The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-07-15
DaUiS Sister VIII Haze Hand in His Campaign
i'm CzarkSbufg- Friend Recalls Nominee as Sheik

BIZ VIA Serrice
TLARKSBURG, W. Va, July
15.-John w. Davis will
III have his national campaign
managers and district campaign
managers, but his sister is going
to have something to say about
the campaign in his birth town.
She is Miss Emma K. Davis, a
woman of forceful personality.
Friends here predict that although
she'll have no title in the Demo
cratic army, she'll take full COM
mand here.
Before her return from New
York she had telephone confer
ences with friends here, advising
them how to proceed. 1t may be
noted that they followed her direc-
tons explicitly.
She is as we'll known in Clarks-
burg as her brother\ and friends
take the liberty of referring to her
as Emma K" No one. however,
has heard her so called to her face.
E~7HERE is a striking similar
ity between the background
C@ Of Calvin Coolidge and John
w. Davis. Both are from families
of deep religious convictions.
John DAVIS. grandfather of the
Democratic nominee. used to
gather his slaves into his home
Sunday evenings at Clarksburg
and lead them and his family in
prayer.
His religious zeal was passed on
TO John ]. Davis, his son, who was
the largest contributor to the Gen.
trail Presbyterian Church in
Clarksburg. He was so active in
its founding, and-his financial aid
so great. it is sometimes referred
to as the Davis Chapel
Ohm W. DAVIS parents
were very strict. Friends
LII tell how his mother once
told him to go down to the post
N----N ~ SCI ltAC HAIL
John, then but a little fellow,
replied:
Il would go. mother. but I am
afraid it would spoil the servant"
His mother replied that she
would rather have all her servants
spoiled than to have her son
shirk work.
Davis took warning and got the
mail.
His mother gave Davis prac-
tically all of his grammar and
high school education. He never
went to the public schools of
Clarksburg.
She was a brilliant woman. She
mastered Latin and Greek after
the birth of her first child.
rs 7OR short time Davis went
to a private school con-
IL Quoted by one Bettinger.
Davis and I remember Betting
ger by one thing only" says
George Duncan, now a Clarksburg
banker. and once boyhood chum
of Davis. He always taught
class with his feet on the desk
and a long black stogie in his
mouth"
y spite of his rigorous
training. Davis was a true
IL boy. Duncan says.
Both probably were the 1898
counterpart of the modern sheik.
I'VE didn't go joyriding in
autos in those days" Duncan
says I'VE owned horses and rigs.
Many times Davis and raced
down Main St. to the dismay OF
the more staid folk. But Davis
horse could never beat my sor-
rel"
Davis used to run away from
the maternal apron string to the
old swimming hole with Duncan
and other boys. Davis grand
father was a saddler. His father
also operated the saddlery in Main
st. for a number Of years. even
after Davis was born. but later en-
tered the bar and politics.
AVIS entered politics I'M
knowingly against his
IL fathers strict orders. In
1910 delegates Of the first West
Virginia congressional district
met to choose a congressional can
didate
Hearing they were almost unani-
nous for his son, John J. Davis
sent a telegram forbidding him to