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Sun Spots, v. 5, issue 2, May 1941

Page 6

May-June, 1941.  SUN SPOTS  Page 6.
* * * * * * * * 
IS SINGLETON ALIVE ?
By
K. O. Jones

All fandom has been going around for the past two months under the impression that it has lost an apparently well-liked fan by the ugly route of suicide. All fandom, readers, editors, and the dear, dear fans and fan mag publishers, have taken it for granted that Earl Singleton is dead. Fans, you know , are that select group of humanity whose minds know no boundaries, whose minds accept no barriers, who can pierce the vail of the present day hokum and glimpse the truth of thw orld to be.

So all fandom now thinks that Earl Singleton is dead. of course, they were reluctant to believe it, some hoped that it would just prove a false rumor, but no one has denied it yet and Singleton hasn't written anyone recently, so it must be so. Get that last bit -- Singleton hasn't written anyone saying no.

Let's review the evidence in this matter. Around the middle of the week beginning February 9th several fans throughout the country got letters. About six or seven fans in all, but key people who could be relied on to get it around -- Ackerman, Lowndes, Warner, Miske, etc. These letters said briefly that Earl Singleton had shot himself in the head(naming the caliber of the revolver) the night of Sunday Feb. 9th, while alone in his college room. His room mate found him there. The school authorities hushed the matter up. His relatives came up from New York, cremated the body and sent it to Texas. That's the total of the account. It was signed"O.K. Smith.

So everybody believed it. R.D. Swisher phoned M.I.T. and spoke to someone answering to the name of Oliver King Smith. That person said it was as written.

And that, my friends, is the sum total of all the investigation that has been made on the subject. Think it over. 

The stationary on which the notes were written had a printed head on it, "Oliver King Smith". That type paper can be had with that style printing at any big stationary store. No one knows who "Oliver King Smith" is, no one ever met him(It may be that someone claiming that name may have come to a Stranger Club meeting, but who checked on it?). So everybody takes it for granted that the entirely unsupported word of an unknown person is gospel truth. 

Did anyone check with Singleton's relatives and family? No. Did anyone go to M.I.T. and enquire of the authroities? No. Did anyone ask the Boston police? No. They just accepted the word of "Oliver King Smith" -- signed O.K.Smith, about as obvious a pseudonymous give-away as possible.

It is a matter of record that Singleton was interested in getting a big gathering at the Baskone, just a week alter. Nothing like putting it on thick. 

Continued on page 8.

Saving...

May-June, 1941. SUN SPOTS Page 6. * * * * * * * * IS SINGLETON ALIVE ? By K. O. Jones All fandom has been going around for the past two months under the impression that it has lost an apparently well-liked fan by the ugly route of suicide. All fandom, readers, editors, and the dear, dear fans and fan mag publishers, have taken it for granted that Earl Singleton is dead. Fans, you know , are that select group of humanity whose minds know no boundaries, whose minds accept no barriers, who can pierce the vail of the present day hokum and glimpse the truth of thw orld to be. So all fandom now thinks that Earl Singleton is dead. of course, they were reluctant to believe it, some hoped that it would just prove a false rumor, but no one has denied it yet and Singleton hasn't written anyone recently, so it must be so. Get that last bit -- Singleton hasn't written anyone saying no. Let's review the evidence in this matter. Around the middle of the week beginning February 9th several fans throughout the country got letters. About six or seven fans in all, but key people who could be relied on to get it around -- Ackerman, Lowndes, Warner, Miske, etc. These letters said briefly that Earl Singleton had shot himself in the head(naming the caliber of the revolver) the night of Sunday Feb. 9th, while alone in his college room. His room mate found him there. The school authorities hushed the matter up. His relatives came up from New York, cremated the body and sent it to Texas. That's the total of the account. It was signed"O.K. Smith. So everybody believed it. R.D. Swisher phoned M.I.T. and spoke to someone answering to the name of Oliver King Smith. That person said it was as written. And that, my friends, is the sum total of all the investigation that has been made on the subject. Think it over. The stationary on which the notes were written had a printed head on it, "Oliver King Smith". That type paper can be had with that style printing at any big stationary store. No one knows who "Oliver King Smith" is, no one ever met him(It may be that someone claiming that name may have come to a Stranger Club meeting, but who checked on it?). So everybody takes it for granted that the entirely unsupported word of an unknown person is gospel truth. Did anyone check with Singleton's relatives and family? No. Did anyone go to M.I.T. and enquire of the authroities? No. Did anyone ask the Boston police? No. They just accepted the word of "Oliver King Smith" -- signed O.K.Smith, about as obvious a pseudonymous give-away as possible. It is a matter of record that Singleton was interested in getting a big gathering at the Baskone, just a week alter. Nothing like putting it on thick. Continued on page 8.