The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-08-03
DEATH CLAIMS
ELLEN SCRIPTS
IN CALIFORNIA
HALF Sister of Founder of
Newspaper League III
for Week.
CONTINUED from Page One

bookbinder. died in 1873, leaving
little to his family but the farm on
which 1t had lived.
In later years the farm was given
to the town Of Rushvllle as a me-
mortal park, and only a few years
ago Ellen Scripps built on the site
of the old farmhouse a beautiful
community house in honor of her
sister Virginia.
In 1853 Miss Scripps had gradu-
ated at the age of % from Knox
college-an institution to which she
has since made many requests
and fifteen years later, in the year
Of her fathers death, she left
Rushville to join her brother James,
soon to found the Detroit News.
Lent Financial Support
She lent him financial support
and became a proofreader for the
paper, the second penny paper in
the country
1t was five years later, in 1878,
that she went TO Cleveland to assist
f. w. Scripps in his founding of
the Penny Press, the forerunner of
the Scripps-H Howard newspapers Of
today.
At night, during these early days
of her newspaper work, she pre-
pared miscellany" that was to be
expanded later into the NEA Serv-
ice, which now supplies more than
700 newspapers with daily fea-
ture and picture service.
The first items Of the "miscel-
lany" came to r. F. Paine, then
editor of the Press, on note paper,
written in a fine Spencerian hand
of the old school of writing. The
little contributions puzzled the edi-
tor at first. He saw that they were
not items of news. But they did
have something"
Founded Feature Service
They contained odd and interest
ing sidelghts on big people and big
happenings in the news. They were
word pictures by some one who
knew and loved people.
Her brother caught the CLEAN of
the big meaning in Sister Ellen's
miscellany"
He ordered his editors to develop
this sidelight idea to the limit. He
ordered them to take no less than
$1,000 from the editorial budget
each month to develop features, now
so much part of the up-to-date
newspaper.
Miss Scripps was not stock
owner in the Penny Press in its
first days, but later acquired a part
in the enterprise. The original
partners, in addition to E. w.
Scripps, were his brothers, James E.
and George H., and John Scripps
Sweeney, a cousin.
Active Interest in Charity
Three years after the Penny
Press was founded Miss Scripps
took her first vacation, and re-
turned to her old home in Lon
don.
She had, with her brother, be-
gun to prosper, and henceforth
was to have considerable means al
ways at her disposal,
In 1900 another brother, George
H. Scripps. died and left a consid-
cradle share of his fortune to her.
He had been the financial expert of
the Scripps papers, and had &C
cumulated a large estate.
Even before her fortune had been
thus enlarged, Miss Scripps had
retired from active work in the
newspapers and had moved to La
Jolla, Cal, near San Diego, where
she built a beautiful villa overlook
ing twenty miles of southern Cali
fornia coast.
AS soon as her means had grown
to more than she needed for her
own modest requirements, Miss
Scripps had taken an active inter
est in charitable work and in the
assisting of educational enterprises.
Gave Half Million to College
Her estate increased rapidly and
she recognized that she was to be
a really rich woman.
She formulated definite program
for the distribution of much of her
money while she was still alive,
and for many years her gifts have
been exceed ely large,
The small investment she made in
the Detroit News grew to more than
half million dollars, and she gave
it all to Claremont college, Cali
fornia. as the foundation for Scripps
College for Women, the first inSti-
tuition of its kind in the west.
This was but one of many similar
gifts. One of her first large dona-
lions was made in founding the
Scripps Biological Institute at La
Jolla, which was subsequently given
to the University of California.
Fought for Free Speech
Other institutions to share in her
generosity included Pomona college,
Bishops Episcopal School for Girls.
the Scripps Memorial hospital, the
Y. NJ. c. A. and Y. w. c. A. of San
Diego, various charitable organiza-
tionS, churches and historical bodies.
Devoted to the cause of free
speech, she was yet tolerant of the
reactionaries who advocated policy
of repression, and sought to learn
to understand their point of view.
The love of her fellow townsmen
was expressed in the summer of
1926 by the erection Of a granite and
bronze memorial dedicated to her
in little open space in the main
highway through La Jolla.
Gifts for the purpose were re-
ceived in sums as small as twenty