The broad ax., 1908-04-18
~ srARKs, NOTED 6oLoRED
sam CITIZEN DEAD.

The news of the sudden death of
" Starks came as a distinct
~ The entire community. Mr..
snOI . was rot only one of the best
S'@ and mighty respected Colored
NJ ~ If Charleston, where he had
GU rrac,icaIly all of the forty. years
s &c life. but his position, which he
" held for the past ten years, as
n1- CHANCELLOR of the Colored
E 1f q. pythias of North and South
D.srica. rr7ope, Asia, Africa and
,Is,raHs Lad made his name house.
"a n,or. Il every quarter of the
A. s,.rgs had been complaining for
mo DAYS. but his illness was not
'S.,cp, 10 be serious. He went home
- morning complaining of a
.robr Jan in his intestines, which
- nr,si,. ans later diagnosed as peri
..rfrfs aud he was taken 20 the gen.
al r..s.,ll about midnight, where he
.os At once placed under the influence
,t.r.a-rhetics, dying on the operating
..ble he operation revealing the fact
hat dean. was inevitable in any
ron. ,he disease from which he was
sn+eI - having perforated his intes-
+Des ID; several points.
Mr.. SJdrks was twice married, and
= survived by his wife, mother and
ona s.st,r. having no children by eth
o. marriage. He was born in Charles
non for.y years ago, and commenced
life a. an employee of one of the COOP
Or shoIs which operated on the banks
If The Elk river at that time. After
completing his apprenticeship in the
coopers' shop he became a telegraph
cDeraror. and was the first man to
hold that position on the K. & NJ.
-silroad when it entered Charleston,
being transferred later to Corning,
where he remained for some time, re-
rurning 10 Charleston, where he open
cd gocery store in the room now oc-
cupied by the Gebhart Plumbing Com
pany. on Capitol street.
On March 4, 1901, he was appoint
ed state librarian by Governor A. B.
White. and reappointed to the same
position four years later by Govern
or Dawson. At the time of his
death he was serving his sixteenth
term as Grand Chancellor of the Col
Ored Knights of Pythias of this state,
being the only man who has held thai
Office since the organization of the
body. He was the president of the
Pythian Mutual Investment Assoc1a-
ton, which owns the building on
Washington street and the building
in Huntington occupied by the Her
aid. He was also president Of the
Pythian Temple and Sanitarium Com
mission, which owns property valued
at sl50,0OO on State street, Chicago.
In politics, Mr.. Starks was an ar
dent republican, and he never lost
an opportunity to impress upon the
members of his race that they could
obtain more recognition in political
and business circles by deserving it
than by demanding it as a right, and
bis own life was a confederation OF
bis contentious.
Starting as a poor boy, he worked
HIMSELF up in half the allotted span
fife to a position which made him
not merely a man Of local promin-
snce, but one whose reputation was
world wide, and whose example viii
be a guide to generations Of his. race
unborn.
The funeral will take place from
the first Baptist church at two
o'clock Monday afternoon, and viii
be under the auspices Of the Colored
Knights of Pythias and Masons, In |
both of which organizations he held
high rank. The interment will be In |
Spring Hill cemetery.-The Mail, |
Charleston, W. Va, April 3.