The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-06-08
MOVEMENT LAUNCHED TODAY AT
MEETING OF NORTH CAROLINA
PRESS ASSOCIATION.
.HUMORIST'S GRAVE UNMARKED
Editors in Session. at Wrightsville
Beach, North Carolina, Is inaugural.
ing the Movement 10 Pay Tribute to
the Dead Man.

CHf VI me ItdluItS OF lne OpculNi
session OF the annual convention o
the North Carolina Press Association
which convened az the Hotel Tarry
moore this morning was the launch
ing of movement TO erect a substan
tial memorial to the late Bill Nye'
the humOrist, whose death occurred
at his home in this state In 1886 and
"hos' unmarked grave in Henderson
county is the mecca for many tour.
lists. The movement. which was intro
auccd in the course Of al ESSAY on
Journalistic problems by X. ". Vincent,
OF the Charlotte Observer was elo.
Guently seconded by James II. Caine
~ the Asheyiiie Citizen in an enthu.
siastic speech.
In proposing the memorial project
Mr. Vincent said in part.
Up yonder in the mountain fast.
nesses Of Henderson in q lone grave
unmarked save by rough stone
boulder, uninscribed, which by his wish
is the only monument he desired. lies
all that il mortal of an adopted son
whose memory this state has neglect
ed 10 hon0T-One We are proud to
claim as OF our craft-thc lamented
| Bii Nye. Il was his misfortune not
to have been born in North Carolina
Maine claims that distinctiOn-but
tne best years Of his life were spent
at beautiful Buck Shoals and the best
work Of his career done there. Il
was in the Carolina foothills that he
gave up the unequal struggle, and it
is there that he is buried
We cannot more Ornately mark his
last resting place il We respect his
wishes, but We can erect, in Hender-
sonville, or Asheyilie, or, if you will,
in the shadow OF the capitol at RAJ.
eigh. suitable and substantial mem
onal to show to the world that We
know out duty and have performed it.
Who among US has not delighted his
soul with the Boomerang stories or
dropped tear over the pathOs OF
The Pass that Came too Later The
good that ne did in making the world
brighter by the music G his mirth can
not be measured in words, and he left
i thinn. " tn
thoughts upon which to build for our
selves future, that, let us hope, may
be rewarded by those who live after
us, better than We have rewarded
those who have gone before"
In secOnding the movement to erect
a memorial to Bill Nye, James H. |
taine, of the Asheville Citizen, said:
"ln endorsing the Nye monument !
movement, I believe / voice the senti-
ment, not only of the press fraternity
of Western North Carolina, but of the
great majority OF the citizenship OF
ory the name of the man whose body
now rests under the shadows of their
mountains. While the present move
ment found its inception within the
ranks of our state press association
some years ago, there has long existed
a feeling in the western section and
especially in that community where
the illustrious Nye lived and moved,
that something more than nameless
stone should keep in mind the general
spirit whose gospel was sunshine and
whose creed was good cheer
True, the block of granite which
now does sentinel duty over Nye's
grave in the lonely country church
yard at Arden mutely expresses the
dying wishes OF the great humorist,
)ut We would not be disregarding those
wishes, were We to erect By means OF
popular subscription. q marble shaft
which would in some measure express
he regard and yeneration We feel for
he man with whom all of us laughed
ind N"pt Oy turns.
1T is fitting and proper that the
movement 10 perpetuate the memory
u Nye should find its reincarna;ion
.ere, for he was oen Of us. The strug
ling yicissitudos OF his early journal
site days could not dim the light oi
enius which shone SO brightly in
ater years. We should not hesitate
o go on record here and now, repre-
enting the North Carolina Press Asso-
iation. as setting on foo, a moyemen,
o erect at our state capital u fitting
lonument to one of the creates and
lost gifted humorists the world has
yer known