Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 161, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1920 — HAPPENINGS in the CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAPPENINGS in the CITIES

Jurv of- Neighbors “Divorce” Pastor

L iverpool, n. y. — a selected "jury” of three neighbors has decided that Rev. W. W. Brunk, pastor of the First Methodist church, and his wife, whom he married twenty-two years ago, shall separate. As was agreed before they selected the jury the pastor and his wife signed the decision and have separated. took place in the parlor of the clergyman’s home. While the three children of the Brunk family— Lillian, twenty, a sophomore at Syracuse university; Alfred, sixteen, a student in high school, and Gifford, seven, waited in the dining room. Reverend and Mrs. Brunk told their stories. First they were questioned separately and then a joint hearing was held. Then the neighbors deliberated alone and pronounced their decision: That the couple would be —for the time being, at least—better off apart.

The next day Mr. and Mrs. Brunk called together at the office of George B. Dolsen and signed an agreement upon the terms of their separation. The paper read that Mrs. Brunk should take their youngest son, Gifford, and go to live with her bachelor brother, John Battle of Pensacola, Fla. Her husband was to pay her $2,000 —51,500 to be raised by placing a mortgage on the Brunk homestead and SSOO in cash at once. After signing the agreement the couple returned to the Brunk home, Where Mrs. Brunk prepared the supper. She straightened up their little home and then left on the midnight train, accompanied by her little son and her brother. “I believe that our neighbors arrived at the right decision —at least for the time being,” says Reverend Mr. Brunk. “It is probably the best and most sensible way out of misunderstandings.” Then he went, qn cooking his dinner. ■ There is one thing I would like to he understood,” said the son. “That is that there is not one breath of scandal on either side. I believe they will be back together soon —they are very fond of each other.” During the war Reverend Mr. Brunk served with the Y.M. C. A. In France.

Jailed Genius Composes Masterpieces

GOLDEN, Colo. —In the county jail in this city Isadore Victor, charged with the murder of Marie Merold, his nurse, has written more than a score of marvelous compositions for the piano and violin, and six pieces, all he submitted, have been accepted by the Society for the Publication of American Music, of New York. When the trial of the twenty-three-year-old musical genius opens in Golden next November the story of his infatuation for the twenty-nine-year-old woman who' nursed him, at the Jewish Consumptives Relief society sanitarium, of his months of brooding after she transferred her affections to one of the staff of physicians, of his jealous act of shooting her thrice through the breast, of his being foiled in an attempt at his self-destruction and of his artistic triumphs on two continents will be told. " Meanwhile, the gifted young Russian is fighting a desperate battle against death from the white plague, having been transferred to St. Anthony’s hospital, following his lapse to the brink of the grave as the result of his six months’ life in a jail cell. While behind the bars young Victor wrote in one week the six compositions which are shortly to place his name among the elect in the violin world. One piece is dedicated to Mischa El-

man. a schoolday friend, whose friendship for the slayer is proven by a visit to his cell, when Elman plajei for him. Another is in honor of Albert Spalding, the American violinist, of whom Victor is a great admirer. “ ‘Remorse’ is my favorite,” said Victor. “It is in the sacred style, full of beautiful chords. "The Awakening' is in the style of Kriesler’s ‘Liebesfreud,’ but quite original. ‘Autumn Leaves’ is a- characteristic descriptive piece, a sad melody except where the wind catches up the dead leaves and sets them to dancing. It was hard to imagine that the handsome, brown-eyed boy had killed the girl he loved and now stood in the shadow of the gallows. The defense will be temporary insanity. Friends have donated from 25 cents to $25 each to help Victor fight his illness and prepare his defense.

Two Chapters in Life of “Dead” Indian

PAWHUSKA, Okla—This is the second chapter of the story of John Stink. Osage Indian. The first chapter has been told far beyond the borders of the “Osage nation” —how old John many years ago was carried out of his house to die, according to the custom of the Osages when one of their number nears his end; how he was pronounced dead; how he was buried under a pile of stones; how he came to, got out and was dubbed a ghost by his tribesmen; and how he was thereafter an outcast, an Indian without a tribe, dead to his own superstitious people, though still in the flesh. The second chapter: John Stink was lonely after he had “died,” so he spent much of his time in Pawhuska, which.

though it Is the capital of the Osage nation, is a white man’s , town. John made friends with 17 dogs that wert as lonely as he. The town marshal notified him to keep his dogs off .the streets. John didn’t understand the order, or didn’t want to, and didn’t care a whoop anyway. Whereupon the marshal took a shot and hit one of the dogs—a little white one. John never said a word. He picked up the little dog and carried it out of town, He sat watching it until it died. Then he got up and said: “John Stink is through with white man.” And he has never come to town since. John lives under two blankets stretched between trees beside the flat stone where he watched the little white dog die. Most of his dogs are dead now. . His guardian sends him a basket of food two or three times a week. The government agency sends him his share of the Osage oil money, and he is a rich man. But he stands all day on the flat stone and practices throwing knives. He can kill a bird on the wing with a knife.

High Cost of Romance Hits Rich Briton

NEW YORK. — The amazing romance of Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen and a cabaret girl—the divorced wife of a song writer —is disclosed today in connection with a suit for $500,000 against Sir Hugo. The suit was filed some weeks ago by Marvel le C. Brice and baffled inquiries until records found at Goshen, N. revealed that on November 7, 1918, Helen Oliver Brice divorced Marvelle C. Brice. On December 30, 1918—about six weeks later—Helen Elizabeth Oliver, her maiden name duly restored, became the bride of Cunliffe-Owen after a trip to Dudley. Mass., in the private car James B. Duke, the tobacco magnate. Service was obtained on CunliffeOwen a few weeks ago when he and Lady Cunliffe-Owen arrived in New York “for a six months’ visit.” Sir Hugo and the- lady hurried back to England.' ~ Prior to her first marriage Lady Cunliffe-Owen was Helen Mazie Oliver of Washington, Pa. In time she became known in Chicago cabarets and eventually appeared in Broadway

cabarets. She also filled minor .roles in moving picture productions. She was eighteen when she married Marvelle Cooper Brice, also known as Stewart Melly Brice Jr., adopted member of the Brice family, tnown for two generations in New York and Newport society. There is no record of their family life until just preceding the divorce in 1918. Then followed in six weeks the marriage in Massachusetts. Reports asserted the bridegroom’s gifts to his bride included a check for $4,000,000 and a necklace of pearls valued at $50,000.