THE OUAHX SUNDAY BEE: OCTOBETt 1911.
Cabinet of
PRESIDENT ALWAYS THERE WITH
THE GLAD HAND
CHARLES H. PICKENS.
E'RE the boys that do the work,
sometimes sing the working crew of
Ak-Sar-Ben out at the den. And they
are the boys who do the work, when
it comes to putting on the initiation
and the show, for which too much
W
credit cannot be given them. But!
ttrhfin i h Awnaa ta en bII.vabv t a air a- fanlr wrfeffVi
never ends, though it is sometimes lighter and
sometimes heavier, it Is the board of governors
i who do the work.
The working crew at the den has to get out
HAVING ONCE BEEN KING HE
KNOWS HOW IT IS HIMSELF
ARTHUR C. SMITH.
once a week during the Initiation season, and '
oftener than that when holding rehearsals Just be
fore the opening of the season, but the governors
get out onceji week also, save perhaps for a short
time In the winter; most of them get out twice a
week during the initiation season, for they attend
both the weekly meeting of governors on Monday
noons and the initiations on Monday nights; then
long about carnival time they work day and night.
Add to all of these meetings that they must
attend In the course of a year the details of the
big task of planning the parades, which includes
the raising of $10,000 to $16,000 by subscription,
treating with the railroads for special rates for
Ak-Sar-Ben, taking care of the den, planning the
ball, selecting the king end queen and making
preparations for their coronation, arranging for
the carnival, seeing that the city is properly
lighted 'and decorated for the festival and taking
care Of unlimited detail in the way of printing,
in usie, floats, supplies and other things all this
keeps the members of the board of governors s
pretty busy from one year's end to another.
Go into the office of any one of them Just
prior to or during the annual festival and you have
to have the air of a plutocrat or the president of
the United States to get an audience with him,
becauwe he is so busy. Men in his own office will
tell you that he hasn't bad time to say good morn
ing to them for days; in fact, he wasn't down yes
terday at all, and perhaps won't be today.
Tbe members of the board of governors who
guided the details of Ak-Sar-Ben during the years
of 1910 and 1911 are C. II. Pickens, E. Bucking
ham, H. J. Penfold, Joseph Barker, C. E. Blsck,
Emil Brandels. Charles D. Beaton, C. R. Courtney)
Gould Dietz. J. f. Bool, A. C. Smith and Will L.
Yetter. So well have these men proved themselves
fitted for the work allotted them by King Ak-Sar-Ben
that every committee stood in 1911 Just as it
did in 1910, except that E. Buckingham displaced
Joseph Barker as chairman of the ball committee,
on account "of tbe fact-that Mr. 'Barker was serl-
ill) rl
King Ak-Sar-Ben Made
ously ill for a long time and cad to ease up on the
work.
As far as committees are concerned, one will
find In looking over the list that all governors are
honored equally.' There are Just twelve committees.
Each governor is chairman of one committee and
ervea on two other committees.
Of course there are four who hare a little
more honor la another way than the others, for
there are Just four officers, as follows: President.
C. H. Pickens; vice president, E. Buckingham;
secretary, H. J. Penfold; treasurer, Joseph Barker.
HE'S THE LIVE WIRE AND THE
STEAM ENGINE OF THE CARNIVAL
EMIL BRANDEIS.
Charles H. Pickens, president of the organiza
tion, naturally rides at tbe head of the procession
in the big parades. Mr. Pickens has been a mem
ber of the board of governors for many years, and
if he ever wants to slough out of the Job of presi
dent It is safe to say that his fellows will insist
on bis remaining on the board as a common, every
day member, if he possibly can be induced to do
bo. Ills services and advice will be valuable in
whatever capacity he may serve. It is Mr. Pickens'
duty to preside at all meetings of the board of
governors, to head all Ak-Sar-Ben parade? mounted
on a white horse and dressed in a white suit, to sit
WHAT "JOE" DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT
EIQUETTE ISN'T CATALOGUED
JOSEPH BARKER.
at thw right hand of William H. Taft, Theodore
Roosevelt and other noted Americans when they
are guests at the den, and then fill up reporters
with hot air interviews on the prosperity of the
Kingdom of Qulvera. As chairman of the light
committee it also falls to his lot to negotiate with
the city fathers for the Illumination of Ak-Sar-Ben's
capital city and also to see that the den Is bril
liantly lighted for the annual ball and coronation.
In private life Mr. Pltkens Is general manager
of the Paxton & Gallagher company. He knows all
about the ups and downs of the sugar and coffee
markets, keeps posted on the condition of crops
in the west, especially in Nebraska, and keeps in
bis desk a goodly supply of a very choice brand of
cigars, wrapped in tinfoil, but bearing no label.
Every visitor who gets one of thote cigars wants
another, bat unless he has the nerve to ask wliat
brand it is he can't find out where to buy it, for
tbe reason, as said before, that it has no band
Ask the average Omahan who is vlre president
of the United Statts and he cannot tell you. Ask
JJJj
ALSO WAS KING ONCE, BUT RE
MAINS A PRINCE FOREVER
WILL L. YETTER.
the average Omahan who la vice president of Ak
Sar-Bcn and he will call the name of E. Bucking
ham. His name Is Everett, but he changed it to
E. a long time ago, when he found that Everett
Buckingham was too long a name to get Into tbe
newspapers He chopped off all of the Everett but
the first letter, and now he breaks into publio
print every day or two. Being vice president, Mr.
HE HAS RECENTLY RESIGNED AND
THE BOARD LOSES MUCH DIGNITY
JOSEPH CULLEN ROOT. r'",'
Buckingham is supposed to talk at board meetings
when the president cannot think of anything to
say. As chairman of the ball committee he will
have a chance to shine brightly. Buckingham has
a port and a presence that admirably qualify him
for the management of the king's annual terpsl
t Korean frolic. The chairman of the ball cotnmlt-
THERE AND OVER WHEN IT COMES
TO QUIET WORK FOR SAMSON.
CHARLES E. COURTNEY.
CI
Up of Men of Affairs
tee is supposed to be final authority on the etiquette
of the great affair, from the decorations of the don
up to the style of-eotffure that the ladies should
car, and Buckingham is said not only to hnve
studied up on all the etiquette books that have
been written, but to have originated some new
Ideas of his own. He is also assistant to Cbarlin
Beaton on the parade committee and helps Mr.
Pickens with the lighting.
Aside from his high position In the Knights
of Ak-Sar-Ben, Mr. Buckingham is general manager
of the Union stock yards, a director of the pub
licity bureau of the Commercial club of Omaha
and a member of the Omaha Field club, where be
plays a fair game of golf, does some dancing and
much eating.
Handsome of face and figure, a very Apollo,
Henry J. Tenfold, secretary of the knights, is the
most gallant of them all. Somebody once offered
a reward to anyone who might see Penfold without
a carnation in his buttonhole, with a speck on his
collar or with one whisker out of place. Nobody
ever claimed the reward. Just aa safely might a
reward have been offered to any persons seeing
Mr. Penfold lose his temper. His position is the
most difficult of all the members of the board; he
is a sort of buffer between the organization and
the public, nicgruntled citizens blame him for
everything that happens during the Ak-Sar-Ben
season that they don't happen to like, and yet he
'BUCK" IS THE BOY TO WHOM THE
CROWDS GATHER NATURALLY
EVERETT BUCKINGHAM.
manages to preserve a peaceful temper and serene
expression of countenance through It'all. '' '
Besides taking in and paying Out money, keep
ing track of new members, sending out letters to
members and the public, looking after all printing
and advertising, supplying the newspapers with
news copy and running Samson's office the year
round, Mr. Penfold serves as a sort of assistant to
the chairman of every committee on the board.
Mr. Penfold has been with Ak-Sar-Ben since it
started and has been secretary most of the time.
He now threatens to go to California to raise
STOPS SELLING SODA WATER LONG
ENOUGH TO HELP SAMSON WIN
CHARLES D. BEATON.
lemons, but the knights hope that he may be pre
vailed upon to stay in Omaha.
On Joseph Barker fell the arduous duties in
connection with the ball last year that devolve
upon E. Buckingham this year. And, by the way,
tbe ball was a great success. Not only did Mr.
Barker, assisted by Messrs. Buckingham and Dletz,
perfect every detail of arrangement to such a degree
that nothing was left to be desired when the ball
came to pass, but he managed to keep the secret
of the Identity of the queen so well that it is said'
that not even his wife's friends learned who waa
to have the royal honor. Mr. Barker's serious 111
ess last winter was a source of much apprehensioa
to his many friends among the knlgbts of the realm.
This year Mr. Barker Is chairman of the nuisio
committee, is second man-on the ball' committee
and is a member of the finance committee. In his
GLOBE GIRDLING BY
WITH AK-SAR-BEN
-i -- GOULD DIETZ. ;rwwi .
private capacity he is secretary of the H. B. Palmer
& Son company, one of the largest Insurance Anna
of the city. He la a familiar figure on the local
streets, and when he sights a victim proves one oC
the handiest men with the fountain pen and lnsur
snce blank In the entire United States.
C. E. Black, familiarly known as HattIe1"1
because he sells hats and other articles of male
apparel in a shop on Sixteenth street. Is the "goat"
this year for all the kicks of the knlghta on the
doings at the den. For he is chairman of the ritual
committee and is supposed to be responsible for
everything ' that happens during the Initiation,
whether he is or not. Had the grand mufti choked
on some of the big words of the ritual or had
some unlucky Initiate had his pants torn off on
, the bump-the-bumps,' Mr. Black says he probably
would have been sued for damages. Black Is sup
posed to be a musical critic, so ho Is the second
man on the music committee. His distinguished
bearing is also supposed to lend weight to negotia
tions with' men of weighty affairs, ao he Is a mem
- ber of the railway committee, which finds It neces
sary to talk long and often with general managers
and vice presidents and presidents of railroads In
regard to making proper arrangements to transport
the great crowds to the capital city from all parts
of the Kingdom of Qulvera.
In his own den ' "Hattle" Black Is perfectly,;
harmless and , continually wears ' a .smile that. Is;
childlike and bland, to lure the casual customert
into exchanging some of his coin of the realm' for
purple shirts, amethyst stickpins and $2.50 hats.'
He knows a few things about advertising and at
tributes his great success in his business to the
liberal use of printer's ink. '
Emll Brandels works with Messrs. Tetter, and
Black on the railway committee, and with Messrs.f
Courtney and Penfold on the committee on pur
chases. Being an authority on amusements, for he'
and h'3 brothers have built two theaters and are
recognized masters of the art of entertaining the
publio in the Pompeian room of their big store,
Mr. Brandels Is chairman of the Ak-Sar-Ben amuse
ments committee. It is for him to say, with the
approval of Messrs. Penfold and Courtney, also
members of the committee, what shows shall be
allowed on tbe carnival grounds and what other
amusements, outside of the annual parades, shall
be offered to sojourners in the land of Ak-Sar-Ben.
It 1b among Mr. Brandels' dutlca to investigate the
fat girl, the wild man, the Turkish theater and'
(Continued on Pago Ten.)
IF ANYTHING , NEEDS FIXING
"HATTY'S" THE MAN TO SEE j -.
INTERRUPTS
SUMMERS
id 1
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CHARLES E. BLACK.
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