JOHN MILLER MURPHY
Mr. John Miller Murphy has been more
prominently identified with the growth and development of Olympia and Thurston
County, and for a longer continuous time, than any of the men who braved the
hardships and dangers of the wilderness. For fifty years Mr. Murphy, through the
columns of the Washington Standard, worked for the advancement and prosperity of
the community. For over two thousand six hundred weeks the Standard was a
welcome visitor in the majority of the homes of Olympia and Thurston County. The
editorials in these many issues Mr. Murphy penned with his own hand.
Mr. Murphy has recorded the appointments,
through the columns of the Standard, of eleven Territorial Governors, commencing
with Governor Wm. H. Wallace, and including Governors Pickering, Cole, Moore,
Flanders, Salomon, Newell, Squire. Ferry. Miles C. Moore, and the elections of
Washington State Governors Ferry, McGraw, Rogers, McBride, Mead, Cosgrove and
Hay. When the Standard was born James Buchanan was President of the United
States. A search through the back files of this paper show the announcements of
the inaugurations of Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield,
Arthur, Cleveland (twice), Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft. Among the
most interesting of Mr. Murphy's reminiscences, as recorded in The Standard,
tells about the young editor being in Portland, Oregon, for the purpose of
attending his own wedding. Just as the young couple were about to take the stage
for their home on Puget Sound, a San Francisco steamer arrived in port with the
late newspapers on board, bearing black letter headlines, "Fort Sumpter Fired
On."
Mr. Murphy called the boy selling the papers
and bought the entire supply, saying nothing of the great news to the rest of
the passengers until reaching Olympia.
Arriving here he hurriedly turned his bride
over to the care of the hotel people and rushed for the Standard office. All the
printers in town were set to work at the cases and within a few hours an extra
was cried upon the streets of Olympia with huge headlines announcing the
beginning of the war. "And," added Mr. Murphy, "as I told the story of the
firing on Fort Sumpter all in the headlines, the people saw at a glance the
reason for the extras appearance and not one cent did I realized from the issue.
Besides, I paid the boys $1 for selling the papers on the streets. Since that
time I have kept part of my story for the columns of the paper instead of
spreading it all out in the headlines."
.The description of the way the news of Lee's
surrender was received in the Capital City was very amusing. There was no better
way to celebrate important events in those days than in patronizing the saloons,
and as the news spread along the streets a rush was made, first for the Standard
office, then, all together, to where the men could properly air their enthusiasm
as well as quench their thirst. There were very few men in Olympia in early days
who never visited saloons, but on this glad time no one was exempt, and if a man
refused to do his share of the drinking it was up with him to the bar. spread
him flat on his back and pour brandy down his throat until the crowd felt that a
sufficient amount of patriotism had been imbibed.
To this day the veteran editor's voice falters
when he recalls the reception in Olympia of the news of the assassination of
President Lincoln and the impression made upon the citizens.
"We had planned a big celebration of some local
event." said Mr. Murphy, "and had brought the Fourth Infantry band from
Vancouver at an expense of more than $200 to play for the celebration and ball
in the evening. At that time the first telegraph office in the Northwest was
just across from the old New England hotel. The band was on the balcony of the
hotel playing lively airs to the delight of the entire population of the town.
The telegraph operator came to the door of the office with a face as white as a
sheet. Without speaking a word to anyone the operator stepped to the band leader
and handed him a slip of yellow paper. The leader glanced at the slip and gave a
hurried order to his musicians. Without preliminary warning they played the
strains of one of the saddest dirges I have ever heard.
"The crowd was appalled and when the last
strains died away a man stepped to the front of the balcony and announced:
'President Lincoln has been assassinated.' There was not a dry eye in the
assemblage when the people realized the meaning of the message."
"When the Standard was started Olympia was a
village of about 1,000 population, Seattle consisted of two or three houses with
a store and saloon to represent its business, and Tacoma was unknown. There was
a five column weekly published in Seattle—The Seattle Gazette—but the proprietor
was unable to handle any job work at all, the consequence being that for several
years every line of job work for Seattle and all of the territory this side of
Portland was sent to Olympia and turned out in the Standard office.
Among Mr. Murphy's proud boasts is that he was
the first newspaper carrier ever employed on the Oregonian, of Portland ; and
that he was an attendant at the first school ever organized in that city. It was
in that city, also, that he learned the printer's trade, setting his first type
on the Oregon Weekly Times, within two years rising from office "devil" to
foreman. The Standard has fought the Democratic fight for the past half century
with the exception of the civil war period, when Mr. Murphy upheld the Lincoln
administration.
John Miller Murphy was born in Indiana and left
an orphan at an early age, living with his elder sister, Mrs. George Barnes.
When nine years of age the lad, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, crossed the
plains with the regulation yoke of oxen and underwent all the hardships
attendant upon the trip across the continent with that means of conveyance. This
trip was made in the year of 1850, and Mr. Barnes decided to settle in Portland,
where he started a store, selling general merchandise. John was put to work as a
clerk in this store, although little more than a baby. Among the pleas- antest
of the recollections of these early days are memories of the good times the lad
enjoyed as a singer in the famous church choir with Dr. Griffin, of the M. E.
church, leader. Mr. Murphy, as boy and man, loved music and took keen delight in
musical associations.
In 1851 Mr. Barnes decided to remove his store
to Puget Sound and selected Olympia as the best known settlement in the new
country.. The contents of the store, together with the household goods, were
shipped on the sailing vessel Mary Taylor, around from Portland, but Mr. and
Mrs. Barnes and Johnnie rode horseback across country. The boy rode the same
horse as his sister, sitting astride, holding on to the woman to keep from
slipping off. When Olympia was reached the family had to wait three weeks for
the arrival of the Mary Taylor with their goods.
The store was the first in Olympia. M. D.
Simmons, of Tumwater, had a trading post for Indian supplies, but the stock Mr.
Barnes brought was the first general merchandise store on the Sound. The lad, by
this time ten years of age. took his place behind the counter and was as
efficient a clerk as any man would have been.
The experiences the lad had with the Indian
customers were quite amusing. He declares these people are the worst thieves in
the world, or were in those days. When he would be measuring calico, of which
the aborigines bought great quantities, a squaw would give the cloth a quick
jerk to pull the length a few inches longer than the regulation yard, much to
the disgust of the young clerk, who spent a good part of his time watching them
to prevent them stealing from the store.
The currency of Mr. Murphy's early recollection
in this section of the world consisted of Spanish dollars, American halves and
quarters. Spanish doubloons, worth $16, and slugs, which were eight sided bars
of solid gold, and worth $50. For convenience in making change the Moffatt
Company of San Francisco coined five, ten and twenty dollar pieces. While these
were of no value as legal tender, everyone was anxious to secure the pieces as
they weighed exactly the denomination represented and were of pure gold without
alloy. There were very few dimes in circulation, no nickles, and to have
tendered a penny piece to any one in those days would have been equivalent to an
insult.
The Indians preferred silver. They didn't seem
to understand gold money, and greenbacks were so uncommon that they had no
knowledge of them as currency. If an Indian had a sum due him to the amount of
$5, that sum must be paid him in five one dollar pieces. Should a $5 gold piece
be tendered the brave he would shake his head and say: "Tenas chickamun, wake
ticky"—"little money, don't want it." Mr. Barnes kept a candle box under the
counter filled with silver dollars to pay out to the Indians. However, the
Indians had Do appreciation of the value of money. If they could be induced to
work at all they would work all day for the same amount they would charge for
bringing a single bucket of water from the spring.
The early settlers all procured their water
from the common spring which flowed clear, cold and delicious on the present
location of the Chambers Block on the corner of Main and Fourth streets. The
housewives would hire the Indians to carry the water for them to supply their
daily needs.
The young Murphy, still of tender years, was
set to work clearing off the block of land which was the Barnes home. With one
half breed Indian as an assistant, the lad toiled all one winter cutting down
the huge cedar trees, sawing them into lengths, rolling them together and
finally burning the piles of wood. The work of digging out the stumps left by
these big trees taxed the lad's strength and endurance almost to the breaking
point, but finally the task was accomplished and the land was afterwards built
upon by Mr. Barnes and became one of the beauty spots of the city.
There were no bridges across the two arms of
the bay for many years after the town had become to be quite a place, and from
where Fifth Street now extends to Capitol Point was an unbroken line of Indian
tepees and shacks. The entire portion of the town was comprised by the blocks
between what is now the corner of Fourth and Main Streets down to the
waterfront, and before the filling was done the tide came up to Second Street.
When the Indian war broke out. and reports of
the White River massacre was received here, the Indians were told thev must go.
They remonstrated at leaving land which they had always looked upon as their own
and did not fancy the idea (.f pulling up stakes and moving away, but the
settlers were Frm. As the alarm grew the citizens began to build the stock e°de
which was one of the most unique structures in the history of the Northwest.
This stockade extended clear across irom bay to bay the length of Fourth Street.
The stockade was 20 feet high, built of four
inch plank. Crosby's mill at Tumwater was kept running night and day. and night
and day did the citizens work at the defense. Men, women and boys all helped in
the building. When the stockade was finished all moved inside, those few
families who had their homes outside the enclosure locking up their houses the
best they could and seeking safety with the others. This condition of affairs
lasted several months and until an armed cruiser, the Joe Lane, came up the
harbor. This cruiser car- lied a lot of arms and every woman and boy was
furnished with one of those long barrelled muskets, whose "kick" was more deadly
than the bullet. To add to the defense the citizens possessed an old cannon,
which ancient piece of artillery would certainly have meant sure death to the
gunner if it had been fired off with any considerable load, was motmted in
position to sweep an approaching enemy, and was the pride of the people. When
all was completed, the Indian chiefs and head men were invited to inspect the
defenses and were shown that the whites were in readinesss and able to protect
themselves, but still they lingered until the Joe Lane put in an tppearance.
When they saw the white man's "big canoe" and heard the guns thunder forth a
volley of salutation as the cruiser came into port, they decided that quitting
time had tome, so "folded their tents like the Arab, and silently stole away,"
never to return to settle in any considerable number in the immediate
neighborhood of the town.
"When I first came here, among the ladies I can
recollect were Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Rider, Mrs. Forey, Mary and Barney Wood.
There were always enough ladies to fill out at least two sets of a quadrille at
the dances which were then the popular amusement. And such dances—sometimes
lasting not only all night but two and three nights. Five dollars a ticket was
the usual price, with an elegant supper at the hotel. No punch and wafer affairs
in those good old days. The Connell Brothers and their fiddles were called into
requisition, but Oliver Shed was really the star musician at the dances for hi
could not only play the fiddle but call the figures as well. There were no wall
flowers. Everybody had a good time.
"Among the business men I can recall during my
first years in Olympia were Lightner, Parker & Coulter Co., mer- i-hants, the
second firm to open a general merchandise store after Mr. Barnes; Chas. A. Weed,
Baker; I. C. Patten, blacksmith ; Mr. Thornton F. McElroy, who started The
Columbian (bout this time, and two saloons, but as I never frequented them I
cannot remember the proprietors' names.
"In connection with my recollections of the
Indians I leeall one incident which has filled me with disgust for the breed
ever since. What was called a sulphur-bottom whale, probably 90 feet in length,
floundered up the bay. one morning in the early '50s, and on reaching the
shallow water was unable to swim out to sea again and was stranded as the tide
went out. This was a rich find for the Indians. They cut off great chunks of the
meat from the sides of the whale, and when this part was cut into portions the
Indians climbed right into the location made famous by Jonah, the insides of the
immense fish being considered a special delicacy by the filthy things.
"Well, I became tired of working for relations
and wanted to go back to Portland, so I bid the Barnes' good-bye and started out
to seek my fortune on my own account. When I reached there I apprenticed myself
out to learn the printing trade on the Oregon Weekly, with John 0. Waterman,
editor, and owned by Carter & Aiistin. Later I went to Oregon City and worked on
a paper belonging to D. W. Craig. After a year I located in Vancouver,
Washington, where I started the Chronicle. At the end of three months I sold out
and returned to Olympia.
"This was in 1860, and soon after my arrival
here I started the Washington Standard, which I personally conducted and edited
until about a year ago.
"When I returned to Olympia I was still
unmarried, but had my courting done. I was engaged to be married to Miss
Maguire, a daughter of the family of Oregon printers. As soon as I had
established my business and saw reasonable prosperity ahead of me, I went to
Portland for my bride.
"We came from Monticello landing by stage,
making the trip in one day. This trip had formerly taken three hard days'
travelling. But the roads had been so much improved and. a generally better
service provided that the trip had lost much of its tediousness.
"For five years The Standard was published in a
little building on the corner of First and Main Streets. In 1885 I purchased the
land where my office and home stand to this day.
"When I was ready to move my office I procured
a scow and floated it right up to the door of the First street office, loaded my
cases and press and other printing material on it and poled the scow over to the
new office, unloading and getting the scow out of the way on high tide. That is
the time I cheated the express man.
"I well remember when the first pony express
was started between Monticello and Olympia. The riders made the trip in half a
day, changing their riding ponies every few miles. Twenty-five cents was charged
for carrying a letter and a proportionate charge for small parcels.
"Music, sweet music, was ever my heart's
delight. I have always taken the greatest pleasure in music and although I make
no claims to ability in that line I certainly enjoyed plink plunking my guitar.
Many a pleasant night, in company with Jim Hays, Dave Drewry and Henry Willard.
have I gone from house to house serenading the pretty girls. The other boys all
performed on violins and with my guitar we made some very creditable music. At
least, we thought we did, judging from the pleasant receptions we received from
our charmers. We would assemble beneath some fair one's window and pour forth
dulcet strains until we would see a light appear in the window, a signal that we
were heard and appreciated. Sometimes the girls would invite us in and give us
refreshments along with their thanks.
"Well, the years have gone by. I have retired
from the publishing field, but the lure of printers' ink calls me even yet, and
one of my pleasures is in writing some of the pioneer reminiscences as they
occur to me.
"I served as Territorial Auditor for three
terms, and was a City Councilman in the early '90s.
"Early in life I adopted the slogan, 'Be not
fearful to speak out, but be sure to speak right.' I can think of nothing more
to add. I am down to cases. William Mitchell and myself are the only ones still
living of the men and women I found in Olympia at the time of my first arrival."
Submitted by Barbara
Ziegenmeyer
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