The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1922-02-11

the drinks he thereupCn became Il
member of the Corks.
| The cork trick was introduced By
Mr. Vivian on Broadway, where it
caused great amusement and fast
grew into popularity. For several
Sundays thereafter there were meet-
ings at Mrs. Geisman's until she
ca led on them to move on account OF
the bcarders comp aiming of the noise.
! They then went to II Delaney street,
where the order grew rapidly. When
George f. Mcdonald was initiated into
the Corks it created so much amuse-
ment that he called them the jolly
Corks, and from that day they were
known as the jolly Corks.
Attend Funeral
In the latter part of December,
Messrs. Vivian, Hugh Egan, Hugh
Doubherty, Harry Sanwood and
George Guy were returning one af-
ternoon from the funeral of a friend
They dropped into Tony Pastors, and
there found Billy Gray, Tony and
"Dody" Pastor, John Fielding and
William Sheppard, who became inter
ested in the story of the Jolly Corks
having attended the funeral of a
friend who was not cork, and all OF
them strolled over from Pastors to
Sandy Spencer's place, where they
found Mr. Mcdonald and others.
After hearing the story about the
funeral the jolly Corks had attended
Mr.. Mcdonald suggested that the Or
ganization should become protective
and benevolent society, and during the
next week or ten days he preached
the idea to other Jolly Corks, among
them William Carleton, Mr.. Sheppard
and Tom Riggs.
Benevolent Feature
Following this, at a meeting of the
Jolly Corks held the first week in
February, 1868, Mr.. Mcdonald formal
ly proposed that the organization be
broadened into benevolent society
and that the name be changed. The
suggestion met with the approval Of
lall those present, and Mr.. Vivian. whc
was, as usual, presiding at the meet
ling as the Imeprial Cork, appointed
the following as a committee to find
q new name for the organization
George w. Thompson, William Lloyd
Powron, Thomas Grattan Riggs, VIII
liam Care'ton. James Glenn.
The work of the committee was ac-
tually done by Messrs Thompson
Bowron and Riggs. They all met al
lBarnums Museum on Broadway to
look over a number of animals, in
quest of a suitable name for the or
der, and there selected the moose and
the elk to make decision between
1t is said that Thompson and Bowror
first favored the moose.
The three members of the commit
tee went many times to Cooper Insti-
tute to study natural histories and in
one of them they found definition Of
the elk as an animal fleet of foot
timorous of doing wrong, but ever
ready to combat in defense of self OF
the female of the species" This great
" influenced them in favor of the elk
Mr.. Riggs brought further argument
in favor of the elk, and also asked
that as a personal favor TO him the
name ELK" be selected, as he said
he was born on Elk street in Buffalo
Select Name Elk
The name Elk was selected and was
unanimously recommended by the
tnree committeeman dJ lHe Hiee'Ah6
held February 16, 1868. Before leav-
ing England Mr.. Vivian had been
identified with the Royal and Ante
deluvian Order of Buffaloes. The
name Buffalo had not been suggested
by any member of the committee, but
at the meeting on February 16 to de-
eide upon the name, of the fifteen
members present, seven voted for the
name, Buffalo, and seven for the
name, Elk, the last one to vote being
William Lloyd Bowron, and he cast
his vote in favor of the name Elk
thus deciding the point.
Committee Chosen
Mr.. Vivian, as presiding officer al
the meeting, then declared the name
Elk officially adopted as the new
name for the order, and appointed the
following as a committee to prepare
and submit a ritual: George F. Nc
Donald, George W. Thompson, Will.
liam Sheppard, william Carleton
Thomas Grattan Riggs and himself
From and after Feb. 16, 1858, the Jolly
Corks ceased to exist and all of ths
members called themselves Elks, al
though none could be obligated az
A. ..tAss 81