History of the Hustler Around the turn of the last century, Hanceville was represented by its own local newspaper called The Hustler. This article describes the little known history of the publication. Although the Hustler was a Hanceville publication, it had its origins in the nearby city of Blountsville. Blountsville, then the county seat of Blount County, had long been represented by a newspaper. For example, the Blountsville Pioneer was printed in the days prior to the Civil War. Veteran newspaperman L.H. Mathews moved to the area and began the Blount Springs News in that town in the 1870s. In October of 1877 he moved his operation to Blountville and changed the name to the Blount County News. When the voters decided to move the county seat to the new town of Oneonta, Mathews followed and once again moved his operation. The Blount County News first published in Oneonta in November of 1889. This left Blountsville without a home newspaper. However, the void was filled when The Southern Democrat made its debut in October of 1894 under the leadership of F.G. Stephens. At the same time in the same place, the Cullman Alabama Tribune reported Travis M. Byars had begun another paper, called the Courier. So, within a few weeks, Blountsville gained not one, but two newspapers. Byars consolidated his Courier with the College Journal in October 1896. The College Journal represented the Blountsville College. L.H. Mathews, of what was by then called the Blount County News-Dispatch, died in December 1896. The next month, Stephens moved The Southern Democrat to Oneonta to compete directly with the News-Dispatch. The News-Dispatch folded in 1904, leaving F.G. Stephens, for a while, running the only newspaper in Oneonta. Without its status as the county seat, and miles away from the nearest railroad, Blountsville began to become less important in the growth of the county. For years, it had competed with Blount Springs as a center of development and had just barely survived a contentious vote to move the county seat there after having served as the center of county government for 50 years. After the voters elected to ultimately bypass both Blountsville and Blount Springs in favor of Oneonta in 1889, Blountsville had only the college as the primary attraction, while both Blount Springs and Oneonta had the railroad, leaving Blountsville landlocked. Then, to make matters worse for Blountsville, the college burned in January of 1895. Fortunately, Alabama soon designated Blountville as the site of the Ninth District Agricultural School and the college was rebuilt and operated successfully for several years. The railroads were the key to trade and development and no doubt contributed to the decisions made by Stephens to move the Democrat to Oneonta in January of 1897, and Byars to move the Courier-Journal to Hanceville in March of 1897. The next month the name was changed to the Hanceville Hustler. After about six months, Byars sold the Hustler to Dr. Felix A. and Mrs. J.H. Gillespie. Byars left Hanceville and moved to Oakman in Walker County where he began another newspaper, the Oakman News. The Blount County News-Dispatch wrote in the issue of 30 Sep 1897: "The Hanceville Hustler comes to us under new management, Dr. and Mrs. Gillespie having purchased it from Mr. Byars, who goes to Oakman to engage in a similar enterprise. Dr. Gillespie is an old typo, having been associated with Mr. L.H. Mathews in the publication of this paper years ago at Blountsville. Since then he has been successful both as a business man and a physician. Mrs. Julia Hamill Gillespie is the sister of the late Senator C.F. Hamill, of this county, and possesses much of the bright mentality of her distinguished brother. We welcome them into the field of journalism." Dr. Gillespie was involved with the Hustler until his death in 1905. His wife Julia continued editing the paper until 1908 when she became editor of the Cullman Tribune. That marked the end of the Hanceville Hustler. The earliest existing issues of the Hustler date from 1902. Issues before 1902 seem to have disappeared. The Alabama State Department of Archives and History has copies of most of the original issues from the years 1902, 1904, 1905, and 1907. These issues have never been microfilmed. Wallace State Community College at Hanceville has microfilm of the Hustler for 1903, 1907, and 1908. Except for 1906, issues are mostly complete between 1902 and 1908. Before the Hustler, news of Hanceville was reported in the Cullman and Blount County newspapers. However, the local news was reported only incidently and occasionally. With its own newspaper, Hanceville finally had a publication reporting area news for Hanceville by people from Hanceville. Local news was covered in much more detail than by the distant newspapers. Therefore, the existing issues of the Hanceville Hustler give the best first person accounts of the area news for the time period and contain valuable and unique genealogical information. Written by Robin Sterling, February 2007. Sources: The Gadsden Times and News, 1872 - 1876, 1876 - 1881, 1881 - 1885, Parker and Parker; various microfilmed issues of The Blount County News and Blount County News-Dispatch, The Southern Democrat, and The Cullman Alabama Tribune; telephone interviews with personnel at Wallace State Community College and the basement archive newspaper vault in the Cullman County Court House.