The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-07-27
''sIIlIGl d DAYS
How sksliy L!ysd 4 Happy luoky sf e q
Aud How rs Endsd His
f1sys
ONLY HAPPY WHRI DRINKING

UhAY dAFf " = ha z38 0aia 'l haA ~ =
II melancholy alan Of aon'us Whose
songs aIstis Fortunes For Othsrs
But Not For Hlmss;f.
Joseph p. Sicily, the well known COM
poser and song writer, died g few days
| ago in q room attached to the charity
ward of st. Francis hospital, on East
Fifth street, New York. When it was was
known that Shelly was dying; the hos
pital gong was sounded. Two nurses
hurried to the room and removed the
furniture. A third nurse brought
table spread with a. white cloth, upon
which was d crucifx.
Then came the priest and a solemn
procession Of black robed Sisters Of
Charity, each of whom carried lighted
candle. The death bed services were
read by the priest, and the Sisters,
| kneeling upon the bare floor, chanted
| the prayers for the dying. Thus sur
| rounded, Sicily passed peacefully away.
None Of his relatives, and not even an
| intimate friend was present. Sicily
died a poor man, and his body was saved
from Potter's Field by his only relative,
a sister who lives in New York. When
she heard Of the death she went to the
hospital and made arrangements for the
lburial. The funeral was held on
| wednesday. There was only one mourn
er, Skelly's sister.
Joseph p. Shelly began writing songs
when he was Is years old, and before
| he had reached his 21st year his songs
were sung in almost every quarter Of the
| land. One Of his early successes was,
"Only Been Down to the Club published
20 years ago. The music was catchy and
the MINISTRIES made his song popular.
Sicily sold the song for SIS and the
publisher made a fortune out of it. The
author never regretted the transaction,
however, for the publisher advertised the
song extensively and this served to in
| troduce Skelly to the other publishers.
Frederick Blume now dead, had place
then on the Bowery, and he sent note
to Shelly asking him to submit man
,uscript. Skelly replied that he would
rather write a sentimental song; Blume
told him to go ahead and the result wa1
Skelly's most popular song, my Pretty
Red Rose" and the one that made Dave
Wambold, the minstrel, famous. Blume
sold half a million copies of the words
and music of the song and cleared over
$4,000 AL that Sicily got out of it was
5000.
After writing half hundred songs
that met with little successfully pro-
duced what he called his masterpiece,
''The Old. Rustic Bridge by the Mill" pub
lished in 1881. His next venture was
the musical score for a comic opera, but
this proved failure. Up to this time
Shelly had been getting along fairly we'll
The death of his mother now caused a
change in him. He would sit for hours
| in the back room Of a saloon lamenting
! his mothers death and drowning his
sorrow in strong drink. It was after he
had taken to drink that he wrote the
music of "Sweet Dreams Of Mother and
Home Finally, Henry J. Wehman, of
Park row, entered into an agreement
| with Shelly, by which he was to publish
| exclusively all of his compositions, but
Sicily failed to keep the agreement, and
he was continually looking for ready
cash. When he got it he never stopped
drinking until it was gone.
| One day he came into Wehman's place,
saying. that he needed money very bad
ly. II sit down here at the piano. said
he, "and I'll compose a new song. l feel
it coming. Quick get me some paper.
It will be the most sentimental song
ever wrote, and know 1t will be hit. y
Then he commenced lingering the pi-
ano keys nervously, all the time hum
ming words in an und ertone. Rising he
walked up to the desk and wrote "The
Dying Girls Message He wrote out
1.-The notes on a piece Of wrapping paper
and then placed the words beneath them.
The beauty Of the song, its catchiness,
and the off-hand manner in which It
was written completely captiyated the
4 publisher, who exclaimed as he handed
1 Sicily a check:
I. .sAre you sure this is originate"
4 Shelly answered: eff it isn't I'll eat
that check; but as It is I'll drink it. .
Then he went away to get his check
cashed In a B0wery barroom.
Sicily wrote The Face Upon the Bar
room Floor" in {, Chatham square ca
loon, with bottle Of whisky on table
/ beside him. After writing thisssong he
| staggered down Park row and sold the
song to Publisher Wehman. With the
money he received he went on spree
4 that landed him in the Charity Hospital
on fBlackwell's island. 81, He next turned
up in the alcoholic ward at Bellevue.
4 When he left there he was brsken down
/ in health and decided to stop drinking.
He: disappeared and was not heard Of in
HIS old haunts, the BoWery lodging
4 houses, until some one reported that he
had returned to the hospital on Black
wells island. This proved true.
SkeIly was bornsin New York AZ years
ago. Ii He never married. In his pros
porous days he lived at the best hotels,
but for the last two years he frequented
! the sBoWery lodging houses.
1 The only railroad operating its trains on
/ the famous block system between the
Twin Cities Milwaukee and Chicago.
The greatest device for the safe hand
linz tof trains ever invented. ..
| The only railroad lighting its trains by
electricity 5sss 5.s
The only railroad using the celebrated
electric berth reading lamp.