Lancaster High School - Mirage Yearbook (Lancaster, OH)

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For a year Jack served as a mechanic in the factory, and then his uncle permitted him to go on the road as me- chanic on a racing car. For two years he traveled over the country, participating in many successful racing events. He wrote to me regularly, telling me of his travels and of his hopes. Several times he paid visits to his home village, and each time he was treated as a royal guest. After two years on the road as mechanic, during which time he had himself driven in a few minor races, he re- quested his uncle to put him in command of a car of his own. Added to his request was a statement from the driver with whom he had traveled recommending him as capable of handling a car of his own. Finally the uncle consented to his request and Jack was perfectly wild with joy. At last his dreams were on a fair way towards being realized. The road to success was open before him, and from afar fame was beckoning him on. Happy as a lark, he came home and gave a royal banquet to a host of his old friends in honor of the occasion. That night Jack asked Nellie Wagner to marry him— pretty little Nellie Wagner, the most beautiful girl in the village (excepting my wife, of course). Jack and Nellie had l een sweethearts from the day that Nellie had come to our village, twelve years before. Thru childhood, up into young manhood and womanhood, they had grown side by side. Nellie had been genuinely grieved when she had learned of the dangerous life course that Jack had chosen, and she had besought him not to go, but he laughingly assured her that no harm would come to him. After Jack made his proposal. Nellie gently but firmly told him that as long as he re- mained at his present occupation she would not marry him. Jack left the next morning, his spirits considerably damp- ened. During the next three years Jack rose, step by step, until he stood in the front ranks of the world’s great auto drivers. Fortune seemed to smile upon him always. He had lost but few races. He seemed to have exceptionally good luck with his cars. Never an injury had come to him in all these years. He had many narrow escapes from death, but somehow he had always come out with hardly a scratch. He was frugal and by this time had a snug little sum of money safely deposited in a bank. In the midst of his triumphs he came again to Nellie and again asked her to share life with him. She replied that she would do so if he would give up racing and settle down at home. Jack con- sidered for a moment, then replied. “Well, Nellie, I guess you’re about right about this business. It is too strenuous a life for any one to engage in for long. I will drive one more race and quit. In about six months I am to engage in a contest for the world’s championship at the Meadow- brook race course in Iowa. If I win, I will be satisfied. If I lose, I will quit the game.” Joyously she consented to marry him under these conditions and they began to plan for a church wedding on the Thursday immediately after the great race. Jack came to me and asked me to perform the ceremony, and I never accepted an invitation with greater pleasure than that one. He and Nellie began to look about and choose a site for a home. Jack immediately placed a contract in the hands of a builder for the construction of a beautiful bungalow. Then he went away to make preparations for the great race. Several weeks beforehand Jack sent me an admittance ticket and urged me to come and see his last race. Nellie was asked to attend, too, but her aversion for racing was so great that she refused to go. Altho attending races is rather outside of my line of business as a minister, yet, for Jack s sake, I went. The great day had arrived. The immense grandstands

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you see Leafee Reese as you came past? That is she, stand- ing in the doorway now.” And to think, she did not even see us! We went back to Lancaster, tired but happy, for in less than four months we had seen or heard from every mem- ber of the Class of 1915 of I ancaster High School. Our trip had been a delightful one, and we were unanimous in voting this the happiest year of our lives. ?iiiH IGaat 2Urr By Virgil Today I sat in my armchair beside a cheerily blazing wood fire, dreaming of days of long ago, days when all nature seemed to exist only for me. so happy was I. Natu- rally my boyhood companions were in my thuts, and fore- most among them was Jack Langdon. Poor old Jack! How well 1 remember him. Strong- limbed. healthy, clear-eyed and brave, he was a boy that excited admiration and made friends wherever he went. No barrier of dislike or hatred could long withstand his sunny disposition and hearty good-will. No deed was too daring for him to participate in. but where destruction of property was threatened or downright meanness was to be indulged in. Jack balked. And so thru his natural power of leadership he was a mighty factor for good among the young people of our village. How Jack and I came to be so closely drawn together. I do not know, for in general make-up of disposition and character we were as widely separated as the North is from the South. By nature I was rather serious-minded, given much to a great deal of thot. He was serious enough at times, but in the main he was happy-go-lucky and reckless. I was reserved; Jack was bold and daring to the extreme. But it is often the case that one chooses for his bosom Adams. friend a person who is widely different from himself. The great motive in Jack’s life was to be able to stand on the topmost round of the ladder of fame. Often he ridi- culed and rebuked me for having no more ambition than to be a minister of the Gospel. I bore it all good-naturedly and tried to convince him that it was better to lead a life of humbleness and lowliness, a life of service and helpfulness to others, than to live and work for selfish ends, to gain fame for an instant, then to pass into oblivion and be for- gotten the moment that we pass ffrom this life. But to no avail. He refused to see life in that light. I think it was his restless, daring nature, rather than his honest convic- tions, that held him in his aims. When he was about eighteen years old he told me that he had decided upon his life course. I asked him what his decision was, and he told me that some months before he had written to an uncle who was an auto manufacturer, ask- ing for a chance to become a driver of racing cars. His uncle had replied favorably, and Jack was to leave the next week for the factory to serve apprenticeship as a mechanic. I knew that it would be useless to try to dissuade him, so I kept silent. He left during the next week, to the genuine sorrow of every one in the village. 31

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were packed long before the scheduled time for the race. Jack was over in the pit, where his car was receiving its final overhauling, and 1 went over to bid him Godspeed and wish him success. I found him as calm and collected as if this were an everyday affair. He was perfectly confident of winning. At last the gong rang, the announcer intro- duced the contestants, the start was safely made and the race was on. There were seven, contestants. What a thrilling spec- tacle! It fairly made one wish to shout and leap with the very excitement of the moment.—even as staid a person as myself. Round and round the course they flew. Some- times a tire would go flat or a bit of machinery refuse to work. Then into a pit the car would be sent, repaired almost before one could breathe, then out and away again. By the t»me that the race was half over three of the con- testants were out of the game, but Jack was one of the remaining four. He was holding his own. Finally they were entering upon the last round. The excitement was intense. The air seemed charged with a deadly calm; there was not a sound except the roar of the Hying machines. Every muscle was taut; every eye strained. Each of the machines had been let wide open for the final dash. Jack was slowly but surely creeping ahead. Inch by inch the other machines were losing out. 1 All of a sudden a cry of terror arose from every throat. What had happened ? The steer!ng-gear of Jack’s machine had snapiHKl under the intense strain. The machine darted across the track directly in front of the next car. There was a crash, a cry of terror, as the two cars collided. In an instant both cars were in flames. The other two ma- chines got safely by and roared on. I ran with all possible speed towards the scene of the disaster. A chemical engine and a rescue squad were there already. The driver of the second car was found several feet from the wreck, having been hurled from his machine by the violence of the impact. He was badly cut about the head and face. The two mechanics and Jack were in the blazing heap. In an instant the chemicals had smothered the fire and the three men were hauled out from the wreck. Both the mechanics were dead—killed instantly. Jack was alive, but unconscious and mortally wounded. Besides being terribly burned, he had received internal injuries that would cause his death within a few hours at the most. He was rushed to the field hospital, where he lay for about an hour in great pain. He regained consciousness only for a few moments, when he gasped. Tell Nellie—I tried— awfully hard to win—for her.” He sank back again and in a few moments Jack Langdon was with his God. He had driven his last race. rj