Tim OMATIA BUN HAY mR: OCTOBER I,
D
Who Left a Little German Home to Build Floats for King?
s
OMETHiNG over fifty years
ogo on event took plucv
In a little village on the
Rhine In southern Ger
many which was destined
to bring great fame to
that village in after yea -s.
It was the birth of a boy, whom his
imrents named Augustus, and whose
playmates mado it Uus. Today, with
awe in their voices and pride In their
eyes, the villaRers tell how little (Jus,
who emigrated to America when he was
10 years old, has become the genius of
Ak-Sar-Hcn, u company of goodly
iT.iihia nhn work treat works In the
niiiui0 ' -
land of Nebraska, whirh in tbeir opin
ion is the only really Important state
in "tin vereincten Btaatcn," besides
New York.
'lie a Rood boy snd loam your
lessons mt school and some day you may
h nrsldent of the United Htates, says i
jld llerr Doiinerblllzun to his grandson,
Heinrlch, in that far-off village. "See
w hat Utile 5us Kenzo has done. He v.cnt to Amer
ica and became such an artistic genlu that King
Ak-Sur-Uen heard of hlni and now he is tho princi
pal man in the land of Ak-8ar-Ben. Every
year his genius brings people to the king's
festival from all parts of the United States.
Make littlo Gun your example and when you go to
'America, you won't have to be a senator or a trust
magnate to gain fame and fortune."
Littlo Gus is little no longer. Judging by his
looks, he woighs close to 200 pounds, though Qua
hasn't hod time this summer to get on the scales.
'Also those blond Teutonic locks that were the glory
of Gus' youth have passed away and tho peak of
hla thought dome is a skating rink for saucy flies,
while the fringe of hirsute filaments over his ears
and nape is clipped short.
Not one of his sparse haira Is gray. He passed
the fiftieth riilcstc.no this summer, but ho looks
Jlk a youth of forty. If o.ie cakes a Job under tho
ruler of Qulvera, ono doesn't have any time cither
to worry or dissipate, and therefore, one has no
reason to get gray, observoa Herr Renze.
Gus works the year around for his majesty
and what be says about not having any time to
idle is pretty nearly true. With building floats,
looking after Initiations, designing King's Highway
' entrances and doing a multitude of other things,
Rente says he has no time to pray except in the
winter, and even then his prayers are short. For
a month before the big fall festival he Is busy at
the Den day and night, Sunday Included, putting
In about sixteen hours a day. Many a time he has
threatened to organise a union, with the eight-hour
day platform, but the threat always came to
naught, as the nearest man In his own vocation
is at Kansas City, and the next nearest at St. Louis,
and all were so busy that they didn't have time to
meet. Gus tries to rest from his work on Bat-,
urday nights during the rush season, but he doesn't
always get away from the Den even that on even
ing. . '
Gus Is not periodic in hla habits;' he is very
regular, lie smokos cigars every day, drinks
enough hop and barley Juice to keep his appetlto
keen and never misses being on hand at the Den
on initiation night. Kor seventeen years, ever since
Ak-Sar-Ben was started, ho has never been absent
from an Initiation. Ono night he was injured in
the initiation apparatus, hut the next Monday night
be was on hand again. Nothing short of typhoid
fever or' a whole army of Napoleons would keep
a Rhine man from hla post of duty, saya Renr.e.
It might fee remarked. In passing, that nothing
but urgent duty would keep Qua away from tho
' banquet or "hot dog," hard-boiled eggs and liquid
refreshments which delights the knights after each
, Moday night's Initiation. With a "wlenlo" sand
wich in one flat and a mag la the other, Gus makes
- figure at the banquet no lose picturesque than
that of Sir William Kennedy himself, who often
acta as grand mcfU. Qua may not bestride a horao
as gracefully aa H. J. Penfold or dance like Will
Vetter, but he is certainly "there" with "the boys"
at the weekly banquet.
He is a sort of a tyrant In his own realm,
is Rente. What he says goes. Of course, tho gen
eral results he alms at must be O. K.'d by the
Board of Governors, but In working out tho detail
he la given a wido range and allowed to use his
own Judgment. When Gus saya a certain figure
goes on a float it goes; when he says a certain
piece of Initiation machinery must be arranged
thua and so, it la thus arranged; when be says a
1 employe la fired, ho la fired. The artist who
' write the "opery or the "drammer" for the initia
tion season must needs consult Qua or ho will have
xaoeh of his work for naught. Ona builds the
stage and the seen cry and the play must bo written,
completely reversing the usual custom la stage
lanrf. The playwright has to find out from Gus
how many characters he can have ia his cast,
whether the scene ia to be laid at the north pole
or the Island of 8wat, whether or not the stare
will be strong enough to hold up a horse, and a
few other things, and then he la ready to dip his
la In the ink, or put a new ribbon on his type
writer, as the case may be.
"I have a beautiful little ditty here," saya
the playwright to Gus, "that I want to use. for the
atm at the poUl where the pirate captain learns
v- vv 7 -r - , ir f
I MLA II II 11 II. lit' 7i . . JJr I . 1, I I I It JLU 1 I I 1 .III II V
that Carrie, the hash
sllnger, who was born
h prlnceHB, has prom
iHed to become the
wife of Willie Rib
bons." "Cut it out,"
growls Gus. "Cut It
out. The more you
rut out of that acene
the better it will be.
Rotten Is an easy word
for it. Such a chorus .
should be sung by the
sad sea waves, and I
haven't got time to
make a seashore, as I
am having a lot of
trouble In building up
a yellow hearse, with
green trimmings, to
carry away the captain
in the last scene. For
get your chorua and
think of something ap
propriate for Carrie to
say when the church
boll tolls."
Renze Is not
afraid to state his po
sition on any given
point to any member
of the board, and If,
after the argument Is
an over, tne board does not sunnort him.
he says "all right," and, naturally, does' as
the - board wishes. If the majority of the
board puts the O. K. on him, the minority will
about the "cussedness of that bull-headed
would give it away, but it held good through the
entire season, and on the very, last night we had
victims who didn't expect to be initiated."
Some people
don't think Kenze is
very modest, but Gus
pays he is. When
ever a reporter goes
out to see him a con
versation o n s u e s
something like this:
"Mr. Renze, I
want to get a littlo
dope to make a story
to go with a picture
of you in our Ak-Sar-Ben
Epeclal edi
tion." "I don't- know
aoout mat. 1 m a
hired man around
here. Penfold and Buck
ingham and Brandels
and the rest of them are
the big cheese. Give
them the write-up. I'm
paid for tho work I do,
not for getting my name
into the newspapers."
"But I'm writing
them up, too. The Board
of Governors get a whole
page. I want Just a lit
tle story about you, If
you feel so modest."
"Well, I'm a modest
man, all right. I man
aged to keep my picture
out of the papers until
about two years ago, when Colonel McCuIlougu
of The Boo got after me so hard that I had to give
lu. I've tried to keep the boys from wrlHng about
J
me, but 1 couldn't do it. They knew I
arranged the Initiation and designed
nnd made the floats and prepared the
Den for the ball and designed the car
nival entrance and they went ahead and
wro "t it."
.,f let you off easy," says the re
porter, not mentioning the fact that he
Is expected to fill a half page with the
Renze story Rnd picture. "I'll try to
write It in such a way that it won't get
you in bad with anybody else who thinks
he's the main thing in Ak-Sar-Ben."
"Well," says Renze, "what kind of S
dope do you want?" J
With tho information that Gus
thereupon leaks out, and with what the
reporter already knows, he can perhaps
fill his allotted space. But Gus really
doesn't realize the versatility of the
average reporter and actually belleveV
tliRt he has given up only about enough. H
Information to make a couple of paragraphs.
Renze came to America from Germany when
years old, and the age of 18 found him In the '
city of Anheuser-Busch, laying the foundation for
his future usefulness In Nebraska, as a float
builder for the Veiled Prophets of Khorassan, his
master being Tom, Couch, who for thirty-six years
was responsible for the floats In the parades of
the Veiled Prophets. Renzo worked here from
1879 to 1881.
Young Renze wanted to engage In business
for himself, and ns Omaha offered greater oppor
tunities than St. Louis, he moved to the Nebaska
metropolis, where he became a sign1 painter and
operatod in a shop of his own for many years.
Seventeen years ago Renze attended the first
meeting, at which parades were a subject of con
sideration, of the new Business Men's association,
which a short time later became the Knights of
Ak-Sar-Ben. From that time to this he has been
on the Job with the knights. Two or three years
ago Renze was offered a similar Job in some far
western city. Tho Board of Governors "came
across" with an increase in salary and Renze was
persuaded to stay.
mis year, in addition to his usual duties,
Renze has designed twenty-six of the floats to be
in the manufacturers' parade and the columns for
the court of honor on Douglas street.
Gus Is a leading member of the local Elks'
lodge, and his master hand and mind are fre
quently called Into service In arranging for the
stage entertainments for which the Elks have be
come famous.
i
As a matter of fact, Gus is a human dynamo and
internal combustion engine combined, an unfallin
iouni or never-nagging energy and zeal, fecund of
Imagination and fertile in expedient, and Ak-Sar-Ben
would not part with him at any price.
- 'A.
talk
Dutchman." All of which Is in the game and Gus
smiles, for he knows that the next tlmo tho fol
lows who called hlra bull-headed may bo for him.
'Gus Is long on ideas, and the board' gets the
benefit of his numerous suggestions for initiation
features and parades. He claims to be originator
of tho "no Initiation" Idea in 1901, in which year
the order had the largest number of members In
its history. It was this way. according to Renze:
"I was standing on the street one day talk
ing with Georgo West of the board, when someone
came along and asked what was going on. I could
Just as well have told him that we were talking
about the attempted assassination of the czar of
Russia, but I said. 'Haven't you heard the latest.
We are not going to have any Initiation this year.
" 'No? Quit, you're kidding,' was what ho said.
" 'On the square,' I told him, 'we have decided
that It would be a good thing to try for a year.
"He spread the report. Pretty soon Dad
Weaver and some others came slots; and asked
about It.
" 'Sure,' I said. 'We have had Initiations until
everybody is tired of them and we're going to try
a new wrinkle.'
'"But we won't stand for It,' said Weaver.
'We've got to have an Initiation.'
"I told him It was too late, that the board had
made all arrangements and had gone to big ex
pense to put in other attractions. I told him we
were going to put In a bowling alley and billiard
tables and some card games and other amusements
of that nature and we thought It would draw more
members than the usual Initiation.
"Weaver said he didn't believe it and was go
ing to ask Edgar Alleu. He atarted for Allen's of
fice. ' Me to the telephone. I fixed It up with Mr.
Allen, and when Weaver got down there things
were ready for him. He came away believing my
story.
"In a day or two the newspapers printed a
story to tho effect that other amusements would
be substituted for the Initiation that year, and here
was the chance for all those to Join who were
afraid of being initiated.
"All the members of the board fell in with
the Joke. We had one of the most strenuous Initia
tions that year we ever had. and initiated hundreds
who came because they thought here was a chance
to Join and get off easy. We thought the Joke
would last only a week or two and that somebody
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