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Elbert Hubbard II v. Germany

Tuesday, May 6th

On May 7, 1915 Elbert and Alice Hubbard perished aboard the Lusitania when it was torpedoed by the Germans and sank off the coast of Ireland. Elbert Hubbard II was the executor of their estate and with other Lusitania victims' families filed a suit against Germany which was arbitrated by the United Nations. The suit was settled October 2,1924.

Here are excerpts of this decision:

" It appears from the records that Elbert Hubbard, then nearly 59 years of age, and his wife Alice Hubbard, then nearly 54 years of age, were passengers on and were lost with the Lusitania. ... Elbert Hubbard as author, lecturer, and business man had carved for himself a unique position. He possessed  to an unusual degree the faculty of finding apt words for the coinage of pregnant ideas. While not always orthodox, in his writings and on the lecture platform he persistently preached the gospel of industry, thrift, regular habits, simple living, fair dealing, and good will."

" The domestic and business relations between Elbert Hubbard the elder and his son Elbert Hubbard II were unusually close. Through constant daily contact and supervision the elder man made many and varied contributions to his son, who was in training to succeed him, which had a pecuniary value."

"Katherine Hubbard, who was then 19 years of age, was attending school at Buffalo, New York, at the time of and for several years prior to her father's death. He was accustomed to contribute from $500.00 to $1,000.00 per year to her support. She has never married and now lives with her mother in Boulder, Colorado, supplementing the very small income from her property by teaching music. The inferences from the record are that had Elbert Hubbard lived he would he have continued to contribute funds to defray her living expenses."

"Miriam Hubbard Roelofs is the only child of Elbert and Alice Hubbard. At the time of her parents' deaths she was a student 20 years of age, and she was graduated from the University of Michigan the following year. The third July following their deaths she married, and she has a happy home with four children and a husband. The latter has a small income as a university instructor. While both her parents were devoted to her and she has been deprived of their counsel and supervision, it is reasonably apparent from the record that she has not suffered any very great pecuniary injury through such deprivation."

" It will be borne in mind that the measure of the awards which this Commission is empowered to make in these cases is not the value of the lives lost but the pecuniary losses suffered by claimants resulting from the deaths. To the extent that contributions by the deceased made during their lives and those which they would probably have made to claimants but for Germany's act causing their deaths were the direct fruits of the personal efforts  of the deceased whose producing powers were destroyed by their deaths, the claimants have pecuniary damages which Germany is obligated to pay."

"Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by the records herein, the Commission decrees that under the Treaty of Berlin of August 25, 1921, and in accordance with its terms the Government of Germany is obligated to pay to the Government of the United States on behalf of (1) Elbert Hubbard II individually the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), (2) Miriam Hubbard Roelofs the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), (3)Katherine Hubbard the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00), and with interest on each of said sums at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923;..."

Thanks to my friend, Linda, Roycroft Inn Docent, for discovering and sharing this United Nations document.

- Sue

Lusitania Grave site

The torpeodoing of the Lusitania pushed the United States into 'the great war' (aka World War I). Among the Americans to lose their lives on the ship were Elbert and Alice Hubbard of East Aurora, NY.

These two sailors (circa WW1) are standing in front of an early Lusitania grave marker. The sign says in part:

Lusitania Graves

By order of the Cunard Steamship Co.Ltd.

These graves are planted and cared for by M. Saunders & Son. 

Visitors are earnestly requested not to walk over graves or touch the flowers.

Come to the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora were you can see the memorial boulder honoring Elbert and Alice's lives and fate. Don't know where it is?  That is something you will learn on the Roycroft Campus tour. Learn more interesting tidbits about the Campus and the practices of Roycrofters by making your reservations today.  Simply call the Copper Shop Gallery at 716 655-0261.

Julie

Photo of Lusitania's telegraph

As you know Elbert Hubbard and his wife Alice died on the Lusitania in May 1915.

Here is an underwater photo of the telegraph used on this ill-fated ship. This photo is courtesy of the Irish Government, under which the wreck of the Lusitania has been protected as national heritage site since 1995.

When Elbert and Alice did not return, Elbert's son Bert took over running the Roycroft.

The Roycroft Campus Corporation is working on rebuilding the Campus "as if Elbert Hubbard never left". Come visit us at 31 Grove St, East Aurora, NY. You will see this National Historic Landmark Campus starting to return to its former glory as if Elbert (and Alice) never went on the Lusitania.

Julie

President Woodrow Wilson Sealed the Fate of Elbert Hubbard

          Elbert Hubbard, author and publisher of The Philistine magazine, advertised that "every issue causes sudden cancellations from the grumpy, who subscribe not knowing it is loaded."  In November 2, 1912 he was indicted on six counts of violating the federal criminal code as various issues "contained among other things certain matters in print of an obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy and indecent character".  Likely under the 1873 Comstock Law, "Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles for Immoral Use."

        Hubbard's little joke that got him into legal troubles regarded 'the new stenographer whose name was Miss Mary Merryseat.  But Old Man Lunkhead, Senior member of the firm of Lunkhead Sons & Co., Ltd., never having taken a course in Dickson's Memory Method, called her Gladys.'

          He was convicted in January 1913 and fined $100 on one count and suspended sentence on the other five.  He was warned by his attorney that "the Philistine and other publications must henceforth be like Caesar's wife."

         In 1915 as Hubbard was preparing for his Lusitania trip he discovered he could not obtain a passport while under a suspended sentence.  He applied to the Department of Justice and on March 23, 1915 received a full pardon from President Woodrow Wilson.  Without that pardon he might never have been on the Lusitania when it was torpedoed.  Imagine that!

          The original pardon, signed by President Woodrow Wilson, is on display in the Elbert Hubbard-Roycroft Museum on Oakwood Avenue, East Aurora, NY.  The museum, an easy walk from the Roycroft Campus, will soon open for the season but is always available by appointment by calling 716-652-4735.

         

   

         

Lusitania Sinking Fateful Day in East Aurora and All of America

          "On May 7, 1915, at eight minutes past 9:00 A.M. "dear old Boston" time, it happened.  Off the Head of Old Kinsale along the Irish Coast, a German U-boat torpedoed the S.S. Lusitania.  Explosions rocked the big liner and she began to list.

          Charles E. Lauriat, Jr. of Boston was on deck near Elbert and Alice.  He turned to them and suggested they go to their stateroom for their lifejackets.  They all had time, he figured, even though his stateroom was on the starboard side of deck B and theirs was on the port side.

          They did not heed his suggestion and in his book survivor Lauriat recalled, 'Mr. Hubbard stayed by the rail affectionately holding his arm around his wife's waist and both seemed unable to act.'

          He did not see them again.  The sea closed in around the ship and those who had not abandoned her--even some who did--and it was done."

          Charles F. Hamilton concludes his book As Bees in Honey Drown with the above description of the loss of Elbert and Alice Hubbard.  May 7, 1915. 

           More details follow in his epilogue but on this day 92 years ago, the country, and East Aurora, were dealing only with immediate reaction to this tragedy.

          The Roycroft Campus Corporation is currently in the process of restoring Elbert Hubbard's dream of a working community of artisans.  To learn more see our website  www.roycroftcampuscorporation.com

Elbert Hubbard and Alice Board the Lusitania 92 Years Ago

              Elbert Hubbard, opposed to the war in Europe, in a 1914 Philistine wrote an article against the Kaiser "Who Lifted the Lid Off Hell.  In order to learn more of the situation, which would evolve into World War I, he planned a fact finding trip. Alice, who was also opposed to the war, insisted on going along, in spite of the risk of sailing into dangerous waters patrolled by German U-boats. 

          Charles Hamilton describes Elbert Hubbard's final days leading up to that voyage in his book As Bees in Honey Drown.

     "Elbert was committed to giving a lecture at the Ben Ali Theater in Lexington, Kentucky on April 29.  His appearance  was sponsored by the Lexington Board of Commerce and he selected the subject 'Getting Together'. The lecture dealt with cooperation and the bright prospects for business that seemed to lie ahead in 1914.

         "It was a weary Elbert Hubbard who hurried back from Lexington to pick up Alice and head for New York to board the Lusitania.  He was also a bit worried about Alice's safety for the Germans had boldly placed an ad in the New York papers on April 22 warning travelers that vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or any of her allies were liable to destruction when in the war zone.

          For the first time son Bert and other Roycrofters heard their leader discuss what they should do if he didn't get back.  At the time they didn't dwell much upon his out-of-character show of pessimism for he seemed to only inadvertently insert the "if" in his instructions as to what to do while he was away."

          On May 2, 1915 Elbert and Alice Hubbard boarded the Cunard Liner S.S. Lusitania from New York.  Just 92 years ago.

         What would they think if they could see the rebirth of their Roycroft Campus?

         

Elbert and Alice Hubbard

         On a day such as this, in 1915, East Aurora and the Roycrofters were mourning the loss of Elbert and Alice Hubbard.  On the first of May that year they left New York aboard the Lusitania which was sunk off the coast of Ireland on the 6th of May.  The sky was blue, the sea calm, when the U-boat torpedoed the ship.  There were 2,000 aboard, 1,200 drowned including 128 Americans.  The captain was aware of the danger, as were the passengers.  It was reported one passenger had "hoped for a thrill".  Medals were awarded to the U-boat's German crew responsible for the sinking.

       It would be two years before the United States joined World War I that had just begun.