Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1911 — Aged Darkey Who Never Slept Died at Hospital In Logansport [ARTICLE]

Aged Darkey Who Never Slept Died at Hospital In Logansport

Rensselaer people who have passed through or entered Logansport over the Panhandle railroad will probably remember the old negro newsboy and will be interested in the following account of him published following his death, by the Logansport Reporter: Old ‘‘Uncle’' Allen is no more. The aged colored news vender who had been a familiar figure at the Panhandle station and about the streets since 1886, died last evening at St. Joseph’s hospital, where he had been confined for the past week or ten days. There was perhaps no better known character in Logansport than he, and it is an undisputed fact that there is no man in Logansport who was so widely known throughout the country as “Uncle” Allen. His shrill cry, “Chicago papers; Chicago papers; Chicago papers; shaw papers,” was familiar to every trainmaif"on the Panhandle system. Almost every official on the Pennsylvania system from division tendent to President McCrea, knew the old man personally, and had a friendly greeting for him whenever passing through the city. He was so well liked that several years ago when an order was Issued abolishing news venders from the stations along the Pennsylvania system, by special permission of the high moguls, he Was the only one of the big army permitted to remain. *

He was always courteous, spoke pleasantly and cheerfully to every one, and though crippled with rheumatism during the last few years of his life, he never complained. He was up until long after midnight, and was up before the birds. Asked when he slept, he replied: “I suah Jest cyan’t sleep good; feel better Jest potterin’ ’round.” When asked why he did not quit work, he replied: “Es I cudn’t sell mah papers I’d jea’ die.” “Uncle” Allen was born on a plantation in Lynchburg, Va. Just how old he was, he never knew, but it is estimated that he was about ninety. When just a boy the whole family was put on the auction block and he and a twin brother were sold to a planter named Felix Allen, who lived in Tennessee. His parents were - sold to a planter who resided in the south, and after leaving Lynchburg, he never saw them again.