Dickinson Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and
Biographical Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and
Marion Counties-The “Reflector”
Portrait and Biographical
Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and Marion
Counties
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1893
THE REFLECTOR, which is edited and published
by C. M. Harger, was established in
Abilene in 1883. In May, 1887, a daily
edition was added, which has had a continuous
and successful existence since. The weekly Reflector
is an eight-page, seven-column paper, all
home print, and the daily, published every evening
except Sunday, is a four-page, six-column
sheet with afternoon dispatches. The papers are
published by the Reflector Publishing Company,
an organization including a score of the leading
business men of Abilene. This company has a
capital stock of $20,000, and ranks among the
strongest institutions in the city. The President
of the company is John J. Cooper, ex-County
Treasurer and one of Dickinson County's first
settlers. The Vice-president is O. L. Moore, of the
law firm of Burton & Moore, and one of the leading
attorneys of the city. Mr. Moore came to this
county from West Virginia and taught school in
Enterprise and Solomon City, after which he filled
the office of County Attorney. He is a prominent
Grand Army man and Mason, a fluent speaker and
a power in Republican politics. The Secretary
and Business Manager, Richard Waring, is another
early settler. After coming to Dickinson County,
he first resided in Ridge Township. In 1882, he
was elected County Clerk and re-elected in 1884
and 1886. He is a member of the Odd Fellows,
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is a
Knight Templar.
The Managing Editor, Charles M. Harger, was
born in Phelps, N. Y., in 1863, and came to Dickinson
County in 1880. He has done considerable
literary work outside of his paper, and his name
appears in the columns of Scribner's Magazine, The
Independent, Youth's Companion, Frank Leslie's,
etc. He also pleads guilty to having written verses
which have appeared in equally good publications,
but he now claims to have reformed. He was married
in 1889 to Miss Blanche Bradshaw, of Hope,
Kan. They have one child, a daughter.
The Board of Directors includes beside the
above Homer W. Wilson, a son of Hon. V. P. Wilson,
who is foreman of the composing room, and
A. W. Rice, one of Abilene's leading capitalists
and President of the Citizens' Bank. The Reflector
is the official paper of the county and does a large
book-binding and job-printing business. It is uncompromisingly
Republican in its politics, and is
the party organ in Dickinson County.
(c) 2009 Sheryl McClure for
Dickinson County KS AHGP