The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-09-13
s'BILL, THE WHITTIER. "

srr q 'sDlLtJs HE hIllLEhS
A Chat With Genius in an Old Church
at KirkwOod- Wonderful Automata Com
strucisd With tho Aid of Only Jack
Knife--A Model of the Strasburg Cathe-
Giral which viii Astonish the World.
One of the most eccentric characters
in Missouri : if not in the entire Missis-
s;ppi Valleys VIM. lohe, of Kirk
wood.gt He is better known as ''Bill,
the Whittier" Bill ,laims to be the
champion VIII ttler in the world. With
an ordinary pen-knife he has demon
stra ed his ability to make almost any
thing carpenter, cabinet make or
wood-carver can make with q full set of
edged tools. He occupies an old church
in hirkwood which he has ii lie / almost
completely with curosities of a novel
as well as Us eful character with the aid
of his trustv bone handled knife. The
spectators who take the trouble to visit
sths museum will find the collection as
interesting as the pi, lures of famous
art gallery. A short time ego Bill made
the announcement, through the Repub-
licdn, that he would throw the church
doors open on certain day in order
that those who desired to see his con-
trivances might crafty their curiosity.
After that date no person would be adj
mitted, as he proposed to bgin the
greatest unde taking of his life, viz,
the construction of gigantic automatic
concern that would SURF ass anything of
tie kind the world had ever seen. The
population of Kirkwood, with scarce Y
an exception, accepted Bills invitation,
9 and all day during his reception the
church was filled with people Ever
since that eventful day the people of
Kirkwood have looked upon Bill as the
eighth wonder of the world. Hearing
of his waxing fame, a Republican re-
porter visited Kirkwood yesterday and
had a very pleasant interview with
Bill"
VISIT TO THE OLD CHURCH.
The Republican, representative,
wheel he asked where the old church
was located, was told that it was use
less to 90 there, as obi, the Whittier, :"
was whiting therein with doors closed.
On reaching the church the reporter was
confronted by play cald on the front
door containing these words: ''Posi-
lively no admittance. He knocked,
however, and to his surprise received a
response from clear, manly voice that
artIculated in very pleasant tone the
words: aoCome in. The scene within
was strange enough to look upon. 1t
was quite apparent that the place had
been used as place of worship, but it
looked more like museum and car
penter=shop combined yesterday. Bill
was sitting OnA bench with a section OF
a cigar-box in one hand and his tavorite
bone-handled kni in the other
whiting away as though the destiny OF
the world depended upon his ability to
complete his work. The blade of the
knife he used was about an inch long
and tapered all the way from the hilt to
the point.
...ssWell, Bill, y said the reporter, break
ing the monotonous silence that pre-
vailed, '.they say you are the champion
whittier, of the world.
eyes, and I am willing to white
anything against any man living
There Is only one whittier on the face
of the earth who can even approach my
work, and that person is Monkey JohI
of Chicago Monkey John would no
white agains5 me, for he and l hav,
whitfield together and he knows wha
can do / was born in St. Louis, oil
Morgan street. in the building occupied
years ago by the old Mound City bak
cry
WENT TO THE WAR.
"When in my teens i became the APP
prentice of millwright, but before my
time was out, at the beginning of tn,
war, Al ran away from home and joinet
the Union army as member of Cap
tain G. w. PENIS company. Will
serving a, soldier had one of tn
toes OF my right foot shot off and coult
bavo bad a nansiou had I seen fit tn an