Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, July 1922 · page 52 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #35 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page celebrates "Old Knick" (a character based on real person Jack Knickerbocker), a colorful frontier figure from Nevada mining towns Goldfield and Rawhide. The anecdote satirizes religious presumption: when parishioners demand he pray for rain, Knick refuses, declaring God needs no "pointers"—a humorous jab at formulaic prayer and human arrogance. The text praises Knickerbocker's eulogy for a friend (Grannan), which unexpectedly achieved widespread circulation after publication in *Whiz Bang*. The satire's point: this spontaneous, irreverent tribute will outlast both the famous celebrities who visited Rawhide and the town's gold itself. Notably mentioned is Elinor Glyn, author of the scandalous novel *Three Weeks*—emphasizing how even notorious figures fade while a humble man's words endure. The piece celebrates authentic character over fame.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 51 When his parishioners demanded he pray to the Almighty for rain, Old Knick replied: “Not I. God doesn’t need any pointers from us! When in His own good time He sees fit to let it rain, it will rain.” When Goldfield waned, Knick passed with others along to Rawhide; where, as newspa- per correspondent, Shakespearean lecturer, prospector and the friend of all, he became one of the celebrities. Many noted persons, men and women, among them Elinor Glyn, famous author of *Three Weeks*, have since passed through and left their mark on Rawhide; but when all of these, and Rawhide’s gold, have long been forgotten, Grannan and Knicker- bocker, and the latter’s loving eulogy, will live in memory for generations to come. Since the publication in the Whiz Bang of Mr. Knickerbocker’s oration at Grannan’s funeral, a letter has been received from Old Knick. He now lives in Marlin, Texas, pastor of the Marlin Methodist Church. In his letter to us he gives an interesting account of the history of the address from the time it left his lips on that memorable day in Rawhide, a spon- taneous tribute to his dead friend, which he believed would be “buried with his bones,” but which has lived to cheer thousands in every part of the country since that day. As in the old days, Old Knick continues to stand pat on his policy of refusing “to give God pointers.”