John Dillinger Afterthoughts
And to clarify, it's not as though Warsaw (the county seat) had to make do with a chance visit from John Dillinger as its sole tenuous claim to historical relevance. No less a personage than the great Ambrose Bierce spent his childhood and teenage years there. Living here turned him into the twisted, bitter genius who still has the power to appall more than a century later. Billy Sunday (his RL name, oddly enough), the first of the great radio evangelists, and probably the first man since the Reformation to revive the lost tradition of using the church to become a multi-millionaire, moved there in his latter years. You can still tour his house. Theodore Dreiser, beloved of professors of American Literature, also grew up there. One comes by archness and sarcasm honestly here, as it's apparently something in the air or the water.
And, I've gotta note, that while Billy Sunday's house is a museum, and there are signs honouring Theodore Dreiser (so that you end up with the odd situation of the hoi polloi definitely knowing that he's famous for something, but rather unclear as to exactly what it might be), nary an official word is spoken about fierce Mr. Bierce. This pleases my inner cynic. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/234491.html
And, I've gotta note, that while Billy Sunday's house is a museum, and there are signs honouring Theodore Dreiser (so that you end up with the odd situation of the hoi polloi definitely knowing that he's famous for something, but rather unclear as to exactly what it might be), nary an official word is spoken about fierce Mr. Bierce. This pleases my inner cynic. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/234491.html