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HARDWOOD RECORD 



I 



Obituary 



Sad Ending of W. A. Ronsack 



Dispatches received at St. Louis from New 

 Orleans on Friday evening, March 18, stated 

 that W. A. Bonsack, the well known lumberman 

 of that city, was drowned in Lake Pontchartrain 

 near New Orleans on that afternoon, Mr. Bon- 

 sack hired a boat and together with a fisherman 

 put across the lake. The water was choppy and 

 the fisherman says that Mr. Bonsack. while 

 standing up in the boat, lost his balance and fell 



THE LATE W. A. BONSACK 



overboard. The fisherman alleges he made an 

 effort to rescue him, but the body never re- 

 appeared. 



In later dispatches an evident attempt is made 

 to surround Mr. Bonsack's death with mystery, 

 as the police are presuming the theory that he 

 has not been drowned at all and is seeking se- 

 clusion. There is apparently no reason for this 

 assumption, as his family relations are known 

 to have been pleasant and he is not known to 

 have been in any financial difficulties. Persistent 

 efforts have been made to recover the body, but 

 at last advices were unavailing. 



There are several theories connected with the 

 drowning of Mr. Bonsack. One is that he acci- 

 dentally fell from the boat ; another is that be 

 contemplated suicide and jumped overboard ; the 

 third is that he was stricken with heart disease 

 and fell into the water, and the fourth and un- 

 believable one is that he was not drowned at all. 

 Mr. Bonsack had laid his coat and vest aside 

 before the accident occurred, which was not 

 unusual considering the warmth of the day. The 

 boatman's head was turned when the accident 

 occurred and he is not sure whether Mr. Bon- 

 sack fell or jumped into the water. A. A. Bon- 

 sack, a brother, left St. Louis on receipt of the 

 telegram announcing the drowning and is now in 

 New Orleans trying to unravel the mystery. 



William Andrew Bonsack was born In St. 

 Louis August 7. 1S57. He was the son of Fred- 

 erick C. and Catherine (Meiser) Bonsack. He 

 was educated in the public schools of St. Louis 

 and was married in 1884 to Miss Lulu Ringer. 

 Besides his widow he is survived by two chil- 

 dren, Adele and Marion. 



Mr. Bonsack began his business career as a 

 salesman for Williams & Alfred, lumber dealers, 

 in 1870. Later he became a salesman for his 

 father, F. C. Bonsack, until the death of the 



latter in ISS.j. when the business was incorpo- 

 rated as the V. C. Bonsack Lumber Company. 



In 1897 the company was reorganized as the 

 Bonsack Lumber Company, and William A. Bon- 

 sack was made president. He held that position 

 np to the time of his death. Mr. Bonsack was a di- 

 rector of the Lumbermen's Exchange and was 

 formerly a director of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association. He was a member of the 

 Lumbermen's Club, the Mercantile Club, the Ma- 

 sonic order, the Legion of Honor and the Royal 

 Arcanum. 



Mr. Bonsack had been in New Orleans four 

 days and wired his wife that he would leave for 

 home on Saturday. A mysterious telegram was 

 found in the pocket of his coat, reading, "Case 

 postponed until October." Attaches of the Grune- 

 wald hotel, who had become acquainted with 

 Mr. Bonsack. now imagine that be appeared to 

 be worried over something. 



Mr. Bonsack was one of the veteran lumber- 

 men of St. Louis and was highly esteemed both 

 at home and abroad, and his death will be sin- 

 cerely mourned not only by those associated 

 with him in business transactions but by a host 

 of others who came in contact with him in as- 

 sociation, musical and art work, in which he 

 was much interested. He was an extremely 

 affable and kindly man, and his mysterious pass- 

 ing is a matter of sincere regret. 



Death of F. J. Johnson 

 The lumber trade of the East was shocked to 

 learn of the sudden death on the morning of 

 March 4 of Frederick J. Johnson, eastern man- 

 nger of Bliss & Van Auken of Saginaw, Mich., 

 the Bliss-Cook Oak Company of Blissville, Ark., 

 the Otter Creek Lumber Company of Otter Creek, 

 Fla., all manufacturing lumber interests domi- 

 nated by A. P. Bliss of Saginaw. 



Mr. .Johnson's death resulted from scarlet 

 fever after an illness of only three days. He 

 had recently returned from a trip to Florida and 

 complained a few days afterward of a cold, but 



THE LATE F. J. JOHNSON 



was attacked by fever and his death resulted 

 very shortly. 



Mr. Johnson was about forty-five years old. 

 He had been identified with the lumber trade of 

 the East for a good many years. Ten years ago 

 he went to Philadelphia from Boston as a sales- 

 man for W. H. Fritz & Co., where for several 

 years he was at the head of the South End 



Storage Company. Then he became connected 

 A\ith Bliss & Van Auken as salesman, and on the 

 i-emoval of the company's eastern offices to New 

 Vork became manager. 



Mr. Johnson was the soul of good fellowship 

 and soon established a reputation for integrity 

 and fair dealing that won the hearts of the 

 New York and Philadelphia trade, and inci- 

 dentally secured a large volume of business. His 

 word has always been good with every man in 

 the eastern trade and he was not only uni- 

 versally respected but loved b,v those with whom 

 he did business. The funeral services and in- 

 terment were held in Boston, his old home, on 

 March 6. He is survived by a widow and 

 daughter, to whom the Record extends its most 

 sincere sympathy. 



In such high regard was Mr. Johnson held 

 in the Philadelphia market that a special reso- 

 lution of condolence was passed concerning his 

 demise by the Philadelphia Lumbermen's Ex- 

 change, and very likely a similar action will 

 be taken by the New York Lumber Trade Asso- 

 ciation. 



Mr. Johnson was very near and dear to the 

 editor of Haedwood Recced, who shared offices 

 with him both at Philadelphia and New Y'ork 

 for some years, who was his neighbor and friend 

 in a social way in both cities. The writer 

 spent two hours with him on August 1*2 in 

 New York, and Mr. Johnson never appeared in 

 better health and spirits in his life. It is hard 

 to be reconciled to the fact that he has gone 

 to the Great Beyond. 



Meeting Wagon Oak Exporters' Association 



A meeting of the Wagon Oak Exporters' Asso- 

 ciation, which was organized last year to look 

 after the interests of exporters of wagon oak 

 planks, was held at Roanoke, Va., on March 10, 

 to consider the demands made by foreign buyers. 

 What the exporters desire above all things is a 

 uniform set of inspection rules which will hold 

 on all shipments made, and which will be recog- 

 nized both by the domestic trade and by buyers 

 abroad. At a meeting held in Baltimore in Feb- 

 ruary, a set of tentative rules was formulated 

 and these were submitted at the Roanoke meet- 

 ing. They were thoroughly discussed before de- 

 cisive action was finally taken. This set of rules 

 will be sent to Liverpool for the approval of 

 foreign buyers and it is expected that eventually 

 representatives of both sides will be appointed 

 to confer and work out an agreement satisfactory 

 to all concerned. 



The Liverpool Timber Trade Association, with 

 which the American organization is negotiating 

 lor a satisfactory agreement in this matter, held 

 a meeting at Liverpool on March 10, at which a 

 report in regard to inspection of American wagon 

 oak planks was presented for consideration. It 

 was decided by the committee reporting that this 

 matter be turned over to members of the asso- 

 ciation who are especially interested in this line 

 of trade, and that they hold a special meeting 

 10 consider this subject. John H. Burrell, presi- 

 dent of the Liverpool association, in moving the 

 adoption of* the report containing this recom- 

 mendation said : "With regard to the inspection 

 of American wagon oak planks, as you are' doubt- 

 less aware, this trade is second in point of vol- 

 ume in the amount of goods imported to Liver- 

 pool from the United States, the import during 

 190U reaching one and pne-quarter million cubic 

 feet, while in 1908 it nearly totaled two million. 

 X request that the Liverpool trade should form 

 some rules to bring about a more uniform in- 

 spection was sent by an American association of, 

 I believe, considerable standing. The matter 

 was considered, and a resolution in reference to 

 the grading had been forwarded to the American 

 association for their consideration." This con- 

 troversy has continued for some time, with much 

 inconvenience and financial loss to American ex- 

 porters, and it is to be hoped that some satis- 

 factory solution of the matter will be arrived 

 at before long. 



