“Beefy” probably wasn’t the best choice of words, but it is the one Wilbur F. Storey decided on. The Chicago Times editor had searched for just the right word to describe a theater group that performed in Chicago a few years after the Civil War ended. The performers billed themselves as the “British Blondes” and were introducing a performance to America that would eventually be known as burlesque.

Webster, in his all-knowing dictionary, notes the word means “fleshy, brawny, heavy, solid.” Being described as “beefy” did not resonate well with the ladies who had crossed the Atlantic to perform for their American cousins. Lydia Thompson, considered to be the star of the troupe, was outraged at Storey’s impression of the troop.

To show her disdain for the editor, Thompson took a horse whip to Storey when she met him on the street. This form of protest did not sit well with Chicago’s finest, and the disenchanted performer was arrested and delivered to a magistrate. He fined her $100 and delivered a stern warning about committing violence in a peace-loving city like Chicago. The fine was eventually set aside, and there was no international incident between the Americans and the British.

It was not unusual for Storey to ruffle a few feathers. During the Civil War, his paper was a bitter critic of the Lincoln administration. The Times was a staunch supporter of states’ rights, opposed the war, and condemned Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

In Danville the Harmon and Fithian families referred to Storey’s paper as the Copperhead Times. The word copperhead was used to describe northern people opposed to the war. Col. Oscar Harmon looked with disfavor on anyone who subscribed to or read the paper. During the war, Gen. Ambrose F. Burnside sent a squad of troops to the paper and shut it down.

This delighted Storey, a savvy publisher who knew public sentiment would be on his side in this issue, even if many citizens disagreed with his views. In Chicago, some of his bitterest critics assisted in organizing a mass meeting to protest the closing of the paper. Storey immediately applied to the courts for an injunction against the order that had stopped his presses.

Among those who opposed Storey’s paper, but came to his aid, was Judge David Davis of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Davis had managed Lincoln’s first campaign for president, and had sat on the bench in Danville as a circuit judge for several years. He appealed to Lincoln to lift the order brought against Storey’s paper, noting his right of free speech was being violated. Lincoln rescinded the order and the Times was once again in business.

Not everyone was happy with the decision to let Storey resume printing his paper during the war. Private Thomas Brown wrote his mother Eleanor in Danville and asked his mother to send him copies of the Chicago Times to Arkansas, where he was fighting with the 37th Illinois. Answering his letter, she wrote, “You wounded deeply when you asked for copperhead papers.” Josephine Fithian of Danville, whose two sons earned the Medal of Honor during the Civil War, observed the Times should not have been allowed to print another paper. But Storey did print his paper, and continued to do so for two decades. When Justin E. Walsh wrote a biography of Storey, he titled it, “To Print the News and Raise Hell.” That was an appropriate description of the Times editor.

Storey also evidently learned a lesson from his experience writing about the British Blondes. There is no record of him ever again using the word “beefy” to describe a group of women.

Donald Richter’s column appears every other week in the Commercial-News. He is a member of the Vermilion County Museum Board.