merely given to popular usage
To indicate its lineage and to mark the
identity of the new with the old, the
designation the paper has borne for forty
seven years will be perpetuated in the
date lines at the top of the inside pages
The WAToHMAN begins the new era Of
its existence with strong assurances from
high and diverse quarters-and highest
among them, from the people--that al
this stage of its existence it has some
thing besides its years to count. Like
the youth, approved by Cicero, that had
something of the old man in him, il
cherishes the belief that at the age O
seventy-seven "the old man ," has some