Samuel B. Hern
1838 to Dec. 25, 1903
Niles Daily Star, Saturday, December 26, 1903, page 2, col. 1 (microfilm Niles District Library)
DIES XMAS NIGHT.
Poor Old Sam Hern, Former Journalist, Hands in “30.”
Sam Hern, veteran of the confederate army, journalist, printer and finally a county charge, passed away last night at the Berrien County poor farm near Berrien Springs, aged about 65 years.
The deceased was born in Virginia and served in the Confederate army during the civil war, coming to Niles in the 60's. At that time, Hern was a young man of refined manners, well educated and of fine personal appearance—qualifications which soon made him a social favorite.
Early in the 70's Hern edited the Niles Democrat with Morris Gulheen, the latter now being foreman of the St. Louis, Mo., Globe Democrat office. The Niles Democrat exerted a powerful influence upon the politics of the county. In the 80's Hern and John Lardner, now of Chicago, launched the “Expositor” at Benton Harbor, which they edited for a time finally selling out to Tom Hurley.
Upon his return to Niles, Hern, who had acquired a strong appetite for liquor, worked at the printer's trade, until a year or two ago, when he became a physical wreck. From then on, until he became a county charge, the deceased lived upon the charity of his friends.
When he accompanied Hern to the county house, W.H. Bullard, commissioner of the poor, promised him that he would see to it that his body would not be sent to Ann Arbor for dissection when he came to die, and in accordance with that promise, Mr. Bullard is circulating a subscription paper today to raise funds with which to give the deceased a decent burial.
The deceased never married and he leaves no known relatives in this part of the country.
