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Show Page 6 Thursday, April 24, 1980 The Newspaper Woodrow Wilson Leaves His Mark in P.C. Your Choice jmutimmHk VlT 1 ( 'Xjj J V y jf """""r With The jj Finest And lYT, Save $24.50 .pa. fill s Your Choice Of XBH Softball Bat o Easton 'Max' Bat Worth ARF8 (Base Runner9 Bat o Easton 'S-7' 'Cannon Bat' Park City Holiday Village Mall Dudley Softballs 18 1 1 1 1 rTTmr' goo Reg. 6.49 Worth 'Red Dot' or 'Blue Dot' Softballs 475 Blue Dot Reg-6.15 Open Everyday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The fundraiser for Park City's new library may just have been kicked off by a U.S. President who died in 1924. Two letters signed by Wood-row Wood-row Wilson dropped out of a long-forgotten book Friday while volunteers were reclassifying re-classifying the contents of the Main Street library. Discovery of the letters sparked visions of a cash bonanza, or at least a few dollars, to help fund the renovation of the Miners Hospital. Since the letters were found, Councilwoman Tina Lewis has been trying to trace the sequence of events which brought them to this tiny, remote library.' What were the letters doing in the book? Why were they not discovered sooner? How did the book end up in Park City? Are the letters authentic? authen-tic? Are they of any value? The book itself, and a third letter written by the author, offer some clues to the puzzle. The title of the book is "The Bridge To France," the story of Wilson's run for the presidency and his role in World War I. The author is Edward N. Hurley, who was chairman of the War Shipping Ship-ping Board during the war and apparently a friend of Wilson. The third letter was sent by Hurley to Jacob A. Kahn, then president of the Capital Electric Company in Salt Lake City, in May of 1928. Hurley told Kahn he was sending a copy of the book along with "facsimile copies" cop-ies" of two Wilson letters which are paraphrased in the book. Mrs. Lewis immediately began a flurry of phone calls. Among those she contacted were Albert Lewis, curator of the Wilson Collection at Princeton University, the Utah Historical Society, and an appraiser in Chicago well known for his work on determining the authenticity of documents. The (sTP ff ff by Rossini in English May 15, 17, 19, & 21 Capitol Theatre 8:OOp.m. Sam Byrd as Figaro Jack Morris as Count Almaviva Frank Fetta Conducting the Utah Symphony Whitfield Lloyd, Guest Stage Director MAILORDER FORM Please send me discount of Sl.OO each: $ . tickets at $ .each (Minus StudentSenior Citizen -) Please send me a gift certificate in the amount of S Total amount enclosed $ , or Please bill my VisaMastercharge Acct. . Expiration date . Signature NAME ADDRESS- CITY DAY PHONE . STATE NIGHT PHONE .ZIP. Please check date and location: H Thursday, May 15 1 Saturday, May 1 7 Monday, May 1 9 Wednesday, May 2 1 MAIN FLOOR SEATING I Front. $10.00 ! Middle , 8.00 ! : Rear 6.00 Sold out on Thursday and Saturday. Please allow 10 days lor delivery Please include stamped, self-addressed envelope BALCONY SEATING Boxes S20.00 ; Grand Tier (sold out) . . 1 5.00 !Mez.Front 12.00' UTAH OPERA COMPANY (1 Mez. Middle $9.00 n Mez. Rear 7.00 Balcony 5.00 Mail Orders to: Utah Opera Company 50 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 Box Office 534 0831 Glade Peterson, General Director Box office opens Monday, April 28 Hours: 10-6:00, Mon.-Fri. r 4 i'& Tina Lewis with one of the Wilson letters. Bush immediately expressed ex-pressed an interest in the letters. He told Mrs. Lewis he was not aware of the existence of any other copies. Bush said it was often the practice of presidents of that era to sign several copies of the same document, so that signatures could well be authentic even though the letters are "facsimile copies." cop-ies." The appraiser has agreed to take a look at the book and the letters. "He's going to appraise it as a package," Mrs. Lewis said. "He said it could be up to six weeks before he gets a reply back to us." She pointed out that the value of the "package" depends in part on whether any other copies of the letter are known to exist. "We have no idea what they're worth," she said. "These things are like art work. They could be very valuable." Mrs. Lewis believes it would be better to sell the package to the Wilson Collection Collec-tion and use the proceeds for the new library rather than keep the letters in Park City. Beside their obvious value as collector's items, the letters may also be significant signifi-cant as historical documents. docu-ments. The earliest of the two letters was written in June 1910 while Wilson was still the president of Princeton. It was addressed to a John Harlan of Chicago, a man influential in Democratic politics. At the time, Wilson was contemplating announcing his candidacy for governor of New Jersey. Historians of the period say talk of his candidacy raised concern among members of the state Democratic machine headed by James Smith, Jr. In his letter to Harlan, Wilson argued that he had no intention of breaking down the existing party organization organiza-tion as long as he was left alone in decisions relating to "measures and men." Ac- I ;;:MellO.''!'', IPretty Ualtey These new parents Denise & Tony Flaherty wish to announce the birth of their baby girl Jessica Ryan Flaherty born on April 19, 1980 at Wasatch County Hospital weighing 5 lbs. 12 oz. measuring 19 inches. yj M11 Pretty Ualtey These new parents Jean & Steve Holcomb wish to announce the birth of their baby boy Steven Paul Holcomb born on April 14, 1980 at Holy Cross Hospital weighing 7 lbs. loz. measuring 19 'z inches. We welcome all birth announcements! Please mail all pertinent information to Pretty Baby, P.O. Box 738, Park City, Utah 8S060, or call (801 ) 64!)-!)014. -J J 0'Xey-J3eauitt A COME IN AND COMPARE 421 Main Street 649-6831 cording to Hurley, the letter was influential in persuading Smtih to back Wilson. History reveals that Smith's fears were well founded. Once elected, Wilson Wil-son immediately tangled with the Democratic machine, ma-chine, and even went so far as to endorse a candidate who ran against Smith for a seat in the U.S. Senate. The other letter was written to Hurley in 1918. Wilson opened the correspondence by calling Hurley a "brick," which apparently was an expression of affection, not hostility. The subject of the letter was a proposal to pool shipping resources with the British after the war. Jacob Kahn, the man to whom the book was sent, was a prominent Salt Lake City businessman for many years. According to an obituary on file with the Utah Historical Society, Kahn was a member of the Alta Club and the Salt Lake Country Club. He also was reported to have been the chairman of the board of the Salt Lake City Library in the early 1950s. He died in 1961 at the age of 89. According to Mrs. Lewis, Hurley had no apparent connection with Utah other than his friendship with Kahn. She said she still has no clues as to how or why the book found its way into the Park City Library. "I asked the rest of the librarians, and they had never seen it before," she said. The card in the back of the book is blank, suggesting it had never been taken out of the library. "We are so fascinated by the mystery of it all," she said. "I think it's magic. This library is slowly revealing reveal-ing its secrets to us." Police Report Lights Out! A series of about 16 flashing barricades marking construction on Park Avenue on front of the Park Station Hatel ,, .apparently, ..were knocked down by a vehicle late April 16. Police. Chief Michael Crowley called the incident "an act of malice," noting that it could have caused a serious accident. None was reported. A Honda Civic belonging to Marlene Patrono of Park City was reported stolen from behind the Brother Christopher Restaurant late April 17. According to police, a purse containing the keys to the car had been left on the seat. The purse was recovered the next day in the 7-Eleven parking lot, with contents intact except for the keys. The car has not been recovered. Norman Nelson, a resident of the Homestake Condominiums, Con-dominiums, told Park City police April 17 that two sets of golf clubs worth an estimated $800 had been stolen from a storage area under the building. Nelson said the clubs had been taken sometime after Dec. 1, 1979. , The theft, of a .22, caliber i pistol from the Wolfe's spprt-i spprt-i ing goods store at Holiday Village was reported to police April 17. The pistol, complete with a cylinder for a magnum charge, apparently apparen-tly was shoplifted from the store's inventory. There were no signs of forced entry into the building. A bank deposit bag containing con-taining an estimated $300 cash and checks was discovered missing from Janeaux's Restaurant on Main Street April 16. There was no sign of forced entry. A thief or thieves were unsuccessful un-successful in an attempt to open a cash register at the Carbide Lamp Restaurant last week, according to Park City police. The register had been carried into a walk-in cooler, where it was found with several pry marks. A door had been kicked in to gain entry to the building. CtareBn PARK CITY COMMUNITY CHURCH Sunday Service 10:00 a.m. ALL FAITHS WELCOME 402 Park Avenue CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Wednesday Evening Meeting Public Warmly Welcome n.n nnn. v 7:30p.m. 649-7264 649-7747 833 Quaking Aspen Ct. "V" |