Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-12-13
OF THE BOARDWALK
THE WE'LL KNowx FIGuRE ABOUT
ATLANTIC City is It'll.
Am Old Friend and one Timc school
Mate Comes 60 Hts Assistance In


Atlantic CITY. N. IT,. Dec. 6.-Prof,
Horatio Girardns Walters, the self
STYLED Mayor of the Boardwalk" is
dying. Last Tuesday night he was
fonnd in an unconscious condition.
exhausted from exposure. aud his feet
swollen to enormous proportions. a.
quickly as possible the patient was put
to bed, but since then he has shown
no improvement. He was told hy
DIR. Stewart that his condi ton wss
serious, aud that now was the time
for him TO tell where his relatives
could be found.
MY father aud mother are dead,
the Professor replied, land there is nt
one but perhaps a forty-second cousin
! have no relatives that / know OF.
But into the darkened life of 18th,
Mayor" has come a ministering ange
in the person OF Miss Mary Shellman,
of Westminster. Md, who has sent
word to the dying man that she would
see that he did not want in the future,
There Is a tinge of omanc in the sit,
u%ation, as Miss Shellman was u schoo'
mate of the eccentric mar whom the
residents of Atlantic City and its many
thousands of visitors have regarded il
the light of a harmless lunatic. Miss
Shellman learned through the newspa'
pers that the friend of her girlhood
days was ill. She at once made ar
rangements to visit Atlantic City. but
when she arrived she could find no one
who could tell her where Prof. Wal,
tiers lived. Finally she gave uD The
search in dc spair. but before she left
for home a few days ago, she commits.
stoned a man here to find him and as
sure him that she would stand by him
in all his troubles to the last.
TELL him. said Miss Shellman.
that l still remember "Roddy. I"
That was the name we called him at
school. He stood at the head Of my
class, and / remember how he used to
make all of us ashamed because we
had not learned our lessons as well as
he had. I am shocked beyond all
measure to learn that he is so i'll and
in the c;ty's care. As long as / have
a penny he shall not want for a single
comfort"
This message from Miss Shellman
was later taken 60 Prof. Walters at his
lodgings with Mrs. John Deardon. No.
20s North Vermont venue The pa.
tient. weak and worn with weeks OF
S suffering. sat up in bed TO hear the
tidings.
"Thank GodV' he exclaimed. 81
still have some old friends left" Mrs.
Deardon has written to Miss Shellman.
and the professors declining days will
be made as comfortable as possible.
Perhaps no eccentric character ii
better known or more interesting to
converse with than is the mayor Of
the Boardwalk. His pleasant indi'
vidualitv. his courteous manner, and
his genteel p%oliteness attracted toward
him a host Of friends. who though
amused at his oddities, never made i
snort of them. Though constantly at
tending to his self imposed task OF re
moving the waste from the boardwalk
he bore himself erect and with a mil
itary carriage. His eyes were shay
and piercing. aud he was able to de
tect q speck Of paper or any other OLD
jectionable article before the ordinar,
person could do so. With his oddly
shaped cane, he was continuously roam
ing mp and down the walk. stoppin,
here and there TO push a scrap O
waste between the cracks Of th,