NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION VOLUME II 1804-1926 J. H. Bahne In the recent passing of the veteran journalist, Jacob H. Bahne, for years editor of the Osceola County Tribune at Sibley and one of the best known and best loved newspaper men in northwestern Iowa, the craft in this state sustained a loss which brought out expressions of sincere regret in all the editorial columns throughout this region. For nearly forty years Mr. Bahne had been connected with newspaper work in Iowa and not only was his name widely known in the profession but his work was even more widely known, for his editorials, and particularly those choice, terse aphoristic paragraphs of his, were quoted by the newspapers all over the country, he thus winning fame that was recognized generally by the profession. It often was remarked concerning Mr. Bahne's work that he could put more punch into a two line paragraph than most writers could crowd into an essay, and that as a newspaper paragrapher he was a positive genius. He also has frequently been referred to as a man of rare intellect, possessed of a fine sense of wit, but utterly without pretense, hating shams and hypocricy of all kinds and forever sidestepping the limelight. "Backslapping" never appealed to him and he had little use for verbal bouquets, even when cast in his direction. Though not a rich man measured by those terms by which the world is accustomed to gauge varying degrees of wealth, "Jake" Bahne possessed a fund of philosophy and a sense of humor that were to him assets of inestimable value and these treasures of sense and appreciation he ever gladly shared with his friends and with all the world. His coworkers in the field of journalism in Iowa recall him as a man of pleasing personality, whose presence lent pleasure to the duties of the routine working day. One of his old time fellow craftsmen at Sioux City points out that "he had an active and persuasive sense of humor. He could tell a Bible story so that it would sound interestingly humorous, and yet never would he cross the border line to where the story would offend as being sacrilegious. He had no patience with either religious or political intolerance. He could respect the sincerity of those whose opinions differed from his own, and even his editorial criticisms were given in a broadminded, kindly manner." It was in 1910 that Mr. Bahne left Sioux City, where he had for years been actively engaged in newspaper work, and bought the Osceola County Tribune at Sibley. Those familiar with conditions in the Tribune office at that time recall that the paper was in a badly "run down" state and that for some time it had been carrying on against odds that might have seemed insuperable to all save so stout and valiant a soul as that possessed by "Jake" Bahne. Under the management of Mr. Bahne and his son, Raymond Bahne, the latter of whom also had become an experienced newspaper man, the Tribune soon became recognized in the craft throughout this section of the country as one of the "snappiest" small-town newspapers in the northwest. Since the death of the veteran editor the Tribune has been carried on by the surviving son, Raymond Bahne, and a partner, under the firm name of Bahne & Vance, and is holding its own admirably. It is recalled in political circles that "Jake" Bahne claimed to be the original Wilson man in Iowa. He maintained that the Sibley Tribune "boomed" Woodrow Wilson for the White House months before any other Iowa newspaper took up the cause of the New Jersey college professor, who in the fullness of time was destined to take so conspicuous a part in worked affairs. During the time of the first Wilson campaign, in 1912, Mr. Bahne was chairman of the democratic central committee in Osceola county and he undoubtedly did much toward putting Iowa in the Wilson column in that eventful year. Jacob H. Bahne was born in northwestern Illinois on December 15, 1844, and was working "at the case" as a printer's apprentice at Galena in that state when the Civil war broke out, he then being in his seventeenth year. He presently threw down his "stick" and the other implements of the craft and got into the fight, serving thereafter until the close of the war as a valiant soldier of the Union, a member of the Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which gallant command he participated in some of the most important campaigns of the war. Upon the completion of his military service the young printer went to the Pacific coast and in the cities on the coast and in the mountain country was for some years employed as a journeyman printer, becoming widely known in the ranks of that interesting band which in those days lent a certain measure of picturesqueness and human interest to the printing craft in the west that gave it a tone and a zest all its own and around which grew traditions of sorts in the narration of which a most interesting volume could be written. Included in the cities in which Mr. Bahne found ready employment at the case was Virginia City, Nevada, going to work there in the rude composing room of the Enterprise, one of his fellow caseholders there at that time having been another itinerant printer, Henry George, who later was destined to achieve worked fame as a political economist, the ardent apostle of the single tax theory. This was at the time that Samuel L. Clemens, a stroller from Missouri, was working as a reporter on that paper, in which first was printed matter over the pseudonym "Mark Twain." "Jake" Bahne was in interesting company. In 1887 Mr. Bahne came to Sioux City from Yankton and was employed as a proofreader on The Journal. His quickly recognized capability as a writer soon caused him to be transferred to the editorial room and there for some years and on through the stirring period of the Spanish-American war he rendered editorial service on that paper. When George D. Perkins, owner of the Journal, was in congress the editorial direction of the paper was turned over to Mr. Bahne, and that he did his job well is attested in an appreciation of this service published in the Journal after his death and in which it is declared that "some of the best editorials ever appearing in this paper were written by him and often copied and quoted in such papers throughout the country as the Chicago Tribune." This paper also recalled that many now employed on the Journal and who at the time of Mr. Bahne's connection therewith were just "breaking into the game" practically were his pupils, going to him with their problems and always receiving aid and advice, and that among these his recent loss is felt with particular poignancy. "Jake" Bahne certainly left a good memory at his passing and that memory long will be cherished in the fraternity which he for so many years adorned. Mr. Bahne has been twice married and twice bereaved of a helpmate. A daughter, child of his first union, also had preceded him in death, and the sole lineal survivor is his son, Raymond Bahne, born of his father's union with Miss Naomi Richardson, his second wife, whom he married in Maquoketa, this state, while he was engaged in newspaper work in that place. An adopted son, Ted Bahne, a relative of the late Mrs. Bahne, also survives. Mr. Bahne's first wife died a few years after their marriage, leaving a little daughter. His second wife died at Sibley. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/