Ga-be-nah-gown-once, also known as John Smith, a Chippewa Indian reputed to be 137 years old, died here to-day after a week's illness with pneumonia.
The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society and other historic societies interested in this famous aborigine accepted the claim of Ga-be-nahgown-once and his fellow Indians on the Minnesota reservation that he waa "the oldest living person in the world."
Ga-be-nah-gown-once was also known as Wah-ha-junta, and would even answer to plain John Smith. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs he was fire raker of the once powerful Black-feet tribe. His declining days were spent on the north bank of Mud Lake, 12 miles from the village of Ball Club, Minn., where he lived in a hut of birch bark. He outlived eight wives, and when long past the century mark he was still young enough to woo another.
Foxp or Music.
His once powerful frame slowly wasted, his hair turned pure white, and his face became seamed like walrus hide, but his step was still sprightly and he never stepped from his hut without humming some tune. His usual fondness for music was one of his peculiarities. Often he walked the 12 miles to Ball Club to hear a piano or violin, his favourite musical instruments.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.