SlFIBMBBB 20, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



23 



F. O. Bartels. 



r, C. Bartels, superintendent at the 

 J. M. Gasser Co. greenhouses, Kocky 

 Biver, O., was murdered in the kitchen 

 of his home at 3 p. m. September 15. 

 Bobbery or revenge are the motives 

 accepted for the perpetration of the 

 bloody deed, circumstances strongly fa- 

 voring the former. 



Saturday being pay day, Mr. Bartels 

 as usual drove down to the bank at 

 Bocky Eiver for the pay roll. Beturning, 

 he went into the house to put the money 

 in the safe until the closing hour, but in- 

 stead laid the bag containing $700 upon 

 the mantel and hurried back to his office 

 in the greenhouses, which is about 200 

 feet from the dwelling. In a short time, 

 attracted by the scream of Mrs. Bartels 

 and a workwoman employed by her, he 

 ran to the house to investigate and upon 

 entering, encountered a masked man 

 with revolver in each hand. The whistle 

 was blown, but unfortunately the en- 

 tire force was engaged in the far end 

 of the place and when foreman Al 

 Lingruen and one of his assistants 

 rushed into the house they found the 

 body of their chief in a pool of blood. 

 The murderer escaped. Death must have 

 been instantaneous, as three bullets had 

 been fired into the body in the region of 

 the heart and a fourth, indicating that 

 a struggle had taken place, was lodged 

 in the ceiling. 



Mrs. Lingruen, wife of the foreman, 

 who occupies part of the house, heard the 

 shots and on opening the door leading 

 to the death room, saw a man clad in 

 overalls leave the side porch, dart 

 through an opening in the fence and 

 dash off along the orchard. Mrs. Mor- 

 rissey, the workwoman, saw a man 

 masked with a red bandana come in at 

 the side door, but at first thought it one 

 of the employees playing a joke on her. 

 But the intruder uttering no word and 

 threatening her with the weapons, she 

 became frightened and ran upstairs, 

 alarming Mrs. Bartels, who was busy in 

 the attic. The stranger followed to the 

 foot of the stairs, but going back to 

 the room containing the safe met Mr. 

 Bartels as he came in and, after a brief 

 struggle, shot him to death, leaving, 

 in his haste, without the coveted money. 



The murderer is still at large and, 

 although the authorities are working 

 diligently upon the case, no clues have 

 as yet been established. Evidently the 

 deed was done by one familiar with the 

 house and grounds and acquainted with 

 the time and method of paying the men. 



F. C. Bartels was 62 years of age and 

 a florist of lifelong experience; a hard 

 worker, always striving for the best, 

 and a recognized master in his profes- 

 sion. Besides a host of warm personal 

 friends, he leaves a widow and two mar- 

 ried daughters to mourn his loss. 



J. McL. 



Dayton, O. — A building on South 

 Broadway owned by the Miami Floral 

 Co. was destroyed by fire August 25. 

 The loss was $500. 



Corry, Pa. — A. W. Warren says busi- 

 ness has been good and he adds, "We 

 are going to do business as long as The 

 Review carries our ads." His spe- 

 cialty is young stock for the trade. 



Deer Park, Ala. — The season has been 

 a dry one, with less than the normal 

 growth, but conditions were better in 

 August and L. H, Read & Co., who 

 grow seeds and tubers, feel much en- 

 couraged by the progress their crops 

 have made. 



Houston, Tex. — E. L. Kiley, who, in 

 common with other florists, has had to 

 face the greatly increased cost of fuel, 

 has something which, if it works out 

 in practice, will prove even better than 

 a coal mine. He has a secret formula 

 for the preparation of a substitute fuel 

 he claims will give as much heat energy 

 as can be obtained by spending three 

 times the money for coal. If the world 

 were not skeptical, he certainly would 

 get rich quick. 



Gainesville, Fla. — The law of this 

 state requires inspection of mailed ship- 

 ments of plants and plant products be- 

 fore delivery to the addressee in this 

 state. Hereafter facilities for such in- 

 spection will be maintained at Jackson- 

 ville and Tampa, in addition to Gaines- 

 ville. Therefore all postmasters in Flor- 

 ida have been notified to send to Gaines- 

 ville, Jacksonville or Tampa, whichever 

 is nearest, parcels received containing 

 plants or plant products which are sub- 

 ject to terminal inspection. The ad- 

 dressee is notified in each case to sup- 

 ply the necessary postage. 



St. Petersburg, Fla. — Miss Pearl 

 Ross has purchased the Blossom Booth 

 of Miss Emily Bostwick and will con- 

 duct it in the future. 



Memphis, Tenn. — The concern known 

 as Johnson's Greenhouses has modern- 

 ized its store with a completely new 

 equipment of store fixtures, including a 

 9-foot refrigerator. All fixtures were 

 furnished by the A. L. Randall Co., Chi- 

 cago, 



Houston, Tex. — "There is not much 

 business here except funeral work, and 

 not much of that," says Walter West- 

 gate, of the Roselynn Nursery & Floral 

 Co.; "but I am talking 'good business' 

 and am most optimistic as to fall and 

 winter business. Money is tight, and 

 sometimes a man has to hustle if he 

 wants to pay cash for everything." 



Muskogee, Okla. — The coal question 

 does not worry florists in this section. 

 Last season the Muskogee Carnation 

 Co. used coal to heat its 75,000 feet of 

 glass, because the city's pipe lines were 

 not large enough to carry the natural 

 gas required, but now the pipe lines 

 have been enlarged and the greenhouse 

 boilers connected up with the gas sup- 

 ply used by practically everyone in 

 Muskogee. Two boilers of sixty horse- 

 power each will oj)erate with natural 

 gas at 6 cents per thousand cubic feet. 



iJiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiL' 



I MOTT-LY MUSINGS | 



?llllllllllllllllHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllli^ 



William Mathews derives much pleas- 

 ure from reading the report of the S. 

 A. F. meeting in The Review; his son 

 Harry also agrees that it was most 

 lucid. 



William Pfeifer, of Utica, was 

 benching his carnations at the time. 

 They are grand stock, as usual. 



Brant Bros., also of Utica, were busy 

 with their roses, which are first-class 

 plants, highly promising for an early 

 crop. Several Uticans were in the moun- 

 tains and missed the S. A. F. dates. 



A. D. Carpenter, of Cohoes, N. Y., 

 has been awarded the palm for having 

 the most up-to-date greenhouse estab- 

 lishment in this vicinity. 



The seed store of the H. Gordinier 

 Sons Co., of Troy, N. Y., was burglar- 

 ized September 2. Some cash was 

 taken, but the culprits were arrested 

 the next day. 



J. G. Barrett, of Troy, reports the 

 usual run of funeral work, showing no 

 falling away in that branch of the busi- 

 ness. 



' * We were busily engaged during that 

 time," was the reply of Robert Bard, 

 of Syracuse, to the inquiry of why he 

 was not at the convention. "No mat- 



ter what the date, something turns up 

 to prevent my attending." A pair of 

 live owls was quite an attraction in the 

 store, which is always kept clean and 

 inviting. 



W. E. Day, of Syracuse, observed that 

 the state fair does not help the trade 

 to any extent. Business has been quiet 

 in Syracuse all summer, but will be 

 brisk from now on. 



Frank Friedley, of Cleveland, opines 

 that, owing to the scarcity of palms, 

 ferns will be in increasing demand, and 

 he has prepared to meet it. It is noted 

 that many of the leading hotels are 

 being decorated with nephrolepis of 

 various kinds. 



Carl Hagenburger, of Mentor, O., 

 though extremely busy, spared the time 

 to attend the Cleveland Florists' Club 

 meeting and be elected president. 



W. J. Palmer, of Buffalo, took a 

 long vacation. Barney Myers, of 

 Palmer's, at Lancaster, is planning to 

 compensate for the loss on Holland 

 bulbs, quite a task when one grows for 

 two big stores and a local demand, in 

 addition, but, in his own language, "it 

 is the supreme test, and we will meet 

 it." W. M. 



