The daily Alaskan., 1922-02-28

marked an anniversary of keen in- terest to nearly 100000 American men.
 Fifty-four years ago-on Febru- ary l6. lS6S-a little group of four teen men sat in & stuFy room in New York city. vice they voted on a matter they had been debating for weeks. On the second ballot the now almost forgotten fra'ernal order of the Jolly Corks" was dis banded. And the Benevolent and Protective Order ol EIks was born.
 The first membership report in the archives of the Elks is dated De- cember 27. 1888. New York Lodge No. l. the Mother Lodge Of the Or der, was then it's CnIy lodge. There were 76 members on the rolls.
 The dfty-fourth anniversary of the orders birth shows a membership Of more than l,4OO lodges that dot the United States of America At An chorace. Alaska. tEe farthest north Elk lodge stands amid almost polar ice and snow. ElN lodges rise al Brownsville. Texas. and Key West, FIorida-farthest southern points 9s the continental Unitei States Our Canal Zone has it's lodge at Balboa Heights. Our island possessions are starred with Elk lodges at Manila in the Philippines, st Honolulu and Hno in Hawaii, st Guam, and al San Juan in Porto Rico. And the Elks of America are working to inj- tfate their milHonth member by July, 1922. when tAe Grand Lodge meets at Atlantic City.
 The founder of this organization that is today Americas greatest fraternaI order was Charles N.uau. He was strollins English actor, He never lived to know how well he and his little group Of brothe--act- ors had buildod
 His body rests Today in Mount Hope Cemetery, Boston, Massachu- setts, beneath a great granite bouId- CT bearing a bronze plate with the inscription:
 "Charles AIgerDon Sidney Vivian. Founder of the Order of Elks Died March %. 1880. Aged 24 years A lover of his kind. who founded a great order and in doing so wrought much good
 Vivian. who was the presiding Jolly Cork" at the momeutous meeting in 1868 when the fourteen men voted Co organize under the name of "Elks." died in Leadville Colorado. after a life Of theatrical vicissitudes that ranged from tour ing in a0lueuce at the head of his own company to being stranded penniIass in Denver. There in Lead vile his body rested. his grave marked only by a weather-staiued pine board on which an inscription was scratched with some sharp in strument, until on April 2S. 1889. Boston Lodge No. 10. B. P. O. EIks exhumed the body, took it to Bos- ton, and buried il there with splen. did ceremonial.
 Only in Elkdom's archives and the memories of the few surviving old timers" is the history Of the Jolly Corks held intact. And only one charter member of ylkdom still sur wives. He is Joe" Norcross Of New York.
 The Jolly Corks", actor folks all. met in those days of the eos in cafes and bar-rooms Of New Works theatrical district. The "cork trick was their initiation ceremony A group of Corks would bring in a candidate, who waJ assessed fifty cents. This was taken by Charles Vivian. and entered in a pocket memorandum book. Each Jolly Cork" produced a champagne cork from his pocket.
 The bar-keeper supplied the candi- date with a new cork. The men lined up in front of the now-extincJ American bar. Each man placed his cork in front of hiu on the bar. To the candidate it was explained that at the signal "Three," of the "One- two-three!" called by the ruling Cork. the last man to lift his cork from the bar was stuck for the drinks"
 The signal would be called. The Jolly CorGs, all initiates, would sim ply cup their hands over their corks on the bar. The candidate, with a swift swoop, always would be the first man to lift his cork. He would