Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1919 — STORIES from the BIGCITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STORIES from the BIGCITIES

To See What Ker Own Death Notice Looked Like V ■ »" —.-■ BALTIMORE. —Human nature may not have changed in all the ages, but some queer people bob irp nowadays, Katharine McPhail of Baltimore -would get~the M:< ry la nd” record : for~q ut,eril css, probably, if It cSiheTo a vote

in the state. Inserting, or causing to have Inserted, notice of her own degffiZ in an afternoon paper just to see_how it looked in print and to find out the actual number of friends who cared for her, Katharine, the—daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James McPhail, 2511 St. Paul street, Baltimore, caused her parents -Considerable worry. Katharine inserted the following advertisement in an afternoon paper: -McPhail—On August 18, 1910,

Katharine, aged nineteen years, beloved daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James L, McPhail. Funeral at her parents’ residence, 2.>11 St. Paul street, on Wednesday afternoon at 2p. in.” Miss McPhail then left for Clifton Park and went in bathing. Relatives and friends lost n<f time in calling up the McPhail home. An aunt of the girl, Mrs. Oliver F. Ryan of Raspeburg, who read the notice hastened to the McPhail residence, believing her niece had actually died. Mrs. Ryan told of having considered a floral design to be sent to .the McPhail residence, and also of writing to La Crescent, Minn., to an uncle of the girl. Neighbors were startled by the announcement, and made inquiries, only to learn that the whole affair was a joke—or at least was' so considered by the girl. Passing of Two Pioneers Shows How Young We Are ————————————— f BLOOMINGTON, ILL.—The death of Lafayette and Jacob Funk, sons of Isaac Funk, and oldest surviving members of one of the most noted pioneer farming families in the history ot Illinois, within three hours of each

other, serves to emphasize how young is this nation. In the lifetime of these two men Illinois has had its development and Chicago has grown from nothing. Their father came to Illinois in 1824 and settled at Funk's Grove, where he became the owner of 25,000 acres. Isaac Funk reared eight sons, all of whom attained success in agriculture, in business, and in polities. In September, 1915, Lafayette and Jacob Funk, traveling by motorcar;

made ahistoric trip from Bloomington to Chicago, following so far as possible tin old trail over which 70 years before they had driven cattle and hogs to the old Bull’s Head stock yards, located at __ West Madison street and Ogden avenue. In the outskirts of the great city which they had known as a frontier village they found welLreinembered landmarks. When Lafayette and Jacob Funk visited Chicago in the early days it took them nearly two weeks to make the journey over the old trail, riding in farm wagons behind plodding ox teams. They had a fund of interesting reminiscences concerning pioneer Times in Illinois. , As growers of seeds and immense crops, of-corn the fame of the Funks of Illinois spread to all parts of the United States. They also were noted as raisers of prize herds of cattle. Overall Salesman “Strikes It Rich” With a Club CHICAGO. —A few weeks ago the future of Robert Wachman seemed circumscribed bv sample lots of blue denim overalls. It was by selling overalls that he had eked out a modest livelihood for his wife and family at 4439 South

Michigan avenue. But today his business is to evade interested capitalists and wealthy mining engineers who wduld 4 make him their guest at ban- , quets, and theater parties. And he prays for deliverance from his newly mobilized army of “friends” who seek to express their admiration ~~of him by many artless methods. For Robert Wachman has~“strnck—it rich.” He "Is a potential millionaire, owner of a mining claim that' is ex-

pectOd to prove one of' the richest on the North American continent. Wachman decided a few. weeks ago that a complete rest and vacation was just what he needed. He had staked out a little patch of land near Dryden, Ont., a year or so ago. Gust Larson, a veteran prospector of the region, had recommended the claim. And, more to make a home for Gust than for any other reason, he had purchased a strip of 160 acres. While scratching around in the rugged hillsides that abound in his claim, Wachman and his friend Gust happened on a rusty spur of quartz jutting up from the ground. Striking the protruding jet of ore with a club, glittering particles of gold were found in the fragments of quartz. Quick work with a pick and shovel soon revealed a ledge of gold ore that is ten feet deep and graduates from a w|dth of 12 inches at the top to 30 inches at its lowest depth. OrrTranlTlFrimgs “ Got ffis Bearskin Rug BOISE. IDAHO. —Guests at the home of Dr. Frank Billings in Chicago this winter will be escorted in state to the library. “What d’ye think of that for a fine specimen?” the host will ask. The company, properly impressed.

will gaze on a shaggy cinnamon bearskin, the fangs gleaming savagely in the firelight. “Some bear!” they’ll say. Then politeness will prompt them to ask the doctor how he bagged it. “Shot the old fellow out in Idaho—from the front seat of an auto.” Doctor Billings will chuckle. “Want to hear the story?” The story will be something like this: A. S. Trqde, a noted Chicago lawyer, has a ranch at Rea. He was

entertaining a party of very prominent Chicagoams, including Doctor Billings^C. K. G. Billings and Roger Sullivan. They were out motoring and were not loaded for bear. ■-Doctor Billings car-ried-a shotgun in case any small game, such as grousie, appeared. Suddenly a big cinnamop bear jumped from the sagebrush into the road just ahead of the car. Doctor Billings was in the front seat. He blazed; away at bruin. This is the way Mr. Trude tells the rest of it: **At first the bear gained on us, though we tore along *as fast as the chauffeur could make ths car go. but after a while we gained on the bear, and the doctor fired a full charge into his neck, just back of the head. This caused it to fall and roll partly over, but it recovered and resumed its journey, bear fashion, down the trail, with the auto at full speed in pursuit, jumping over badger holes and ruts and with the doctor getting in a shot as often as he could. “I sat in the rear seat, hanging oh and yelling to the doctor to soak him again, which he did by landing a fuU charge of shot just back of bruin’s shoulder.” Some states have la,ws forbidding shooting game on highways and from automobiles. , „ Evidently Idaho Is not one of these states. ... ...