He ended up getting married and having two kids. :o Maybe he was a switch-hitter.
And this guy:
And this guy:
.jpg)
I think. Pretty sure.
Who is this jackanapes?
That jackanapes is the source of all these photographs.
Then how come he's in so many of these photographs? Don't know. Good point, don't know. "L.S. Clarke," but he used several names, is the source of about 75% of all known photographs of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Originally a gilding, Clarke, "Clark," "LS," "Louis Semple Clark(e)," "Simpson Clarke," was the son of SFFHC member Charles John Clarke and also became a member his own self. He is thought to be the last person to join.
There is a great wall of silence concerning SFFHC (1) and the post-flood stonewalling (2) began at Charles John Clarke's house:
"When the flood happened...Club members were called to the Clarke home [I think this is in Pittsburgh not at SFFHC.] where they were informed of the terrible disaster. Here, Club members formed the Pittsburgh Relief Committee to help Johnstown. However, Club members were informed by the Club's general counsel, James Hay Reed and Philander C. Knox, Club members themselves, to maintain silence. This was done so well by Club members that later generations never knew about their ancestor's relation to the disaster." (3)
Days after the flood Louis Semple Clarke told a New York Herald reporter that "among the
engineers" it wasn't at all clear that it had been the South Fork Dam which had "moved away" causing the flood.(4) Maybe it was another dam? The problem was Louie knew, he knew it was the South Fork Dam that had caused the flood because Louie had, like, been there. He was at the club that day.(5) Louie didn't take any pictures, he didn't have time. He and the others at the club high-tailed it to Altoona.
engineers" it wasn't at all clear that it had been the South Fork Dam which had "moved away" causing the flood.(4) Maybe it was another dam? The problem was Louie knew, he knew it was the South Fork Dam that had caused the flood because Louie had, like, been there. He was at the club that day.(5) Louie didn't take any pictures, he didn't have time. He and the others at the club high-tailed it to Altoona.
Louie's photos of that gilded time didn't surface until the 1980's when his granddaughter found them in her New Hampshire attic. ? Yeah, they are now in the possession of Penn Highlands Community College which puts in quotation marks that they were "discovered" by the granddaughter, Virginia Soule.(6) To the claim that the flood had "devastated" the Clarke family (7) Virginia says psshaw:
"We are not even defensive about the fact that our grandfather and our great-grandfather were members of the club. Here were people enjoying the hard work of their predecessors. In those days, that's just the way it was. The people who had the brains and the drive are the ones who built up the big fortunes." (8)
Louie went back to Pittsburgh after his emergency trip to Altoona but eventually followed others like him to sunny Palm Beach, Florida, where he lived out the remainder of his life and died. He was buried though back in Pittsburgh's cemetery to the rich, famous, and infamous, Allegheny Cemetery, under the name of Louis S. Clarke.
1. The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough, 49.
2. McCullough, 241, 255, 256, 267.
4. McCullough, 20.
5. McCullough, 243.
