Newspapers / The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, … / July 22, 1937, edition 1 / Page 10
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bale Carnegie 5-Minute Biographies Author of "How to Win Friends and Influence People " HOWARD THURSTON The Missionary Who Got on the Wrong Train—And Became a Famous Magician One cold night, a half century ago, a crowd was pouring out of McVicker's Theatre in Chicago. It was a laughing, happy crowd —a crowd that had been entertained by Alexander Herrman, the great magician of that day. A shivering newsboy stood on the sidewalk, trying to sell copies of the Chicago Tribune to the crowd. But he was having a tough time of it. He had no overcoat, he had no home, and he had no mon ey to pay for a bed. That night, after the crowd faded away, he wrapped himself in newspapers and slept on' top of an iron grat ing which was warmed slightly by the furnace in the basement, in an alley back of the theatre. As he lay there, hungry and shivering, he vowed that he too would be a magician. He longed to have crowds applauding him, wear a furlined coat, and have girls waiting for him at the stage door. So he made a solemn vow that when he was a famous ma gician, he would come back and play as a headliner in the same theatre. , That boy was Howard Thurston —and twenty years later he did precisely that. After his perform ance he went out in the alley and found his initials where he had carved them on the back of the theatre a quarter of a century be fore when he had been a hungry, homeless newsboy. At the time of his death— April 13, 1936 —Howard Thurston was the acknowledged dean of magicians, the king of ledgerde main. During his last forty years he had traveled all over the world, time and again, creating illusions, mystifying audiences, and mak ing people gasp with astonish ment. More than sixty million people paid admissions to his show, and his profits were almost two million dollars. Shortly before his death, I spent an evening with Thurston in the theatre, watching his act from the wings. Later we went up to his dressing room and he talked for hours about his exciting adven tures. When he was a little boy, his father whipped him cruelly be cause he had driven a team of horses too fast. Blind with rage, he dashed out of the house, slam med the door, ran screaming down the street and disappeared. His mother and father never saw or heard from him again for five years. They feared he was dead. And he admitted that it was a wonder he wasn't killed; for he became a hobo, riding in box cars, begging, stealing, sleeping in barns and haystacks and deserted buildings. He was arrested dozens of times, chased, cursed, kicked, thrown of trains and shot at. He became a jockey and a gam bler; at seventeen years of age, he found himself stranded in New York without a dollar and without a friend. Then a significant thing happened. Drifting into a religious meeting, he heard an evangelist preach on the text. "There Is a Man in You." Deeply moved, and stirred as he had never been stirred before in his life, he was convinced of his sins. So he walked up to the altar and with tears rolling down his cheeks, was converted. Two weeks later, this erstwhile hobo was out preaching on a street corner in Chinatown. He was happier than he had even been before, so he decided to become an evangelist, enrolled in the Moody Bible School at Northfield Massachusetts, and worked as a janitor to pay for his board and room. He was eightee nyears old then, and up to that time, he had never gone to school more than six months in his life. He had learn ed to read by looking out of box car doors at signs along the rail way and asking other tramps what they meant. He couldn't write or figure or spell. So he went to his classes in the Bible School and studied Greek and biology in the daytime, and studied reading and, writing and arithmetic at night. He finally decided to become a medical missionary and was on his way to attend the-University of Pennsylvania whan a little thing happened that changed the entire course of his life. On his way from Massachusetts to Philadelphia, he had to change trains at Albany. While waiting for his train, he drifted into a the atre and watched Alexander Herr man perform tricks of magic that kept the audience popeyed with wonder. Thurston had always been interested in magic. He had always tried to do card tricks. He longed to talk to his idol, his hero, Herman the Great Magician. He went to the hotel and got a room next to Herrman's; he listened at the keyhole and walked up and down the corridor, trying to sum mon up enough courage to knock, but he couldn't. The next morning he followed the famous magician to the rail way station, and stood admiring him with silent awe. The magic ian was going to Syracuse. Thurs ton was going to New York—at least he thought he was. He in tended to ask for a ticket to New York; but by mistake he too ask ed for a ticket to Syracuse. That mistake altered his des tiny. That mistake made him a magician instead of a medical missionary. At the flood tide of his fame Thurston got almost a thousand dollars a day for his show. But I often heard him say that the happiest days of his life were when he was getting a dollar a day for doing card tricks for a medicine show. His name was painted in blazing red letters across a streaming banner, and he was billed as "Thursday, the Ma gician of the North." He was from Columbus, Ohio but that is North, if you are from Texas. His success was due to at least two things. First, he had the abil ity to put his personality across the footlights. He was a master howman, he knew human nature; and he said those qualities were just as important for a magician as a knowledge of magic. Every thing he did, even the intonations of his voice and the lifting of an eyebrow, had been carefully re hearsed in advance, and his ac tions had been timed to split sec onds. And second, he loved his au dience. Before the curtain went up, he stood in the wings, jump ing up and down and kept saying "I love my audience. I love to en tertain them." He knew that if he wasn't hap py no one else would be. Copyright, 1937 " Good In Something Speaker Pullfast—Nothing that is false ever does anybody any good. Old Mr. Groot (in audience)— Yer're wrong, Stranger. I have false teeth and they do me a lot of good. ITS NOT TOO LATE ' rt U f\ I COME IN TODAY TO QUALIFY FOR J I*lol*o 1/AyS! FOR COMPLETE mmtamm HiMMHi^ m^mm W ■J 1J I [4 V_¥ I—*mmrnmi^mmmßmmmmmmmlmm~— 1, 1,1 11 JL . IVIf !■ ||J» FIRST PRIYF $50.001 THESE ATTRACTIVE PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED SECOND PRIZE $25.00 Saturday, July 31,7:00 P. M. THIRD PRIZE SIO.OO .. . lt FOURTH PRIZE SIO.OO McDaniel s Dept. Store FIFTH PRIZE —55.00 ELK in F - ■ .. its : ;,\r -v- . • • ;5. THE ELKIN TRIBUNE, EL KIN, NORTH CAROLINA RUSK Miss Mamie Isaacs, , who has completed a course in beauty at the Hinshaw Beauty School, North Wilkesboro has come home to stay until she attends the State Board of Examination. Mrs. Alex Gentry of the Friend ship community has been a guest in the home of her granddaugh ter, Mrs. Kermit Corder, the past week. Mr. and Mrs. Corder had as Sunday guests Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Phillips, Mr. and Mrs. Grady Corder, all of Fairview; also Mr. and Mrs. Lester Sloop and children of Friendship. Mas ter Everett Sloop remained to spend the week. Misses Mamie and Beulah Shore accompanied by Miss Nora Shore, all of near Yadkinville, were re cent visitors in the home of Mrs. Vance Burch. Mr. Sid Gough, a former resi dent of this community, but now of Winston-Salem, was a Sunday visitor here. / Clarence Greenwood spent Thursday in Mt. Airy. Miss Virena Robinson of New York City was a recent guest of W. S. White. Mrs. U. C. Whitaker who has been ill is improving. Mr. J. S. Hill made a business trip to Pilot Mtn. Wednesday. Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Wilmoth of Elkin, %re house guests of Mr. and Mrs. N. E. Wilmoth. . Mr. Paul Burch of Mtn. Park, was here a short while Thursday. Mr. and Mrs. Felix Layne of Elkin, were Sunday guests of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Humphries. Miss Mattie Ruth Wilmoth of North Wilkesboro, spent the week end here with home folks. Mr. R. A. Jenkins of Winston- Salem was the week-end guest of his family. Mrs. Mason Miller and chil dren of Elkin visited her sister, Miss Opal White and Mrs. W. S. White the past week-end. Mr. W. C. Martin of High Point was among the week-end visitors here. Mr. Will Snow of Elkin, was a Sunday visitor here. Messrs G. P. Jenkins and Tom Ring made a business trip to Winston-Salem, Monday. Mr. L. White, Mr. and Mrs. W. S. White and Little Peggy Jo Martin spent an enjoyable outing near Kapps' mill where they were joined by a party of friends the past week-end. Mr. H. C. Jenkins and family of State Road accompanied by "Mrs. Ila Burch and children vis ited friends in Boonville, Sunday. The Difference Janey—Black hens are smarter than white hens, aren't they, mummy? Mother—What makes you ask such a silly question? Janey Well, black hens can lay white eggs, but white hens can't lay black eggs, can they? Yes: Why? Husband—Why does a woman say she has been shopping wheh she hasn't bought a thing? Wife—Why does a man say he's been fishing when he hasn't caught a thing? Local Men Witness Execution at Raleigh (Continued from, page one) the container of acid, were plac ed small white balls of cynide. Then the door of the chamber was closed and the death machinery was ready-to work. Hardly had the attendants closed the air tight door than the balls of cynide were released to drop into the acid, creating dead ly hydrocyanic gas which curled upward like so much cigar smoke. The negro, Mr. Pulp said, appear ed to hold his breath for a mo ment as the dea'dly fumes reach ed his nostrils, then suddenly opened his mouth and inhaled deeply,, as if trying to get it over with as soon as possible. In a few miiiutes he appeared as a man in a drunken stupor, and at one point gave evidence of being in great agony, his eyes rolling and his head moving from side to side. Finally, about 10 minutes after the deadly gas had found his lungs, his head drooped forward upon his chest. He was dead. Bqth Mr. Pulp and Mr. Shugart stated that the execution, as wit- WKWO/ Crosstng Guard Held LOS ANGELES, Cal. . . . Albert Dyer, 82-year-old WPA crossing guard employed In Centinela Park, Inglewood, in his cell after he confessed to the slaying of three young girls. nessed through a small glass win dow, was quite impressive, and expressed the belief that if every Prisoner, no matter on what charge convicted, was forced to witness a similar execution, mur der would be decreased by a sub stantial margin. HEALTH NOTES SURRY COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT RALPH J. SYKES, ML D., Health Officer This disease is a dangerous and highly contagious disease which is spread by the cough and discharge from the throat and nose. Whoop ing Cough is catching from its earliest stages, before teristic appears and the person remains infectious through the fourth week of the disease. The first sign of whooping cough usually appears early in the second week after exposure. The disease starts with the symptoms of a cold, that is, a running nose, a rather tight dry cough and fre quently a slight fever. From one to two weeks later the cough be-, comes worse and the child begins to have separated spells of cough- Thursday, July 22, 1937 ing. He coughs several times on one outgoing'breath and then draws in his breath with a sud den crowing sound or whoop, m three to Jour weeks the attacks become lighter and finally the whooping and vomiting, if pres ent, will disappear. The important question is how to protect others. As soon as the child is suspected of having whooping cough call the doctor and go by his advice. The doctor will, report the case to the Health Department who will quarantine the case to prevent the spread of the disease. Whooping cough itself is usu ally thought of as a rather mild disease but it can leave a person with a weak body and especially weak lungs which will be suscep tible to other diseases. Patronize Tribune advertisers. Mattie Mae Powell NOTARY PUBLIC Building & Loan Office Main Street
The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, N.C.)
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July 22, 1937, edition 1
10
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