The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-12-21
The Story of Joe Clos
Rise IN the NeU World

was put on as straw boss and made
Il good.
And now comes the thrilling story
of how he sent for his wife and fam
lily. By the summer Of 1913 Joe had
become fairly prosperous, so he sent
enough money home to pay the ex-
penses of the trip from italy to Keo-
kuk of his wife and two children, one
!of which had been born after he left
1.-THE country.
Separated In New York
j Well, the family took ship at an
Italian port and reached New York in
safety, but on the ship all had caught
chicken pox and they were not al
lowed to leave Ellis Island. They
were confined in hospital there and
because Of the fact that the wife could
mot speak English, she was unable to
make known her destination or any
thing concerning herself. And the
worst part of it was that mother and
children were separated and placed in
different hospitals.
Joe had 1t all figured out when he
would be reunited with his family, as
The had given full instructions to his
wife and he waited with beating
heart as the train that was to have
brought her and the children to Keo-
Kuk, pulled in. But there was disap-
pointment in store for Joe. Those
that he wanted to see most OF all were
several thousand miles away in a gov
'ernment hospital, down with the
chicken pox and practically without
en- identity.
Joe was broken hearted. The next
day he told all Of his troubles to the
manager Of the Keokuk Electric
company and government authorities
in New York were telegraphed to to
send information concerning the fam
lily.
The gloom was deepened when word
was received here that no such fam
lily had come over On the date men,
toned and tire was no record or trace
of them in New York. But Joe was
SO sure and SO desperate that the
local manager made last move. He
wrote to the Stone & Webster head
office in Boston and told authorities
there concerning the situation and
what a valuable man Joe was and as
a result Stone & Webster man was
dispatched to New York, and after do
ing some detective work, located first
the mother and then the children. He
found that all had been well taken
care of and just recovering from the
attack of chicken pox.
Sent to keokuk.
Then he got them all ready and
sent them off to Keokuk. And the
second time Joe was not disappointed
and there never was happier man
=. - -,
1913 when he was reunited with his
wife and family.
Joe had place all prepared for
them and there they went to live until
the new house had been planned and
with all OF his pockets filled with
lavish hand.
A sermon might have been written
on the incident that follows: Joe was
given a weeks vacation in which to
celebrate. Now there are many ways
Of celebrating a great event. but none
show the ingenuity of Joes way He
dressed his family and himself in
Sunday best and spent the week in
whiting all the bitches In town where
work was going on, remaining a few
minutes at each, bossing the men, to
show his wife what a great man he
was in America. And doubtlessly she
had twice as good an opinion Of him
as he had himself.
And now they have settled down as
good town people. Two other chill
dren came, twins, but one died. joe
has made good record in new land
and his story may be interesting tn
sociologists. philosophers and laymen
alike.