Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-01-11

championship in the beard line, but
Mr.. Wilkinson is easily first Val.
Tapley of Spencerberg, Mo-, braids
every night a growth of whiskers ten
feet eight inches long, and w. V.
Smith, Of Florence, Kan, boasts of his
beard as one of the products If the
Kansas soil and climate His whiskers
are now eight feet long and still grow
ing. But they are not in the same
class with Mr.. Wilkinson.
The Michigan champion has lived
many years at Adrian. He lives on
the income Of a fortune earned as a
mason contractor His summers he
spends at DEVILS Lake. He keeps his
remarkable beard rolled carefully into
ball and protected by a silk bag,
which he wears under his vest. The
outside part of his whiskers he keeps
trimmed to the length ordinarily worn.
This covers his vest and hides from
view the long part
Mr.. Wilkinson says that his beard is
much shorter than it was in his
younger days. About seven years ago
it was eighteen feet long. Although
he is only so years old, his hair is as
white as snow. When he
was 80 years old there was moth
ing remarkable about his beard. At
that time it commenced to grow rapid
ly and soon much of the strength
that should have gone to maintain his
general health was Slapped by the
growing beard. Physicians in Adrian
were unable to account for it.
Mr.. Wilkinson tells a number of
stories showing that his beard has not
been entirely useless. Eight years
ago, in the summer of 1891, when he
was fishing at DEVILS Lake, he saved
two children from drowning. The lit
tie ones, two brothers, one years old
and the other 5, had been playing in a
rowboat on the shore. The boat was
not tied, and when the youngsters
rocked it the bow slipped off the bank
and the boat f1oated away from the
shore. 1t happened that the shore at
this point was precipitous, so that the
boys were helpless, as there were no
oars in the boat. A strong wind was
blowing off the shore and only a short
distance out the lake was rough The
boat gradually drifted out. The chill
dren saw their danger and screamed.
Their mother heard them and ran from
a cottage near by. She saw her chill
dren in danger and shouted for some
| body to come to save them.
Mr.. Wilkinson happened to be pass
ing on his way to a shallow place on
the shore to get some bait. The
mother implored him to save her chill
dren. The boat by this time was
about seventeen feet from the shore
and could have been easily reached
with f1shpole, but there was none al
hand. A happy thought struck Mr.
| Wilkinson. He took his beard from
his vest, unrolled it, tied the end to a
small stone, and hurled the stone out
into the boat. The elder boy grasped
the beard, and as the mother held onto
Mr.. Wilkinson by the coat and pre-
vented his being pulled into the water
the boys moved in toward the bank the
boy wound the beard about his hand
and elbow in the same manner as a
WasherwOman takes in a clothesline
The children were restored to theil
mothers arms and Mr. Wilkinson went
after his bait
On another occasion Mr. Wilkinson
used his beard to good advantage while
! trolling for bass. He had caught {
good string of fish when a monster
pickerel took the hook. There was {
short struggle that resulted in Wilkin
sons loss of the spoon, line and pole
He had another spoOn-hook in the boa
and as his sportsman's spirit was
reused by his struggle with the pick
erel he decided not to be discouraged
by the loss of his pole and line. HI
braided his beard into line as fine
as possible and tied the end of it tt
his only remaining spoon. Then ht
made a cast from the stern of the boat
sat down on the rowing seat and troll
ed. He recovered himself and begar
to draw in his beard. The fish soor
gave up the fight and Wilkinson landed
fifteen-pound pickerel with the ole
spoon stuck in it's jaws.
About seven years ago the beard suf
fered a misfortune. One day, wheI
Wilkinson was driving in a wagon tt
a new house in the country which hi
was pIastering, his beard in some man
Ter fell from the silk bag under hi!
vest and unrolled. The end of it wa!
caught in the black axle grease be
tween the hub of the front wheel an(
the axle. Before the wagon could bt
stopped six feet of the beard wa!
wound and tangled about the greas!
hub, and it was necessary to cut it off
But even with length of twelve fee
it is believed to be the longest in thu
world.