Panola Watchman Celebrating 150 Years

CELEBRATING 150

YEARS

played founding role in Texas history ‘OLD RELIABLE’

WORDS BY MIKE ELSWICK

Legacy of local journalism continues today, 150 years after Watchman’s first issue

Editor’s Note: The following information on the history of The Panola Watchman comes from newspaper articles over the years and from a master’s degree thesis written by Susan Metcalf prepared on the 100th anniversary of the newspaper in 1973. Her thesis, “The Panola Watchman – A Century for Old Reliable – 18731973,” was in pursuit of a master’s degree at Stephen F. Austin State University."

Thomas Martin Bowers Sr. was a bewhiskered 36-year-old former Confederate colonel and journalist when he moved back to Carthage in 1873 to start the Panola Watchman, his second attempt at editing a paper in Panola County, according to Susan Metcalf, in her 1973 college thesis.

Before the Civil War broke out, he started the Carthage Banner, which may have been the county’s first newspaper. That paper ceased publication when its young editor enlisted in the Confederate Army. When the war ended, Col. Bowers moved back to Madisonville, Kentucky, where he started the Madisonville Times, which he published until 1871, when he returned to Marshall to work.

The first edition of the Panola Watchman was published by Bowers on July 3, 1873. Volume 1, No. 1 appeared without a local news item on the front page, Metcalf said. Lead stories of that four-page edition included lengthy articles entitled “The new president of France” and “Why Aunt Sallie Never Married,” along with a poem. No pictures were used due to the fact that photography was in its infancy and the photographic reproduction in newspapers did not become a reality until 1880.

In that first edition Bowers addressed his potential readers, and stated that the newspaper would be a “warm and zealous advocate of the principles of the old time honored Democratic Party.”

As editor and publisher of the county’s only paper, he faced a multiplicity of problems, Metcalf said. Transportation and communications systems in the county were primitive, and most of the necessary equipment for publishing a newspaper was crude. There were no telephones or automobiles, and potential readers were scattered over a wide territory.

For this reason, the Watchman, as well as other

East Texas newspapers, became dependent upon less-localized subject matter for the major portion of their news content.

The colonel was credited with playing a significant role in the Texas constitution since the editorial columns of the Panola Watchman were quoted more often than any other newspaper in drafting the 1875 constitution.

Metcalf said after the colonel and his family left Carthage in early 1884; information about the family is sparse, but research indicates it was a nomadic life for the pioneer journalist until his retirement in 1906.

Following Bowers, and over the coming decades, several other publishers of the Watchman led the newspaper. They included, T.E. Boren, Jasper Collins, J.M. Dean, O.P. Carswell, R.M. Park, Marcus Park, J.T. Hollis, J.R. Owens, Neal Estes and Clemo Clements.

In her thesis, Metcalf said the Watchman gained the nickname “Old Reliable” and was often referred to in that way for the newspaper’s first 100 years.

“Through its editorials, news stories, and photographs the Watchman has encouraged the economic, cultural and social development of Panola County along with its reporting of the

R.M. Park, publisher, sits at a desk in the backshop.

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news,” Metcalf said.

In December 1915, under the ownership of the Park family and Publisher R.M. Park, the Watchman purchased the paper’s first linotype machine and effectively made the switch from the antiquated and slow handset method of setting type to linotype, or hot type.

On July 15, 1948, the Watchman published a centennial edition on Panola County with historical data and pictures tracing the county’s heritage and history.

The newspaper published a 72-page edition tracing the county history, including the creation of Panola College in 1947.

Among the many changes which had taken place under Editor and Publisher Neal Estes’s tenure from 1931 to 1951 was the influential location of a $15 million gas distillate plant, which was located in Carthage. This alone had a tremendous impact on the county’s economy and population.

Neal Estes sold “Old Reliable” on Jan. 17, 1951 to three Carthage businessmen: Neal Powers, an attorney; Phil Goodwin, an automobile dealer; and Herman Jacobs, a banker.

They brought in Clemo Clements, ad manager for the Gilmer Mirror, to be editor and publisher. The new owners incorporated the Panola Publishing Company for 50 years with a capital stock of $50,000. Clements invested $18,000 in the corporation and received one third, or 333 shares of the stock. Within two years he was able to gain complete ownership of the newspaper.

Within a few years of Clements’ arrival in Carthage, the newspaper office was moved to its present location at 109 W. Panola St. to accommodate the newspaper’s need for more space.

In 1963, James Smith became a co-owner of the Panola Watchman and held the publisher’s title until his death in 1973, when his wife, Doris, took over the publisher’s position. James Smith’s tenure included the introduction of a Sunday newspaper in November 1973, taking the Watchman’s publication days to twice a week.

Ted Leach joined the newspaper as editor in July 1971. He and others created the free tabloid Panola County Post, and Leach left the Watchman in March 1973. Leach was one of four co-founders of the Panola County Post, the county’s second weekly newspaper. Leach sold his interest in the Post to Loyd Grissom, publisher of The East Texas Light and The Timpson Times in Tenaha in June 1973.

Grissom would later become publisher of the Watchman and continued his tenure until 1992, when he sold the publication to Westward Communications of Houston. Westward Communications later became ASP Westward, and in 2012 sold the Watchman (along with the Longview News-Journal and the Marshall News Messenger) to Texas Community Media, which would later rename itself M.Roberts Media. M. Roberts Media also publishes the Longview News-Journal, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Victoria Advocate, ETX View magazine, M. Roberts Digital and TCM Printing. Stephen McHaney serves as president.

Bill Holder, a longtime Carthage businessman and

Front page of 1964 newspaper detailing the death of a local officer.

2021 staff with State Press Association awards.

Wall of awards on display in the newspaper's office.

2003 staff celebrating the 130th annivearsary of The Panola Watchman.

advertising manager of the Panola Watchman, was promoted to the publisher’s position in 1998, shepherding the paper through the ASP Westward to M.Roberts Media ownership changes. He served in that role until 2018, when Jerry Pye was named publisher in December 2018.

Pye served as publisher until his announced retirement in September 2021. In November 2021, Alexander Gould was named publisher. He remains in that role today.

Carthage native Meredith Shamburger was named editor of the newspaper in July 2018 and currently serves in that role.

Among the notable changes in recent years is a 2016 grant totalling $17,660 awarded to the Sammy Brown Library to digitize the Panola Watchman archives. What was previously on microfiche and compiled in bound books can now be accessed online at the University of North Texas’s Portal to Texas History website.

Historical marker outside of the Watchman's office.

HOW IT’S MADE

newspaper production

WORDS BY MEREDITH SHAMBURGER

The way newspapers are produced and published has changed in vast ways since the Watchman’s founding in 1873 — but editors and reporters throughout the years have kept a tradition of high standards through it all.

And sometimes what’s old is what’s new again.

In the 1880s, your local newspaper reporters were limited by time — it took forever to set type by hand — and by the lack of quick ways to get information. Mail was common, but there were no phones, no cars, no computers. Local news came by word of mouth, and many community newspapers of the day often carried reports from newspapers across the country.

In December 1915, under Publisher R.M. Park, the Watchman purchased the paper’s first linotype machine and effectively made the switch from the antiquated and slow handset method of setting type to linotype or hot type.

In the later half of the 1900s, “cut and paste” style production gave way to computers and digital mock-ups. Today reporters write and edit photos, and editors proofread and lay out stories, entirely on computers. The Watchman originally printed its newspapers in house, but today digital PDF pages are sent to Longview for printing. The Watchman also publishes stories online for those readers who don’t want a physical copy.

Tom Bowers may have relied on word of mouth for stories, but later editors found telephones to be a great way to gather information, and then faxes, email and social media. As always, the best way Watchman reporters have done their jobs is by simply being out in their community instead of locked inside the office. There’s no substitute for being in the room where something happens.

Photographic reproduction in newspapers did not become a reality until 1880, and indeed up through the first half of the 1900s was mostly confined to national items.

Local photography first was published in the 1930s by Neal Estes, but it was the late 1950s before the investment in photographic and reproduction equipment necessary for regular local photo coverage was made by

Old school shoe leather reporting has always underpinned the Watchman’s

Left — Copies of recent newspapers for sale at the Watchman. Right — Old printing tools displayed at the newspaper's office.

William Lee Parker operated the first linotype for the Watchman. The Model 15 machine was equipped with a one-and-one-half horsepower gasoline engine when no electricity was available. The newspaper press is pictured in the background.

U.O. Clements. From the ‘50s until the early 2000s, photos were taken on film negatives, often in the darkroom at the back of the Watchman building. Today we have the luxury of digital cameras, where taking hundreds of photographs at a single event is possible.

Shuttered by Snow

But like I said earlier, sometimes what’s old is new again. The COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 produced some interesting changes in how we kept the paper running. When no one is allowed to host events inperson, the phone becomes your friend again. When you can’t meet up with someone because they’re quarantined, mail is a great way to exchange information (though this time it’s electronic!). COVID also showed us how much the digital age has made things possible. During the height of the lockdown, reporter Stella Wieser reported stories, laid out pages and copy-edited proofs from her parents’ house in Fredericksburg.

Another highlight for the Watchman took place while Carthage and Panola County were buried in ice and snow in February 2021: We couldn’t print physical copies of the newspaper, but we were able to get out an e-edition and continually update our website so readers never went without the news they needed.

Reporter Mike Elswick takes a video at the 2022 Potlatch Festival.

Clemo and Ruel smiley, left, "lock up" a page.

The front page of the Watchman e-edition is showed during a historic ice storm in February 2021.

C O L O R F U L FIGURES have guided the Watchman through its 150-year history

The Watchman has had a number of colorful characters at its helm throughout the years — but all shared the same passion for chronicling daily life in Panola County. The following is a small selection of editors and publishers who made the Watchman the paper it is today.

JASPER COLLINS

Jasper Collins was the first Panola County native to own the paper. He first bought the Watchman in 1896 in a partnership with J.M. Dean. The dual ownership was short-lived; Collins bought Dean out of the business about nine months later.

Collins was described as a “widely-known figure in the newspaper profession in Texas,” according to research compiled for the Watchman’s 100th anniversary. He was a delegate to the National Editorial Association Convention for many years and was actively involved in Texas politics during his 10 years as editor. In 1899, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. He also served as a 1902 presidential elector and chairman of the speaker’s division of the statewide campaign for prohibition. Collins sold the Watchman in 1906 and moved to Dallas R.M. PARK

Robert M. Park purchased the Watchman from Jasper Collins in 1906, having worked as editor under Collins for several months. Under Park’s leadership, the paper made some of its first technological advancements and moved offices.

Park was a Kentucky native who as a young man working for the Henderson paper “hopped a freight train from Kaufman to St. Louis, where his experience at the Times got him a job

with the St. Louis Post Dispatch as a janitor whose duties were cleaning in the backshop and distributing type — the job paid 50 cents a week.”

Park couldn’t stay away from East Texas though, and he eventually moved to Carthage and stayed for 30 years. It was then that he married, had eight children and brought his family into the newspaper business. Firstborn son Marcus C. would later become his father’s partner at the Watchman. But Park’s four other sons also helped at the Watchman, despite their disinterest — an article celebrating the paper’s 100th anniversary notes they all decided to become pharmacists. Park’s wife Madie handled local, personal and society news and also operated the linotype machine.

Park’s tenure also saw the publication of The Pine Burr, Carthage High School’s first newspaper, which was printed as a tabloid by the Watchman once students submitted their copy. Park also printed the school’s yearbook.

NEAL ESTES

Neal Estes was editor and publisher of the Watchman from 1931-1951. Although not a native of Panola County, the young editor acquired a genuine affection for Panola County. His daughter explained her father’s affinity for Carthage and the county’s numerous communities:

“The farmers, small businessmen, and cattlemen exemplified what he felt so vital to his country – stability, wholesomeness and commitment to life. This community represented a segment of America’s ‘bread and butter’ thinking and living.”

A city swimming pool, a scouting hut, a million dollar junior and senior high school for Carthage and the building of the American Legion hall became realities for the county during the 20 years Estes was editor and publisher. He was the brother of Carl Estes, publisher of the Longview newspaper.

He encouraged the development of Lake Dixie as a recreation facility and the construction of better highways for the county.

WORDS BY MIKE ELSWICK AND MEREDITH SHAMBURGER

Jasper Collins was the first Panola County native to own the Watchman.

Jerry Pye, former publisher to the Watchman.

U.O. “CLEMO” CLEMENTS

U.O. “Clemo” Clements moved to the Watchman after working at the Gilmer Mirror. As part of his tenure, Clements made several improvements and also relocated the building as they discovered a need for more space. Clements’ biggest contribution to the Watchman was the introduction of local photography taken by Watchman staff — indeed, the legacy and tradition of comprehensive photo coverage of the Panola County community continues today.

Clements sponsored a circulation drive in 1955 that built the Watchman’s paid subscriptions to 4,500 — the highest paid circulation of any weekly in the state.

Clements served as president of the North and East Texas Press Association from 1956 to 1957 and as a director at the Texas Press Association for three years.

His love of journalism started young, but notably his first role as newspaper publisher occurred during World War II while stationed in the South Pacific with the U.S. Army. While at Biak Island in the Philippines, Clements established The Coral Reef Beef. It had a circulation of about 500 copies a week. Clements would later explain that, while company commander in charge of a depot, 125 men and three officers, he noticed their work came to a standstill after securing Biak Island. “They were bored to death and homesick; many had been overseas as long as I had — more than three years. That’s when I hit on the idea of putting out a newspaper. We didn’t have anything else to do and had plenty of paper and mimeograph machines.”

DORIS SMITH

Doris Smith was the Watchman’s first woman publisher, assuming the position after her husband James A. Smith’s death. She started her journalism career at the Kilgore News Herald, which was where she met and married her late husband.

While at the Watchman under her husband’s tenure, Smith took care of bookkeeping and billing, along with society news, recipes and local news. She also was very familiar with the entire production process.

Upon her succession to the publisher’s role, Smith pledged to continue the Watchman’s 100-yearold tradition.“The Panola Watchman has always supported this community and has worked toward the betterment of both Carthage and Panola County. James gave his life for this purpose and I will continue to strive to maintain both the purpose and quality of this newspaper.”

TED LEACH

Ted Leach joined the newspaper as editor in July 1971. He and others created the free tabloid Panola County Post, and Leach left the Watchman in March 1973. He was one of four co-founders of the Panola County Post, the county’s second

weekly newspaper. Leach sold his interest in the Post in June 1973 and years later rejoined the Watchman as a sports editor.

Ted was born into a newspaper family. His dad was editor of the Longview News Journal. He started his career throwing papers at the age of 9. By the age of 13, he was writing sports stories for the paper. His career as a sports writer and editor took him throughout Texas — first to Borger, then Wichita Falls, back to Longview, to Mount Pleasant then Henderson and Carthage.

Ted's philosophy of sports writing focused on putting the athletes he covered first. The late Panola Watchman Publisher Bill Holder said at the time of Leach’s induction in the Carthage High School Bulldog Hall of Honor in 2011 that “Ted was a fanatic about statistics, and he always said the reason he was doing that was so he could get the kid's name on the page… He once told me he would rather have a stat box on the page than a story if he had to make a choice."

BILL HOLDER

Bill Holder did not start out his working life as a newspaperman. Holder ran Ben Franklin grocery stores in Marshall and Farmersville and Crowley, Louisiana before moving back to Carthage in 1972. He owned Bill’s Superette, a small grocery and meat market at East Sabine Street and MLK Boulevard for 17 years before joining the Watchman staff in December 1989 as an advertising salesman.

Holder served as the Watchman’s publisher for 20 years and also supervised 15 East Texas newspapers under ASP Westward. As he was getting ready to retire from the Watchman, Holder recalled several major news stories from his career, including explosions at the gas plant on U.S. 79 and a hostage situation at the Carthage Cup Factory in 1995. The Watchman’s reporting of convicted murderer Bernie Tiede drew national attention — and personal reflection from Holder.

“I spent one August afternoon with Bernie Tiede working on advertising for Boot Scootin’ Western Wear; he was arrested later that night at the Jalapeño Tree,” Holder told reporter Rodger G. McLane for a 2013 story on Holder’s upcoming retirement. “At the time I thought about how emotions could drive someone to kill someone else. I thought he was a pretty nice guy, but greed got the best of him.”

Former Panola Watchman Publisher Bill Holder shakes hands with then, Carthage Mayor Carson Joines at a 2014 retirement reception held in Holder’s honor at the Watchman office.

Doris Smith using the addressorgraph machine.

Alexander Gould, current publisher of the Watchman

Hometown Focus Watchman kept its eyes on local news throughout 150 years

WORDS BY MEREDITH SHAMBURGER

For much of its history, the Watchman has remained dedicated to telling stories from Panola County. Here’s how the Watchman covered some of the biggest stories of the day:

SALK VACCINE PROGRAM UNDERWAY IN COUNTY, APRIL 21, 1955

Following a telephoned report of weather conditions Sunday at the Carthage field, L.E. Page, piloting the First National Bank's Beachcraft Bonanza, along with three companions made a historic flight Sunday afternoon to bring from the Municipal Airport in Austin, the first shipment of Salk Vaccine for Panola County children. Page, accompanied by C. B. Duke Jr., vicepresident of the First National Bank, Howell Duckworth, and Ralph Menafree of Tenaha were the four participants in this history making flight that brough the cherry-red life-saving vaccine to the county.

Dr. DuBose Daniel innoculated the first and second grade children in the Gary and Beckville White Schools, and the South Side Colored School children Wednesday, and the mass innoculation of the remaining 700 children whose parents signed the forms giving their permission for the innoculation, began this morning

STRAW VOTE FAILS TO SAVE OLD COUNTY COURTHOUSE, JULY 17, 1958

Walker's Motion to Rescind Court's Order Killed from Lack of Second

When Commissioner N.E. Walker's motion to rescind the order to tear down the old Panola County courthouse went begging for want of a second Monday morning at a public hearing before the commissioners court, the death knell for the historic old building was rung. Unless those who are seeking to save it can uncover some other legal measures to halt the auction before Friday, July 15, the old courthouse will go under the hammer.

GOVERNOR TO DEDICATE LAKE MURVAUL SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1958

The formal dedication of Panola County’s $1,000,000 Lake Murvaul is scheduled for Sunday, June 1 at 2:30 p.m. with Governor Price Daniel as the speaker. The Governor will arrive by plane Saturday morning and will speak at the Central Baptist

Church at 11a.m.

Governor Daniel will be introduced by Miss Margie E. Neal, former State Senator from the Fourth District, and close personal friend of the Governor.

Features of the program for the afternoon besides the address will be a concert by the Gary and Carthage High School Bands; the introduction of government officials of the Lake Board and representatives of the engineers and contractors as well as other visitors of prominence a water show sponsored by the Lake Murvaul Boat Club, featuring the Houston Water Ski Club. The program is given in another place.

CITY MOURNS WITH NATION, NOVEMBER 28, 1963

The City of Carthage and all Panola County were shocked at the assassination of the President last Friday non, and the wounding of Governor Connally. A Dallas resident, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested while hiding in a theater, after a Dallas

The old Panola County courthouse through history during 1885 with it's construction, an enormous crowd in the 1920s and a quiet afternoon in the 1940s.

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policeman had been shot…

Monday, the day of President Kennedy’s funeral, the banks, Federal and Loan Association, and some other business places were closed two hours during the service. The Post Office was closed for the day, and the Carthage schools and Panola College suspended classes for the day. The Carthage-Tenaha girls basketball game scheduled at Carthage was canceled.

Special services were reported Monday morning at First Baptist and First Methodist Churches and the Southside Baptist Church was open all day with a service held in the evening.

A requiem mass was celebrated at St. Williams Catholic Church Saturday morning and Rosary was said Friday and Monday.

If there were other church services, they were not reported to the Watchman.

People here are still trying to become accustomed to the unbelievable tragedy.

SIMPLE FUNERAL SERVICE HELD FOR FAMOUS SINGER, AUG. 6, 1964

Funeral services for Travis (Jim) Reeves, 39, internationally known singer and motion picture personality, were held at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Central Baptist Church with Dr. V.L. McKee as the officiating minister.

Reeves was killed late Friday in a plane crash near his home in Nashville, Tenn.

In a funeral service held in Nashville Tuesday, attended by Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins, Red Foley, Skeeter Davis and dozens of other country music stars, the Rev. Joe Hale paid tribute to the humility of the entertainer. He said of Reeves,

"He earned the right to be called a gentleman -- Gentleman Jim in the true sense of the word." The minister was referring to a nickname the velvet-voiced Reeves acquired because of his smooth singing style, which won him fame in the vast country music industry, and his high moral conduct. The minister told of a plaque in Reeves' office which reads "Be proud of yourself, but remember there is no indispensable man."

The body was flown to Shreveport from Nashville in a National Guard plane furnished by Gov. Clements of Tennessee. It was accompanied by some 40 relatives and friends.

Burial was in a 2-acre plot secured for the purpose located two and a half miles from Carthage on U.S. Highway 79 near the Liberty Chapel Church. A memorial marker will be placed there later. The site was selected by John C. Brown after L.E. Page had been contracted to secure the site.

1,200 LOCAL RESIDENTS GATHER FOR HIGH SCHOOL DEDICATION, SEPTEMBER 3, 1981

Carthage High School, among the most advanced new school facilities in East Texas, was dedicated Sunday.

The ceremonies brought to a close more than two years of endeavors toward construction of the $9 million plus facility by community, school board and faculty and staff members and began what promise to be many exciting years of education for the high school students of Carthage.

Gleaming glass, polished tile, expansive architectural features, colorful graphics, and the latest in educational equipment and furnishing met the eyes of more than 1,200 citizens who assembled Sunday for the dedication of the ultramodern Carthage High School and to hear an address from Commissioner of Education Raymon Bynum.