The Newspaper Syndicate

 Guest post by Bernhard

In the early history of the Bible Students Association (I.B.S.A.) we often encounter the term “Newspaper Syndicate” in its writings. But what exactly was this “Newspaper Syndicate?” When was it founded? Who worked in it, and what results did it achieve?

Essentially, the term "Newspaper Syndicate" is another name for a press association, such as the American Press Association of New York.The purpose of such an association is to sell content such as articles, columns, photos, etc. to various newspapers and magazines, or to ensure that desired content is published and paid for.

Publishing religious sermons in newspapers, for example, was naturally very effective. Firstly, because it allowed for an incredibly large readership worldwide, and secondly, it saved the high printing costs and the time required by many people to disseminate all the content, even though various sermons and advertisements were not free and consumed considerable sums of money.

Charles Taze Russell was aware of the influence of newspapers. He stated in 1912: “Few indeed are those that realize the opportunities and the power of the Press in this the twentieth century. So great is this power that the generally accepted opinion of a nation upon a subject may be completely reversed within a month. This was not so fifty or one hundred years ago. Under former conditions it would have taken a century to crystallize public opinion on such a matter as the recent Dr. Cook and Commodore Peary North Pole controversy. This case was, through the Press, placed on trial before the “Tribunal of Public Opinion,” and consequently was readily settled, furnishing an excellent example of how the people of the whole world take knowledge and settle matters in this our day. ... Thus is manifested an unprecedented opportunity for the Press. Will it be grasped? Yes! The Newspapers at present constitute the only channel through which the solution of this mighty problem can be speedily disseminated among people. The Daily and the Weekly Press of the present day are the sole source of information for millions of families, and these families assuredly will, through the Press, learn a harmonious, complete and satisfactory explanation of heretofore incomprehensible doctrinal questions.“

The Bible Students “Newspaper Syndicate” was founded by Charles T. Russell in New York in 1908 to contact national and international newspapers to regularly provide them with his sermons and weekly Bible studies, as well as to advertise various lectures and events related to the International Bible Students Association. However, long before the syndicate was founded, Russell's sermons were published weekly in newspapers.

The December 1, 1904, issue of the Watch Tower announced that sermons by C. T. Russell were appearing in three newspapers. The next issue of the Watch Tower, under the heading “Newspaper Gospelling,” reported: “Millions of sermons have thus been scattered far and near; and some at least have done good. If the Lord wills we shall be glad to see this ‘door’ keep open, or even open still wider.” The door of “newspaper gospelling” did open still wider. In 1908 sermons were being published in eleven newspapers.

Wherever C. T. Russell traveled, gave lectures, or attended conventions, he telegraphed a sermon (about two newspaper columns long) to the “Newspaper Syndicate” which then distributed the sermon to many daily newspapers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Initially, the sermons appeared only in English; from 1912 onward, they were also published in German and Swedish.

In Watch Tower, April 15, 1909, this newly founded “Newspaper Syndicate” is introduced: “Another item: In the interest of the work we have contracted with a Newspaper Syndicate, giving it a general control of the sermons,- to say -which newspapers may have them and which may not, the terms, etc. This Syndicate will handle the sermons for profit, nevertheless at a low price. Be assured that Brother Russell makes no profit by the sale of the Gospel. In view of this we advise that our friends hereafter refrain from any effort to have the sermons published in any newspaper-contenting themselves with the encouragement of the papers publishing these sermons will be sent to us.“

In the article “The Newspaper Syndicate’s idea“ (Watch Tower 1912, p.36) we can read: “For the benefit of our readers we remark that Brother Russell is very anxious to co-operate with the Newspaper Syndicate which handles his weekly sermons. While he retains fullest liberty in respect to the subject matter of his discourses, he yields other points considerably to the Syndicate’s wishes. This will account for his greater care in his clothing, his more frequent use of cabs and parlor cars. The Syndicate insists that Brother Russell’s personality has much to do in placing his sermons far and near. And Brother Russell is glad to yield to the Syndicate’s business judgment, because he desires that his Gospel message shall be heard the world around.“

In 1913, it was reported that clergymen were resisting the publication of Russell's sermons in newspapers. Russell wrote: “Divine providence is still favoring the presentation of the Gospel in the public press. The efforts of the enemies of the Gospel of the kingdom to misrepresent our teachings and to prejudice editors and publishers against them have not prevailed. In this also we perceive that He that is for us is mightier than all they that be against us. The day may come when the truth will be crushed to the earth by slander and misrepresentation, but that day has not come yet. Indeed, in quite a number of instances the editors, although worldly men, have appreciated the situation, despised the unjust principle manifested by some preachers in their opposition, and have given space and prominence to our message. The latest figures given us by the Newspaper Syndicate which handles the Sermons and Bible Study Lessons in the United States and Canada show 1,424 papers publishing weekly. About 600 papers in Great Britain, South Africa and Australia publish weekly. This in round figures represents 2,000 newspapers. How many millions of readers are thus reached by these papers we know not, nor can we tell how many of those reached are reading and being influenced. We do know, however, that the whole world is waking up, and that the truths we are presenting are gaining adherents and exerting influence everywhere.“

The December 15, 1914, issue of the Watch Tower reports that the spread decreased: As our readers are aware, Pastor Russell's sermons and weekly Bible studies have for several years been very widely published in the secular newspapers. The number publishing is not so large as formerly; nevertheless, we are probably reaching more people than ever, by reason of inserting the sermons in metropolitan newspapers – in New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington, Los Angeles. … The difference between the two services is that in the smaller cities the sermons are published strictly as news, the newspapers paying for the stereotyped plates twenty-five cents per column weekly. It is the business with these, conducted by a newspaper syndicate, that has fallen off considerably. The number now publishing the sermons, etc., regularly, is about one thousand.

The Lecture Bureau

This “Newspaper Syndicate,” newly founded in 1908, had its lecture bureau in the Metropolitan Building, New York, in room 3040. The building was located at 1 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. From March 1916, the office of John G. Kuehn of the Mena Film Company was also located in room 6078 in the same building. Several people were members of both the newspaper syndicate and the Mena Film Company.

The department consisted of journalists, reporters, typists, and photographers.The office was headed by George Chester Driscoll. At the same time, there were three permanent staff members (Isaac Page Noll, George Minor Huntsinger, and Dr. Leslie Whitney Jones), as well as several outside assistants and photographers.

Reporter, director and travel manager

Driscoll was the person responsible for Russell's public funding, activities, and travel arrangements. For twenty years (from 1897) he was in special newspaper syndicate work. In 1908 he organized and became manager of the Pastor Russell Lecture Bureau, which syndicated Russell’s sermons through the American Press and other newspaper Associations in America and also in foreign countries, through which Russell’s sermons were published in over 4000 newspapers. He supervised the publicity of Russell’s various Foreign campaigns, and as publicist preceded the Foreign Investigations Committee as well as arranging for the advertising etc., in connection with the public meetings which Russell addressed on that tour. He was Russell’s special advertising manager in connection with the Photo Drama publicity.

In 1915 he became president and manager of the Pyramid Film Company, in 1918 he became a director of the Mena Film Company and in 1919 he became a manager of the Kinemo Kit Corporation and worked as Moving Picture Producer. In 1920 he travelled with J. F. Rutherford, A. H. Macmillan, A. R. Goux and D. W. Soper to Palestine and Egypt. Some movies were made for the Kinemo Company.

After one year’s service in America Hollister was manager of the Pastor Russell Lecture Bureau of Great Britain (in 1910), Africa and Australia. In 1912 Russell gave him the management of translating the first Volume and other messages which were subsequently disseminated in Japan, China and Korea and other countries, necessitating much travel and work in these countries. For this reason he was made Foreign Director in the Mena Film Company. He became the Watchtower Representative of Japan and the far east. Hollister arrived in Australia in late 1913 and spent several months of the following year in Australia and New Zealand.

William James Hollister and his wife went together with Robert Reuben Hollister in 1913 to China and Japan.

Huntsinger, of Independence,Kansas, was recognized asone of the best court reporters in the country. He was one of the few stenographers who could take notes while speakers spoke quickly. He died in 1915 after an illness of three years from tuberculosis.

Jones of Chicago, was originally a medical doctor. Since 1905 he produced the  “Souvenir Convention Reports.“ Jones was also involved in the Mena Film Corporation and became a director of this Company. He was also a member of the Foreign Investigation Committee on the World Tour in 1912. He had charge of several Trans-Continental Special Train Parties. He died in a road accident in 1946.

Noll worked together with Jones, Huntsinger and Driscoll in the “Newspaper Syndicate.“ Noll reported on the Russell-Troy debate in 1915. In 1919 he became a director of the Kinemo Kit Corporation and the Pyramid Film Company.

He was one of the official photographers in the time of Russell and Rutherford. He was a member of the Cleveland class, Ohio. In 1919 he was a cinematographer of the Kinemo Kit Corporation. Together with Rutherford, A. H. Macmillan, A. Goux and G. C. Driscoll he visited Palestine and Egypt in 1920.

She served also as secretary in the “Newspaper Syndicate.“ She was married to John Frank Stephenson. The “Ming Yu Bao,” The Chinese Recorder, March 1913, page 134-135, wrote: “We have received two copies of a paper called “Bible Study,” and inside one is a letter signed “Bible Study Club, V. Noble, Secretary” addressed to “Fellow-servant in a foreign field,” and reading in part as follows: - “We proffer you our little journal free on receipt of a postal card request. Even postage included, the expense will not be a serious item to us”! This is followed by the intimation that on the reverse side ofthe letter will be found a place for the addresses of missionaries, which may be entered on the subscription list, ad libitum, but only at their request.”The Continent, a Presbyterian journal noted for opposing Russell and The Watch Tower, sent someone to visit the Bible Study Club offices located in the Metropolitan Building in New York City.The magazine reported: “The office to which Mr. (sic! Mrs.)Noble invited correspondents to write is occupied by a business concern of an entirely different character, which reports that “Mr. Noble” simply receives mail at that address. This firm disclaims all connection with him. On a corner of the glass in the door is the revealing line, “Pastor Russell Lecture Bureau.” (Bruce W. Schulz, A Separate Identity, Organizational Identity Among Readers of Zion’s Watch Tower: 1870-1887).

For a period of time Russell's sermons were published weekly in more than 2,000 newspapers, with a combined circulation of 15,000,000 readers ; and in all about 4,000 different newspapers published his sermons. Some idea of the scope of his work can be understood from the words written in The Continent, a publication not friendly to him: ”His writings are said to have a greater newspaper circulation every week than those of any other living man; greater, doubtless, than the combined circulation of the writings of all the priests and preachers in North America; greater even than the work of Arthur Brisbane, Norman Hapgood, George Horace Lorimer, Dr. Frank Crane, Frederick Haskins, and a dozen other of the best known editors and syndicate writers put together.” (Harp of God, p. 239)

So Brother Russell became the greatest syndicate writer of his day. Many came to a knowledge of the truth by means of these published sermons.

After Brother Russell died, another effective method of spreading the good news began to be used. On April 16, 1922, Joseph F. Rutherford made one of his first radio broadcasts, speaking to an estimated 50,000 people.

1913 Public lecture (1)

 The leaflet

The newspaper advertisement

The Minneapolis Journal, Monday, July 21, 1913, page 5

The location

Schubert Theater, Minneapolis (1910).  Seated around 1600.

Charles E Heard (1874-1956) was later involved in the formation of the Standfast movement.

1913 Public lecture (2)

The leaflet

The newspaper advertisement

The location

E W Brenneisen (1874-1956) was later involved in the publication of ANGELS AND WOMEN.

A Joseph F Rutherford snapshot

 

Some may have seen this photograph before. It has been published in the past in glorious monochrome with permission from Tower Archives, and this is a colorized version prepared by Leroy. Again with thanks.

The rear of the original snap has a handwritten description: ‘Monday, September 11th, 1922. Brother Rutherford took first car to go on initial "service day" house to house preaching work.’

This more or less ties in with the official write-up of the 1922 Cedar Point (Ohio) Convention. From the report of the Service Director, Richard Johnson, in Watch Tower November 1, 1922, page 349:

 The report states that 203 cars were involved. A handwritten caption on the back of the photograph suggests that this was a photo of the first vehicle off the blocks, whereas the Watch Tower review suggests it was the last; but either way it featured JFR looking at the auto license plate, which reads – 144,000.

No wonder someone took a photograph.

The whole event is written up in the 1975 Yearbook (pages 132-133) which has an eyewitness report of JFR in the first car, even if he couldn’t resist posing by the last.

Grace Mundy

 Grace Mundy was buried in the Watch Tower Society’s Rosemont United Cemetery in Ross Township, Allegheny, in Section T, Lot 33, grave number A1. Note that this grave number corresponds with modern records. The original numbering as found on the sides of a pyramid monument (removed in 2021) squeezed in more grave spaces than were realistically available.

The plan below shows the whole of Section T, Lot 33, but with just the names of those buried before the pyramid was put in place.

The East face of the pyramid monument showed the names of Grace Mundy, Lorena M Russell, John Perry, H L Addington and Flora J Cole.

When the pyramid was removed in 2021 it was replaced by nine flat grave markers pictured below.

Grace is named in the top left hand corner.

Who was Grace Mundy?

The plan above shows that Grace was buried in the same row as Charles Taze Russell, but at the farthest corner of the site. According to her death certificate she died on December 4, 1914, aged 25, and the interment took place on December 8. She was the first to be buried in this special area. Sadly, she made the front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle when she was fatally injured.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle for December 4, 1914 carried the heading, WOMAN IN FLAMES RUSHES INTO STREET – Miss Grace Mundy Perhaps Fatally Burned – Neighbors Beat Out Fire.

The story tells how the street was greeted by a “flaming apparition” as Grace rushed into the street, and several bystanders were burned trying to extinguish the flames. Grace’s father was away at the time, her mother was ill in bed, and she had been cleaning feathers in the kitchen in their home on the fourth floor of 539 Throop Avenue, using gasoline. She got too close to the stove and the fluid ignited and set her clothes on fire. She managed to get down three flights of stairs and out into the street but was severely burned. She was taken to St John’s Hospital, where she died.

The newspaper makes no connection with the Bible Student movement, but the death certificate confirms that this is the Grace who was the first to be buried at the Society’s plot. She may have been a colporteur, and her mother, Sarah, was a Bible Student. They had lived in Throop Avenue for three years at the time of the accident. They were not mentioned by Menta Sturgeon when he detailed who was part of the regular Bethel family in January 1913. (See trial transcript Russell vs. Brooklyn Eagle, 1913). The 1910 census has the family living in New Jersey, with the father a carpenter and Grace’s younger brother, George, a machinist in an auto factory. Grace was born in Missouri, and the census has her down as a step-daughter, with the original surname of Wilson.

Grace’s step-father, Peter Mundy, only survived her by a matter of weeks. In January 1915 he died of pneumonia and his funeral was held in the local M.E. Church. Her mother, Sarah, died in January 1917, and according to the funeral notice in The Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ) for 8 January 1917 her funeral was held in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Grace’s brother George, born in 1891, lived on until 1970.

Grace and some of her family must have been heavily involved in the work of the IBSA for her to be given the ‘privilege’ of being the first to be taken all the way from New York to the United Cemeteries in Pittsburgh. No other family members were to be buried near her.

Excerpted from GRAVE MATTERS – published in 2024 by Lulu. See: https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2024/12/grave-matters.html

The first Zion's Watch Tower

For a collector of Watch Tower history and memorabilia, one of the prized items would have to be an original copy of the very first issue of Zions Watch Tower magazine for July 1879. Originally only 6000 copies were printed (Proclaimers page 48), which at the time – even with links to existing readers of Adventist and Age to Come papers – was still quite ambitious.

But now we know that there was not just one published paper for that July. Like the 1611 King James Version Bible (with its two versions, a “he” and a “she” Bible) there are two known printing of the July 1879 Zion’s Watch Tower. If you are one of the very, very few with an original, which one do you have?

The article involved was on pages 4-5 of the very first magazine. It is called ‘God’s “Little While”’ and, unlike some of the other articles which give the writer’s initials, this one is uncredited. There are around five examples where changes were made in just this one article. One assumes that some copies were printed and then additional proof reading caused the typeface to be adapted before the remainder came off the production line.

We will examine the changes as version 1 and version 2, and then explain where these can still be seen today, even if you don’t have an original. Most readers today will either have scans of the original issues, a text file of the Watch Tower for 1879-1916, or the reprint volumes – or probably all three. They reflect the two different versions of the magazine for July 1879.

Change number one – version 1 above and version 2 below:

The scripture is changed to show the correct chapter and verse, not two chapters.

Changes number 2 and 3. This covers the end of one column and the start of a new column. First, version number 1:

Compare that with version number 2:

In the second version at the end of the extract there is an extra dash for punctuation. But the biggest change is at the start of the extract. Version 1 has a question “How long, Paul, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in?” Version 2 splits this into two sentences – the first is the question, but the second is the answer to the question: “How long, Paul? Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Change number 4 has version 1 reproduced first, followed by version 2.

The words “high calling” are now in inverted commas.

And finally, example number 5. This too has version 1 first, followed by version 2:

We note that the word “may” is added to second version, and the whole phrase is now placed within inverted commas. This is because, although the paragraph ends with a reference to Romans 11 v.2-25, this is actually a paraphrase of verse 31 of that chapter. The words inside inverted commas now reflect that, although it is still slightly adjusted from the standard King James’ Version words, which read: “Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”

So where do we find the two versions preserved today?

Most collectors will have scans of the first Zion’s Watch Tower in general circulation. This scan takes its material from version number 1.

It is also found in the text edition of Watch Tower 1879-1916 that many will have.

Apart from the reference to Acts 15-16 which an eagle-eyed transcriber noticed and changed, this was all taken from the first version.

But then in the early 1920s the Watch Tower magazine was reprinted in seven volumes. The organization had to borrow some issues from the friends to complete this because their own file was incomplete. But the reproduction of the first July 1879 was now all taken from the second version.

This indicates that both versions must have been in general circulation at some point for this to happen.

We know that version 2 with its amendments comes from a copy originally in private circulation. It is now inaccessible in a display under glass, but the key graphics were extracted some time ago.

We don’t know the story behind all the small changes and why they were made in 1879. But if you want to have the very first Watch Tower in your personal collection – now you need to have TWO.

Good hunting!

 

(With grateful thanks to Leroy who noted the changes and provided the scans for version two)

We Get Comments

This blog invites comments on historical matters, but sometimes receives responses of a highly speculative and negative nature. As indicated in the blog heading, these normally just get deleted. But a recent comment was forwarded to me on an old post that I wrote elsewhere way back in 2012. It raised questions that crop up from time to time related to Joseph Lytle Russell and Emma Ackley and their marriage.

This post is to address the issues, although I’m not going into great detail as researchers can easily check matters out for themselves. On THIS blog the material was covered in general detail in the article

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2020/04/1-three-weddings-but-no-funeral-this.html

The issues relate to the 1880 census return for Allegheny. This establishes that over a year after CTR and Maria married, JLR and Emma were still single but living in the Russell household. The census return for their street, Cedar Avenue, is dated June 14, 1880. It is reproduced below.

The reproduction is not very clear, but deciphering it shows the following:

There are four occupants of the house, C T Russel (sic), married, occupation: merchant; Maria F, married, wife, keeps house; J L, widowed, father, occupation: merchant; and E H Ackley, single, sister (step), occupation: at home.

The relationship entry for Emma as recorded in the schedule is incorrect. Her relationship to the head of the household (CTR) at this time should be sister-in-law.

The issues raised in the comment are basically threefold.

1.           Did Joseph and Emma ever actually marry?

2.           What was going on in that house with four of them there?

3.           How to explain the difference in ages between Joseph and Emma?

The writer starts with a confident statement: “I’m good at genealogical investigations and I cannot find any record that indicates that Joseph Russell and Emma Ackley married.”

I would agree there is no apparent record. But there is a good reason for that which any genealogist should know. The State of Pennsylvania did not require marriages to be officially registered until 1885, and “common law” marriages continued to be “common” for years thereafter. If you married before then, generally your immediately family would know, and maybe the officiating minister might keep his own personal record or a specific church might do so. However, no-one else would know unless you put it in the newspaper or had legal matters to attend to. If you wanted a “quiet” wedding, it really was quiet.

To illustrate the situation, perhaps readers can find an official document for CTR and Maria’s marriage? Like Joseph and Emma’s, it is just not there. But we know it happened because they chose to put an announcement in the local paper and CTR was sufficiently well known in Allegheny for it to make a short paragraph in the papers as well. Both the Pittsburgh Gazette and Pittsburgh Post (March 14, 1879) carry news of the marriage at the home of Maria’s mother the day before with J H Paton officiating.

As an aside, this lack of documentation did not just apply to marriages. You will not find a primary source for J F Rutherford’s birth in 1869. When he needed to renew a passport, his mother Lenora, had to extract a reference from a family Bible and sign an affidavit to that effect. There were no other records extant.

Returning to Emma, when it came to JLR’s last will and testament, part was queried by Emma who believed that as his wife she should have inherited more. In the documented arguments he is the husband and she is the wife. Joseph’s obituary found in several newspapers calls her his wife. It is easy enough to check.

The second criticism is that it was somehow strange for the four to all be in the same house. The writer hints at misconduct without a shred of evidence.

I am not going to even dignify this with much comment, other than to say that I see no problem with the four people living under the same roof in the snapshot of June 1880 for Cedar Avenue. I’ve visited Cedar Avenue and the houses are large. Years later Maria was able to take in a number of lodgers in one.

Why were they in the same home? Well, why not? CTR and Maria were close at this time, committed to their religious work. Emma and Maria were very close and would spend the last decades of their lives together. CTR and his father Joseph were very close. There would be nothing surprising about them being under the same roof at some point, and that may well have led to the two unattached becoming a married couple. As already noted the property was large with plenty of space.

We do not know how long they were all at same address. The census is simply a snapshot of one day, June 14, but one can assume that any marriage came quite soon after that date since Emma’s daughter Mabel appears to have been conceived around December that year.

The December date comes from Mabel being born in September 1881, and that can be confirmed from her marriage certificate when she married Richard Packard in 1903. It gives her birth date as September 1881 but does not give the actual day. If she was born in September 1881, then obviously she was conceived around December 1880. That would be 5-6 months after she and Joseph were living under CTR’s roof while both single. That gives us a window of a few months for a marriage.

We might here note that to try and bolster slurs against Charles and Joseph, the writer comments on the period June-December 1880 with an off-the-wall statement: “That does not leave a lot of time for the two (Joseph and Emma) to fall madly in love and wed.” What sort of logic is that? Who is to say they didn’t “fall in love” some time before the census, and were at the same address on census night planning the wedding for the following week? We just don’t know. We certainly have no basis for filling in the gaps with supposition.

When married, and after a baby came along, it would make more sense for the couple to look for a separate home (and in fact the property next door came into the family’s possession at some point). But they continued to live near each other for some years until Joseph eventually retired to Florida, along with Emma and Mabel.

The suggestion that there was something amiss about all of this is a huge leap of imagination with an obvious agenda. They were all close at the time. It is very sad what happened later.

The third issue raised is the disparity in ages. Why would a woman in her 20s want to marry a man in his 60s?

This is not a unique situation. Just look around in the world of entertainment and politics today. As it happens, the same occurred in my own extended family. But back in the 1880s an obvious reason for a woman was to be provided with stability and financial security. That is something I venture the Ackley girls were always most concerned about by their later actions. And as a potential bonus, Emma was able to have a child, which may have been very important to her.

So, whoever chose to make the comments referenced above, please leave such speculation alone. And if you can’t do that, just don’t send it here.

J B Kepner of Waynoka

 This material was originally published as an article on a related blog which resulted in much correspondence and new material being supplied.  As a result, this is now a revision to incorporate all the information in one place as a permanent reference. (This explanatory note will be deleted in due course).

The circumstances surrounding the death of Charles Taze Russell in 1916 have attracted much comment over the years. The fairly recent discovery of a document from an undertaker in Waynoka, Oklahoma, prompted this research, which makes use of various accounts in the Watch Tower magazine and newspapers like the St Paul Enterprise to explain what actually happened at that time and why. Serious criticisms of how matters were handled were made later, and we will examine these. The whole story is obviously a very sad one for those holding CTR in high esteem, but ultimately is quite straightforward.

CTR had been seriously ill when undertaking a series of visits to congregations in the far West and South West of America in the second half of October 1916. As his health deteriorated, he, along with traveling companion Menta Sturgeon, tried to get home to New York by train. He died on that return journey near Pampa, Texas, around 2 o’clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, October 31.

As CTR’s traveling companion, Menta Sturgeon tried to deal with the final stages of his illness and the immediate aftermath of the death, but then found he could not travel on the railroads out of State without the body being embalmed. Sturgeon was to be later criticised for not just keeping quiet about the death until the train had traveled further on, and we will come to that in due course. Sturgeon wanted to reach Kansas City, but once the authorities knew of the death, had no alternative but to stop at the first place on route that could handle matters. That was Waynoka, a city in Woods County, Oklahoma, population in 1910 of 1160 people. Here a death certificate was obtained. And here, as the advertisement below shows, Josiah Bushy Kepner was the only choice you had.

From the Woods County Enterprise, April 2, 1915.

Kepner was the only person in Waynoka who was licensed to perform the task. We note from his advertisement that he was involved in several other ventures under the one roof. In the Enterprise for 14 November 1916, a Mrs Norah Voyles Keith wrote that “there in the back of a furniture store was all that remained of our beloved Pastor.” This was very common. Undertakers only had full-time work in the larger cities.  Otherwise, many involved in furniture production simply branched out into making coffins. The only extra skill an undertaker needed to learn was embalming. Kepner perhaps had a head start because back in the 1880s he had also been involved in pharmaceuticals. From the Nemaha County Replican for 9 October 9 1884:

Josiah Bushy Kepner (1852-1944) had been in the undertaking business for nearly thirty years by the time he attended  CTR, first in Sabetha, Kansas, and then in Waynoka, Oklahoma. He had been mayor twice in Sabetha, and was well respected in Waynoka, where he was to serve as president of a local bank.

His work was well spoken of in the St Paul Enterprise. From the Enterprise for 21 November 1916:

Kepner finally retired in 1929, but his second wife kept on the business at least until the 1940s. The advertisement below is from 1943.

It was eventually taken over by the Marshall Funeral Home (now in nearby Alva, Oklahoma) and it is from their inherited records that the copy of his bill to Menta Sturgeon was retrieved.

There are three charges. $5.00 for washing and dressing the body – the washing with disinfectant was normally done twice, both before and after the embalming process. Then there was $20 for the actual embalming, although Kepner doesn’t specify on the bill what fluid was used, and then $35 for the coffin for transportation on the railways.

The process for embalming that Kepner would have used really came into its own during the American Civil War. Those who could afford it wanted their loved ones who died on the battlefield to be returned to them for a family funeral with – if possible – an open coffin or casket. The procedure was not just to preserve the body but to make the person appear as loved ones would want to remember. There was a ghoulish trade of embalmers following armies around offering soldiers about to go into combat a pre-paid plan. At one point these outfits were banned because of the bad effect on morale. When the railways objected to unembalmed bodies being transported for health reasons, it became common practice. Finally there were laws in each State stipulating that the procedure was necessary if the body had to be transported over a certain distance or out of State. The custom really took off after Abraham Lincoln was embalmed. His body went on tour and over a million people saw him lying in state over a 20 day period before his funeral in 1865. Thirty six years later in 1901 his coffin was opened and the body was immediately recognisable. If this was good enough for Abraham Lincoln then it was good enough for the general population.

The actual procedure involved using the circulatory system, discovered by William Harvey, to replace blood with a preservative solution. Originally this was arsenic based, but that wan’t too good for the living.  By Kepner’s day it was generally formaldehyde, and this is still the case today. The procedure took between 2 and 4 hours. CTR’s body was taken off the train around 7 pm on the Tuesday evening, and returned to the train at 3 am the following Wednesday morning.

So this is the background as to why Menta Sturgeon could not just take CTR’s body back to New York. Once the death was made public, Sturgeon was forced to stop at the first place the embalming service could be provided.

Criticisms of these events received a public airing in 1923, when W H Wisdom published his book The Laodicean Messenger aka Memoirs of Pastor Russell.

The book was reviewed - critically – in the Watch Tower for 15 September 1923.

On page 242 Wisdom made the criticism that “through some more bungling the body was removed from the train at the first small town, where it was very improperly cared for in the way of embalming.”

He then indicated that further embalming work was done in Kansas City en route and finally again on arrival at New York.

From where did Wisdom get his information?

There are two probable sources from that era.

The first, and least compelling, is a letter found in the New Era Enterprise newspaper. This was the newspaper used by Bible Students at the time for news and views and much found in it cannot be found elsewhere.

In the 27 December 1921 Enterprise, Joseph Greig while visiting Texas, including Pampa (where CTR actually died on the train), wrote a short column “Pastor Russell’s Death Route.” Recounting the story he said: "Orders were given to remove the body at Wynoka, Okla., where an old gentleman cared for the embalming. One who knew this person said while he was not expert in his profession by reason of poor eyesight, nevertheless, he was possibly the only embalmer who never extracted the blood, but used his fluid in connection with the blood as a preservative."

There are several problems with Greig’s account. “Old gentleman” has to be subjective – Kepner was younger than CTR. Then the concept of embalming by just introducing embalming fluid without replacing cadaver blood does not make sense. The whole point of embalming was to replace the blood to preserve the body  temporarily and give a lifelike appearance for viewers. The procedure was quite straightforward for anyone with the basic training and equipment – with or without good eyesight. Embalming fluid was pumped into the body, generally through the carotid artery, and was able to displace the blood through an incision in a vein (often the jugular). It used the human circulatory system to work. Sometimes massage was applied to help the embalming fluid to circulate fully. As we have seen, the procedure was refined and popularized during the American Civil war when a body needed preservation for transportation or a delayed funeral.

This account came from someone touring Texas, who never visited Waynoka in the next State and never met Kepner, even though he was still very much in business in Waynoka at the time. It was written several years after the event. It falls into the category of “an unnamed person told me…”

Of greater weight is a talk given by A H MacMillan called The History of the Society from 1910-1920.  The talk was transcribed, as was a short question and answer session after it, and some of the material – almost word for word – was to later appear in MacMillan’s book Faith on the March (1957). The actual transcript shows this particular version of the talk was given as late as c. 1951 because it also mentions Jesse Hemery leaving fellowship with the IBSA. However, it reflects MacMillan’s view of events and of course he was there in Brooklyn Bethel at the time.

Taken from this transcript:

MacMillan was scathing about Menta Sturgeon. Quote: “Poor Sturgeon didn’t know enough to take care of a sick chicken, much less a dying man. What he said himself about Brother Russell was enough to kill the man if he was half alive.”

Reading Sturgeon’s detailed description of CTR’s last hours and his attempts to care for him; and in the heightened emotion of the moment “spiritualizing” some of those events, one can understand MacMillan’s comments.

MacMillan also blamed Sturgeon for the body having to be removed from the train at Waynoka, where Kepner Undertaking was the only game in town. Sturgeon had chosen to publicize the death and Railway and State regulations kicked in. As MacMillan states “if he had any sense and kept his mouth shut” the situation could be been avoided.

There also appear to be other issues at the time. In his talk MacMillan was to further criticise Sturgeon for not giving the Bethel family the news. Sturgeon wrote to his wife, Florence, in Bethel, and told her. Only by intercepting the letter did MacMillan and others learn the news, before the newspaper reporters started banging on the doors.

MacMillan could be caustic about Sturgeon because he had died way back in 1935, and long before then had ceased fellowship with the IBSA. He ultimately left all strands of the Bible Student movement and ended up canvassing for a Universalist group, The Concordant Bible Society.

MacMillan’s distain for Kepner came across in his continued description: “They pulled the body off the train in Pampa, Texas, and took him to a furniture store.” (Being pedantic, CTR died on the train at Pampa, Texas, but the furniture store was in Waynoka, Oklahoma, which was about 150 miles further along the track). However, as already recognized, it was quite normal in smaller settlements for the undertaker to have several businesses. With only a little over a thousand inhabitants, Waynoka was not going to have that many funerals in any given period, even with an extended catchment area.

Then there is the most serious criticism - in MacMillan’s estimation, Kepner was not qualified. His account continues: “There a man who didn’t know how to embalm tried to embalm the body and made a mess of the whole thing.”

Did Kepner know how to embalm? We have established he was licensed and was the only licensed embalmer in the city. When he moved to Waynoka in 1913 and took over new premises The Woods County Enterprise (Waynoka) for 18 April 18 1913, stated he had been in business for 30 years and  praised him as a graduate of the best schools of embalming in the U.S.

Even allowing for self publicity, embalming was something Kepner did. He remained in active practice for over a decade after attending to CTR, only retiring in 1929. His company, managed by his second wife likely hired someone else to do the embalming, and was still advertising in the 1940s. While embalmers may bury their mistakes (literally!) this man ran a successful business for decades. There was no hint of any issues in the many references to him in the newspapers of the day.

So what was the problem? We must remember that his brief was not to present a body for lying in state, rather simply to preserve it to meet existing laws for transportation. Kepner appears to have done what was required. Again, as noted above, contemporary accounts of the events surrounding CTR’s death spoke highly of him and there was no criticism from those who first saw the body before it continued on its journey.

MacMillan is then critical of finding suitcases packed around CTR’s feet in a twenty dollar casket. But this was not a casket for viewing; it was a simple coffin (actually costing thirty five dollars) to meet the requirements of transporting a body across America. Possessions that had been taken off the train with the body also had to be forwarded, personal effects, clothes etc. and the logical thing was to store them in the coffin if there was room. This may have been Kepner (and Sturgeon) just being practical, but MacMillan seems to have taken it as insensitive and disrespectful. It is interesting to note that MacMillan blames Kepner rather than any undertaker in Kansas City, where, if further work was needed, the body would have been removed from the coffin. So MacMillan either didn’t know or had forgotten this. Or – Wisdom in his Memoirs of Pastor Russell got the details wrong. And it is perfectly possible that Sturgeon, having intended to have the body treated in Kansas City, wired ahead to set wheels in motion, before being forced by the authorities to leave the train earlier at Waynoka.

So in the end what was the real issue? Everyone was very upset. Their beloved Pastor Russell had died. He looked old before his time, had been failing in health for quite a while, and sadly died in great pain. Opening the coffin and seeing him was very distressing for all concerned. There was turmoil in Bethel at the time. After giving the Bethel family the news, MacMillan described how “they met in little groups to talk and whisper, "What is going to happen now?"” Once the glue that held them together – Pastor Russell in person – was gone, there were going to be problems, as events later proved.

So there was an inclination to lash out. Sturgeon came under fire and Kepner came under fire. That CTR’s remains would need further attention after leaving Waynoka is not disputed. The  coffin was loaded on and off trains and bumped about in motor vehicles and in and out of various buildings – the Bethel home, the New York City Temple, Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, etc. – and his remains were also re-dressed and transferred to a more substantial casket In New York for the funeral services.  Whether the embalming had to be reinforced or not, it was no doubt necessary to make what the November 21, 1916 St Paul Enterprise simply called “such little touches as the long trip would call for.” These cosmetic adjustments meant that each time CTR lay in state, the mourners could see him as they remembered him, as best as was possible in the circumstances.

The open casket was seen first in the Bethel Home and then in the New York City Temple. Finally, there was another long railway journey back from New York to Pittsburgh where he lay in state for the final part of the funeral services. So nearly a week after he passed away, mourners saw him for the last time, on Monday, November 6, at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh. There exists a photograph taken of the platform and the Carnegie Hall audience on the day that is reproduced below.

You will notice a blur across the photograph in front of the platform. This was actually a queue of mourners filing past the open casket, which the long exposure can only show as a smudge across the picture.

After this final service in Pittsburgh the body was taken for burial at dusk on the 6^th at the Society’s own plot in United Cemeteries. The casket would be interred inside its packing case and the whole encased in concrete.