The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-10-30
OIL KINGS MONUMENT
Rockefeller Admirer Erecting An
temortem Shaft In Texas.
PERSONAL WORK OF E. G. LEE

Resident of Denton Considers john D.
Greatest Man on Earth-If Linco!n|
United the Country, Standard Oil
Man Surely Illumined 1t, He Declares.
A monument to John d. Rockefeller
| is being raised two miles south of Den
| ton. Tex, where two much travelled
roads cross, says a Denton special dis
| patch to the New York World. OF
| course it is unusual to put up Il monu
| ment to a man before he has been
| gathered to his forefathers. But q. G.
Lee, who greatly adinires John D.
| Rockefeller and who is building the
monument with the sweat of his brow
! and the toll of his hands, says Presi-
| dent Roosevelt and Andrew Carnegie
have set presidents which any Ameri-
can citizen should be proud to follow.
II know that monuments should be
| postmortem,' said Mr.. Lee. man of
| great intelligence, the other day. 81
know you cannot write epitaphs in the
present time. But Andy Carnegie and
Teddy Roosevelt have set the exam
| pie, only Andy is working up, building
| libraries, and Teddy is working down,
digging pits.
II consider John D. Rockefeller the
greatest man in the world,' Mr. Lee
continued, with emphasis. II am try
1 ing to induce him to come here and
| live where he won't be hunted and per-
secuted | want him to run on the
| Democratic ticket for president next
time. He would be elected. You see
the pedestal is nearly completed. 1t
| synbolizes Mr. Rockefeller's natural
strength, breadth and depth. have
ordered the statue itself from bronze
casting firm in New York city No.
| will not tell YOU which firm, because,
like Mr.. Rockefeller, l shun publicity
l am spending $4,000 on the statue
and pedestal. l expect Mr.. Rockefel.
Ter and his kin to be here for the un.
yelling, which may be next November,
and, ii not then, in the early spring.
He has assured me that nothing ex-
cept business can keep him away So
l am very hopeful he viii be here for
he testified the other day, you will re.
member, that he has not been attend.
ing to business for some years Any
| how, whether or not he is here. the
| monument will be unveiled
Despite the difficulty in wording epi,
taphs in past or present, Mr.. Lee. a
we'll to do real estate dealer, who docs
as he pleases, acknowledges he has
been studying what the inscription
should be. In letters of bronze there
may be on one face of the pedestal:
He never cared for money for moneys
sake
On another face, with neat border:
ssssgs s SIS SIS $
4 Christopher Columbus discovered $
i 5 the country. s
i George Washington liberated the 5
5 country.
i Abraham Lincoln united the 5
4 John D. Rockefeller inumed the !
country S
ssssss ssssss ).
On third face:
Millions burn oil. He burned money
for the sake of charity and learning
i The pedestal is on a farm belonging
4 to Lee, tenanted by farmer, d. b.
Hope. Mr.. Lee proudly points out to
visitors the room in the farmhouse
where Mr. Rockefeller will sleep the
sleep of the just. The statue is mass
OF rocks piled sixty feet high. The cir
conference of the base of the mass is
a hundred feet. On it's peak will stand
the statue. Since last March Lee has
kept busy his men and teams securing
the country round for rocks, which are
not plenty hereabout. With his own
hands, busy as an ant building hill,
he has placed every rock on the pyra-
mid. He says 200 tons at least are in
the great conical mass, and the heavi-
est stone weighs no more than fifty
pounds.
Mr.. Lee has many designs of statues
at the hotel where he lives in Denton
One shows Mr.. Rockefeller seated like
a silver ball in shooting gallery atop
stream of.spouting oil; another dis
plays him giving 10 cents and smile
to caddy; vet another donating 80
sous to French waiter. who bows to
the ground and says, ga thousand
thanks, millionaire"
Lee, his monument builder, does not
look unlike John ID. Rockefeller Lee
is supposed to be wealthy. but refuses
to state the amount of his fortune,
saying. like John D.. he cannot com
putc his holdings. He admits he owns
coal mines in Alabama worth $4,000
and has made snug sums in specula-
ton. He owns hotel Mt Denton, Tex.
He is tall and slim. with a slight stoo2
l to his shoulders. His head is large and
his face smooth shaven His gray eyes
look especially shrewd and his fellow
| townsmen say 10 one ever worsted
him in a business deal Lee dresses
stability He says he is too busy to
bother about clothes He weighs every
word he utters. He is forty years old
and is credited with mary kind deeds
but otherwise is close With his money
D'Annunzio a Strenuous Writer