Randall, who has since become known to fame as the California prohibition congressman, was the founder of the Centropolis World, of which a copy indicates he was the best real newspaper man of us all in those days. Ashford, in the northern part of the county, made a strong fight for the Banner county seat, and was really a good trading center already. They entered the campaign with a paper temporarily printed in my own office at Gering, called the Ashford Gazette. J. F. Gay, now in Iowa, was the nominal editor, but as I recall it W. W. White, now of Gering, C. E. Dooley and J. M. Schooley were the men who arranged for the publication. This plant passed through the hands of Grant L. Shumway and others, finally being located in Harrisburg.
The final proof patronage was a political matter in those days, and there was one ostensibly Scotts Bluff county paper for a brief period which came near putting the Courier out of business. John M. Adams, a democrat, was registrar of the land office at Sidney, in which place the Telegraph was published by Bush & Callahan, also the Sidney Democrat, by J. F. ("Duke") Wellington. The latter being a democrat conceived the idea of securing all the government patronage, and one fine day a paper came over to Gering out of his shop bearing the title of the Gering Democrat. He started a similar process to get the coveted business in other sections also, since the law required the publication of land notices in the paper published "nearest" the land ; but the register was privileged to designate in case there was more than one paper -- hence around the Courier shop in Gering there was gloom so thick we could almost spread it on our pancakes.