Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-23
WHISPERS TO BURN.
Four Bearded Wonders from Pike
County, Missouri.

Four Bearded Wonders from Pike
County, Missouri.
In Pike county. Missouri, there are four
men who pride themselves upon the length
and beauty Of their boards. The champion
bearded man of the lot is Valentine Tapley
of Spencerburg, whose hrsute adornment
measures nine feet two inches, and is still
growing. He is a farmer of ample means,
and is very popular among his neighbors'
He is a heavy-set man, 8 feet s inches
in height, with very dark, bright eyes His
hair was once black and very thick. 1t is
not thin yet, but it is considerably dashed
with silver. Both his beard and hair are
coarse and bristly, growing largely out of the
fact that he has spent his time principally
out of doors. He is unusually strong physic
ally, enjoys splendid health comes of long
lived family, and bids fair to reach the
century mark himself-by which time his
beard will probably be twenty feet long, as
he let ii begin to grow just thirty-nine years
ago.
Mr.. Tapley Is staunch democrat in poll
tics, and leans toward the southern Metho-
dists in religion. He handles his famous
beard very tenderly, dresses it with finest
oil and combs it with a wooden comb made
to order for that identical purpose, the teeth
being highly polished, perfectly smooth and
far apart When his beard is not being
dressed he carries it carefully rolled mp In
a silk bag, concealed in his shirt BOSOM so
that a stranger upon casually meeting him
would never dream that he was in the pres
ence of man who could make an independ-
ent fortune out Of his whiskers. Once, while
on a visit to Chicago Mr. Tapley was fol-
lowed along the streets by such an admiring
throng Of people that traffic was suspended
until the police could clear the way for pc
destrians and vehicles 1t was after this
exhibition OF his wealth OF whiskers that the
proprietor of a museum offered Mr. Tapley
a salary greater than the governor of Mis-
souri, receives to enter his service as the
star attraction but Mr.. Tapley being we'll
to-do refused that tempting ofter and all
others OF like character.
The bearer of the record for second place
in the whsker line is Elijah Gates of
Curryville, in the same township in which
Tapley resides. He is o Kentuckian by
birth, is broad shouldered, heavy-set man
about five feet seven inches In stature and
weighs about 1S0 pounds. He Is brunette
and his beard, which Is now over eight teet
long, Is black as the ravens wing and SOFT
as silk. 1t is growing rapidly and IL is
thought that he will overtake Tapley, as MS
beard got a later start than Valentines
Perhaps the reason why his Is inner Is De-
cause he has spent most OF his life indoors.
He gives his whiskers about the same treat
ment that Tapley gives his and wears them
in the same style-that is, hidden in his
clothes.
In addition to Messrs. Tapley and Gates,
there are two other Pikers who bid fair to
become famous for their beards-John Haw-
kins of Farmer and John NJ. Scott OF Bowl
ing Green. They have been cultiyating
boards only about five years and now each
has whiskers over four feet long, As Scott
Is a young man, fat and broad-faced, the
chances are that In the course Of human
events he Will have more hair on his face
than any of them.