The Comanche Chief"It is the oldest business institution in Comanche County, and it is the oldest newspaper published west of Fort Worth. From the day it was established until today, the primary goals of The Comanche Chief are to be in touch with the life of the community, to chronicle the births and deaths of its citizens, as well as using many lines of type to inform the community of county and city business, social gatherings, school activities, as well as to continue to promote Comanche County as a fine place to live, work, and raise a family.
Geraldo Alonzo Beeman was the first editor of The Chief. He, along with a group of citizens, raised money to purchase a used printing press from a newspaper in Georgetown. He sent Tom Estis to haul the G-Wash press to Comanche in a prairie schooner pulled by two oxen. It was during Beeman’s time as editor that John Wesley Hardin reputed to be a professional gunfighter, killed Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb of Brown County, Texas. A year later, he was apprehended and brought back to Comanche for trial and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The trial was covered extensively by The Comanche Chief, taking up four pages in brevier type (8-point type).
During the first few years, Indian raids continued to be a problem. Citizens realized the town would not prosper and people would not settle in the area as long as there was danger of Indians. The Comanche Chief played a significant role in obtaining the protection of the Texas Rangers in the county. Only one Indian raid occurred after the Rangers arrived.
With the area secured, the Chief entered on an earnest campaign to induce immigration, printing many Special Editions that were mailed all over the country. Within ten years after the first edition of The Comanche Chief in 1873, the population jumped from 1,100 to 8,600.
In 1877, L. B. Russell, an educated man and talented writer, became editor. In 1878, Russell sold The Chief to R. G. Armstrong, who shortly thereafter sold it to Joe Hill. Joe and his brother Robert T. Hill, who later became famous as a geologist and considered “The Father of Texas Geology.”
In 1883, Sam Vernon (TPA president 1897-98) purchased The Chief, followed by Sidney Thomas (TPA president 1904-05) who purchased it in 1896. Five days later the newspaper office burned, along with much valuable history of Comanche County going up in the flames. It was during the time Thomas was editor that he produced many special editions used to entice settlers to the area. It was said of him, “Sound in his political views, firm in his convictions he was yet charitable and tolerant of the views of others, with the mind of a genius and the soul of a poet, his facile pen flowed with an ease and grace seldom equaled.”
Many changes of ownership of The Chief continued until James Claude Wilkerson purchased The Chief in the early 1920s. The parade of editors through the press doors stopped and offered stability of ownership, making The Comanche Chief almost synonymous with the Wilkerson name. He was a 1912 graduate of the University of Texas, and although he was not a native of Comanche County, you would never have known it. Never has a man loved his town, county, school, church, and its businesses more. He wrote long editorials and quoted lots of Bible verses. As an elderly man, one of his favorite columns was the Sunday School Attendance in each church in Comanche. Since his purchase of The Chief, newspaper was run by his sons James and Bill, his daughter-in-law Mary Smith Wilkerson, and currently since the early 1970s, his grandson, James Claude Wilkerson, III and wife Nancy. In the early 1990s, great-grandson Lance Wilkerson became a part of the business, and since 2014, another great-grandson, Bradley Wilkerson, has joined the staff.