The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1912-05-09
The Funeral of
Riley Grammar
From Chicago Inter Ocean.


Half shielded under an oilcloth
blanket, lodged in a common ex-
press wagon, the casket Of Riley
Grammar was carried recently down
dusty Rawhide avenue and along
Nevada street in Goldneld from
the tented establishment of the
camps undertaken to an impro-
yised memorial chapel, variety
theater at the rear of a saloon.
There congregated crowd in
silks and corduroys, women in
metropolitan costumes, miners
covered with high-grade CRIME,
prospectors sun tanned, brokers,
bankers, merchants, promoters,
owners of saloons, bartenders,
gamblers, FOUNDERS. Tears were
shed. Again, as always in mining
camps, class was forgotten.
A solemn hush came down upon
the little playhouse, where jostling
crowds drank and smoked while
listening to doubtful wit on the
variety forum, and lowering around
the bier of Riley Grammar, race
track plunger of national renown,
was as solemn group of sincere
mourners as ever gathered to pay
final tribute.
Solos were offered by Mrs. Held
ricks, once an actress Of wide fame,
now wife of the editor of Raw
hide daily paper, and by Jack
Hines, miner of Alaska and Raw
hide. Fluctuations came with re-
sounding blasts from a score OF
mines on the mountains just above,
| Saloons were closed and the streets
were silent throughout the service,
At its end a solemn cortege trudged
with the remains, destined to travel
by automobile thirty miles to
Schurz, there to go aboard the cars
to Riley's brother in Kentucky.
Unique beyond experience and
dramatic beyond compare was the
| eulogy pronounced by H. H.
Knickerbocker, once a clergyman,
then a mine operator of Goldfield,
later a Rawhide pioneer. Hardly
orthodox, but wholly in keeping
with the scene and the mute desires
of the dead, was the orators APP
pearance. The once pulpit expo
nent stood beside the lily laden
bier, his eyes bedimmed with tears,
his voice choked with a fraternal
emotion, shod in the high boots
and clothed in the rough garb Of a
miner. "A stenographlc report OF
the eulogy follows.
Il feel it incumbent upon me to
state that now occupy no minis
terial or prelatic position. | am
only a prospector. | make no claim
to moral merit whatever or to re-
ligious authority, except it be the
religion of the brotherhood of man
/ wish to be only as a man among
men, feeling that can shake
hands and style as my brother the
most humble of you all. II there
may come from me word Of mora
admonition, it springs not from any
sense of moral superiority; only
from the depths Of my experience
Riley Grammar was born at Par
is, Ky, about forty years ago. He
cherished the dreams of childhood
Those dreams found their fruition
| in phenomenal success financially
| am told that from the position OF
bellboy in a hotel he rose to be a
celebrity of worldwide fame. Ri
ley Grammar was one of the great
est plungers the continent has ever
produced. He died at Rawhide.
"That is a brief statement We
have his birth and the day of his
demise. Who can fill the interim?
Not l.. Who can tell his hopes and
fears? Who knows the misery OF
his quiet hours? Not |.
Riley Grammar was born in the
sunny southland of Kentucky. He
died in Rawhide. That is the be-
ginning. That is the end. Is there
in this a picture of what lngersol
said at the grave Of his brother
Whether it be near the shore or II
mid-ocean, or among the breakers
at the last, a wreck must mark The
end of one and all.
Born where the brooks anC
rivers run unsteady through pro-
life soil, where magnolia goldiflors
like white stars-glow in iirma-
ment of green; where the lakes anC
greensward and the softest summer
hreezes dimple the wavelets; wher,
the air is resonant with the melod.
of thousand sweet-voiced birds
and redolent OF the perfume o.
blooming flowers-that was the be
ginning. Riley Grammar died II
RaWhide, where in winter the tops
of the mountains are clothed il
garments of ice, and in summer
the blistering rays of the sun bea
down upon the skeleton of the des-
ert.
SIS there in this picture OF uni
iversaI life? When | look upon thu
circumstances of life, there comes
to my lips a curse. I relate to yol
Ionly my view. II these run counter
to you, believe what | say is sin.
lcere. When | see the ambitions o
man defeated, | see his aim an,
purpose frustrated, only by com
bination of circumstances owe
which he can exert no control.
see his outstretched hands about Il
grasp the flag of victory, and Il
seize instead the emblem Of defeat
| ask, What is life2 What is life
Dreams, awakening, death. Life i
a pendulum betwixi a smile and !
tear. Life is but a momentary hal
within the waste and then tn
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