The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-20
hood and died as he had lived, with a

hood, and died as he had lived, with q
smile on his lips
Genial "Petey' Bigelow, as he was
known to his friends, had career of sun
shine and of shadow, but the pity of it
was that the shadow came after the sun
shine, the pain after the pleasure He
knew not and cared not for the value of
money. 1t was made TO spend in the COM
pany of literary men, whose conversation
was as brilliant and as frothy as the wine
they drank. At one period of his life, the
years during which his pen Illuminated
the columns of the Examiner, he made
money fast and easily. He was favorite
OF w. r. Hearst, and it was often a source
of wonder to his fellow Bohemians how he
contrived to draw salary and write so lit
tie. But when "Petey" did write it was
worth far more than he received for it.
he took a trip to Europe with Mr..
Hearst and gathered much valuable ma
terial for future articles. After jovial King
Kalakaua died Mr.. Bigelow ompanied
the remains to Honolulu and wrote a
graphic description of the funeral cere-
monies. His interview with Queen Liliuo-
kalanl was newspaper feat which gained
him much renown.
The best display of his fertility of resour-
ces was made in the mountains of Fresno
County, whittier he went to interview the
bandits, Chris Evans and John Sontag
He found them eating dinner at a cabin
away up in the chaparral. 1t was a dan
gerous experiment, for he ran the risk of
being shot by them as detective or a spy,
Each bandit held a Winchester rife, and
to avoid any misunderstanding they sat
him on the edge of the bed between
them and told him the story of what they
considered to be their wrongs. b. the
breezy frankhess of his manner, which
was not at all assumed, he completely
won their hearts and cemented their con-
1idence by exchanging his hat and shoes
for those worn by Chris and by the liberal
donation of a $40 piece to the daring out
laws
A Mercutio in temperament, Mr.. Bige-
low won all hearts by his hail-fellow- we'll
met manner. He loved company and
company loved him. To this faculty of
making fast friends of strangers he owed
much of his success as newspaper writer
Warm-hearted himself, his loss will be
mourned by many warm hearts, for he was
rare man, genius in his way and there
is no one left who can fill his place.
by peculiar coincidence his favorite
eating place the Franco-American restau-
rant closed its doors and went out of exist
ence few weeks ago, just about the time
that Mr.. Bigelow's illness assumed a fatal
phase. This famous French restaurant
had been in existence for more than
twenty years on Merchant street, between
Montgomery and Sansone. Lately it was
removed to Montgomery street, between
Commercial and CLAW, and "to LETT sign
darkens its dusty windows. There was
no better Judge of salad, salmi, or a
civet, than Henry Bigelow, and the swell
cooks Of the swell clubs and restaurants
were happy when "Petev'' praised their
work.
. For some months he had been ailing
and In the early mart Of last Anrii he ypao
persuaded by his friends to make trip to
Vichy Springs in Men6ocino County. He
appeared to derive some benefit from his
rest there, but about o week ago he had
relapse and was brought to this City and
taken to ST. Lukes Hospital on Saturday
night. On Sunday and Monday with care
ful nursing he seemed TO be much better
and on Monday afternoon conversed freely
with MS friends and expressed a strong
hope OF speedy recovery. At midnig bit,
however. he lapsed into comatose condi-
ton and at o'clock yesterday morning
his friends were notified that the end was
near.
At IL o'clock Mrs. Bigelow and her two
boys, ag d and 10 respectively, arrived
from Oakland, and a few minutes after
ward Mr.. Bigelow regained consciousness.
de had lost the power of articulation, how
ever, but readily recognized those around
him. He embraced the members of his
family and smiled for a few minutes and
then lapsed into Inconsistencies, in which
condition he remained until / 80 o'clock,
when he ceased to breathe.
Harry ID. Bigelow was born on April 1,
1860, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He came to
San Francisco with his parents at an early
age. he was married in Oakland about
twelve years ago to Miss Zoe BayIiss.
The funeral will take place on Thurs day
afternoon at 2 o'clock from the undertak-