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THE EVENING WORLD, FRIDAY, JULY 21, The Testimony of His Neighbors and Such Record as He Could Show Confirmed the Kentuckian’s Claim to Longevity— Said, and Had a Receipt to He Was 21 Years Old. anti f Gamcencomacissk Four years ago @ party of Kentuckians from Lexington wio were touring tn the Cumberlind Mountains heard of a man who said he was more than 125 years old. Sceptical but curious, they turned aside to the form of Shell and went away convinced. Their story t+ euited in an invitation to “Uncle Johnny" to be a guest of h Kentucky State Pair in Louisville, He accepted, enjoying his frst ride on @ train to make the journey. There he insisted on making « trip by aero plane, and alt Anerica and the world immediately weard about it. At the aaine time he submitted to examination by local physiciins and surgeons and offered records he said he had preserved to prove We was horn in 178s before the United States Government was formed died recently and the age prompted The Evening World to ask leading physicians in all parts of the country whether in their opinion any one possibly could live te While these opinions, given herewith ing ways, the majority say it ts doubtful but possthte. Unote Johnny nov at the “Dnele Johnny’ widespread interest | great and surqeons such an age. vary in interest ce York: World) by Press Parts vital organs to be remark bly good condition, hut sa ‘ LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 1 BOL cente an was not to with OHN SHE waited for a con fa the change climate and the t and then a third of a cen- _ r ice ae hebdine. caeiot o0ds to which he was 4 BUA debe Uelints accustomed He remained in obscurity until he 3 Parr was the father of a sun had gone fifty .years beyond the Biviteai 4 At tt daughter, although he was not wna : 5) at eae : Ne ried until he was over eighty, He vanced age of 126, ve t wanoed see ot are nave was married a second time when he tha e ve elt that he never would become wo, and is said to have worked prominent. Put he patiently bided on the farm until he was 130. his time and four y light of the Nation was played upon 8 ago the spot- ‘That was nearly tour centuries » And yet, if Parr'’s son and grandson him because it then was discovered jag “followed in the old man's (wt- that he was the oldest man in tho steps” his great grandson might world have shaken hands with “Uncle Now he dead and laid in his grave Jonnny" Shell in the Kentucky hills at the ripe old age of 134 In view of the terest of mankind in longevity, It is remarkable that there are so few authentic records of those who have passed the century mark, It would seem that centenarians themselves, their families or their friends would make particular note of these rarities —it must be remembered that official records of births and deaths have been kept only in comparatively regent / years—but either the memories of the ( ‘ “Uncle Johnny" nessce, the was born In T of Samuel son Shel naturally keen in- themselves have falled endants have been hidifferent the vast majority of such cas ve been in the poorer classes, strange as this may seem, and , rule pay much at- even if they aged people them or their d Alno, they do not tention to the unusual observe it However ere are accounts of a few have lived to be 125 and more though most of these have not stood up tntue ton The case of Thomas Parr, an Eng shman, was reputed to have died at the age of 12, {s usually cited as the most famous of all. Dr, Will- jam Harvey, who discovered the cir- culation of the blood, made an au- \ who topsy and declared there was no doubt Parr had reached this great « age. \ Dr. Harvey sald Parr would have lived even longer had he not heen taken in 1685 by the Earl of Arundel to London, where he was “exhibited” and presented at the court of Charles & The physician and surgeon found * life moves on to-day as jt di 1 n 1788, If the records he 1s 1 are correct ve they are it at the time he was a few than the United States hat le was a youngster Constitution became Yution was fust and Napoleon 1 upon the world born int Robert founder of the Was Too Old to Go to the Mexican Var, He r Taxes Paid in 1808, When rf Lh L London police and after are known as “Peelers.” "Uncle Johnny” remembered the death of Washington and told of once meeting Daniel Loone On the farm where he spent all his active working life, he saw civilization push past him and across the cont- nent, When he was a boy, and even in his manhood, West Missis- sippi was a mystery to carly America, ‘An tilustration of why “Uncle John- ny” remained unnoticed while nations re being and be obtained fro whom they of the en born away can act that he was dead nea week before the news of his passin: re telegraph wires. On Gras: in Leslie County eighteenth century. The aw theso remote nooks of the Cumber- lands are 48 sequestered from felo~ graph, telephone, railway, motor 9¢ mail a8 was Daniel Boone, whom John Shell said he had seen as a boy. Four years ago a party of Lexing- ton people who had attempted a jaunt through the mountains heard of the old man who claimed to have tve2 more than a century and a quarter. They visited ul regard his reported They examined all of the evidence that it was possib!e to obtain and returned satisfied tut he was correct when he said he was born in 1788, When they repeated their story to the outside world, they started a e¢ troversy that has raged But the weight of the age. ever sinos, evidence was all in John’s favor, and in 1919 the Kentucky State Pair brought the wld man to Louisville t nd the bulr and meet his fellow hentuckian it Was the first time that be ever had made a trip by railroad, yet this man demanded a trip in an acropiane and enjoyed ‘1 thoroughly. Proof as to Shell's age two things, clans and the simple, el rested on the testimony of paysi- cumstantial evidence which Shell himself offered, While in Louisville he mitted to physicians, 60: patiently sut examinations by leading e of whom came as far away as Chicago to see him, They that he was well over the century mark, while most of them accepted his statement that be was born in 178s The extre agreed © simplicity of his life among the remote mountains was con- sidered by the chief factor physicians to be the in giving bim such long owed a tax receipt dated 1809, Indicaling. he had paid taxes to the wher in that year, He was twenty. 1922, | H ! one the year he acquired title to prop- erty, he said, and old neighbors told of their parents having known John before they were born. In his early manhood he was fa- mous as a maker of flint lock rifles. He remembered clearly the national mourning after the death of Wash- ington and said he was “too old” to &o to the Mexican War, Devotion to the truth is a passion with the Kentucky mountaineers and this fact weighed heavily when his claims were considered. His first wife died when he was more than 100, He married again when he was 125, At his grave were a son 90 years old and a son of 1 Just before he passed on, he told Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Creech, with whom he lived, that he was red of having lived so long and was reedy to £ ‘Thus passed one who had lived the administration of every President. WasJohnShell 134 YearsOld?-Doctors Doubt It Can a Man Live to Be 134? What Leading Doctors Think of the Longevity Rec for John Shell. (Special Interviews for The Evening World.) Dr. Max Thorp, head of the American Hospital, Chicago— Modern easy living in responsible tor the average short life. Constant struggle against hardship does much to lengthen the span of life and Is undoubtediy the reason this man reached that age. Dr. J. Francis Guyton, Los An- geles— ‘There ts nothing impossible about a man living to the age of 134. It Is high- improbable, however. Th: been cases of men who recalled what been told when they were tig with such clearness that, in re- they e have them ferring to events prior to the b' were able to speak of them ao convino- tngly they have made othera belleve they were much older than they really were Or. Victor DO. Lepinasse, Chicago Gland specialist, who operated on Harold F. McCormick recently— It ts pousible for a man to live 14 years, but 1 have heard of @ similar case. Dr. F. E. missioner, Shell may he was a blologtc ever Harrington, Health Com- Minneapo! ve lived to 184; If #0, 1 freak. I have seen many Rentucky mountaineers drink more Hquor in @ month than the average man could possibly consume in a year and remain in good health, Shell must have been @ freak of that sort, Dr. Frederick Adame, Seattle— Uncle John’ undoubtedly thought he was 134, but I doubt {t very much, Bx pertence tells us that when the human being gets around 100 his memory leaves him, he becomes affitcted with a tend- euoy to exaggerate everything, and, there being no one to contradict, the general public believes those exaggerations, Dr. Orville R. Chadwell, Boston— It ts highly Improbable that any man fn this complex civilization could tive 134 years, Even in the Balkans, where many achieve longevity, anything lke such an age has never been proved, In a region lke the Kentucky mountains, with statistics notoriously lacking, we simply cannot er uch report. Dr. Joseph A. Reilly, Kansas City— Me never could do It—not a chat “Uncle John’? forgot a quarter of a cen- pewhere along the route. start «1m 1 Incubator baby. De- vote all his energies to doing nothing put living long and you'd have a terrible time making bim live 134 years, Dr. Rodney W. Bli Omaha, Neb.— Yeu, it is possible, but it is not very probable. A man is just as old ae his arteries, his stomach, his kidneys, his heart of any of his vital organs, If he can keep all these young be can live an indefinite time. Dr. Walter R, Griess, Cincinnati— tainly It 1s possible to live 1s years. All of us ponsessing a normal body should live 150. y What ts necessary is proper rol of mind and body and a comparatively elmple life {ree from mental | Dr. W. W. Shortel, Baylor Medical College, Dalias, Tex.— ‘A 100 Sear Is poxsible bie evnditions. ast that, under favor it ts most “Uncle Johnny* SHELL — xqystone. Prato - rd Claimed Lnprobable, If not actually (upossihie I've seen tow n Folds whoee ages were well vouched but 134 Novert Dr, R. R. Daniels, head of the Dan- iels Clinical Group of Denver Colm It Is possible for a hy ng to to the age 134 year isn't e, because modern cf no ime psos habits of |Iving that are not cons ducive to lon Human beings should tive to go of 1 Dr. James A. Black, Milwaukee— It ts nly f omnan ne parts of the we 134, Long tan peasan 2 sour mille an abunda Dr. M. S, Moore, Charleston, &, C.— While few Persons reach the century T do not eve any reason why a of life may not be had by the henlthy individual who enjoys ® tranquil, cheerful mental condlti n, eats , mildly seasoned foods, avolde I kinds, gets sufficient treah sleep sultable ex- air and ercise, Dr. J. A. Donna of New Orleans— While it (4 highly improb one might reach the age of tm certainly not an tinpossibt easily be possible that an individual ght be slow In development, that his period of maximum activity might be of unusually long duration, and thet the pertod of decline might be indefinitely prolonged. ble that any 4 years, It ty. It can Dr. Franklin A. Ferguson, Portland, Me.— I will not say {t ts imponsible, but it is certainly the helght of tmprabability. ‘The longest life I ever heard of was @ little leas than 104 ye It certainly fe incredible that a man has lived thirty years longer than the longest life on record, ‘There 1s not vital force enough in the present generation to do that. Dr. E. V. McCollum, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore— In a case of this kind tt f usually « question of father ard son both having the same name with the record of the birth of one omitted from the record: ‘Au the Individual grows very old, he un- consctously convinced he re- members events he heard discussed early in life, 1 am not inclined to accept as true statements of such great a, Whether the body physically could that long {9 entirely problematteal doubt It very much becomes Dr. William Gerry Morgan, Washing- ton, D. C.— I would believe ft possible because ¥ am one of the physicians who belleve that within reasonable limite the dura- tion of Iife is largely in the hands of tho individual, I have had an oceasion- al patient who hag lived to ninety-sts and who has retained full possession of the faculties untll the time of death When Tyra Hicine In Conpect)- cut I had on eight, Hved to be nine Birming It iw impossible for man te ee wo be