Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-14

/ Robert Sroufe, grand chancellor Of the
knights of Pythias. odd Fellow and san
itary officer Of the police department died
at his home. J22 18th street northeast.
yesterday afternoon about ; o'clock. He
had been sick the past year or more.
but it was not until the latter part of last
month that he felt compelled to quit &C
tive work in the police department. Z
| The deceased was member of every
branch of the Pythian order. He was a
member of the uniformed rank, the in
surance branch and Rathbone Temple,
No. 8. Pythian Sisters. He was a men,
Der of Federal City Lodge, No. 30, l. 0.
! o. +.
| Grand Vice Chancellor Mark Stearman
| last night called a meeting of the Grand
| Lodge officers at Pythian Temple and ar
| rangementS We're made for the members
| of the order to conduct the funeral serv-
ices. Members of Equal Lodge. X. P, of
| which the deceased was a member, will
| make final arrangements for the funeral
at tonight's meeting.
| Body to Lie in State.
| 1t has been arranged to take the body
to Pythan Temple Saturday morning,
where a guard of honor will be on duty
until the conclusion of the funeral serv-
ices, which will be held at . o'clock. In
| terment will be in Arlington national
cemetery.
| Robert Sroufe, native of brown
| county, Ohio. was born June 90. 1864.
After spending his boyhood days in Ohio
| he enlisted i'll the army.
| October >, 1890, he went on duty as
| policeman and served until 1897. when
| he was promoted and made a member of
| class ,. Later an act providing for a re-
| organization of the force made it pos
| sible for him to receive another promo
| ton and an increase in salary.
| Private Sroufc was doing duty in the
| tenth precinct the latter part of 1903
| when Maj. Sylvester selected him to
| perform temporarily the duties of sani
| tary officer in place of John A. Frank,
who later died. He then succeeded Mr..
] Frank and has since held the position.
| The duties of the sanitary officer in
clude the handling of all cases of in
sanity coming to the attention of the po-
| lice and the position is said to be one of
| the most trying and exactinS ones in the
| police department.
Duty Affected His Health.
During the past seven years the sani-
| tary officer was on duty practically
every day with the exception of the
| times he was on leave or sick or when Oh
trips to distant points with insane per-
sons. It was a case of hearing sad
stories of the doings of insane and
| near-inSane persons day in and day
out and finally the work affected him
nervously and made his fight for life
all the harder.
| In addition to handling the cases in
his Office it was necessary for him to
be able to present them in court, and
/ the deceased had become possessed of
a knowledge of the law that made him
of valuable assistance to the courts
and corporation counsel Many of the
insane persons with whom he dealt had
| threatened his life, but their threats
did not greatly alarm him.
Some years ago Robert Sroufe became
q member of the knights of Pythias, and
he had been one of the most active men,
berS of the order in this city. AS a men,
Der of the sick committees of local lodges,
| it is stated. he performed excellent serv
| ice, having been always willing to visit
and look after the sick and distressed.
Awarded High Pythian Honor.
| At the forty-eighth annual convention
OF the order. held in this city the middle
of last February. Sroufe was elected to
| the Office of grand chancellor. His can
didacy for the highest position in the To-
| cal order was advocated by so many
members that when the convention as
| sembled his was the only name pre-
sented
Representative Harry F.. Wiley pre-
scented his name to the convention and
it was seconded by Supreme Chancellor
Edward Dunn. There being no other
name presented. the election was record
ed without the formality of a vote being
| taken. The deceased is survived by his
wife. They had no children
Mrs. Sroufe was formerly Miss Flora
Boosby. She resided in Mount Grab,
Ohio. where the Sroufe family also re-
sided, and where the couple were mar
ried shortly before he received his APP
pointment as a member of the police
force.