The Montgomery Advertiser
- TWO PLANE PILOTS ORDERED RELEASED BY GENERAL HAGOOD
- THOUSANDS ATTEND BRILLIANT EVENTS ON OPENING DAY
- FAMOUS PAINTER DIES
The Montgomery Advertiser's front page of October 26, 1926 reported an Army case at home: General Johnson Hagood, commanding the Fourth Corps area, ordered the release of Maxwell Field lieutenants J. C. A. Dennison and Clair Stroh, who had been held on voluntary manslaughter charges after Confederate veteran Frank G. Browder was killed by an airplane on October 20, while Lieutenant A. J. Lehman stayed under arrest pending further investigation. The paper also described the opening of Montgomery's fair, announced by factory whistles at noon and formally opened by Governor W. W. Brandon, with school children admitted at reduced rates the next day. An AP dispatch from Great Falls, Montana, reported the sudden death of Charles M. Russell, the "cowboy artist," and his wish to be carried to his grave in a horse-drawn hearse rather than a motor car.
Translation
TWO PLANE PILOTS ORDERED RELEASED BY GENERAL HAGOOD
Lieutenants J. C. A. Dennison and Clair Stroh, Maxwell Field aviators, held on charges of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the airplane slaying of Frank G. Browder, Confederate veteran, October 20, were released Monday afternoon on order of General Johnson Hagood, commander of the Fourth Corps area. Lieutenant A. J. Lehman, held on a similar charge, remained under arrest pending further investigation.
THOUSANDS ATTEND BRILLIANT EVENTS ON OPENING DAY
Opening of the fair was heralded to Montgomerians by blasts of factory whistles at the noon hour. School children will attend the fair today at reduced charges. Gov. W. W. Brandon, addressing a small group of officials at the headquarters of the fair, officially opened the fair with a brief address. He sketched the history of similar exhibitions here, told of plans for holding the present one and summarized the attractions offered there.
FAMOUS PAINTER DIES
GREAT FALLS, MONT., Oct. 25. - (AP) - Charles M. Russell, 61, famous painter of western scenes and internationally known as the "cowboy artist," died suddenly at his home here last night following a heart attack. In accordance with one of his last requests, a horse-drawn hearse, in storage for fifteen years, will replace the motor car in conveying the body to its grave here next Wednesday.
Context
Charles M. Russell's death: date and age
The Advertiser printed an AP dispatch dated Great Falls, October 25, which said Russell, 61, had died "last night" at home after a heart attack. The C.M. Russell Museum's account of the funeral fixes the day as October 24, 1926, and says he died that night at 11:30 p.m., which matches the dispatch's timing. The museum, however, gives his age as 62, so the wire report and the museum differ by one year. The museum calls him the Cowboy Artist and describes him as a historian who recorded the fading West with paint and brushes, echoing the nickname the AP used when it called him internationally known. The museum's page does not discuss the cause of death, so the heart attack rests on the newspaper's report alone.
How the Great Falls funeral was carried out
The dispatch said the body would go to the grave "next Wednesday," and the museum confirms that schools, banks and even the post office in Great Falls closed on Wednesday, October 27, so that residents could pay their respects. The service was held at the Church of the Incarnation, the Episcopal church on Third Avenue North, whose interior was covered with flowers. The museum says that, to honor Russell's wish not to be carried in a "skunk wagon," a horse-drawn hearse was brought in from Cascade. That matches the AP's report that a horse-drawn hearse would replace the motor car, though the museum does not repeat the newspaper's detail that the vehicle had been stored for fifteen years. Ed Vance, a friend of Russell and an experienced stagecoach driver, drove the hearse. Behind it came Dexter, the riderless horse, led by Charlie Biel with Russell's old roundup boss Horace Mann. Thousands of mourners lined the route to Highland Cemetery, south of the city. The hearse is now displayed at the C.M. Russell Museum.
Why a horse-drawn hearse stood out in 1926
The AP framed Russell's request as a horse-drawn hearse replacing "the motor car," which shows that by 1926 a motorized hearse was the expected choice. The history of the vehicle supports that reading: electric motorized hearses appeared in the United States in the early 1900s, and petrol-powered hearses were built from 1907. After a slow start because of their high cost, motor hearses became widely accepted in the 1920s. Within that timeline, Russell's funeral reversed a change that had only recently become standard. The newspaper's report that the horse-drawn hearse had been in storage, and the museum's account that it had to be brought in from Cascade, both suggest that such vehicles were no longer in ordinary use in Great Falls. Russell's reported dislike of the "skunk wagon" fit a career spent recording the West that was disappearing as motor vehicles spread.
Original
TWO PLANE PILOTS ORDERED RELEASED BY GENERAL HAGOOD
Lieutenants J. C. A. Dennison and Clair Stroh, Maxwell Field aviators, held on charges of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the airplane slaying of Frank G. Browder, Confederate veteran, October 20, were released Monday afternoon on order of General Johnson Hagood, commander of the Fourth Corps area. Lieutenant A. J. Lehman, held on a similar charge, remained under arrest pending further investigation.
THOUSANDS ATTEND BRILLIANT EVENTS ON OPENING DAY
Opening of the fair was heralded to Montgomerians by blasts of factory whistles at the noon hour. School children will attend the fair today at reduced charges. Gov. W. W. Brandon, addressing a small group of officials at the headquarters of the fair, officially opened the fair with a brief address. He sketched the history of similar exhibitions here, told of plans for holding the present one and summarized the attractions offered there.
FAMOUS PAINTER DIES
GREAT FALLS. MONT., Oct. 25. - (AP) - Charles M. Russell, 61, famous painter of western scenes and internationally known as the " cowboy artist, " died suddenly at his home here last night following a heart attack. In accordance with one of his last requests, a horse-drawn hearse, in storage for fifteen years, will replace the motor car in conveying the body to its grave here next Wednesday.
Source: Holding institution