Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-25
.H0OS|ER poet IS
CALLED BY DEATH
JAMES WHiTcOMB RILEY SUC-
cUMBs SUDDENLY TO SECOND
STROKE OF PARALYSIS.

Indianapolis, Ind, July 24.-F1ags
all over indianapolis and other cities
of the state were at half mast today
In memory of James Whitcomb Riley,
who died suddenly Saturday night as
the result Of second stroke Of paraly-
SIS Preparations were begun early
today at the state house for the body
to lie in state from 8 to 9 o'clock this
evening.
The capitol was decorated to indi-
cate the general mourning all over the
state.
Although it was at first intended to
have the burial at Greenfield, Ind, the
boyhood home Of the poet, plans were
changed last night to make the burial
here.
Born In 1853.
James Whitcomb Riley, born OF the
middle west in 1853, sang the joys,
SORROWS, fancies and humors OF It's
folk, largely in it's own dialect The
world was 80 touched BY his inspira-
ton and the realism Of his homely
symbols that he was one of the few,
that, devoting their lives to poetry,
gained fortune.
The poet was the son of Reuben A.
Riley, lawyer and political speaker
of Greensfield, Ind. The boy could not
be brought to the dull routine of
school days, but he was wise in the
lore of streams and fields. His moth
er, who was Elizabeth Marine before
her marriage, was writer of verse
and Riley in later life attributed some
of his impracticability to her.
Instead Of preparing for the prac-
tice of law, as his father wished, the
son turned itinerant sign painter. For
ten 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 virtues 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 country newspapers.
Peroetrated Poe Hoax.
He led this cheerful, free and easy
life late in the '70's, then he took en-
ployment as reporter on a newspa-
per at Anderson, Ind. In 1877, for the
purpose, as he said, Of proving that he
could write poetry of value, he per-
petrated the Poe hoax which for years
was a literary sensation. He wrote a
poem in the style Of Edgar Allen Poe,
to which he gave the characteristic
title of "Leonanie,' and 1t was offered
to the public as hitherto unpublished
product Of the genius of Poe. One of
the stanxas was:
"Leonanie-angelsn named her,
And they took the light
OF the laughing stars and framed her
In smile of white.
And they made her hair OF gloomy
Midnight and her eyes Of bloomy
Moonlight and they brought her to me
In the solemn night"
In some quarters the poem was &C
cepted as genuine; in others it was
denounced as fraud. After the con-
troversy had waged for months Riley
confessed
Toured the Country.
In the early sos he began writing
verses in "Hoosier" dialect for the old
Indianapolis Journal He sent some
of his poems to Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow and they received his
praise A volume WAS published and
1.-The Hoosier poet" began to win
public He was an excellent reader
of his own dialect verses and for the
following fifteen years, or until 1898,
he made tours of the country, appear
ing in public with great success both
alone and in association with the hui
morist, Bill Nye, who was his intimate
friend.
Mr.. Riley never married, but he was
a lover of children, whose spirit he
OWNED 80 intimately, and Of family
life. Many of the last years of his
life he spent quietly at his home in
secluded section of Indianapolis.