The evening world., 1889-01-19
A FELLOW OF INFINITE JEST.
Charles McKierpnn Was n Philanthropist
in His Wny, and, Though Reyiled In
Life, His Funeral Was Attended by the
Rich and the Poor, the Righteous and
the Wicked-A Strange Life.
ESPECIAL TO THE WORLD.


ESPECIAL TO TIE EvEStNG WORLD
MONTREAL, Jan. 10. Charles McKiernRn,
Familiarity known as - Joe Beef" one of the
most celebrated characters in Eastern Canada
known to Americans who have ever been
shown the sights of Montreal, friend of the
poor, the tramps and the bumIners. and a
man who did much good in his
W peculiar way, was buried here
yesterday. He died rather suddenly on
Tuesday. His obsequies were attended by
thousands Of people hundreds who, when
he was alive, experienced a cold chill when
the name of =" Joe Beef" or his low groggery
was mentioned, yesterday fought like mad
men to obtain II peep mt his dend form, or
listen TO the service delivered by Rev. Rural
Dean Lindsay, who, as pastor Of st. Thomas
Church, reviled Joe i'll life and eulogiZed
him in death.
No Bowery dive or sailors booZing-ken
could approach Beef's dive on Common
street here for vileness and responsiveness.
Yet yesterday ladies III satins. silks and furs;
gentlemen in broad cloth and worth millions.
and the most prominent merchants in the
city We'd and pushed ana scrambled with
fum-soaked, ragged and dirty tramps,
DlOhleu, CObThe, lOul-LlOulHou DuLllihtIb
and desperate thieves for an entrance
to the lamented Joe's palace of ~iniquity and
marched i'll So. emn procession, the lowly fol-
lowed by the hgh-born, the thief and outcast
elbow to elbow with preacher and Christian
passed the dead mans bier, some
the f foF% Of thee Sef man "a 's fGSg na al
sneered ut others to drop a tear for him who
had. perhaps, many times saved them from
starvation or furnished them warmth and q
l,al ,nI., , AhA hn.,.la IS oil n4lnr ,-.,, ono
turned against them.
Joe Beef " had a curious history. When
a boy he was sent to the School of Gunnery
in Woolwich, England. He was drafted
into the Royal Artillery and served through
the Crimean war, being raised to the rank of
sergeant. When others failed to secure sup
plies Joe would get a plentiful supply of
beef, and from this he received the name of
He came to Canada with the Royal Artil.
lcry in 1864. In 1870 he opened the place
wherein he died. In 1877, the year that the
great Lachine Canal strike occurred, Joe took
the part of the strikers, and distributed food
to them. During three days lie gave away
over 5000 loayes of bread, 700 gallons
of soup, and so carcasses of beef.
He also sent dele gntes to Ottawa.
who obtained for the strikers the relief they
demanded. Two years later the great Hoche-
laga Cotton Mills strike broke out. Joe
advised the peoplet to hold out. rs their claims
were just, and agreed to feed them, which lie
did, and the strikers won.
A hungry, penni ess and homeless man
never went to Joe's place and came away
without a meal or was refused a nights lodg-
ing
The building where Joe carried on bust
ness Is IA roomy, old fashioned place. On the
same floor he kept his men lgerie, the most
peculiar of Joe's many eccentricities. II ut
present comprises four black bears. ten
monkeys, u young alligator, three raccoons
and u pCrcuplne.
His love for animals almost cost Joe his
life. In June last his son went to look mt the
bears he lost his balance and fell among
the savage Bruins. which attacked the child.
The bears charged at Joe and knocked him
down and bit him severely. After n desper-
ate fight in saving his boy, the child was not
much injured but Joe was laid up for weeks.
When the Salvation Army first came to
Montreal he gave them 81 each Sunday for
singing opposite his %canteen, as he quantity
remarked. to save the buns he had made"
He employed an old man named Yankee
Williams to go around the streets with an old
trunk. on which was painted . Hotel de Joe
Beef"
A small illustrated paper, which he gave to
his customers, had on the first page a picture
Of himself. and over his head the following:
=" He cares not for the Pope, priest, parson or
King William, of Boyne All Joe wants
Summer time to keep him from all harm, and
when he sees the frost and snow poor old Joe
trusts to the mighty dollar and good Old ma
plewood to keep him warm. for of churches,
chapels, ranters, preachers and such stuff
Montreal has got enough"
When his first wife died, sixteen years ago,
Joe gave her a military funeral. A brass
band headed the cortege and Joe followed
he hearse with several hun dreds of his
peculiar customers following him.
After the body was deposited in the grave
and as the procession WINS coming ont
through the cemetery he had the band play
The Girl | left Behind Me-" and all the
way to his house livelv airs were the rule.
He left no will and died comparatively
poor, having given away almost all he earned:
He has n brother. n Jesuit priest. His second
wife and six children lived over his place in
apartments sumptuously fitted up, and the
children are all receiving fine educations.
The body was buried in Mount Royal Gem
etery.
Few slghtseers in Montreal have failed to
visit :" Joe BeCf's." His fame NJ II character
has spread all over the United States, and his
jolly, happy manners never failed to please
strangers.
Utterly deficient in morals witty. charit-
able and even brave, Joe Beef's" fame will
long be remembered in Canada.