The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-21
IAN OLD TIMER. /"
Death of Daniel Cohen Removes
Well Known Character.
For Nearly Whole Lifetime He
Lived in Topeka.
HIS CURIOSITY SHOP.
For a Generation He Has Con-
Quoted 1t.
RumOrs ola Miser's Hoard Have
No Foundation.
HIS CURIOSITY SHOP.

Dan Cohen, aged A, died at 10 o'clock
this morning at his rooms at 209 Kan
sas avenue. Arrangements for the flu
neral have not yet been made.-From
Wednesdays State Journal.
The above death notice chronicles the
passing of a well known character.
Daniel Cohen, for twenty years a ia
miliar figure in Topeka, sometimes as
a street corner vender and at other
times behind the counter of his curio
shop in the little storeroom at 209 Kan
Sas aVeue where he has lived and
sought trade during several years past
Cohen has moved from place to place
on Kansas avenue in the years that he
| has been in trade. He sold candy and
pop, curioS and old coins. For several
years his name has been among the
membership of a local burial associa-
ton, so that his funeral will be taken
care of. His family, brothers and sis
tiers, is scattered, one or two members
living in Kansas City.
Thirty-five or forty years ago Cohen's
father and mother came to this country
from Poland They came west at once,
and the father made a living peddling
household commodities and gathering
junk He was known far and wide
through the farm houses of eastern
Kansas as "Peddler Cohen" and for
many years he made his rounds reg
/ ularly. His savings he invested in a
few lots and a couple of cottages on
lower Quincy street, and although both
the old people have been dead for years
the children never divided the property
It's value is not great Dan Cohen
never occupied the places.
From birth Dan Cohen was an I'M
! slightly cripple His friends seem to
have been few, but he gave no person
cause for i'll feeling toward him. For
perhaps ten years past he occupied the
! tiny, one-rOOm Shanty on the west side
! of a a midway he
! tween Second and Third streets. 1t
stood close to the sidewalk, and a
counter in front of it jutted on the side
walk In fair weather Cohen usually
! had his candy and soft drinks exposed
/ for the eyes of passerS by. Sometimes
/ he would bring out an old gun or an
antiquated horse pistol, bit of pewter
! or a second hand book. During the
/ Spanish war he displayed a
great number of old guns. Where he
/ picked them up, no one knows, but he
/ sold them for genuine insurgent Cuban
or Filipino weapons. Usually, though,
/ one had to go inside the shop to sec this
part of his stock in trade.
/ Occasionally when business was dull
at the shop Cohen would close it and
go farther south on Kansas avenue
/ with a lung tester" and take his place
along side the fakirs of Sixth and Kan
sas avenue. But there was nothing of
! the common fakir about him. He did
not cry his wares. He did not exert
| himself to attrtct business, but trans
acted it when it came. When not en-
gagged he would stand leaning upon his
crutch and most people who remember
him at all will recall him in that at
titude. AS a collector Of old coins
Cohen met with considerable success.
-Four years ago he was robbed, but after
ward recovered most of his coins He kept
them for sale and at different times had
several hundred dollars worth of them
on hand. It is supposed that the old
! pOinG of will he the most valuable mart
of his estate A sister, Mrs. Max Low
enstein, arrived here from Kansas City
last night and took charge of his shop
There have been rumors that Cohen
was a miser and that after his death
his hoard would be relieved, but there
| is nothing to indicate that this is q
fact. 1t is possible that the walls of the
little shanty where he died may give UT
a golden treasure. but it would be sur
prising if they did.