THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



13 



B. T. WITBECK DEAD. 



The Hardwood Recoil never had a sad- 

 der task to perform than to announce the 

 death of R. T. Witbeck, of the firm of 

 Heath, Witbeck & Co., Chicago. I believe 

 he was the best liked lumberman in Chi- 

 cago; and those of us who knew him best 

 not only liked him— we loved him. His 

 was one of the finest characters I ever 

 knew. His mind was as broad as the 

 universe and his heart as big as all out- 

 doors. To say he had this or that gooa 

 quality is a waste of time; he had them 

 all. 



And if you could have seen his funeral- 

 millionaire lumbermen, clubmen, clerks. 



motion until he was soon a traveling sales- 

 man for T. Wilee & Co., and they will tell 

 you he was one of the best they ever 

 had. In 1889 he engaged in business with 

 Jlr. Ed. Heath, a young man of about his 

 own age, under the firm name of Heath, 

 Witbeck & Co., and the growi:h of their 

 business has been rapid and uninterrupted 

 from the first day. They were a pair of 

 men who fitted perfectly and they built 

 up one of the largest and most profitable 

 hardv\'00d lumber concerns in the West. 

 Their Chicago yard is one of the largest 

 and best equipped— we had almost said the 

 largest and best equipped— of Chicago's 

 hardwood yards. Their wholesale busi- 



KICHARD T. WITBECK. BORN 1S61 — DIED 1002. 



salesmen, lumber pilers, teamsters— paying 

 their last tribute in silent sorrow. One 

 might have more brains or money or posi- 

 tion than another, but he couldn't have 

 more love for his dead friend or greater 

 sorrow at his death. 



I can't find much to say about Dick. 

 The mere statement that "Dick Witbeck is 

 dead" means so much to me and to those 

 who knew him well that the sentences I 

 write down seem so inadequate that I 

 scratch them out. 



R. T. Witbeck was born in Coxsackie, 

 N. Y., and faced life bravely, loyally and 

 cheerfully for forty-one years, and died 

 In the midst of the success and reward 

 such living always brings. 



He began his career in the lumber busi- 

 ness as a lumber shover at $1.50 a day, 

 and his genial nature, his fine mind and 

 unending industry brought him rapid pro- 



ness was handled through the Evansville 

 Hardwood Lumber Company, and their 

 northern busiues.s; through the Forest Lum- 

 ber Company of Wisconsin. 



Mr. Witbeck was one of the charter 

 members of the Chicago Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Exchange and three times its presi- 

 dent. He presided at the first meeting of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion, acted on many of its most important 

 committees and could have held any office 

 witliin its gift, only that his great busi- 

 ness would not permit of his giving it the 

 necessary time. He was a member of the 

 Ashland Club, the principal social or- 

 ganization on the West Side, and lived 

 in a handsome home on Ashland boule- 

 vard. 



To his surviving partner, with whom he 

 had climbed so steadily and pleasantly to 

 success, to his many friends and to his 



bereaved wife and daughter, the Hard- 

 wood Record extends its sincerest sym- 

 pathy. 



At a meeting held on Saturday, Septem- 

 ber 13, the Chicago Hardwood Lumber 

 Exchange adopted the following resolu- 

 tions: 



Whereas, The officers and members of 

 this Exchange have learned with profound 

 soiTow of the untimely death of our 

 brother lumberman, Richard T. Witbeck, 

 a valued friend and former president of 

 this Exchange, a man of strict integrity 

 and business rectitude, and possessed of 

 that happy combination of character that 

 made him a friend of all with whom he 

 came in contact; and 



Whereas, Being desirous of expressing 

 our feeling in reference to this sad event, 

 and wishing to extend to Mts. Richard T. 

 Witbeck and to aU members of his family 

 our heartfelt sympathy and profound sor- 

 row, therefore be it 



Resolved, That we extend to the be- 

 reaved ones our tribute of affection to the 

 memory of the one who has left us, and 

 at the same time express our sincere sym- 

 pathy and sorrow for the ones so deeply 

 afflicted. Be it further 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolu- 

 tions be sent to his wife, in the hope that 

 in her sorrow it may shed some ray of 

 comfort to know how greatly we appre- 

 ciate the memory of her husband and our 

 friend. Be it further 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolu- 

 tions be placed upon the records of the 

 Chicago Hardwood Lumber Exchange. 



The directors of the Ashland Club 

 adopted the following resolutions: 



Whereas, We, the directors of the Ash- 

 land Club, have learned with profound 

 sorrow of the death of our former asso- 

 ciate, Richard T. Witbeck, and. 



Whereas, We recognize in his death the 

 departure of one who has ever been ad- 

 mired and honored by us, not only for the 

 estimable attributes of manhood, which 

 have characterized his life, but also for 

 the singular traits of affability and kind- 

 ness which ever distinguished his relation- 

 ship toward us. 



Therefore, be it resolved. That we here- 

 by express our deep son'ow upon his death, 

 realizing in it the loss of a kind and con- 

 scientious fellow- worker, whose memory, 

 we shall ever cherish, as that of a most 

 estimable citizen and sincere friend. 



Resolved, That we extend to his family 

 in this hour of their afliiction the true sym- 

 pathy of our hearts, trusting that the 

 same Divine Providence which has de- 

 creed their suffering, may bless them with 

 true consolation in their grief. 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolu- 

 tions be appropriately engi-ossed and pre- 

 sented to the family of the deceased as a 

 tribute of our sympathy in their bereave- 

 ment 



THE ASHLAND CLUB, 

 By Albert H. Tyrrell, Prest. 

 Fred G. Brooks, Secretary. 



Greenman Bros, saw mill at BatesvlUe, 

 Ind., was destroyed by fire recently. The 

 lumber yard was saved. Loss is estimated 

 at about $2,500. 



It is reported that Tonawanda lumber- 

 men have secured a tract of 400 acres of 

 hardwood timberland in Western New 

 York, near Salamanca. They propose to 

 erect a large saw mill on the tract, and 

 operations will begin at once. 



