(From Unknown newspaper; Scrapbook collection of Eddy C. Gilbert, Rushford NY_
Transcribed by Karen Meisenheimer)
William W. Nichols, the accomplished editor of the Allegany County Democrat, has just assumed the duties and responsibilities of his official position as postmaster at Wellsville. The office is one of the largest and most important on the western division of the Erie railway. His appointment by President Cleveland was received with warm manifestations of approval by the citizens of his town, irrespective of party, and he was endorsed by the entire business community. The Allegany County Reporter, the organ of the Republican party of that county and whose able editor is one of the most extreme partisans, paid Mr. Nichols a highly flattering compliment, admitting that no other opponent would have given such universal satisfaction, and that, doubtless no other appointment to an office of such importance in the United States caused as little friction, where there were rival candidates. The Democracy recognized the fact that he was justly entitled to this mark of favor as a reward for faithful party service, and all conceded his popularity and efficiency.
Mr. Nichols is a man in middle life, about 40 years of age, and one of the leading citizens in the town in which he lives. He has been connected with the press for over twenty years, and is ranked as one of the ablest and wittiest writers in provincial journalism. He firmly established, what many before him had given up is despair – a Democratic organ in Allegany County. It was done by close work, pluck, and brains. And his journal has kept the Democracy of that county in solid phalanx. The party owes him a reward for his gallant services, and the Gazette heartily congratulates him on his appointment. For many years Mr. Nichols was an annual delegate to the state conventions of the Democratic Party, during its earliest and most trying period. His political acquaintance extends beyond the narrow limits of the county in which he resides, and he has many warm friends among the influential men in the Democratic party of the state. Twelve years he has been a resident of Wellsville, and from expressions made recently by the business men to a Gazette representative, no man has a cleaner political record, or stands higher in the estimation of the public.
We congratulate Wellsville on her new Democratic postmaster, and Grover Cleveland on the eminently fit selection of the man for the position.