P. GRAY MEEK
At the age of 20 when he took charge of
the Watchman
-
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE
WATCHMAN’S VETERAN
EDITOR.
We shall not attempt a biography
of the life of P. Gray Meek, for that
would not be possible in the time giv-
en us nor would the space dedicated to
his memory in this issue be sufficient
to carry it. A few of the outstand-
ing facts in his long and varied career
as a man and journalist must suffice.
He was a descendant of Robert
Meek, who emigrated from Edinburg,
Scotland, before the Revolutionary
war, and who had six sons who served
with Maryland, New Jersey and Penn-
sylvania regiments in that conflict.
Three of the sons gave their lives to
their ceuntry. One of the survivors
was Capt. George Meek who settled
much of that part of the county now’
known as Ferguson township. He
was the companion and guide of James
Harris in his early surveying opera-
tions in the county and was with him
when Bellefonte was laid out. One of
his sons, William, who was married to
Elizabeth Breckenridge, of the Ken-
tucky family of that name was the
grandfather of P. Gray Meek. Of
William Meek’s sons, two, George
W., and Reuben Herron, have to do
with this story for Reuben Herron
was the father of P. Gray Meek and
George W. was the father of his wife,
for they were cousins.
Born on his father’s farm in Pat-
ton township July 12th, 1842, he was
named Peter Gray in honor of the
father of his mother who was Mary
Ann Gray. His early life was spent
doing such chores on the farm as his
frail physique found possible and at
intervals acquired a primary educa-
tion at the old “Stony Point” school
house near the family home. His
father was of a literary temperament
and strong intellectuality and certain-
ly he must have inherited some of
those characteristics for we find that
his scholastic-training was very mea-
gre; in fact nothing more than the
few boyhood years at the “Stony
Point” school house and two terms at
the Halfmoon Academy; a school, fa-
mous in its day, conducted in the old
Gray’s church by Dennis B. Dorsey.
A program of an “Exhibition” at
that Academy on the evening of April
7th, 1854, when he was not yet twelve
years of age, presents him as having
delivered two “Orations,” appeared in
a dialogue and a little play.
A SCHOOL TEACHER AND CLERK.
Two years later, when only four-
teen years of age, he went to Lumber
City, Clearfield county, to teach school
and it has been family tradition that
he lost his job because he was so
small of stature that he could not
control the large boys of the school.
On the day of his funeral John Q.
Miles cleared him of this failure by
referring to the incident and declaring
that the juvenile pedagogue had not
been run out, but mastered the situa-
tion and finished the term creditably.
His next occupation was as a clerk
in Furst’s store at Milroy where he
remained until he returned to accept
a similar position in the store of
George Gates at Stormstown. Storms-
town was then a busy trade centre
and at nights the big store was the
rendezvous for scores of men. It was
the duty of the young clerk to sleep
in the place and it is little wonder
that physical fear was hard to conceal
by this undersized boy of less than
sixteen when the primitive times and
his sense of responsibility are consid-
ered. And we here recall an incident
that reveals a diamond in the rough
so truly that we regard it worth re-
counting.
The late “Bill” McElhattan, so well
known in Bellefonte, was one of the
crowd that gathered nightly about the
stove in Gates’ store to tell ghost sto-
ries and swap yarns well calculated
to make young blood run cold. It was
he who discovered the unrest of the
new clerk and it was he who left the
crowd when locking up time came and
slipped back to the store to offer com-
pany to the boy through the vigils of
the night. in that gloomy, spooky
room. And from that night until the
one P. Gray Meek relinquished the
job “Bill” McElhattan slept in the bed
with him and never a soul knew of
the unforgettable kindness it was.
He had saved a little money and
with this he bought some patent
rights on a churn. With an old horse
and a two wheeled gig he started to
make his fortune selling the rights.
His territory was through the New
England States and his letters home
reveal that all was not gold that glis-
tered. His resoursefulness stood him
in goed stead, however, for he struck
upon the happy practice of interest-
ing some prospect with only one cow.
Then he would have to make head-
quarters there until they could ac-
cumulate enough cream for a churn-
‘have been looking to the
ing, all the time slipping out into
nearby territory locating other prob-
able buyers.
STARTING HIS CAREER IN JOURNAL-
ISM.
In the early fall of 1861, then
slightly over 18 years of age, he came
to Bellefonte and in partnership with
the late Senator Cyrus T. Alexander,
rented the “Democratic Watchman,”
which was then owned by Samuel
Shugert, Daniel Garman, John Hof-
fer and one other gentleman whose
name we cannot recall, but our im-
pression is that it was Major William
F. Reynolds. That was just after the
dual Douglass and Breckenridge cam-
paign. It turned out that Alex-
ander was for Douglass and Meek
was for Breckenridge and as
they could not reconcile their dif-
ferences they could not agree up-
on a policy for the paper. Mr.
Meek had no money to buy his part-
ner out so the only alternative was to
sell, which he did for twenty-five dol-
lars—a sum that would indicate that
the “Watchman” at that time wasn’t
considered a very valuable property.
He went back to his home and
worked that fall and winter so that by
spring of 1862 he had saved enough
money to buy the interest of one of
the four owners of the property and
entered into an agreement with the
other three that he was to have sole
control and given an opportunity to
buy their interests out of earnings.
He assumed control on June 1st,
1862, and at once threw all the force
of his persevering character into its
columns. They were trying days and
partisanship was bitter. Opposition,
both passive and active, was on all
sides and the most tragic incidents of
his life fell upon the young editor.
It was not the moral principle of slav-
ery that he stood against. It was
what he regarded as a violation of a
fundamental tenet of Democracy, the
rights of the States, but in the heat
and passion of those awful days, he
was misunderstood. And to-day when
we all feel that the horrors of the
world war that we hope is now
closed, have been due as much to too
strongly centralized government as to
an yother cause we are constrained to
ask the question as to whether the
editor of eighteen-sixties might not
} far off fall
of 19147? oc? 3 ” .
In 1863 he was arrested and taken
before Squire Weaver on the charge
of “high treason” and bound over,
Samuel Gilliland having become his
bondsman. That a justice of the
peace had jurisdiction in a case of
high treason, or how he could have
been guilty of such an offense in the
publication of a newspaper only, or
by what authority bonds could be re-
quired, is one of the mysteries only
explained by the distorted views of
those troublous times.
publishing articles that grated harsh-
ly upon the ears of those who opposed
freedom of the press and the Demo-
cratic party. And in March of 1865
soldiers, who were billeted in the old
jail on the hill, marched to his office,
which was then located on the second
floor of what was then known as “the
Iron Front” building, and later Rey-
nolds opera house, and placed him
under arrest. Two privates, with
fixed bayonets and an officer with
drawn sword, marched into his office
and found him settling an account
with H. Y. Stitzer. While one sol-
dier guarded a nearby window the
other guarded the door and the officer
laid his hand on Mr. Meek’s shoulder,
saying: “You are my prisoner.” He
was not yet twenty-three years old
and weighed less than one hundred
pounds and while it probably did not
appear so at that time we look back
upon it from this date as at least an
amusing spectacle—the thought of
that slip of a man being marched up
the middle of Allegheny street by
three stalwart soldiers armed to the
teeth.
On the way to the jail he slipped a
note, which he had written during the
five minutes the lieutenant had ac-
corded him in which to complete his
business with Mr. Stitzer, to John
Moran. It was a message to his
young wife, then almost a total
stranger and with scarce a friend in
the town, apprising her of his pre-
dicament, That afternoon he was
marched down the street to the sta-
tion and started on the way to a mil-
itary prison in Harrisburg.
A crowd followed the procession,
some friends were in it, but for the
most part it was a hooting, menacing
gathering. There was more of proph-
ecy than he knew in one shout of a
friend, the old Jewish merchant,
Abram Sussman, who shouted from
his store front: “You may take him
to Harrisburg now, but by God we’ll
send him down there to make laws
for you before we get through with
this.”
He remained in the famous cotton
factory prison from Tuesday until
the next Tuesday when he was re-
leased upon taking an oath to return
for trial when called. What the
charge was he never knew as he was
never called. :
In 1864 he was twice arrested for
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
ples of Democracy.
either is known.
eration of his opinions.
ment to him who made it.
BELLEFONTE, PA., FEBRUARY 21, 1919.
CES TCAD
IN MEMORIAM.
It seems peculiarly appropriate that “The Democratic Watch-
man” should dedicate this page to the memory of its veteran owner
and editor. For here, throughout the fifty-seven years he was in un-
interrupted control of the paper his written words have been re-
corded in hopeful advocacy and unwavering defense of the princi-
So indissolubly have the man and the journal been associated
for more than half a century, and so consistently has it propounded
his ideals of right in all things that P. Gray Meek and “The Demo-
cratic Watchman” have come to be synonymous terms wherever
Born to Democratic journalism in the bitter travail of Civil war
times his career has not been without its tragedies. Insulted, mob-
bed, imprisoned he clung to his convictions with a tenacity and cour-
age that turned odium into respect and commanded serious consid-
P. Gray Meek and “The Democratic Watchman” have ever
been constructive; insofar as it was given them to distinguish the
things that were right from the things that were wrong. Often-
times have they been in the unpopular side of political controversies,
but never on the wrong side of a movement for the civic or moral
welfare of our town, our country, our State, our Nation.
As to the measure of his services to his fellow men others must
speak. As to the final summing up of his life’s work as editor of
this paper there can be no such test of the balance for what is writ-
ten is written and so long as men read and think his voice will be
heard and continue to mould some thought.
Through the gloom of the separation of the man and his medi-
um there looms a heartening hope.
public services fade in the memory of man this journal, “The Dem-
ocratic Watchman,” may courageously go forward a living monu-
A hope that if others of his
P. GRAY MEEK
At the age of 55
In May of 1865 he was arrested for
the last time by United States mar-
shall Hartshorn, upon the oath of a
Clearfield postmaster named Frank.
He was taken to Pittsburg and bound
over for appearance before the Unit-
ed States circuit court sitting in Erie.
Later the marshall offered to settle
the case for $300, but the proposal
was refused and trial demanded. It
never came and that indictment, if
there was one, is still on the docket.
SENT TO THE LEGISLATURE
Two years later, on August 10th,
1867, he was chosen by acclamation
by the Democratic county convention
as its candidate for Assemblyman,
and in the issue of the “Watchman”
of August 16th we find one of the
only two references this modest man
has ever made to his own ambitions
in the paper that he edited for fifty-
seven years. It follows:
“The editor of this paper has to thank
his fellow Democrats for the unsual com-
pliment of a nomination by acclamation
for a first term in the Assembly. His
record is well known and the sentiments
he has often expressed remain unchanged.
Should he be elected, of course, he will do
all that in his judgment will be best for
the interests of the party and the county.”
He was elected by a majority of
615. Joseph L. Neff, of Potter town-
ship, was his opponent.
He was nominated in 1868 and
elected by a majority of 312. An-
drew Gregg was his opponent.
In pursuance of the rotation rule
he declined to be a candidate in 1869,
but entered the lists again in 1870
and was elected by a majority of 714.
His opponent was R. H. Duncan. In
this campaign, both for the nomina-
tion and the election, he had serious
opposition within his own party for
he had advocated the repeal of the
Public Library act, which was really
a camouflaged Law Library, which
authorized the purchase of law books
with public funds. This was resent-
ed by the lawyers everywhere and
they made trouble for the one who
dared to destroy their rights—as they
viewed them. He had pushed through
his railroad fence law for Centre
county and his lumbermen’s act, re-
ferred to in another column of this
issue in the splendid tribute paid his
memory by Hon. Ellis L. Orvis, how-
ever, and the farmers, lumbermen and
(Continued on page 4, Col. 1).
NO. 8.
THE TRIBUTE OF HIS FELLOW
CITIZENS.
Bellefonte paid tribute to the mem-
ory of P. Gray Meek by stopping all
business at 9:30 Wednesday morning
and gathering at the Court House for
a public memorial service.
Mr. Hammon Sechler was chosen
chairman of the gathering and opened
the meeting with the following re-
marks:
All of the responses were voluntary
and are published in their order:
Gentlemen: It is altogether right
and proper that a meeting of our
townsmen should be held today to
show our last tribute of respect and
admiration for our departed friend.
He was a man of kind disposition, a
good neighbor, a good home man. In
addition to that, a man of wide repu-
tation, a man of distinction, a man
known far and wide. Of that part of
his life I will not attempt to speak.
There are others here who are. far
better qualified to speak of those
things than I am, and in the few mo-
ments I will ask your attention, I will
confine myself to speaking of P. Gray
Meek—the neighbor, the citizen, the
friend, the character of every-day life
here amongst us.
Coming to Bellefonte over (fifty
years ago, having no knowledge of
man, nor woman nor child in Centre
county. I had no trouble in forming
acquaintances very quickly, and ome
very pleasant and very satisfactory
acquaintances, but in the course of a
few days after my arrival I went to
the “Watchman” office to put gn ad-
vertisement in his paper when I start-
ed in business. I had no recollection
then that I had ever seen Mr. Meek,
and did not know who he was until I
went into his office. It was only a few
minutes I was there, the call was a
short one, but when I left I found we
were quite well acquainted. We did
not have to get acquainted, we found
ourselves acquainted. The conversa-
tion passed was of an ordinary char-
acter, but when I came away after
that short visit I discovered that I
had not only made an acquaintance,
but that I had found a friend. He ap-
pealed to me—the reception he gave
me and the conversation we had—so
that when I came away I knew I had
a friend besides an acquaintance, and
it proved to be a friendship that was
vast and sincere, and now of over fif-
ty years standing. It never diminish-
ed, it was over fifty years of contin-
ual, uninterrupted friendship. ,
might’ not be worth speaking a! Pere.
at this time, but that is not the
thought. The thought is that that was
characteristic of the man, coming
from his heart, and no doubt in this
audience now there are other men who
came to Bellefonte about that time
who can give the same testimony of
the same friendship and friendly feel-
ing he exercised toward me. It was
characteristic of the man. From that
day to this there has hardly been a
day that there was not some inter-
change of friendship. A continual in-
terchange of friendship in business,
or social life, or in some transaction.
I will say to you younger men, which
you will find as you pass along, it
was a friendship that was formed and
grew continuously and was cemented
together for over fifty years, and it
will cost us a sincere wrench of heart
that we can’t get away from.
As my last tribute of respect to
our neighbor and friend, speaking fig-
uratively I would like always to have
a wreath to lay on his bier as a token
of my love and admiration of the
friendship I have enjoyed with P.
Gray Meek.
Honorable Ellis L. Orvis:
Fellow Citizens: Itis my honorable
duty by a committee on resolutions
to present these resolutions, and I will
make a few remarks on the life and
character of our distinguished fellow
citizen. These remarks must neces-
sarily be brief because the clock
shows the approaching hour of ten,
and the funeral services begin at half
past ten, and there are others here
who should and must express some
tribute to his memory.
As our chairman was speaking the
thought was born strong in me, and
it is shared amongst us, that as years
are given to us of life, we must pay
a heavy price for that life. It becomes
our duty to bury our dead comrades.
It is the price of life. With the death
of Senator Meek has passed away a
generation of giants. He is the last
of a remarkable coterie of distinguish-
ed men that reflect so much lustre on
their birth place and home—men, who
just before the Civil war and during
that frightfulness in our country’s his-
tory, distinguished themselves, Belle-
fonte and Centre county, by their
rominence in State and nation. They
eave no survivors amongst us, and
the remarkable thing is that Senator
Meek born of that generation, many
of whom have passed away, twenty,
thirty or forty years ago, has surviv-
ed, out-lived them all, and at this late
day is entitled to this meeting of
praise from us.
I was but a mere babe when I came
to Bellefonte with my father and moth-
er, right in the closing years and days
of the Civil war. My earliest recol-
lection of any citizen was that of Sen-
ator Meek, so that from that time of
my earliest recollection to this very
hour he occupied a very large space
in my life’s experience, and you can
realize how solemn it is therefore for
me on this sad occasion. .
Mr. Meek was a remarkable man in
this respect, that he came to Belle-
fonte almost sixty years ago as a boy,
only nineteen or twenty years of age,
and looked much younger—looked like
a youth you remember, and how young
P. GRAY MEEK
At the age of 73 when he gave up active
work
he looked for so many years! He as-
sumed the editorship of the “Watch-
man” and immediately made it a
prominent journal in the State. As-
sumed the leadership in his county be-
fore he could vote. I challenge a
comparison in this county. Became a
State leader while he was a boy. A
man of that type has many activities
and in so brief a time we can’t touch
upon them all, but I should say,
roughly speaking, his life flowed in
four great currents, that of a journal-
ist, a Legislator, a politician and a
man of family life, and in all these ac-
tivities or channels he achieved dis-
tinction and notice.
Under his management, as I said
before, the “Watchman” immediately
became one of the foremost papers in
the State. Printed as it was in an in-
terior county, in a very small town, it
only became so because of his pecu-
liar ability and force. The “Watch-
man” for fifty-five years at least has
been more quoted than any other
county paper in the State. He showed
his taste by at once making one of
the most tasteful, most agreeable
looking papers in the State. It hasan
unique appearance. None of you can
recall a newspaper resembling it in
its appearance.
Mr. Meek was not only strong, he
was belligerent. When he stood for
anything he stood for it not only
strongly, but fiercely. He fought
hard, and therefore made strong ene-
mies. During the stress. and deep
feeling of the Civil war he felt it his
duty to oppose the policies of the
National Administration, and he crit-
icised fiercely, so much so at one time
that a company of soldiers was sent
here and he was arrested and taken
to Harrisburg to be tried for treason,
of which he was honorably acquitted,
and so from that time to this, however
varied his activities away from here,
he never permitted his paper to weak-
en in its influence. He always cared
for it and saw to it that the “Watch-
man” should not only represent his
views but represent them in such a
way that it would affect the thought
of the State. So Bellefonte has al-
vays been justly proud of this paper,
and he is one of the sons of Centre
county who has created for himself a
distinction as a journalist, and his life
is unique in that respect.
While still a boy he was elected to
the Legislature in 1868, and he was
re-elected, I think, in 1871. He made
his mark there. Coming from a ru-
ral section of this county his sympa-
thies were always with the farmer,
and therefore one of the first objects
he had was to have passed a law of
fences—a law that is still on the stat-
ute books and has proved itself a
friend of the farmer. It would be
very unpopular to repeal that legis-
lation today, and is possibly the only
piece of legislation that creates alaw
in this county and the neighboring
county of Clinton that is a general
law with regard to fences.
In 1871 the great industry of cen-
tral Pennsylvania was lumbering.
Millions of dollars were invested in it,
and thousands of men were employ-
ed. At one time the Susquehanna in
the spring was crowded with the
rafts of the beautiful and magnifi-
cent forest groves of Pennsylvania—
the beautiful white pine. Our men
would go out in the mountains and
work there the whole winter in those.
days, and it was the custom of the
lumberman to buy the camps and food
for his men during the winter, and
then sell his logs in the spring to some
town further down the river. The re-
sult was that the men’s wages would
accumulate during the winter and be
at the risk of their employer. The
lumbermen in those days were largely
speculative. I presume 75 per cent.
of them failed in those times, result-
ing in the sweeping away of the ac-
cumulated wages of their men. Sen-
ator Meek, in sympathy with the poor
man, and that was a distinet charac-
teristic of the man, had passed the
lumberman’s law, allowing him to col-
lect his wages, and forcing upon the
buyer to take notice whether the
wages of those men were cared for.
And there was considerable other leg-
islation that ought to be referred to,
but concerning which we haven’t time
to mention.
Afterwards Senator Meek became
the Chief Clerk of the House. As we
all know, that is one of the most im-
portant positions at Harrisburg, and
in the earlier days even more impor-
tant than today, when legislation was
passed in a much more loose way than
today, when legislation was probably
more in the hands of the Chief Clerk
than in the committees. He filled that
position, responsible as it was, with
general credit to himself and satis-
faction to the State. Later this dis-
trict made him Senator by one of the
largest majorities ever given to a
candidate for that office in this dis-
trict. :
But I can say without hesitation
that P. Gray Meek’s life was more
noted in his political activities than in
any other line. He was a born poli-
tician, he was a successful politician,
an unique politician. In the Civil war
he was a stormy opponent in the
State, abhored by Republicans, wor-
shipped by Democrats, and yet he was
able by his charming personality, fo
overcome the bitterness of his earlier
years, and I say without hesitation
(Continued on page 4, Col. 4).