Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-08-04

his direction, distributed among some
Is different departments.
| Politically, Major Halves was a life
/ long republican, and in May of 1901
was appointed as trustee of the Illinois
! Soldiers and Sailors home, on which
/ board he served until 1907. Religious
| ly he was affiliated with the Broadway
/ Presbyterian church. FrateTnally, he
was a member of camp No. 30, Modern
| WoOdmen of America, of Trio lodge
/ No. 81, A. F. &, A NJ, Rock Island chap
/ ter No. IS, R. A. NJ, Rock Island COM
mandery No. IS, X. T., Zarapeth con-
/ sistory, A A S. R., and Kaaba temple,
A. A Q. n. VI. S. Major Halves had
/ also been d member of the Royal
| Neighbors since 1894, having been es-
| pecially active in the organization and
| development of that society.
He was married Dec. 1866, to Miss
! Josephine B. Saulpaugh, who passed
away in 1891. Some years after the
death of his first wife he was married
to Miss Mary c. Fay, Fulton, ILL.,, who
4 survives him. together with two sons,
/ Charles w, Jr., and John Marcus, and
one daughter, Mrs. Kathrine L. Nc
Namara. One brother, Frank B., also
survives and two grandchildren, James
and Gladys Mcnamara. Another
daughter, Josephine, died some years
ago.
/ The best friends of Major Halves
! are those who know him best. He
was a man of the people. Except for
/ seven years while he was in Fulton,
where the head offices of the Modern
! WOOdmen were then located, and the
/ few years when he was at the front
with his command, his entire life has
| been spent in the city of his birth 1t
was largely through his instrument
/ tality that the head offices of the great
/ Modern WoOdmen Institution were
! finally brought here in 1897. In his
: passing, the community loses one of
/ its most distinguished citizens, the
/ family a~kind and loving husband and
father and the nation one of it's most
devoted servants and defenders. His
/ loss to WoOdcraft will be keenly felt
/ He was called the Grand Old Man of
/ Woodcraft'' and the esteem in which
/ he was held by the members of that
! fraternity amounted almost to worship.
Tribute BY NOrthcOtt-
| Following is a richly deserved trib-
). ute that was paid to Major Halves at
/ the banquet of the Illinois WoOdmen
/ Social club at the Sherman hotel, Chi
/ cagO, on Feb. %. 1916, by W. A. North
colt, former head consul of the society
and for more than a quarter of a cen
/ fury warm friend of the major:
/ "Neighbors, there has been = task
/ assigned to me tonight and | approach
/ it on the heels of the dissolution of
! this meeting and with the Iateness of
! the hour, with . feeling of inability to
| rise TO the occasion. l feel that I am
unable to do it justice. l wish / had the
! power and the elOquence to tell as il
/ should be told the story Of a good
man, strong man, brave man. 1t is
not on the field of battle. when carry
| ing the flag and gun, spurred on by the
fife and drum and amidst Shrek of the
/ bullets, that the greatest things hap
/ pen. Alexander and Napoleon never
/ did for humanity what the lOwly Naz-
| arene did on the shores of Galilee
when he shed His blood, drop by drop,
| that humanity might be made free. I
| wish l could tell the simple story of
| this man. | met him more than quar-
, ter Of a century ago. He had been a
veteran of the war, one of the brave
| bows in blue who carried the flag on
| the southern battlefelds. He had been
! postmaster in his town He had been
/ a deputy sheriff, and. in the dead of
| night single-handed and alone, pur-
4 sued a fugitive from justice into his
| home. in the dark; engaged in a death
struggle with him-with one of the
most notorious rufians in his county
and came off victorious. He was a
| man of courage, a man of honor, a
man whom neither position nor
money could buy, a man of sterling
worth, man who would not lie. |
want TO tell you the story of that man,
so simple that it may go to your hearts
and minds and be monument to his
memory.
Made Office "A Model.
THAT man came to the Springfield
head camp more than a quarter of
century ago. He took the great office
of head clerk OF this great society and
made its administrative office such a
model that the New York Life, the
Equitable. and other great insurance
conpanies came to learn from the
Modern Woodmen OF America. They
said that fraternal insurance was
dream, a fairy tale; that It was not
businesslike; that il was impractc-
able: that il would not work But
Major Halves took that Office and as