After the icy rain
left grapefruit sized globs around each 1/2 inch wire, snap, snap, snap,
suddenly millions were without electrical power.
The New York Times
called it "a storm of biblical proportions."
The fluffy flakes
falling outside Bug's window didn't seem to be on that scale. In fact,
it seemed to him to be only a slight dusting.
Bug was on dream
time. The year was 1920.
The event was his 18th birthday and the place was the "Cafe Intelligencia"
in Woodstock, New York. He was working as a waiter for Hervey
White, "the man who brought art to Woodstock". Bug considered Hervey
a "Konservative Kansas Kommunist", with a touch of pilgrim pride, because
he was descended from Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower as
she was anchored in Plymoth Bay, and yet was a bit fascist in order to
enforce populist ideals. Hervy was a natural vigilante; always willing
to be part of the local gang and if there wasn't one to be found, he would
start it.
Growing up
on the plains of Kansas still strewn with buffalo (bison) bones and Indian
arrowheads he was educated in a little school beside the railroad track
where he learned about the conquered and the conqueror. He started college
in Kansas, then traveled with a survey team on a government expedition
into Chihuahua, Mexico. His inherited freemasonry, academic accomplishments,
and government connections gained him entrance to Harvard. From Boston
he made his way to Europe where he hiked from England to Italy and contacted
the Rossitti family, linking up with the international anarchists.
Bug had recently read Hervy's
unpublished autobiography in the Woodstock
Public Library and could better appreciate the intellectual roots of
christian non-conformists. Basicly, it was expressed most succinctly by
Robert Brown, pastor of the Leiden pilgrims, who said, "If you can't find
a congregation that meets your personal standard of fraternity and charity,
you have a divine obligation to start one."(paraphrase by Bug)
Hervy considered himself
a Christian but he wasn't a churchman. He was a lodge brother and his was
the fraternity of wayfaring men. During his stay in London he became aware
of the settlement house movement to recruit those who had the advantage
of an elite liberal arts education for cultural missions in economicly
and culturaly deprived neighborhoods. When, in the late 1800s, he returned
to the USA and Chicago, he was attracted to "Hull House", Jane Adam's nobel
model of a settelment house. It was while at Hull House that he met Carl
Eric Linden, Swedish painter, poet and philosopher, who would become Hervy's
lifetime friend and mentor. Hervy introduced Carl to the writings of Walt
Whitman and Carl introduced him to "Marius, The Epicurian". Soon after
meeting Carl they both became acquainted with Clarence Darrow and John
Dewey, the Educator. But, the catalyst that brought them all to Woodstock
was Ralph Radcliff
Whitehead.
Bug couldn't
remember Whitehead's 1902 arrival in the Catskill hamlet of Woodstock as
that was the year he was born. But, the liberal notes in his deceased mother's
sketch books provided him with a primary biographical reference to the
ghosty artists that still inhabit the "Artist's
Cemetery".
Bug's mother, Cecily,
was a new wife and pregnant with him that day at the Kingston train station
as she sat in her horse-drawn buggy and witnessed the arrival of the Whitehead
party. When she asked someone what all the fuss was about she was told
that Whitehead was the richest man in England without a title. A few months
later Carl Linden rented a room from Bug's parents and they learned a lot
more about the esoteric dreams of Ralph Whitehead.
It seems that while
studying under John Ruskin at Oxford, Whitehead was introduced to William
Morris, the do-it-yourself artist, and Dante Rossatti founder of the pre-Raphelite
brotherhood. Ruskin, like many of Britain's educated elite, had lost faith
in the Christian religion of the Church of England and was looking into
the Spiritualism of trance mediums to join him to a deceased love. Ruskin,
as an art historian, was preoccupied with the occult lore of Renaissance
Florence and, when he made his last trip to Italy, Whitehead accompanied
him. A shrine has been erected in memory of the Whitehead family at the
foot of the sloping lawn that is the "Artists Cemetery". The shrine is
a terracotta mosaic of a Madonna and Child, created by the 15th Century
Florentine artist, Jacabo Della Robia. Bug noted that Della Robia was a
member of the Woodcutter and Stone Carver's Guild, as well as the Apothecary
Guild. Curious, here was a link between practical masonry and the arcane
mysteries of the apothecary, who mixed the pills and potions of the Renaissance.
After Whitehead received a massive inheritance he became a member of the
British Society for Psychical Research and came to America to study some
of its more renowned trance mediums. During a visit to Chicago he stopped
at Hull House and met Hervy White. Hervy had the vision of a utopian community
of artists and crafts people who could provide an alternative to the dehumanizing
effects of the Industrial Revolution. Whitehead had the money and so began
the hunt for a place to conduct the experiment. It would be safe to say
that Whitehead and Hervy White were both Socialists, but of very different
stripes.Whitehead's was a Socialism led by a benevolent elite and Hervy
White's was a grass-roots vision of self-government by the common man.
Carl Linden, as it turned out, was more pragmatic than either White or
Whitehead, for he had the gift of making friends and keeping them. Whereas,
Hervy White had charm to attract people to him and Ralph Whitehead had
the money magnet, neither was easy to get along with over the long hall.
When the inevitable break occured between White and Whitehead, Linden steered
a middle path linking up with John Dewey, the academics of Columbia University
and the Carnegie Foundation for Peace.
Bug was 14
when his father was killed in World War I and his mother became a very
popular young widow among the crowd that frequented her kitchen near the
corner of Rock City Road and Glasco Turnpike. One of the most interesting
people Linden brought by was Dr.James T. Shotwell, a historian and friend
of John Dewey, connected to the Carnegie Foundation. Cecily always had
something on her stove or in the pantry to share with her artistic guests
and when Bug's 18th birthday came around they returned the favor with a
big surprise for him. The" Cafe Intellegencia" was on property Hervy
White acquired after his breakup with Whitehead. It was near an old quarry
where Hervy had built his "Maverick Theater". Every August he held an outdoor
music festival there, setting a precedent that would, in 1969, become the
historic Woodstock Festival, 60 miles away at Yasgur's Farm in Sullivan
County. It was a hot and humid July afternoon and much needed to be done
to get the cafe ready for a large party "Sheriff Bob" was bringing up from
Greenwich Village. Bug had been hearing about "Sheriff Bob", the playboy
artist, for years, and was curious to meet the man behind the legend. As
he set the tables and arranged the furniture his ear was bombarded by angry
voices contending in the kitchen. It was the cooks, Hypolite Havel, the
notorius anarchist and ex-lover of Emma Goldman, arguing with his
assistant, the Gypsie, Romny Marie. She was saying "I know everybody 'Sheriff
Bob' is bringing and they are all good people". Hypolite shouted over her,
"Good people? How many workers are robbed of decent wages so good people
can do nothing except sit around and complain about the filth and ignorance
of the workers? I don't like them. What would Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
be if she wasn't born with so much money? And that little monkey, Otto
Khan, a Fascist Jew with a Prussian mustash parading up and down 5th Avenue
as if he was an English Lord. No, I don't want to serve them. I want them
to go to hell."
Romany Marie slammed a kettle
down on the counter and said, "You're a worm, Hypolite! Those people and
others like them provided the funds for you to hide out in America. Who
do you think pays? And what about Jo Davidson? He doesn't have bags of
money? His art pays his way." Scornfully Hypolite answered, "Davidson could
have gone to Russia with Trotsky as a real revolutionary, but, instead,
he is rewarded for doing flattering portraits that immortalize the robber
barons. So what if he spys on them. Why doesn't he kill some?"
Marie put her finger to her
lips, "Hush your mouth and listen to this gypsie.You will live longer."
Hypolite looked at her with scorn and said, "You think I am afraid to die?"
She shook her head. "No, but
you may not know how to live.The Great War is over, but something even
more dangerous is happening. A new Germany is already rising from the ashes.
We need as many eyes and ears as we can get. And besides, do you know who
'Sheriff Bob' is?"
Hypolite shrugged, "He's another
reckless playboy. But, I'm sure he is no John Reed."
Marie poured a mug of coffee
and handed it to Hypolite as she spoke, "Why don't you sit and relax and
I will give you my full Gypsy reading of 'Sheriff Bob', whose real
name is Robert Winthrop
Chanler." A full reading of Bob
Chanler? Bug laughed as he remembered Romney Marie's words. Some people
are born bigger than life and Chanler was one of them. His grandmother
was the favorate granddaughter of John Jacob Astor, richest man in America
and his Grandfather was Sam Ward known in Washington as "king of
the Lobbys" or "Uncle Sam". Chanler"s parents both died very young
leaving 7 super rich minor children to grow up like "Topsy" secluded in
the Dutches county manson and estate of "Rokeby".
