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TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 6, 1920.
INTIMATE STORIES THAT SHOW WHAT KIND OF A MAN GOVERNOR COX IS
HE LIKED BOLOGNA WHEN
A KID-AND STILL LIKES IT;
COUNTRY TRAMPS
Got His First “Pay Job” at 12 Years as Sexton of
' Church at 35 Cents
Per Week
BY C. C. LYON
N. E. A. Staff Special
DAYTON, Ohio, July 6—One of Governor James M. Cox’s cronies is
Ed Antrim of Hamilton, Ohio, recently retired as state law librarian. The
two were friends in Butler county 35 years ago.
“My earliest recollections of Jimmie Cox,” said Antrim, reminiscencing,
“was seeing him drive into Jake Morner’s feed stable, near the old High
and Main street suspension bridge, in Hamilton, back in 1885.
“I was working in Smyers’ hardware store, across the street, and Jim
would often come into our store to buy nails or binder twine or other things
needed on his father’s farm. J
“The family would send Jim into town from Jacksonburg, where they
lived about once every two weeks to do the ‘trading.’ He drove an old bay
mare, hitched to a light buggy without a top.
“Jake Morner who ran the feed stable, was an odd character, full of
good stories and he and Jimmie became friends. Ive often
of the hardware store window across the street, and have seen Jimmie, sit
ting on a soap box, laughing his head off at one of Jake s yarns.
“When dinner time came, Jimmie would often come across to the’Store
and say: ‘Come on, Ed, let’s go down to the Butler house and get something
to eat,’ and I’d generally go along with him, if I happened to have the puce.
They served regular meals for 20 cents.
' “Not long ago, the governor and I vtere having a fanning bee, and
said to me: ‘Ed, do you think there’s any place in Ohio today that serves
such good meals as we used to get at the Old Butler House for 20 cents
When “Aft^ e Jimmie' got all his ‘trading’ done he always went down to the
meat market of Joe and Johnnie Fromn and bought a big hunk of bologna to
eat on the 10-mile drive back to Jacksonburg. I used to say to him. Jimmie,
you’ll kill yourself eating all that
“I was out with him a year or so ago and we passed a meat market that
was displaying some verv fine bologna in its window. The governor ordered
his car stopped and he said to me: ‘Say, Ed, go in and get a pound of that,
will you? I like it as well now as I did when I was a kid.
LIKES to tramp through storms
6-CH
George F. Burba, a Columbus newspaperman, probably knows Cox bet
ter, personally, than any other man. For nearly 20 years Burba was asso
ciated with Cox as editorial writer on his Dayton newspaper and then as
private secretary during the governor’s first term.
“One of Cox’s most interesting pleasures,” says Burba, “is to walk in
Me teeth of storms. He loves to tramp through the fields and along the high
ways when its raining torrents, or in a snow or sleet storm.
“Many a time he has called at my house in Dayton during a storm and
asked me to go tramping with him. Sometimes we’d walk for four or five
hours and cover as much as 10 miles of territory.
“His wonderful vitality is due, in a measure, to the fact that he can
sleep a few minutes any time he wants to. I’ve been hunting with him and,
after eating lunch, he would say: ‘Call me in 15 minutes,’ and he’d be asleep
altfiost instantly. , . , ,
“On his hunting trips to the wilds of Michigan he always sleeps one
night out of doors, in the dense woods, with only blankets over him.
“Years before he became prosperous he dreamed of owning a certain
tract of land in the Miami Valley, four miles below Dayton, and building a
home there. The tract is the present site of ‘Trail’s End,’ his magnificent
home. It overlooks the valley and is the end of an old Indian trail. He loves
the wild woods so much that he won’t allow the forests surrounding his home
to be touched."
J THE BOY SEXTON—HIS FIRST “PAY JOB” j
Cox got his first “pay job” when he was 12 years old. The United
Brethren church at Jacksonburg, Butler county, Ohio, hired him at 35 cents
a week to be^sexton; and a few weeks later he went on the payroll of the
local schoolboard at 25 cents a week as janitor of the district school.
“The church was in a cemetery and in those days the kids all believed
in ghosts,” the governor tells. “I used to be scared half to death as I would
' Im 3
J' 1— — ——
approach the church on dark Sunday nights to unlock it and light the lamps.
“And then I’d have to sit in the church alone until the first communi
cant arrived. It was always an old Mrs. Keister.”
By the time he was 15 Cox had received all the schooling he could get
in his immediate neighborhood. At the same time he had become tired of the
farm work. His father, however, had a farmer’s career mapped out for him.
So the Cox boy “ran off” to Middletown and got a job, at $2 a week,
as “devil” in the office of the Middletown Signal, running the press and
sweeping out the office, after school hours. A week or so later his father lo
cated him, but didn’t take him back to the farm. “Go ahead and be a printer
if you want to,” he said. , , , ~ . ~
At 16, young Cox secured a teacher s license and began, teaching in the
village of Heno, at S4O a month. At the same time he taught a night school
in Middletown. It was while teaching in the night school that he met Paul
Sorg, a millionaire tobacco man, who was presidnt of the school board.
After teaching several years, Cox got a job as reporter on a Cincinnati
newspaper. He was “fired,” however, for writing a story that displeased a
railroad official, and then Sorg, by this time, a congressman, made Cox his
private secretary.
FIRE, LIFE, CASUALTY
INSURANCE
HERBERT HAWKINS
Planter* Ban k Building.
INSURANCE
i MISS ANNIE PICKETT
sll4 Bell Building Phone 1 36
< (Opposite Postoffice) ;
THE AMERICUS TIMES-RECORDER.
\ GOVERNOR AND MRS. COX, THEIR BEAUTIFUL HOME, HIS BIRTHPLACE AND NEWSPAPER OFFICE
B ly
QUICK RECOVERY
Here in Dayton, they still tell the
story of how Cox, 18 years ago, es
caped from a hospital.
He had been working day and nigh
for months rying to pur a run
aown newspaper on its f it and h
had been at* ing as edito', editorial
writer and business manager. When
the nervous breakdown came the
doctors said I e’d have to stay in the
hospital for at least three weeks. He
entered the 1 i: ce on Sunday.
Early the next Satura iy morning
they discovered he had left during
the night. But no trace could be
found of him until about noon, when
he telephoned the superintendent:
“This is Cox speaking,” he said.
“I’m all right now; I’ll not be back.”
“But Mr. Cox,” pleaded the super
intendent, “the doctor says you’re a
very sick man.”
“That was before I was able to
borrow enough money to meet thisj
week’s payroll,” replied the patient.
“You’d have a nervous breakdown
too, if you had my payroll to meet,
and nothing to meet it with.”
j HECKLER ROUTED j
In Carroll county, Ohio, where!
Democrats are few and far between,’
Cox was making a political speech’
several years ago to a crowd com-:
posed largely of farmers. When he'
mentioned that he himself had been
born and reared on a farm, one of
his hearers, evidently a zealous Re-;
publican, shouted out:
“What do you know about maul-’
ing rails?” The crowd, thinking the!
governor would have to confess him-!
self ignorant, laughed uproariously I
The governor insisted that his
questioner come down in front when '
all might see him. ,
“Now, my friend,” said Cox, “I’ll
answer your question by asking you
[ one. You tell this audience what a
‘glut’ is.”
The fellow turned all shades, shift-
FARM AND CITY LOANS—S 1-2
per cent. Terms easy. Quick serv
ice. W. W. DYKES. 4-20-ts
Loans on Farm Lands at 6 per I
cent interest. Local money on
Farm or City property.
GORDON HOWELL,
Allison Bldg. Phone 849
mr —
FOR THE BLOOD”
Is Whit i Citizen of Georgli Sip e
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Read what Mr. J. R. Bell, Rt. 2, Oconee,
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“I think Ziron is all O. K. for the blood.
That was what 1 have been taking it for—
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XI It OH II
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m I iiiirMmw
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xf ■m / 1£ •' -wff
: I I iOHInI Hi
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Above—-“Trail’s End,” the beautiful residence of Governor James M. Cox, at the end of an old Indian
trail outside Dayton, O. Left—The Dayton News building, home of Cox’s Dayton newspaper. Right—The house
in which Cox was born, at Jacksonburg Butler county, Onio.
ed from one foot to another and ap
peared speechless.
“Go on, now, and tell us what a
‘glut’ is,” Cox tormented.
The Republican finally stammered:
“Never heard of one.”
“Well, I have and I’ve used one
many a time in helping my father
split rails down in Butler county.”
Then addressing the crowd, the gov
ernor asked all who knew what a
‘glut’ was to hold up their hand.
Quite a number of hands went up.
“A ‘glut’,” explained the governor
“is a big wooden wedge that you
drive into the log in splitting it.”
He was not again interrupted dur
ing that speech.
IN BUSINESS
As a newspaper publisher, Cox has
always shown great daring.
Twenty years ago some railroad
men, who were trying to build into
Dayton without eliminating grade
crossings, sued him for $425,000
criminal libel because of the hard
fight his Dayton News had made
against their project.
Under a law at that time, wnen
criminal libel was alleged, it was the
duty of the sheriff to take possession
jr f the property unless the person
| sued was able to give bonl in twice
the amount sued for.
; The sheriff of Montgomery coun
: ty, a Republican, locked up the News
! office, with Cox and his entire woik
; ing force on the inside, engaged in
| getting out the day’s paper
I If Cox failed to give $850,000
! bond the afternoon issue wouldn’t
! appear.
| While he was on the telephone, sol
iciting aid from every friend he could
I think of, the opposition came out
Rheumatism
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decreases the power of resistance to
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Rheumatism, —due to some inter
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with an extra with a big headline '
“News Is Suspended.”
An hour later, however, the News!
was on the streets with an extra '
telling how its friends had come to
the rescue with the $850,000 bonds.
Sixteen years ago Cox bought a
newspaper in Springfield, Ohio, and
in one day he did three things to it:
Changed its name from Press-Re
public to The News. '
Changed its politics from Republi
can to Democratic.
Changed its time of issue from'
morning to evening.
Instead of wrecking the paper,!
these three radical changes started!
the paper on the road to great pros-1
perity.
* * *
WON THE APPLES
Cox won a barrel of apples from a
Van Wert county farmer a few years
ago. At Delphos he was telling his
audience that a new tax law, but
recently enacted, would reduce their
taxes.
“Governor,” said an old farmer
who arose in the back part of the
house, “we’ve heard that story be-!
i ' Drink, I
i £/ P
j h
Sc ; g gj
s? Us
I DELICIOUS AND REFRESHING ||
|; —the hit that saves the day. If
i Demand the genuine by full name — |
i nicknames encourage substitution. X / .i I I
The Coca-Cola Company |\
ATLANTA. GA. I H |
Ik- _
i i ; ■ l
! i 11
wrt 'Qi II
An Ad in The Times-Recorder Want Colums Will Sell It.
fore. You’ve got to show me.”
“My friend,” said the governor,
“I’ll bet you a $5 hat to a red ap-
3 r'l
—' \ <iABRtL ) i
bSbs
pie that the new law reduces your
taxes.”
“I’ll make it a barrel,” the old fel
low replied, while the crowd laughed.
Some months later the governor
was speaking at Lima. While he was
eating his supper at the hotel, the
colored head waiter stepped up and
said a man was outside and wanted
to see the governor. The governor
had him shown in. It was the Van
Wert county farmer he had bet with.
“I just wanted to say, governor,”
he began, “that I’ll ship that barrel
of apples to Columbus tomorrow.
The new law saved me just $15.20 in
spite of the fact that I turned ir
$l,lOO more of personal property.”
PAGE THREE
U
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tHK'j*
JlVi
ME«#9EHR9jLjt
w*j
It'WSlvwMwF ’
JM.COX
At work in his garden.
AIDS VETERANS ?
Cox was the first Democrat ever
to carry the National Soldiers’ Home,
at Dayton, in an election. Ten yean
ago the normal voting population
was about four to one Republican.
During his first term as congress
man, Cox discovered that the Repub
lican appropriations committee of the
House had increased the allowance
for food for the animals in the Na
tional Zoological Gardens at Wash
ington on account of increasing
costs, but hadn’t increased a penny
the allowances for food for the sold
iers’ homes throughout the country.
When the bill was under discuss
ion. he produced the menus of the
Dayton home, the Dayton jail and the
federal penitentiary at Leavenworth
Kan., and showed that the old sold
iers were not faring as well as either
the jail or the prison inmates.
“If you can appropriate more
money for the monkeys in the zoo,
why can’t you give the old soldiers
more to eat?” was the text of his
congressional speech.
His fight was so vigorous that he
forced into the bill a $250,000 in
crease for food alone at the soldiers’
homes.
At the next election he carried the
Dayton home overwhelmingly.