Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-03
VANLOAN'SDEATH
FATAL TOT FATHER
Aged Parent Overcome
When Informed of Noted
Writer'S End Here
NATIVE OF CALIFORNIA
Body Will Be Crcmated After
Funeral Next We'd
nesday

Charles Y. Van Loan. noted short
story writer, died yesterday in the
Abingdon Memorial Hospital after an
illness of several weeks
Richard Van Loan. father Of the
writer died in Los Angeles few
minutes after news of his sons death
was brought to him In church
Funeral services will be held tomorrow
at noon in the Wyncote Episcopal
Church The body will he crematcd.
Charles T.. Van Loan was forty-two
years old and had achieved wide repu-
tation as writer of fiction.
Mr. Van Loan began to fail shortly
after coming East last November, when
he became associate editor Of the Satur-
day Evening Post. At that time, how
ever, his rugged constitution gave no
warning of the breakdown which was to
come.
The immediate cause OF death was
nephrtis, but an automobile accident In
California six years ago is believed to
have impaired his vitality to such an
extent that recovery was impossible.
With Mr.. Van Loan at the time of
his death were his wife and children,
who had been summoned to his bedside
several days ago, when his recovery
became doubtful, and George Horace
Lorimer, editor of the Saturday Evening
Post, all of whom had maintained an
all-night vigil at the bedside
The writer's father lived but a few
minutes after receiving the news of his
sons death. Another son carried the
message to him at church. a short dis
tance from his home. and he died Just
as he reached home, where he had hur-
ried to get more definite news of his
bereavement
Suffered Organic Trouble
The first intimation that the ailment
which began last November might be
serious was when Mr.. Van Loan went
to the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital
and found that retinal hemorrhages from
which he was suffering indicated organic
trouble. Mr.. Van Loan had established
his home on Bent road. Wyncote
From that time he was under the
care of physicians and on February l8
was removed to the Abingdon Memorial
Hospital He was attended there by
Drs. NJ. II. Fussell and Milton *. Nelffer
Last Wednesday his condition showed
n marked change for the better. But the
next day n relapse followed, succeeded
by more serious one. during the night
on Saturday.
The death of Mr.. Van Loan removes
n story-writer who, in the opinion of
critics, had the largest following among
men readers of any magazine fiction
writer. He was the first probably to
transcribe the trials and tribuations Of
the notion picture actor to fiction Added
to this. he had a thorough knowledge Of
baseball, motoring, golf and other out
door sports. and he wrote of these from
the viewpoint of a man who had ac-
tually taken part in them and who loved
sports.
This love for the outdoors was ire
pressible. Frequently he made trips
through tho Far West. He knew that
country well. Much of his fiction ma
teral was gathered there, and the last
story he wrote, which will, appear in
the next issue of the Post, called THE
flasher" IL romance written around
one Of the lunchroom girls TO be seen in
! the famous Harvey chain Of restaurants
along the Santa Fe.
After the automobile accident which
| happened in San Bernardino, he learned
| to play golf and TO drive his motorcar
with his right hand and arm. The
! other had been fractured and had re-
fused to set right. He acquired consid-
erable skill, and he was looking for
ward TO the spring, when he might get
! out and pay again on the links near his
home.
Enters Newspaper Work
Mr. Van Loan started his career be-
hind a desk for the Standard Oil Com
pany in Los Angeles, Cal. The greater
part of his life was spent in that state.
He was born in san Jose, June 20, 1876.
He was educated in the public schools,
and his wife was a California girl Miss
Emma c. Lenz, of Los Angeles. A year
after his marriage. which was in 1902,
he quit business life and went into news
paper work with the Los Angeles Times.
He made good from the start. as the
editors say, and the pungency of his
style soon attracted favorable attention
from New York. In the meantime, he
! had tried his hand at short-story writ
ing. He went to the New York Amer
lean as a baseball writer. continuing his
fiction writing and contributing suces-
sIyeIy to the Popular Magazine. the Nun
sew periodicals and then six years ago
began with a succession OF stories In the
Post that speedily won him large hear
ing. In the six years he wrote approXi-
mately seventy-five short stories for the
Post. nearly all wytten in the first per-
son--one of the pecullarities Of his style
and all dealing with some phase Of
out of-doors or sports.
Baseball was his forte. He knew all
the "kings of the diamond" by their
first names and their nicknames, and he
knew as only a baseball reporter can
know the intricacies of the game from
the players viewpoint. These he trans
muted into the fine gold Of rare fiction,
investing his kings with actions that
even the players themselves enjoyed
alphabetically. One series he wrote
dealt with "bones"-stupid plays on the
diamond-that proved most successful
and enjoyable. Once in an amateur
game with newspapermen he pulled a
. bone" himself that he used for material
This was stealing second base with the
bases full.
His collection of stories included "Tht
, Big League" ''The Lucky Seventh
The Ten Thousand Dollar Arm" "In.
> side the Ropes" Buck Parvn and the
Movies" and his newest book, Just of
, the press, "Score by Innings"
Mr. Van Loan was member of tho
h | Los Angeles Athletic and Country CIuhs