Says He Prefers Hell to Future in Heaven

1915

Infidel Writes Own Funeral Oration — Wants His Ashes Cast on Graves of Friends

SHENANDOAH, Iowa, Dec. 16. — Cremated and half his ashes cast on the waters of the Mississippi in honor of those who have gone down to their death in the deep, and the other half scattered on the graves of ten of his friends, is what Jerry Brown, a famous Shenandoah character who professes to be an infidel, states in his funeral oration, which he has already written, he wishes done with his body.

"But should the Christian story of Heaven and hell be true, and such men as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Lot, David and Solomon be in Heaven, I wish my friends to check my baggage to the other station," says Brown in his funeral document. "Heaven may have a little advantage in climate, but hell certainly has the best society."

The ten friends who this second oldest Shenandoah citizen wishes to honor with his ashes are, Joe Van Buskirk, A. B. West, D. C. Wills, H. S. Holcome, D. S. Campbell, Charles Keenan. Dr. Cheschier, Henry Nesmith, Mrs. David Wingert and D. B. Brubaker.