May his memory be a blessing

Here is buried the dear young (unmarried) man,

Isaac Div son of Eliezer Reuben who died at 22 years.

10 Shevat 5685 (4 February 1925)

May his soul be bound up in eternal life.

David Puskin

1903-1925

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The lede is buried

The Troxel Family plot.

Uncle Charlie was dead and buried.

The heir was dead and they had buried the lede.

Did any of these crazy thoughts run through my great-grandfather's mind as he stared at the coffin and/or the grave?

My grandfather's?

Why do we say, 'the lede was buried"?

The "lede" is the introductory section of a news story that summarizes but entices the reader to read more.

Charlie was the heir, the lede, and now all those hopes, dreams, and expectations fell on my grandfather's young shoulders. He was expected to, and did, give up his engineering dreams.

Within two years he had left The Ohio State University and gone home to Logan and his father's business, Huls Printing.

No longer, "and Sons."

Another journalistic leftover is -30- which has been traditionally used by North American journalists  to indicate the end of a story or article.

Many journalists have even had it put on their tombstones.

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Bring out your dead

Services for Uncle Charley were held in one of the two front parlors.
Nine years later joint services for both of his parents would be held in those same front parlors.

I do not remember now where I first read this, but on Monday, Feb. 2: Dr. W.G. Rhoten, Hocking County Health Commissioner, was refused entrance into the Huls home in Logan. He wanted to check, or test, Charley's body for spinal meningitis.

The next day this orphan clipping appeared:

Funeral Services for Plague Victim
Logan Youth Stricken by Meningitis

LOGAN, O., Feb. 3. -- On advice of Dr. W.G. Rhoten, city health commissioner, funeral services for Charles H. Huls who died in Columbus Saturday night were held privately at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Huls on East Hunter Street Tuesday afternoon at one o'clock.

This action was taken by the health commissioner after it was learned that the death certificate which was issued in Columbus by Dr. J.L. Gordon bore the statement that the cause of death was [2.] meningitis. A change was made in the certificate which at first stated that the death was due to [1.] tetanus, after a second death occurred and an investigation disclosed that the cause of it was [2.] "epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis." This fact caused a change to be made in the certificate.*

Dr. Rhoten was called by Dr. Beer in Columbus who suggested that an effort be made to hold a post mortem over the body of Huls. This was deemed inadvisable by the parents and the inquest was dropped.

Precautionary measures were taken by health officials to prevent any possibility of a contagion of the disease from spreading.

Charley's death certificate was later changed a third and final time to read, "Accidental Strychnine Poisoning."

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Extra! Extra!

Two stories appeared in the Monday, Feb. 2, 1925 edition of the Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette as the breaking news story developed.

First to be laid out was this tiny brief, way back on page 10:

Son of Eugene Huls Dies At Ohio State

Charles Huls, 22, son of Eugene Huls, for many years State Factory Inspector and editor of the Logan Republican, died Saturday night, following the extraction of an ulcerated tooth Friday. Young Huls was a senior in the college of commerce and journalism at O. S. U. and edited the Makio in 1924.

His death occurred at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity home where he was a member. The Huls family is very well known in Lancaster.

Then the front page (above) was laid out. The front page is always laid out last to make sure the latest news and updates get attention. This front page is a nightmare. It didn't stack the separate headlines like most newspapers did in 1925, but it split them down the middle. I don't care if the left is sans serif and the right is serif -- it's a mess:

Sudden Death Of Two O.S.U. Students Causes Alarm
Order Friends Of Dead Men Be Isolated

(By The Associated Press)
COLUMBUS. Feb. 2--Further precautionary measures to prevent a possible outbreak of cerebro meningitis at Ohio State University, and where to [sic] students have died suddenly and under mysterious circumstances were taken today when Dr. H. Shindle Wingert, university physician examined six personal friend [sic] of one of the deceased students and ordered them isolated.

Charles E. [sic] Huls of Logan died Saturday in a fraternity house, of what was thought to be tetanus. Davis [sic] Puskin of Canton, a junior in the college of journalism died suddenly yesterday after circumstances similar to those surrounding the death of Huls.

To determine whether both students died from the same cause, local health authorities asked Logan officials to perform a post mortem over Huls. Information received here today, however is to the effect that the student's family objects to the procedure.

In the midst of his examination of other students, Dr. Wingert issued a statement urging students "not to be scared about the present flurry.

"There is little to cause general eoncern," he said. "Individuals, however are urged to keep their general health at a high level, observe regular hours, keep in good physical condition and keep the face and hands scrupulously clean. Fear lowers the vitality and besides, there is not much occasion for it."

Puskin, the second student to die arose yesterday morning, apparently in good health. He went to the bathroom to shave was seized with convlsions [sic] and died within 20 minutes.

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The tragedy more sharply

So far I have been unable to find an obituary for David other than what was published in the O.S.U. Lantern on Monday, Feb. 2, 1925:

DAVID PUSKEN

The news that a second Ohio State student has died from causes apparently similar to those which caused the death of Charley Huls brings the tragedy to us more sharply.

We did not know David Pusken (Puskin appears on his grave, but Pushkin and Pusken were also used at OSU) as we knew Charley Huls, but that is our fault, and our loss, we are sure.

Death does not stride the University often, and when it does it affects us all the stronger. We grieve at the death of a fellow student, although we did not know him, for he had a great deal in common with all of us. He went to school here, and that gives us a community of interest.

The Lantern extends its sympathy to the relatives and friends of David Pusken with all sincerity.

-30-

Gone but not forgotten

David slept in, popped an R&W and went to shave.

Within 30 minutes he was dead on the bathroom floor.

1903 - February 1, 1925

Buried at the Canton Hebrew Cemetery.

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