The Clay County Leader
Found among the papers donated to the Museum by the Eugene Hurn Estate is the history of the Clay County Leader,
written for publication in its 50th Anniversary Edition in April 1982. The following is a shortened version of the late Mr.
Hurn’s history:
At the time Mr. Tom B. O’Bryan, Sr., came to Henrietta in 1932 and set up his presses to print his paper, which he
called the Clay County Leader, there was already a paper being published here, The Henrietta Independent, by Mr.
Cyrus Coleman. This paper was established in 1884 by J. B. Hopkins and was published without interruption since then.
In 1888 Mr. Hopkins sold the paper to A. S. Mercer, who also published The Clay County Journal in Cambridge. (Note:
Alfred Menn wrote that The Henrietta Journal was being published in 1878.) Soon after acquiring the Clay County
Journal from a Mr. Williams, Mercer moved the paper to Henrietta and renamed it The Henrietta Shield. In 1890 or 1891
Cyrus Coleman’s father, G. W. Coleman, acquired The Henrietta Independent from Mr. Mercer and Cyrus Coleman was
named editor.
Cyrus purchased The People’s Review from W. E. Edwards on March 1, 1928, and terminated its publication. Thus
Cyrus Coleman and his Independent were without local competition.
Coleman was a pioneer as well as a stanch member of the community and a pillar of the First Baptist Church. He
had been publishing The Henrietta Independent more than 40 years and Clay County was his territory. So deep were
his roots in the red clay of Clay County, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman named their only son ‘Clay.’ Mr. Coleman was a quiet
man at peace with himself and his community. The Independent was his paper and he was proud of his work. He had
become a legend with his non-controversial editorials. He wrote of the need to support the community, the schools, and
the churches. He believed in patriotism, righteousness and the dignity of man. His paper reflected his sincere religious
convictions. It was rumored that Cyrus Coleman spent more time selecting the weekly Scripture Reading to publish than
the news items which appeared in his paper.
The Clay County Leader was first published in the Boddy, Staggs, Waller Building between the Royal Theater
(previously the Majestic) and the building occupied by Brad Staggs Tailor and Cleaning Shop. The building had been
constructed in 1920 and was first occupied by the Gates Drug Company, established by Claude and Rex Gates. It had
been vacant when Mr. O’Brien moved in his machinery and started publishing his paper.
The first edition of The Clay County Leader came off the press April 29, 1932, with W. C. Tillman the editor and Tom
B. O’Bryan the publisher.
At that time John’s Grocery was selling 2 pounds of Peabody coffee for $.35; a pound of bacon was$.15 and a box
of strawberries cost a dime. H. L. Bear was selling good 9' x 12' linoleum rugs for $5.95. A 10-pound sack of sugar cost
$.40 at Munkres Feed and Produce, and Central Meat Market sold home baked ham for $.15 a pound, sausage for $.
08 a pound and T-bone steak for $.15 a pound. Just in case the little woman wanted the day off, the White Rose Café
offered a good turkey dinner for $.30 a plate.
In 1934 Mr. Tillman sold his interest in The Clay County Leader to Mr. O’Bryan, who continued the publication until
his death September 27, 1945. In the meantime, the Leader was moved into the building adjoining Ray Moore’s
Cleaning Shop on the north, with the Dorothy Theater north of the cleaners, all on the east side of the court house
square. Later, in 1950 the newspaper was moved to its present location, previously occupied by Hanagan’s Produce
and Feed Store, on the north side of the square. (Phil Major says that even today an occasional chicken feather comes
floating down from somewhere. Sullivans had the produce place sometime in there.) Later a new front was put on the
building to greatly enhance the looks of the entire block.
For more than a decade both The Clay County Leader and The Henrietta Independent made their weekly
appearances, each reflecting something of the nature of its publisher. On September 1, 1935, Mr. O’Bryan was
appointed postmaster at Henrietta, a position he held until April 1, 1940. This meant that while he was postmaster, he
could not devote all his time to his paper, so he shifted a large part of the day-to-day operating details to a brother-in-
law, D. H. (Uncle Dave) Germany and to a brother, Sid.
Following Tom B. O’Bryan’s death in 1945, his widow, Mrs. Carrie O’Bryan, and son, Tom B. O’Bryan, Jr., continued
to publish the Leader. They rededicated the paper to those high ideals and beliefs which had guided its founder, that ‘a
newspaper is an instrument of public trust, privately owned but dedicated to the common weal...and above all having the
will to be sympathetic, understanding and sincere.’
In December 1945 they purchased the Henrietta Independent and ‘Uncle Dave’ Germany was moved to its plant and
both papers were continued as separate newspapers.”
On June 27, 1946, the O’Bryans sold their publishing interests to Jerry W. Sitton, a returning naval aviator with 7
years of newspaper experience in Kilgore prior to World War II. He combined the mechanical plants of the Leader and
the Independent in January 1947.
On May 1, 1948, Jack Wettengel and Ross Strader bought both papers but suspended publication of the
Independent September 9, 1948.
That last issue paid tribute to Cyrus Coleman, who had died July 23, 1948: ‘The things that men do live after them
and although the newspaper which he edited so many years suspends publication with this issue, the fine principles
established by Mr. Coleman will be carried on by The Clay County Leader, which now takes over the work of The
Independent.’
Jack Wettengel purchased Strader’s interest on August 26, 1950. Jack Wettengel was a ‘go-getter’ and he brought
new life to his paper with columns about people and the things they did, ‘Looking the Town Over’ and ‘Sense and
Nonsense’ being two of his best.
Bill and Jo Ann Glassford bought the Leader December 1, 1961, coming to Henrietta from Morton, TX, where they
had published The Tribune for 10 years. Mr. Glassford has become as well known for his column, ‘Near News’ as
Wettengel had been for his. Columns and editorials are what give newspapers personality and life.
The Clay County Leader is no longer printed on the four-page, flat-bed Babcock letterpress Tom O’Bryan brought
with him. In fact, it is not even printed in the Leader’s plant. Early Wednesday morning Bill Glassford takes the paper to
Wichita Falls to be printed by an off-set process, which results in a much more readable and cleaner looking copy.
A visit to the pressroom of the Leader no longer provides the thrill it once did. There is still a faint scent of printer’s ink
but the heavy pungent odor of the early plant is gone. The presses are still there but they are not running. And there
are a couple of linotype machines but they are infrequently used. The monotonous yet musical sounds of the matrixes
falling into proper slots with amazing accuracy and the clunking of gears and levers and cams each driving the other
belong to the past. Even the editor’s old manual typewriter that responded in large part to only the index finger on each
hand has been replaced by an electric model.
The composition corner in the back room where the paper is put together has also changed. Upon first entering the
area, one feels that he has stumbled into a play area where little girls have been cutting out paper dolls. Instead of
printer’s trays and had-set type and wedges and wooden mallets to properly align the type, one sees strips of printed
paper here and there pasted on large cardboards and scissors and glue and paperclips.
In addition to converting to an off-set printing press, the Glassfords made another significant change in The Clay
County Leader. They believed that inasmuch as The Independent continued to live through the Leader, its presence
should be recognized. To do so, the masthead of the Leader includes the wording, ‘Continuing the Henrietta
Independent - Established 1884.’ This makes the Leader one of the oldest organizations in Clay County.
When Jack and Winona Wettengel moved on, Clay County lost two wonderful people. The void they left, however,
we now know, was filled when the Glassfords moved in. To Bill and Jo Ann, this writer is pleased to say, ‘We are glad
you came our way. We had hoped you would pull up your chairs and sit awhile. Now that we know you better, we hope
that you will sit with us a good long time.’ “ -Eugene Hurn, February 20, 1982
(Now another two chapters need to be written to cover the ownership of the Lewis Simmonses and the Phil Majors. We
are fortunate to have a fine county paper.)