The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1903-07-21
HISTORY
REPEATS
ITSELF
CalifOrnia'S Famous
Sculptor in City
Hospital
IL May be Said" Asked
for Bread and Ye
Gave Him a
Stone"

Discouraged and III in bOdy anu
mind. Marion Wells. sculptor, artist
litterateur. and member OF the Bone
rnian club. turned his face to the city
and county hospital today
This morning he lay waiting Tor tLe
ambulance In his room at 1883 Stock
ton street, with his bundle OF clothes
ON the bed at his side His wife, who
posed for the Liberty on the city hall
dome. waited with him until the men
brought the stretcher and took him
away and she was the only friend TO
bid him Godspeed.
Il was strangely sad and beyond
belief that the man whose work is
perhaps better known than that OF
any other California sculptor. should
be compelled to appeal TO the charity
of the city almost in the prime OF his
manhood. His friends have been le-
gion. but he has not truned 10 them,
and they have not sought him out;
so he lay IN alone for four months un'
an his money was gone and his wire
was forced TO seek work TO care for
their two children. Then he proudly
asked the city's help rather than ask
of those who had forgotten him.
"Yes. / have registered at the coun
~ hospital. am waiting now for the
ambulance" he said with quiet dig
nifty this morning. II hope there
won't be much OF a crowd to stare al
me-" he added, but there will. I
and then his mind wandered a little
and his wife tried to hush him
through her tears.
Mrs. Wells has cared faithfully fol
her husband during his four months
| illness until she was forced TO leave
him and work TO give him food. Now
she earns dollar a day as house
keeper at q lodging house at 53;
Broadway. She has paid the rent o.
her husbands room, but she could no
give him the care he needed in hii
helpless condition.
1T was the only thing TO do sh'
said this morning. II must worl
every day, and he cannot be lef
alone. so he must 30 where he vii
have care and good food. Il Is terr
BILE, but what else could we do. an
they tell me my husband will be wei
cared for there"
Marion Wells has for many year
been one OF the most prominent o
San Francisco's sculptors, and th'
fact that he has been reduced 10 wan
will be a sad shock TO those VIII,
know his work. His Liberty on tn,
city hall dome Is famous, and the tall
graceful figure poised high on tn
globe is that OF his wife, who is grief
stricken over the misfortune that ha
come 20 them.
Among the other wellknown work
OF the sculptor Is the statue OF Maj
shall. the discoverer OF gold In Cal
! fornia for which II Is said the at
now owes him $l,70O a strange coin
cidence when the sculptor has turne
! penniless 10 the city for help.
The carving and modelling whicl
have made the Hibernia bank buildin
one OF the most artistic in the cit
was done by Wells. and the interio
decoration and carving of ST. IgnI
thus church was the work OF his hand
and a. number OF other public builC
ings In this city have been made beat
tiful by the sculptor whose work I
done.
lie decorated the arches of the "a
] AANAh NANANA NAAhAN az hANNAhkA MNANNl
I sity and did some of the work on IN
Memorial chapel az Palo Alto. whic
is considered among the best he ha
accomplished. Wells Is a Knight Ten
plar and he Is a life member OF IN
Bohemian club. where his good fe
lowship won many friends in hi
prosperous days. Several years az
the sculptor owned valuable propert
In this city and In Berkeley. where n
established his studio. For two year
he has been failing and unable 10 ac
complish much in his art. His prop
erty has vanished. and there is moth
ing left 10 show for the work that 4,
scattered over the city. Wells Is III,
son Of General Marion Wells. a con
federate general, who was killed IN
the civil war and who was a slave
owner in Louisiana. The sculptor was
sent 20 Philadelphia 10 college and
studied art there He Is a linguist
and his papers written for the Bohe
mian club links have shown literary
worth. He came TO California thirty
two years ago and was one of the III
tie eoterie OF artists and writer's who
were the first 20 make the Bohemian
club famous