J B Kepner revisted

      

     The discovery of the undertaker’s bill for Pastor Russell was behind a recent article on Josiah Bushy Kepner. This covered what happened when CTR died. If readers of this post have not read that previous article, it would be of benefit to first do so, and it can be found here:

     https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2024/05/j-b-kepner-of-waynoka.html

     The position taken in that article was to give a bit of Kepner’s background and to defend him from harsh criticism of his work. While this writer still believes the basic premise behind that article, in the interest of completeness and accuracy we need to look at the criticism is more detail. I am very grateful to correspondent Freddy who provided additional material that needs to be considered.

     W H Wisdom made the criticism in his 1923 book Memoirs of Pastor Russell that “through some more bungling the body was removed from the train at the first small town, where it was very improperly cared for in the way of embalming.”

     From where did Wisdom get his information?

     There are two accounts from the early 1920s that likely provided Wisdom with his material.

     The first, and least compelling, is a letter found in the New Era Enterprise newspaper. This was the newspaper used by Bible Students at the time for news and views and much found in it cannot be found elsewhere.

      In the 27 December 1921 Enterprise, Joseph Greig while visiting Texas, including Pampa (where CTR actually died on the train), wrote a short column “Pastor Russell’s Death Route.” Recounting the story he said: "Orders were given to remove the body at Wynoka, Okla., where an old gentleman cared for the embalming. One who knew this person said while he was not expert in his profession by reason of poor eyesight, nevertheless, he was possibly the only embalmer who never extracted the blood, but used his fluid in connection with the blood as a preservative."

     

There are several problems with Greig’s account. “Old gentleman” has to be subjective – Kepner was slightly younger than CTR. Then the concept of embalming by just introducing embalming fluid without replacing cadaver blood does not make sense. The whole point of embalming was to replace the blood to preserve the body  temporarily and give a lifelike appearance for viewers. The procedure was quite straightforward for anyone with the basic training and equipment – with or without good eyesight. Embalming fluid was pumped into the body, generally through the carotid artery, and was able to displace the blood through an incision in a vein (often the jugular). It used the human circulatory system to work. Sometimes massage was applied to help the embalming fluid to circulate fully. The procedure was refined during the American Civil war and after the body of Abraham Lincoln was so treated became quite standard practice where a body needed preservation for transportation or a delayed funeral.

     This account came from someone touring Texas, who never visited Waynoka in the next State and never met Kepner, although he was still very much in business in Waynoka at the time. It was written several years after the event. It falls into the category of “an unnamed person told me…”

     Of greater weight is a talk given by A H MacMillan on The History of the Society from 1910-1920.  The talk was transcribed, as was a short question and answer session after it, and some of the material – almost word for word – was to appear in MacMillan’s book Faith on the March (1957). Taken from this transcript:

    

MacMillan was scathing about Menta Sturgeon. Quote: “Poor Sturgeon didn’t know enough to take care of a sick chicken, much less a dying man. What he said himself about Brother Russell was enough to kill the man if he was half alive.”

     Reading Sturgeon’s detailed description of CTR’s last hours and his attempts to care for him; and in the heightened emotion of the moment “spiritualizing” some of those events, one can understand MacMillan’s comments.

     MacMillan also blamed Sturgeon for the body having to be removed from the train at Waynoka, where Kepner Undertaking was the only game in town. Sturgeon had chosen to publicize the death and Railway and State regulations kicked in. As MacMillan states “if he had any sense and kept his mouth shut” the situation could be been avoided.

     In his talk MacMillan was to further criticise Sturgeon for not giving the Bethel family the news. Sturgeon wrote to his wife, Florence, in Bethel, and told her. Only by intercepting the letter did MacMillan and others learn the news, before the newspaper reporters started banging on the doors.

     MacMillan could be caustic about Sturgeon because by the time this talk was given Sturgeon had ceased fellowship with the IBSA. He ultimately left all strands of the Bible Student movement and ended up canvassing for a Universalist group, The Concordant Bible Society.

     MacMillan’s distain for Kepner came across in his continued description: “They pulled the body off the train in Pampa, Texas, and took him to a furniture store.” As noted in the original article it was quite normal in small towns for the undertaker to have another business. A man selling furniture and perhaps making furniture could easily diversify into coffins, and if qualified, to provide the whole funeral experience.

     That was the next point MacMillan made. In his estimation, Kepner was not qualified. His account continues: “There a man who didn’t know how to embalm tried to embalm the body and made a mess of the whole thing.”

     Did Kepner know how to embalm? As the original article explained, he was licensed and the only licensed embalmer in the city. When he moved to Waynoka in 1913 and took over new premises The Woods County Enterprise (Waynoka) for April 18, 1913, stated he had been in business for 30 years and  praised him as a graduate of the best schools of embalming in the U.S.

     

Even allowing for self publicity, embalming was something Kepner did. He remained in active practice for over a decade after attending to CTR, only retiring in 1929.   His company, managed by his second wife likely hired someone else to do the embalming, and was still advertising in the 1940s. While embalmers may bury their mistakes (literally!) this man ran a successful business for decades. There was no hint of any issues in the many references to him in the newspapers of the day.

     We must remember that his brief was not to present a body for lying in state, rather to preserve it to meet existing laws for transportation. Kepner appears to have done what was needed. Contemporary accounts of the events surrounding CTR’s death spoke highly of him and there was no criticism from those who first saw the body before it continued on its journey.

     However, for lying in state, after a long journey being bumped about on cars and railroads, more work would be needed, including final cosmetic touches.

     MacMillan is then critical of finding suitcases packed around CTR’s feet in a twenty dollar casket. But this was not a casket for viewing; it was a simple coffin (actually costing thirty five dollars) to meet the requirements of transporting a body across America. Possessions that had been taken off the train with the body also had to be forwarded, personal effects, clothes etc. and the logical thing was to store them in the coffin if there was room. This may have been Kepner (and Sturgeon) just being practical, but MacMillan seems to have taken it as insensitive and disrespectful.

     So what was the problem? Everyone was very upset. Their beloved Pastor Russell had died. He looked old before his time, had been failing in health for quite a while, and sadly died in great pain. Opening the coffin in New York and seeing him was very distressing. There was turmoil in Bethel at the time. After giving the Bethel family the news, MacMillan described how “they met in little groups to talk and whisper, "What is going to happen now?"” Once the glue that held them together – Pastor Russell in person – was gone, then there were going to be problems, as events later proved.

     So there was an inclination to lash out. Sturgeon came under fire and Kepner came under fire. But after further work by New York undertakers several thousand were able to view CTR in a proper casket, first in the Bethel Home, then in the New York City Temple and finally, six days after he died, in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Hall before the interment at United Cemeteries.