Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-12-08
The MAKING OF A man
Remarkable Combination Of Moral,
Physical and Spiritual Power
CLIMBS ABOVE ALL Difficulties

Unusual Story of the Development OF
John William kellette-eootbaek
Newsboy, Printer, Car Conductor
Editor, Artist, Sonsster, Musical
Composer, Author, Script Writer and
Whatever Else His Versatile Make
up May Will.
Written for The Yorkville Enquirer.
Whatever a man wills. that he shall
become" This is a maxim Of John W.
Kellette, a personal friend Of long
standing, now residing in New Ro-
chelle, N. Y, and the story Of how Mr.
Kellette has demonstrated his maxim
I believe, will be of more than passing
interest to many Of The Enquirer
readers.
In the first place, maybe, l had bet
ter introduce Mr.. kellette. He was
born in Lowell, Mass, about forty-one
years ago. or to be more exact. on Feb
ruary s, 1874. His parents died when
he was years of age, and he became a
waif, making his living on the streets
of Boston selling papers, blacking
shoes and running errands. This was
his life until the great blizzard Of 1888
when he drifted to Northboro, Mass.
and hired himself to farmer, with the
idea Of trying to get a chance to grow
up" He remained with the farmer
until 1890, when he became devil In
the office Of the Home News, and re-
manned until 1896, when he went back
to Boston to become the foreman Of q
Job printing office. After year in the
job printing office he became city edi-
tor of the North Attleboro, Mass.
Chronicle, and when the Spanish
American war broke out, he enlisted
as private in Company F, Of the Sixth
Massachusetts, Volunteers. His regi-
ment went to Porto Rico, but saw nc
active service of any consequence, and
after the war he was mustered out al
Marlboro, Mass While serving on a
detail of his regiment in charge OF
horses in Charleston, in 1898, Mr.. Kel-
lette formed a chance acquaintance
with Mr.. A. M. Grist, of the firm OF
L. M. Crisis Sons, then in charge OF
the linotype plant of the Charleston
Post. This acquaintance was renewed
after the war at Mr.. Kellette's home al
Northboro, Mass, and as the result oul
friend spent some two months learn
ing the linotype in the office Of The
Yorkville Enquirer. 1t was then that
1 first met him and afterward at his
home in Rutland, Vermont, that / met
his splendid wife.
Now, Of course, l have no idea OF
telling everything l know about Mr.
Kellette, because to do so would require
a volume. There is no purpose OF rep
resenting my friend as paragon; but
l am not going to say anything bao
about him because l know nothing
That is exactly the reason. If l knew
bad, l would not hesitate to
tell it, for l know he would not OBJ
ject. His life is an open book to his
friends and his enemies, and he does
not want any friends from whom 1t is
necessary to hide anything.
In the Boston art gallery there is a
famous painting by a noted American
artist The subject is a Boston street
waif with his papers under his arm
and his blacking box kit across his
shoulders. The face is the most strik-
ing feature. A frank, manly counte-
nance, of dark complexion, lighted up
by a clear, wide-open pair Of brownish
black eyes, that look you in the face
with a kindly fearlessness that gives
you an impression Of unusual but not
altosether comprehensive personality
This picture is Jack Kellette, when a
boy. / do not mean that it is type OF
Jack Kellette; but Jack Kellette him
picture when he was about IA years OF
age. AS to just how it came about
whether the artist was inspired to
paint the picture as the result Of a
chance meeting with Jack, or having
conceived the idea Of the picture, ran
across Jack while in search Of a model
do not know; but nevertheless it Is
Jack.
But few Of our readers have any
idea Of the life Of the waits Of the great
cities of New York, Boston, Chicago
etc. When left an orphan at 9, Jack
had to make his way alone, and thai
meant something fierce. 1t is unneces-
sary to describe what happens when a
bone is thrown out to two dogs The
same thing happens when there are
two newsies and only one customer fol
a paper or only one pair Of shoes tc
shine. The best man of the two gets
the penny or the nickel. If the question
of supremacy has already been estab-
lished, the customer does not see any
trouble. Otherwise he witnesses q
fight. There are certain stands and
corners that have their advantages
and certain bows claim those places
That is the way it was then and to a
large extent that is the way it is yet
Jack was a new conner and had his
way to make. He deliberately sought
the corners that offered the best oppor.
tunities for business. Where it was
necessary to fight he fought. His face
was blacked and his shins were bruis-
ed until they were raw; but unless the
other boy was a great deal older OF
stronger he held his ground. Within a
year or two there was not a boy in al
Boston who dared challenge his su-
premacy. He assigned places for the
other boys, and when he assigned a
place that place was secure, whether
the boy could fight or not. All that was
that "Kell put me here" And there
was no extortion about it-not a bit
AS a man Of forty-one today with a
comfortable home and a good income
Mr.. Kellette would rather give to the
unfortunate all that he has than take
from them an unjust penny. 1t was sc
then. The crippled, sickly and lame
newSboyS got the best corners and the
news girls had the right to sell papers
where they pleased. 1t was not that way
before the advent Of Jack, for previous
to his coming girls had to fight and
scratch or take back seat the same
as the others Jack could never stand
to see girl imposed upon, and it soor
became so that when boy saw anotnel
fighting girl, he went to the rescue
and If he was not able to handle the
case, somebody told Jack. Jack took
the matter up with both, giving the
one a good licking and the other 9
good place to sell papers.
Although a good printer. when he
came to Yorkville, Mr.. Kellette knew
nothing about the linotype. He worked
in The Enquirer office about six weeks
The linotype was a new and wonderful
machine in those days, and the demand
for machinist operators was great. Oul
of long list of advertisements fol
linotype machinists wanted, our frienG
chose to get in correspondence with the
Herald, published in Rutland, Ver-
mont. He went there direct from The
Enquirer office. took charge Of the ma
chine and made good. AS in the case
of everything he does, he put his whole
soul in his work and it was not great
while before his capacity as an opera
tor exceeded the capacity of the ma
chine on the kind of type he was using
and he changed the gearing of the ma
chine so as to make it run faster thar
the builders had intended. An inspec-