The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-17

Aaas@ 10 hBHtins loT the Iame Sne mas won. In letter to the public. she backs up her assertion that she is the author of the poem, Solitude" which Colonel John A Joyce claims to have written long be- fore Ella Wheeler was known to literary fame. with an offer of $500 to any char table institution the colonel may select, provided he can prove that the poem claimed to have been written by him was published in any paper or periodical prior to February 21, 1883.
 Several years ago. this same fight was on, Mrs. Wilcox coming out winner, though. Colonel Joyce had some support CTS. The following appeared in The Phil adelphia Times, of November 21. 1887.
 Colonel John A. Joyce, once an intimate friend and boon companion of the great George D. Prentice, has turned his hope ful face toward the West and become the managing editor of the Leadville Demo- crat. Colonel Joyce is chiefly known to fame as one of the ex-members of the old whisky ring of Washington. which was wont, he says in his published volume, to send boxes of choice cigars to General Grant, with crisp bank notes enclosed. A few years ago Colonel Joyce also att traeted considerable notice by accusing Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who was then plain Ella Wheeler, of having stolen from no less a parsonage than Colonel John A. Joyce a poem entitled Solitude" which was then having a newspaper run. The poem was that beginning:
 Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone,
 t1 111 our4t .rH fu
 mirth
 But has trouble enough of its own" and the conflict over its authorship ragged with appalling ferocity. Colonel JoSce said he wrote the poem on a wager with Mir. Prentice in Washington as far bac-e as '6S, almost as 1t appeared above Ella Wheelers name. If memory Is faithful he offered to produce the head of the beer keg on which this immortal produc- tion was written, or a photograph of the bung- g-hole, or something of the kind, the hour of writing having been one of those convivial ones in which men of rare gen. ius sometimes delight. Miss Wheeler on the other hand, indignantly resented this. She began the poem while visiting the home of a Minnesota Judge, she said, who pronounced it a masterpiece as soon as he saw the first two lines. She also submitted as evidence of it's authorship a piece of the desk on which the lines were written and spray of pine from the tree which grew just outside the window that watched the poem struggle into life. These, Colonel Joyce was forced to ad- nit he had never seen before.
 Thus the battle ragged, while the streams ran red to the sea. In rebuttal to the DOT ton of the desk and spray of Minnesota pine Colonel Joyce printed letter from MT. Prentices's ex-private secretary, set ting forth that on or about the time mentioned by the colonel a poem, some what resembled the one in dispute, was printed in the Louisville Courier-Journal in a somewhat battered form. The ex- private secretary's mind was clear as to that. But Miss Wheeler was not diSmay ed In a few days a letter from the judge before named, setting forth his recollec- tions of the affair, was produced, and these proved in line with "the poetess of passions claims. The judges wife all so swore as to the time and circum- stances of the writing, desk, pine, etc. As a matter of fact, Miss Wheeler was in a frame of mind warranting the bestowal of this title on her at this stage of the battle, never before having had her yer acity impeached. Even the chivalrous Dana who wore Miss Wheeler's colors during the entire struggle, was unable to settle the question, and the poem in its substantial form appears in the published volumes of both these gifted writers.
 Following is Mrs Wilcoxs offer. which is being published and commented on by all of the leading newspapers:
 In February, 1883, I wrote the poem known as Solitude" beginning:
 Laugh, and the world laughs with you, Weep and you weep alone.
 For the sad old earth must borrow it's
 mirth;
 It has trouble enough ok It's own.''
 It was written at the home of Judge A. B. Braley, Madison, Wis, where l was visiting, and read to him and his wife before it appeared in the New York Sun February 21, over my maiden name, Ella Wheeler. In May, 1888. 1t was included in my book, Poems of Passion" have the original copy of my MMs books, where I keep all my poems
 The verses became at once remarkably popular, and were recited so Frequently and copied so widely that they Soon were hackneyed. Before writing Solitude" l had already published two volumes of verse and several of the poems had be- come known all over the world-three in particular, My Ships" Three Glasses" |" and "Gethsemane." Each of theke poems is superior in literary merit to Solitude" '"
  world had never heard-Mr. John Joyce. of washington-heard the poem "Soli- tude" recited and heard some one ask who wrote It. MT. Joyce immediately declar- ed himself as the author. I have no Idea that he was wholly responsible for his words, as at that time he was audicted to the habit of drink, which, greatly to his credit he has since overcome.
 I, of course, denied his claim, but since that time he has deliberately ignored my challenge for proof, and continued to as- sert that he wrote the poem in 1861 on the head of a whisky barrel in the wine room of the Gait House at Louisville, Ky.
 His book, "A Checkered Life.' written while he was serving a term in prison for complication in whisky frauds. first appeared in 1883, and contained his own reference to his early insanity in the fol- lowing memoranda:
 EASTERN KENTUCKY LUNATIC ASYLUM.
 Lexington. Ky.
 "The records of this asylum show that No. 2423 John A. Joyce IS years of age occupation farmer habit temperate, orig inal disposition and intellect good. cause heredity, form mania perpetual motion. Admitted June 20, 1860, discharged Sep- tember, 1860.
 W. A. BULLOCK. M. D..
 Medical Supt."
 This book contains twenty-three poems, and, of course. no reference Is made to "solitude," and no line bearing any re- semblance to it. Yet Mir. Joyce two years later (after my poem became famous) claimed that he wrote 1t In 1881 Why should he have admitted 1t from this hooL3 Mir Jovce inserted 1t in a later