El Nuevo mexicano., 1919-03-20
Suffering Fails to
Mar Cheerfulness
OF Van Loan

(Kansas City STAR
A friends "reminiscences are set gu
in this story Of the death Of Charlie.
E. Van Loan by Louis J.. Stellman
which appeared in the San Francisco
Bulletin;
Van Loan was 43. He died O.
nephritis, complicated by sufferinf
from an injured4arm, broken In a mo
tor car accident four years ago and
badly set. 1t had to be rebroken and
even then gave him some trouble; Sc
he decided two years ago, upon a com.
pick operation from which ! tried to
dissuade him. A famous bone sur
Fgeon was his friend, he told me, and
the arm would stiffen unless operated
on. They took bones~and ligaments
out Of his leg and grated them upon
his arm. Wonders were expected of
the operation. But ever thereafter, as
Van Loan tersely wrote me, that arm
was just one plaster of Paris hell
."Charlie left his beloved California
and his 100000 a year income to be.
como associate editor of the Saturday
evening Post at $4,000 year. 1t was
because the ailing arm was SO great
q tax upon his nerves that he wished
for q time to lessen his creative work
And then he died. The nerve
strain Slapped even his wondrous
strength and vast resource of stamina.
But n thing it did not, could not, do,
and that was to spoil his good nature.
"A short time ago a letter came to me
from Philadelphia teeming with the
essence OF his imperishable comedy,
bis inimitable refreshing slang.
Charles Emmett Van Loan was born
at San Jose in 1876 and was one Of
a numerous family, all musical, all re-
ligious. They removed to Santa Bar
'bara and there Van Loan, a boy of II,
played a string instrument in the Sal
walton Army Corps of which his father
was captain-this father who loved his
son SO greatly that he persisted.
broken hearted, when he heard of
Charles death.
In his early stwenties Van Loan
Went to Los Angeles and secured EN-
ployment with the Standard on Com
panyy first as a st~enographer, later as
a ~bookkeeper.
His first published writing appear
ed in the San Francisco Bulletin. Six
teen years ago Van Loans letters
comment on the Los An
geles baseball team-attracted the at
tention Of Hyland Baggerly, then the
Bulletins sporting editor, and a series
Of these-perhaps the first slang sport.
ing feature Of its kind in America
attracted considerable attention. They
were contributed gratuitously, but
thereafter Van Loan demanded recon-
pense, and was put on the Bulletins
payroll as a sporting correspondent
from Los Angeles, a position which he
to fill for several years.
In 1901 we met-I a cub reporter
on the Los Angeles Herald and he the
Of a Sunday feature known as
Tales by the Fly Man He used to
Illustrate these with comic thumbnail
sketches, and offered to furnish SINH
lar ones for a book Of alleged humor
which, with the ardent Of youth, / had
already projected. We discussed it
very gravely one morning, but moth
ing came Of it-saVe that | gained a
friend. l got an idea of I'M
strength and unquenchable
Soon after he became the sporting
sditor Of a Los Angeles daily and did
such notable work that the Denver Re
publican stole him and was in turn de-
Of his services by a New York
laper. In 1910 / saw him in the big
,arnlike local room Of that periodical,
md he told me OF his early fiction as
lirations. The editor of the Popular
wants me to do a series for him, he
said, and Munsey's is after me for
owe stories. But / can't write this
owe junk. Maybe you could do it,
Horace Lorimer of the Satur-
lay evening Post, who lets few really
zig men escape his net, gobbled
Charlie Van Loan and never lot 60 OF
lin. They became fast friends, and
Jorimer's offer of an assistant editor
hip was a proof of thSt friendship and
iolicitude when nerve, torture had
lriven Van Loan almost to despera
ion.
Il don't believe it did him any good
that trip to philadelphia. He loved
Southern California, his snug home on
commonwealth Avenue, the sunshine
md mountains, and more than all else.
he friends for whose interests he con
family sacrificed his own. Half a
lozen successful writer's Of today owe
heir success to his constant coaching
md Observation-Disclosures them VIII.
,ur Hall and Lowell Otus Reese.
MRS, Van Loan and his two chill
lren, with all Of whom he was a pal
md playmate, were at his bedside dur
ng that last racking hour in the
philadelphia hospital. His dying wordA
sacred to them; they are not made
But l know they were some
hing cheering, something with the
alliance of his quaint and sunny hui
nor in them-a thought of others, not
limself.7
.eMr lerseu Came.