Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-07-25
James Whitcomb Riley, the
Most Beloved of Ameri-
can Poets, Dies.
A PARALYTIC STROKE
One of Few Poets in COun-
try Who Made Fortune
From His Verses.

INDIANAPOLIS. July "a. James
Whiicomb Riley, the Indiana poet.
died aSturday evening.
Mr. Riley died tonight at 1851
o'clock while only Mr.. Rileys nurse
was awake in the poets home. He
had asked for n drink of water and
reclined on his bed again. Miss Gle
mentia Prough, the nurse resumed
her vigil and, noticing that the poet
seemed not to be resting easily. ap-
preached his bed. Mr.. Riley died be-
fore she reached his side.
Death From Paralysis.
Mr.. Riley's death was due to paral-
ysis lie suffered violent stroke
about 1880 o'clock this morning and
the members of his household were
greatly alarmed, but under DR.. Garlic.
ton b. McCulloch's administrations
the poet seemed to improve and early
this evening was regarded as much
better. Information was given to the
public that Mr.. Riley was in no dan
ger, but within few hours he was
dead.
Members Of Mr.. RlIey.s family were
summoned Immediately. They are his
brother-inlaw. Henry Eitel; his
nephew, Edmund II. Etel, and his
niece, Miss Elizabeth Eitel
attack of paralysis July 10. 1910.
James Whitcomb Riley, born OF
the middle west, sang the joys, sor-
rows, fancieS and humors of its folk,
largely in its own dialect. The world
was so touched by his inspiration and
the realism of his homely symbols
that he was one of the few that, de-
voting their lives to poetry, gained a
fortune.
Mr. Ri1pv u,oc DarcuI; n rI,, .opcitit,n
as to The advance of age and evaded
inquiries as to the date of his birth,
but the most accurate information
available indicates that he was born
In 1S4S.
SHOULD you ask his age" one of his
friends said, "he would answer, This
side of 40 and leave you to guess
which side"
The poet was the son OF Reuben A.
Riley, LAWYER and political speaker
of Greenfield, Ind. The boy could
rot be brought to the iull routine OF
scfcol days, but he was wise in the
lore of streams and fields. His
mother. who was Elizabeth Marine
before her marriage, was a writer OF
verse. and Riley in later life attrib-
uied some of his mpracticability to
her.
Was Painter.
tico of law, as his father wished, the
son II rned itirerant sign painter For
ter years he roved through the Ohio
valley, painting signs on fences. He
had the trick of the brush and pencil
and cleverly drew sketches illustrat-
ing the Writ les of merchandise. He
was naturally musical and shone as
a fiddler in the villages at which his
party stopped at night. He played
for dances and at concerts in country
hotels. He wrote rhymes, which
sometimes found their way into coun-
try newspapers.
He led this cheerful free and easy
life late in the '70's, then he took en-
paIer at Anderson. Ind. In 1877, for
the purpose. as he said Of proving
that he could write proety of value.
he perpetrated the Poe hoax which
for years was literary sensation. He
wrote a poem in the style of Edgar
Allen poe, to which he gave tho
characteristic title of "Leonanie,"
and it was offered to the public as
hitherto unpublished product of the
genius of Poe. one of the stanzas
was:
"Leonanie-angels named her,
And they took the light
OF the laughing stars and framed her
In a smile of white.
And they made her hair of gloomy
Midnight and her eyes of bloomy
Moonshine, and they brought her
to me
In the solemn night"
In some quarters the poem was
accepted as genuine; in others /. was