The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-31
[LEGAhI HOME FOR KEOKUK E[KS
IS NOW BEING CONSTRUCTED
building Will Be Handsomely Finished the Interior and
Provided With All the Appointments of Comfort
A Sketch of the Early History of
the Fraternity

dental affair held In place where
good brew was within convenient
reach. and somebody spoke up for a
member when he was absent, saying
that ne was sick or not working, 1t
WIS understood that he was in need
of funds, and those present would con-
tribute to his aid.
In 1858 1t was proposed that the
name of the jolly Corks be dropped
and one more suitable chosen Sew
eral titles for the band were suggest
ed bu- they finally narrowed down to
q chol0e between the buffalo or the
elk.
A vote was taken, and upon count
ing it was found that it was tie,
seven men having voted for the buff
falo and seven for the elk. Vivian
himself was in favor of the buffalo
William Bowron. who had been on
Nivian's side, in the next ballot
changed his mind, SO the elk contin-
gent was yictori6ns, and to Bowron
belongs the honor Of having cast the
vote that gave the lodge the name
1t now bears.
Vivian, the real founder OF the Elks,
achieved considerable success as a
singer.
William Carleton, the author OF
Fritz in Ireland" WAS one OF the
early EIks. He was born In Dublin,
Ireland, in 1927, and. upon coming to
America, made his first appearance
here at Tony Pastors.
The floor manager of the first an
nual ball of the Elks, held on April
16, 1868, was William Sheppard.
There were among the Elks of the
time many whom we still remember,
although the curtain has fallen over
their lives. For instance, there was
Fernando Pastor, the youngest
brother of Tony Fernando was fam
iliarly called Dody." Another is
Henry Tyler Nude, less familiar, who
appeared with Fowler and Ellis min
strels, and the more famous Kelly and
Leon MINISTRIES.
Another is John Mulligan, who early
in his career performed for Mabie's
/ circus, and who wrote song called
MY Irish Molly or Only recently a
4 dirty of the same title was sung all
over the country. There was Johnny
Allen, who was comedian and min
strel after he returned from the Civil
war in which he was with a Jersey
regiment Still another is George vii
liam Rockefeller, who made spec
ialty of performing on the banjo.
Bill COPYRIGHT, telling some
brother Elks about his early ex
periences on the stage, recounted a
story of his initial step into the legiti
mate COPYRIGHT was assigned to play
1 the parts of the first player and tbs
ghost IN production OF Hamlet" IL
/ which were such capable actors as
/ Lawrence Barrett and John McCul
Tough, memories of whom are cher
4 ished by such of their contemporaries.
as are also ours.
i COPYRIGHT suffered from stage frigh
in its extreme and most taciturn form
. COPYRIGHT still tells the story, and i,
4 rightly proud that his debut into thu
legitimate was with such able actors
[ even though COPYRIGHT himself dix
not show very creditably.
Other Elks of the time we're Rober
Newcomb and George W. Thompson
, Tony Hart was also one of them Har
: ran away from home when he was bu
j a lad, for he could not agree with hi
parents that the best thing for him t
! do was TO go to school The bo
i Joined the Arlington minstrels AM
/ later joined Ed Harrigan with whom
! he did an act called THE Big and Lit